Neverside

FIFA World Cup 2006

The 2006 FIFA World Cup officially kicked off today in Munich.

The first game of the tounament saw Germany (the host nation) come up against Costa Rica in Group A. Germany got off to a flier with Philipp Lahm powering in a long-range effort into the top corner of the goal after just 6 minutes of play. Costa Rica pulled a goal back through Paolo Wanchope on 12 minutes but Germany pulled ahead again in the 18th minute. At Half time the score was still 2-1 but with Germany looking like they could easily get another whilst still having a shaky defence. It took Germany 30 minutes of the second half to get their third and it came in the form of Miroslav Klose's second of the day. To their credit Costa Rica hit back, again through Paolo Wanchope to reduce Germany's lead to just one goal. Late on Torsten Frings sealed Germany's win with a superb 30-yard strike into the top corner of the Costa Rican goal giving Germany a 4-2 win and two contenders for Goal of the tournament.

Later on the 2nd Group A game got underway with Poland losing 2-0 to Ecuador. Ecuador were far superior to Poland in the first half and went in at half-time 1-0 up thanks to a Carlos Tenorio header. Poland come out fired up for the second half and enjoyed much more possesion, although couldn't convert it into goals leaving Ecuador still looking more likely to score. Ecuador's second came late on in the second half as Agustin Delgado finished off a nice Ecuador move. When Poland hit both the crossbar and the post in the last 10 minutes of the game they knew it wasn't going to be their day.

The tournament has got off to a great start with the opening games and I'm hoping for more tomorrow in the form of the Group B games England vs. Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago vs. Sweden and the Group C game of Argentina vs. Ivory Coast.

I'll try and keep this thread updated with the results although I have 3 exams in 3 days next week so updates are unlikely to be a priority of mine.

Group A

Code:

Team                    Pld     W    D    L    F    A  GD  Pts
Germany                 1       1    0    0    4    2  +2    3
Ecuador                 1       1    0    0    2    0  +2    3
Costa Rica              1       0    0    1    0    2  -2    0  
Poland                  1       0    0    1    2    4  -2    0

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Last edited by agk, June 10th, 2006 10:52 PM (Edited 4 times)

Good work, Sir Andy.

Sweet Andy! Keep us posted with this stuff.

England 1 - 0 Paraguay

The game saw England get off to a flier via a Carlos Gamarra own goal after 2 minutes and 44 seconds. David Beckham whipped in a freekick from the left wing which Gamarra flicked on past his own goal keeper to give England an early lead. England kept the pressure on and 3 minutes later Paraguay's goalkeeper was injured when rushing out to charge down a through ball to Michael Owen. Paraguay brought on substitute goalkeeper Aldo Bobadilla to replace the injured Justo Villar. Not long after coming on the Paraguay keeper was penalised for holding onto the ball too long inside the area and England were awarded an indirect freekick just inside the area. Beckham touched the ball to Lampard who thundered the ball into the wall and hit the rebound way over the bar. England kept the pressure on until half time but couldn't get another goal despite creating chances.

The second half saw Paraguay come out much more lively and kept a lot more possesion than England, but still not creating many chances. On 55 minutes Sven Goran Eriksson brought Stewart Downing on to replace Michael Owen putting Downing on the left wing and moving Joe Cole to sit behind Peter Crouch. This turned out to be a bad move for England as it gave 6' 7" Crouch no-one to flick the long balls onto and left England having to play the ball to Joe Cole to release Crouch. Paraguay soon caught on and defended well against Cole, leaving the England attack neutralised. Eriksson then decided to substitute Joe Cole and bring on Owen Hargreaves in a holding Midfield role, pushing Steven Gerrard up to where Cole had been playing. Many England fans were left wondering why Eriksson didn't bring on 17 year old Theo Walcott, who was a suprise call up to the England squad, on instead of Joe Cole to give the England front line another option and a burst of pace in much the same way that Michael Owen had provided in the first half.

This series of bad tactical decisions by Eriksson allowed Paraguay to push England back into their own half, and for much of the second half England were defending from the edge of their own 18-yard box. Despite Paraguay's possesion and forward runs they were still unable to create many real chances against England and goalkeeper Paul Robinson was barely put to test. England managed to hold on with their last ditch defending and came away from the first game of their campaign with the 3 points.

The other Group B game sees Trinidad & Tobago take on Sweden tonight and Sweden look like favourites to take the 3 points in that game.

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England: Robinson, Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Ashley Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Joe Cole (Hargreaves 82), Owen (Downing 56), Crouch. Subs Not Used: Bridge, Campbell, Carragher, Carrick, Carson, James, Jenas, Lennon, Rooney, Walcott.

Booked: Gerrard, Crouch

Goals: Gamarra (o.g) 3'

Paraguay: Villar (Bobadilla 8 ), Caniza, Gamarra, Caceres, Toledo (Nunez 82), Bonet (Cuevas 68), Acuna, Paredes, Riveros, Valdez, Santa Cruz. Subs Not Used: Barreto, Cabanas, Da Silva, Dos Santos, Gavilan, Gomez, Lopez, Manzur, Montiel.

Booked: Valdez

Attendance: 48,000

Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico)

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Group B

Code:

Team                    Pld     W    D    L    F    A  GD  Pts
England                 1       1    0    0    1    0  +1    3
Sweden                  0       0    0    0    0    0   0    0
Trinidad & Tobago       0       0    0    0    0    0   0    0  
Paraguay                1       0    0    1    0    1  -1    0

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Last edited by Andy_K, June 10th, 2006 10:47 PM (Edited 6 times)

Wow, you're doing a great job reporting this, do you have a website?

Thanks Gil, I do have a website ( http://designerpad.org ) however I'm not posting any of this stuff over there, infact, I haven't updated my blog for a while so I'll probably do that at some point.

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Trinidad & Tobago 0 - 0 Sweden

Trinidad & Tobago managed an impressive draw against a much mightier Sweden in their first ever World Cup Finals. Sweden piled on the pressure from the get-go but late Trinidad & Tobago keeper replacement Shaka Hislop did well in goal managing to keep out most of Sweden's better efforts. Sweden had all the momentum in the first half managing to create several chances but Trinidad's defence was strong, and in the case of Avery John too strong as he picked up a yellow card after several reckless challenges. Trinidad ended the first half on a high with Stern John, Chris Birchall and Carlos Edwards all getting shots on goal. The first half came to an end with the teams tied at 0-0.

The second half began and almost immediatley Avery John was sent off for a second bookable offence after another hard challenge on Christian Wilhelmsson. This allowed Sweden to pile on even more pressure against Trinidad's 10-men but Shaka Hislop was in fine form denying Sweden several clear-cut chances to take the lead. On 57 minutes Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed over the bar and Trinidad broke from the goal kick, Cornell Glenn thundering the ball against the Sweden crossbar from a tight angle. Sweden still piled on the pressure and while Trinidad did have a few chances Sweden eclipsed them, ending the game with 21 shots. The telling factor of Sweden's performance however, was that of their 21 shots, only 6 of them were on target and with Shaka Hislop getting the Man of the Match award Trinidad held them to a courageous draw.

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Trinidad and Tobago: Hislop, Avery John, Sancho, Lawrence, Gray, Birchall, Edwards, Theobald (Whitley 66), Samuel (Glen 53), Stern John, Yorke. Subs Not Used: Andrews, Charles, Cox, Jack, Ince, Jones, Latapy, Scotland, Wise, Wolfe.

Sent Off: Avery John (46)

Booked: Avery John, Yorke

Sweden: Shaaban, Linderoth (Kallstrom 79), Mellberg, Lucic, Edman, Ljungberg, Alexandersson, Anders Svensson (Allback 62), Wilhelmsson (Jonson 78), Ibrahimovic, Larsson. Subs Not Used: Alvbage, Andersson, Elmander, Hansson, Isaksson, Nilsson, Rosenberg, Stenman, Karl Svensson.

Booked: Larsson

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

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Group B

Code:

Team                    Pld     W    D    L    F    A  GD  Pts
England                 1       1    0    0    1    0  +1    3
Sweden                  1       0    1    0    0    0   0    1
Trinidad & Tobago       1       0    1    0    0    0   0    1  
Paraguay                1       0    0    1    0    1  -1    0

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Last edited by Andy_K, June 10th, 2006 11:50 PM (Edited 1 times)

Argentina 2 - 1 Ivory Coast

Argentina went into this game firm favourites and many expected the South American's to triumph over Ivory Coast with easy. However the World Cup new-comers shocked Argentina with a good start; their powerful running opening up the Argentine defence at will several times in the first half. Unfortuantely for Ivory Coast their attacks lacked a decent final ball, and when one did come their finishing let them down. Argentina eventually began to get into gear with Villareal's Riquelme in control in midfield and Chelsea's Hernan Crespo and Sevilla's Javier Saviola a potent threat in attack.

Crespo narrowly missed getting on the end of a Maxi Rodriguez cross and from the corner that resulted Ayala nearly opened the scoring; the keeper fumbling his header with the ball going dangerously close to crossing the line. Not long after Argentina took the lead as Crespo slotted home from a Riquelme free-kick.

Ivory Coast didn't let their heads drop however and Crespo's Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba was denied a scoring opportunity by a superb tackle from Ayala. Ivory Coast kept up the pressure at the Argentina end and after some superb skill from Yaya Toure, Bonaventure Kalou shot wide. Drogba set up another chance for Abdul Kader Ketia but he was wasteful as he headed it straight at Argentine keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri from six yards.

Ivory Coast were punished for their lack of finishing later on when Saviola latched onto a superb through ball from Riquelme and flicked the ball under the Côte d'Ivoire keeper.

And that was just the first half!

After the half time break the pace dropped slightly with Argentina sitting back and counter attacking Ivory Coast but despite this Ivory Coast still managed to make chances. Ivory Coast's pace was a constant problem for the Argentinian full-backs and 9 minutes from time Bakari Kone pulled the ball back for Didier Drogba to slot home making a nervy final few minutes for Argentina.

Argentina thought they had sealed the 3 points just two minutes later but Maxi's goal was ruled out for offside.

Overall it was a very entertaining game with both sides creating lots of chances. Ivory Coast exceeded expectations and look like they could be a formidable threat in the games to come. This was possibly the game of the tournament so far.

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Argentina: Abbondanzieri, Burdisso, Ayala, Heinze, Sorin, Maxi, Mascherano, Cambiasso, Riquelme (Aimar 90), Saviola (Gonzalez 76), Crespo (Palacio 64). Subs Not Used: Coloccini, Cruz, Cufre, Franco, Messi, Milito, Scaloni, Tevez, Ustari.

Booked: Saviola, Heinze, Gonzalez

Goals: Crespo 24, Saviola 38

Ivory Coast: Tizie, Eboue, Kolo Toure, Meite, Boka, Akale (Bakari Kone 62), Zokora, Kalou (Dindane 56), Keita (Arouna Kone 77), Gneri Yaya Toure, Drogba. Subs Not Used: Barry, Demel, Domoraud, Fae, Gnanhouan, Kouassi, Romaric, Yapi Yapo, Zoro.

Booked: Eboue, Drogba

Goals: Drogba 82

Attendance: 49,480

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

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Group C

Code:

Team                    Pld     W    D    L    F    A  GD  Pts
Argentina               1       1    0    0    2    1  +1    3
Serbia & Montenegro     0       0    0    0    0    0   0    0  
Holland                 0       0    0    0    0    0   0    0
Ivory Coast             1       0    0    1    1    2  -1    0

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Last edited by Andy_K, June 11th, 2006 05:01 AM (Edited 3 times)

I can't wait for some Group F play. GO BRAZIL!!!

Edit: Question...

GER:CRC 4:2 (2:1)

What does he (2:1) mean? I know 4:2 is goals, Germany 4 goals, CRC 2. But I'm confused as to what in the () means.

Last edited by heyden, June 11th, 2006 08:42 AM (Edited 5 times)

Damn Andy, this is as good as the BBC coverage.

Thanks!

Sounds... boring. *not a sports guy*