It's been so long since my last update, so it might be a bit patchy...

ENGLAND 1 SWEDEN 1 by JacquesTheLad

Expectations were high for England, with 1966 being mentioned in every quarter of the English media. Sweden were apparently the weakest nation in the group, and it was vital for England to get off to a good start to help them on their way to the second phase, and their next match against old rivals Argentina.

They initially started brightly, with Sweden not creating much. The breakthrough came halfway through the first half, when captain David Beckham's corner swung in and was met by the head of Arsenal defender Sol Campbell, who beat keeper Marcus Hedman to the ball and put the English ahead. It should have been the spark for England, but in the second half, they were extremely poor.

It didn't take Sweden long to recover. A mistake by Danny Mills almost put Celtic striker Henrik Larsson in, but the Leeds defender half-cleared to Niclas Alexandersson, who took it past Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand before lashing a left foot strike past David Seaman to level the game. It was no less than the Swedes had deserved, as they increasingly put the English under pressure for the remainder of the game.

Sweden then had a chance through Lucic, but Seaman saved well. As the game looked destined for a draw, a mistake by Ashley Cole let Larsson have a final chance in injury time, but he failed to deliver and screwed his shot wide of the mark.

Overall, it wasn't the result England were looking for, and they looked rather poor and jaded in the second half. They have their work cut out if they want to qualify for the second phase.

SPAIN 3 SLOVENIA 1 by JacquesTheLad

I didn't see this game as I was on my way into work, but anyway, I'll do my best. The Spaniards, as always, had the expectations of a nation on them. Traditionally known as a country who flattered to deceive in the major tournaments, the Spanish were looking to mount a serious challenge this time. Slovenia were the surprise package of Euro 2000, and were looking to get their campaign off to a flyer.

Spain took the lead through a Raul free-kick in the first half. They made it two in the second half, before the Slovenians pulled one back. I believe Spain secured the win with a penalty from Fernando Hierro, but don't quote me on that!

Anyway, good result for Spain, who must be confident of qualifying from their group, which also contains Paraguay (who qualified ahead of them in 1998) and South Africa.

CROATIA 0 MEXICO 1 by JacquesTheLad

Didn't see a lot of this game as I was half-sleeping, but I'm led to believe it was a largely dull affair. Croatia, packed with their stars of 1998 Davor Suker and Robert Prosinecki, along with Middlesbrough's Alen Boksic, took on Mexico, who had enjoyed two successful tournaments in 1994 and 1998.

The game didn't see much chances, but did see the first red card of the World Cup, with Bayer Leverkusen's Zivkovic rashly challenging Cuauhtemoc Blanco to give away a penalty. Zivkovic went off, and Blanco dusted himself down to blast the penalty home.

That was the difference between the sides, although if any team deserved to win it was the Mexicans. Difficult to see either team progressing into the late stages of the competition, though.

BRAZIL 2 TURKEY 1 by JacquesTheLad

The Brazilians are back! Fresh from a disappointing qualifying campaign, in which they didn't use their European-based players a lot, showed the world what they could do. The Turks didn't go down without a fight however, and showed themselves to be more than capable. The game also marked the return of Ronaldo, former World Player of the Year, who had been plagued with injury over the past three years.

The Turks were not overawed by the occasion however. Rivaldo had the best Brazilian chance in the first half, heading a Ronaldo cross goalwards before being denied by a brilliant save by keeper Recber. The Turkish had much of the play however, and took the lead just before half-time. Hasan Sas latched on to a lobbed pass by Bayer Leverkusen's Basturk, and stunned the stadium by thumping the ball past Brazilian keeper Marcos.

The Brazilians were then stunned into action, and reacted shortly after the break. Rivaldo conjured an opening in the Turkish defence, crossing the ball to an onrushing Ronaldo, who slid to put the ball home. He was back. However, Brazil could not conjure another opening until the final five minutes. Sustitute Luizao was bearing down on goal, before being hauled down by Alpay. Despite the incident occurring outside the box, the referee sent Alpay packing (right decision) and gave Brazil a penalty (wrong decision). Rivaldo kept his cool to slot the ball home in the 87th minute to give them the lead.

The game was soured by an incident in injury time. Hakan Unsal whacked the ball at Rivaldo as he was going to take a corner, which was bad enough. Rivaldo's response was rather poor however, as he crashed to the ground clutching his head (when the ball hit him on the legs, definite play-acting). The referee sent Hakan Unsal off, which was the right decision, but one wonders if it was for the right reasons.

In the end, a great game will sadly be remembered by two incidents near the end. Brazil won't mind - they put the doubters to rest and came up with a great win.

ITALY 2 ECUADOR 0 by JacquesTheLad

Much fancied by many, the Italians kicked off their campaign with a match against tournament debutants Ecuador, boasting such great players as Ulises de la Cruz and Alex Aguinaga. The Italians, as ever, would look for their defence to be strong, and the goals would come from striking pair Francesco Totti and Christian Vieri.

Indeed, it took them less than 7 minutes to open the scoring. Vieri belted the ball home as it broke to him, and was the culmination of a lot of shaky defending from the South Americans.

More was to come twenty minutes later, when Vieri brushed aside a defensive challenge before shooting straight at the keeper, and collecting his own rebound to hammer home. After that, the Italians shut up shop, and Ecuador played some nice football, without actually creating anything.

So, Italy top their group, and look certain to be destined for a long cup run.

CHINA 0 COSTA RICA 2 by JacquesTheLad

One of the less inspiring games of the first stage saw China make their World Cup bow against the Central Americans, who had a successful finals in 1990, defeating Scotland and Sweden on their way to a second round defeat by Czechoslovakia.

The game was largely boring, and settled by two goals in the space of four second half minutes. Gomez reacted first to Paulo Wanchope's blocked effort to strike the ball sweetly with his left foot behind the Chinese keeper on 61 minutes. On 65, a short corner found Gomez, who twisted and turned the Chinese defence before chipping to find a completely unmarked Mauricio Wright, whose glancing header put the game beyong doubt.

China played well in parts, but didn't really have any self-belief going forward. Will either team qualify for Round Two? We shall have to wait and find out.

JAPAN 2 BELGIUM 2 by JacquesTheLad

The co-hosts made a fantastic first appearance in front of a fanatical crowd. It didn't matter who the opposition were, but Belgium turned up looking to spoil the party. What escalated was a superb match. Or, to be more precise, a superb second half.

It took until the second half for something exciting to happen, and it came at the hands of the Belgians. Naive defending left the Japanese claiming for an offside that never was, as captain Marc Wilmots spectacularly connected with an overhead kick to put the Europeans 1-0 up. At that point, it looked like Belgium would run away with it. No chance!

It took Japan all of 4 minutes to respond. Some Japanese player latched onto a through ball, which all the Belgian defenders did not chase, and coolly slotted past the Belgian keeper. Game on! Later on, Arsenal's Junichi Inamoto found space in the Belgian defence before lashing a sweet left-foot shot past the Belgian keeper. The home crowd were delirious, in heaven.

On the 75th minute, however, their joy was to turn to anguish, as vanderheaghe latched onto a through ball before lobbing the Japanese keeper. Once again, the Japanese were appealing for an offside that never came, and they were to pay.

Inamoto had the ball in the net late on, but the goal was chopped off for some physical play before putting the ball in the net. The decision seemed harsh, but history had been created - Japan had earned their first World Cup point, and gave themselves a decent chance of qualifying for the second phase.

SOUTH KOREA 2 POLAND 0 by JacquesTheLad

This result seemed to surprise everyone apart from me. I didn't see the game sadly, so I can't tell you the scorers or the way the goals were scored, although Jerzy Dudek made a bit of a mess of the second. But I think the co-hosts will qualify for the second phase.

RUSSIA 2 TUNISIA 0 by JacquesTheLad

I was sleeping when this game took place, so I can't tell you how the game went. However, Titov scored the opened after some slack goalkeeping, and the second was scored by a penalty from Karpin. It puts the Russians in pole position for qualifying from Group H.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 3 PORTUGAL 2 by JacquesTheLad

This match has been, for me, the match of the tournament for me so far. And the shock of the tournament. America have never been the best of "soccer" nations, and Portugal were being widely tipped by many to go far having had a successful Euro 2000 (reaching the semi-finals) and having the World Player of the Year, Luis Figo.

A gutsy performance by the Americans, combined with an incredibly poor Portuguese performance, saw to that. The Americans led after four minutes. A corner from Sanneh was met powerfully by the head of Brian McBride. Keeper Vitor Baia could only parry the shot into the path of John O'Brien, who smashed the ball home from a yard out. The Americans must have thought they were dreaming.

If they were dreaming then, they were in heaven on the half hour mark. Some shambolic defending by Jorge Costa saw the ball break to Landon Donovan, whose attempted cross struck Costa. Vitor Baia scrambled across his goal fruitlessly as the ball squirmed in at the near post. America were embarrassing Portugal, and this continued when Donovan sent Sanneh down the right wing. A pinpoint cross (with little resistance from Costa) found the diving McBride, who put the ball past Baia.

3-0 America? Surely not? Well, the Portuguese fought back. After a short period of pressure, with four corners in quick succession, they pulled one back. Beto got a second bite at the cherry when his header was put back into his path by O'Brien, and he slotted the ball past Brad Friedel. The game was set for an exciting second half, and a much anticipated Portugal comeback.

But it never came. Indeed, when American defender Agoos put through his own net on 71 minutes, you never really got the impression that Portugal would pull it off. The Americans more than held their own, and when the final whistle came scenes of jubilation surrounded the stadium, as if the USA had won the World Cup. It was a great, well-deserved win, and their next match against South Korea could be a group decider. Who would have said that before the start of the championship?

STANDINGS

GROUP A
1st Denmark - 3pts
2nd Senegal - 3pts
3rd Uruguay - 0pts
4th France - 0pts

I THINK...Senegal and France will qualify.

GROUP B
1st Spain - 3pts
2nd Paraguay - 1pt
3rd South Africa - 1pt
4th Slovenia - 0pts

I THINK...Spain and Paraguay will qualify.

GROUP C
1st Costa Rica - 3pts
2nd Brazil - 3pts
3rd Turkey - 0pts
4th China - 0pts

I THINK...Brazil and Turkey to qualify.

GROUP D
1st South Korea - 3pts
2nd USA - 3pts
3rd Portugal - 0pts
4th Poland - 0pts

I THINK...South Korea and Portugal will qualify (sadly :-( ).

GROUP E
1st Germany - 3pts
2nd Cameroon - 1pt
3rd Ireland - 1pt
4th Saudi Arabia - 0pts

I THINK...Germany and Republic of Ireland to qualify.

GROUP F
1st Argentina - 3pts
2nd England - 1pt
3rd Sweden - 1pt
4th Nigeria - 0pts

I THINK...Argentina and Nigeria to qualify.

GROUP G
1st Italy - 3pts
2nd Mexico - 3pts
3rd Croatia - 0pts
4th Ecuador - 0pts

I THINK...Strangely, Italy and Ecuador will qualify.

GROUP H
1st Russia - 3pts
2nd Belgium - 1pt
3rd Japan - 1pt
4th Tunisia - 0pts

I THINK...Russia and Japan to qualify.

GERMANY 1 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1 by JacquesTheLad

Having demolished Saudi Arabia 8-0 in their first match, Germany were to expect a much tougher challenge in the shape of the Irish, who were unlucky not to beat Cameroon in their opener.

The Irish started brightly enough, spreading the play about. There were no first half jitters which were evident in the Cameroon game. However, it was the Germans who drew first blood. Michael Ballack played a wonderful ball into the box, and with Ian Harte nowhere, Miroslav Klose added to his hat-trick in the opener to rise high and beat Shay Given. It was largely against the run of play, and Ireland dominated proceedings thereafter.

Despite massive pressure, it just didn't look like the Irish would come up with anything to show for their efforts. Oliver Kahn brilliantly denied Damien Duff when the Irish player was put through by a knock-on by Mark Kinsella. It just didn't look like Ireland's day, until they struck in injury time.

A long ball by Steve Finnan in the 92nd minute was knocked on by 6'4" substitute Niall Quinn into the path of Robbie Keane's run. Keane burst past two German defenders, before lashing the ball goalwards. Kahn got a heavy touch on the ball, and looked as if he'd broken Irish hearts again. But the ball hit the inside of the post and into the back of the net. Jubilation on the Irish bench and all around the green areas of the stadium, as Ireland had got a draw at the death which they dearly deserved.

Overall, a great result for Ireland. Assuming Ireland beat Saudi Arabia in their final match, a win for either Germany or Cameroon in their final group match puts the Irish through. A fantastic achievement, without skipper Roy Keane.

I don't believe it. Beckham's just said "I believe we were the better team and we should have won" about the Sweden game!!! What???

Anyway, sorry for boring you all through this seemingly endless entry. They'll all be shorter from now on, I promise...