6/18/2006: Brazil 2 – Australia 0 (Group F)
I had a feeling Australia would give Brazil all they could handle in this game and for 70 minutes the Socceroos played Brasil to a nil-nil tie. Brazil finally broke their backs with not only a superb goal from Adriano from a nice pass by Ronaldo, but also superb keeping from Dida who denied Viduka on two occasions. Fred (Fred – what kind of a Brazilian name is that ?), scored off on easy tap in on a Robinho shot late to seal the deal. Brazil are thru but Australia still are in the drivers seat firmly in second place in this group and will advance with a win against Croatia.
6/18/2006: France 1 – S. Korea 0 (Group G)
France finally broke their scoring drought of 5 World Cup games as Thierre Henry latched on to a pass in the middle of the box early on and neatly slotted the ball home. France also looked more inspired in this game than they in their previous game against Switzerland. In the second half, In the 35th minute a header by Patrick Vieira was cleared from behind the line by the Korean keeper but it was not ruled a goal. Incredibly bad officiating as replays clearly showed the keeper inside the goal as he swats the ball back across. No matter, South Korea made a push to tie this game in the second half and tie it they did on a cross to the back post, a header to the middle and a little toe-poke by Ji Sun-Park just eluded Fabian Barthez and William Gallas in the 81st minute. The French, despite scoring, were now even and are in a must win situation while S. Korea are in command of the group but still have to play Switzerland.
2 comments:
jotemak, I couldn't agree with you more. Brazil have not impressed but they have played well enough to win. Dida had to make two outstanding saves on Viduka for them to preserve the tie at that point in the match.
I think the Brazilians think they can just turn it on and win, but I'm afraid this year that may not be enough with Germany, Spain, and Argentina all looking extremely impressive. And I think England is on the rise as well.
By the way, for that trademark Brazilian "jogo bonito" look no further than Ghana. This is now my favorite team to watch in this tournament. I hope they make a deep run.
You're right about the Africans individual abilities. But the team concept combined with the individual skill is what impressed me the most about Ghana's second game. It's what makes Brazil so good. They're not only skillful they are also extremely fit athletes who do things like run off the ball incessantly to create space, track back and defend, do the dirty work in midfield to win balls back, etc.
Brazil is always thought of as a bunch of skilled players who just show up and play (they're so good they don't have to put in the work) but the fact is as a team they probably work as hard as anyone else.
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