JacquesTheLad (3569)

JacquesTheLad
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http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/handinglove

I'm not the man you think I am...I am a poor freezingly cold soul...I have just discovered that prudence never pays. Now, we must wait for the right time
Saturday June 08, 02

Silky smooth...

07:07 AM

SOUTH AFRICA 1 SLOVENIA 0 by JacquesTheLad

A largely dull and boring affair, which I didn't bother waking up for, was settled by a goal in the 4th minute by Nomvethe, who didn't know much about it. As a free-kick was swung in, he tried to connect with his head, but missed and the ball connected with his thighs before trickling past Slovenia goalkeeper Simeunovic.

The result means that South Africa will qualify if they take a point from their final encounter with Spain. It was South Africa's first win in the World Cup, and should be enough to see them progress to the second round.

ITALY 1 CROATIA 2 by JacquesTheLad

Croatia had to take something from the match to have any chance of going through to the latter stages, and they could not have picked a tougher match in which to do so. Italy were enjoying their status as tournament favourites, and begun the match with their normal flair. However, Croatia had the better of the chances in the first half, but neither team could break the deadlock.

If the first half was disappointing, the second half was full of excitement. Christian Vieri, fresh from his two-goal effort against Ecuador in the first game, had bundled the ball in the net shortly after the break from Zambrotta's flick, but the goal was disallowed for offside, which was later proved to be wrong. Still, there was no point in arguing, and Vieri simply picked himself up and, five minutes later, met a Luigi Zambrotta cross with a wonderfully placed header to put the Italians ahead.

From then on, the Croatians didn't create much, as the Italians pegged them back. However, on 70 minutes, the Croatians got a bit of a game going, and equalised. Captain Robert Jarni beat Christian Panucci on the left to cross the ball, and as the Italian defence played a game of "after you", substitute Ivica Olic snuck in to slot home past Gianluigi Buffon. The goal led to a brief spell of chaos in the Italian defence (is that possible?), and Milan Rapaic was inches away from putting the ball home after Paolo Maldini collided with Matterazzi, giving Alen Boksic the chance to put the ball across. It was a warning sign.

A couple of minutes later, Croatia took the lead. Rapaic was at the centre of things again, with his cross being headed out. When the ball was headed back into his path, Matterazzi tried to block the shot from Rapaic, but the ball simply spun goalwards, leaving Buffon with no chance. The game had completely turned on its' head with five minutes of mayhem.

Italy then prepared the onslaught, with fit-again Filippo Inzaghi coming on. Francesco Totti had incredibly bad luck with a free kick, which hit the inside of the post, with the Croatia keeper stranded, and rolled along the line, somehow staying out of the net. Italy had the ball in the back of the net on 87 minutes, but yet again it was disallowed by the same linesman. A long ball forward looked to have bypassed Inzaghi and went into the net, but a foul was called for an apparent tug by Inzaghi on a Croatia player before the ball went in. Replays showed the incident to be a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other, and the goal never stood.

As the final whistle went, it left the group wide open. Croatia can now qualify, and Italy must be prepared to win their last match against Mexico in order to go through.

BRAZIL 4 CHINA 0 by JacquesTheLad

An enormous gulf in quality between the two sides culminated in a one-sided affair reflected in the scoreline. China actually had the better of the possession for the first five minutes without actually creating any chances, and it actually took Brazil 15 minutes to register a shot on goal. But when it came, it was some shot! Roberto Carlos thundered the ball at ferocious velocity (roughly 71mph, 114kph) from a free-kick. You would have thought China would have been able to build the ideal wall, but the ball bypassed the wall and shot straight into the back of the net before the goalkeeper could react.

On 30 minutes, their lead doubled. Cafu crossed the ball in towards the path of Ronaldo, but the ball was half-cleared to Ronaldinho, who took his time before playing an inch-perfect pass to Rivaldo, who could hardly miss. The third came on the stroke of half-time, when Ronaldo was denied a clear scoring chance when he was tugged down in the box. Swedish referee Anders Frisk showed no hesitation in awarding the penalty, which regular spot-kick taker Ronaldinho put away with some aplomb. 3-0 at half-time, the Chinese looked down and out.

Surprisingly, Brazil only added one to their tally after the break. Cafu trapped a wonderful 50-yard pass from Rivaldo on his chest, and in turn took his marker out of the game. As he approached the bye-line, he put a low ball across goal, and as the Chinese players simply looked on, Ronaldo tidied up and tapped in the easiest of goals.

China had a chance for consolation late on, but watched as their shot came agonisingly off the outside of the post. Overall, a comfortable win for Brazil, who turned on the style and showed that they could be hard to beat when they faced some real opposition. Possible winners? We shall have to wait and see.

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