| > World Cup 2002 Korea Japan Special Index |
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the tournament in chronological succession.
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#1-#16 (1st group matches)
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| World Cup 2002 Korea Japan Special: All matches chronological | ||
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before 3rd group matches
| June10: Will the African goal drought continue?
The African Nations Cup 2002 had a conspiciously low goal average and the African goal drought seems to continue in Korea-Japan. Africans have won 3 out of 9 games, but all those successes came on a slim 1:0, even the Cameroon win over Saudi Arabia was a very close game. Senegal continued their style of footbal which as seldom allowed them to score more than once, apart from matches against outsiders. Dispite their impressive appearance on the field they only scored once per game yet as did Cameroon. Nigeria scored one goal in two lost matches, Tunisia did not score in their first match, both lost a game plan and points after their keepers gave the ball to the opponents attack when the match was in limbo. Tunisias second match oal came from a free kick. Only South Africa managed to score twice in one match, a deflected shot and a penalty against Paraguay. A third goal came against Slovenia, when Nomvete accidently scored with his thigh while attempting a header. Although the South Africans did not look perfect for most of the matches, this scoring 'ability' has kept them well in the race. Total goals in 10 games: 9. Average: below 1. |
day12
#33
| Jun 11 0630 GMT
Senegal - Uruguay 3:3
1st half: -('2) The referee seems to intend to clamp down the tough Senegalese game right away as the South Americans 'die' on the pitch after two small fouls and two Senegalese see yellow cards immediately for small fouls (Henry Camera, Omar Daf) -'3-'7 Uruguay dominate the first minutes -('8) Romero, Uruhuay, sees yellow, too, a similarly harmless incident. The referee has set a low measure for yellow cards and probably will have to show 22 if he goes on like this. The players have adapted quickly and are rolling around on the ground to see their opponents cautioned. -'9-'16 Senegal have found a little better into the match -('19) error Montero: who wants to play back to the keeper but the pass is too short, El Hadj Diouf gets it first, curves around the keeper, falls, referee says penalty. It is doubtful that he has been touched at all. -('20) Fadiga converts the penalty - 1:0 -('22) Senegalese keeper Tony Silva saves a dangerous free kick by Recoba -('25) Uruguay pressure and the match sees more theatricalities as they go pathetically for a penalty -('27) perfect counter attack by Senegal: Henri Camera sets up Bouba Diop who scores into the triangle - 2:0 -('37) Uruguay slowly recover from the shock and Recoba fires wide -('39) counter attack Senegal: Camera cross; Bouba Dop with his sole hits the flying ball directly towards the goal, it bounces from the bar a few centimeters behind the line and out again. the assistant has well seen it has been a goal - 3:0 -('40) Rodriguez sees the 6th yellow card of the match - for playacting -('45+2) almost the fourth when El Hadj Diouf creates a mess in the Uruguay defence halftime 3:0
2nd half:
final score 3:3
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#34
| Jun 11 0630 GMT
France - Danmark 0:2
France continued their unlucky run in the third group match. Zidane returned to the squad but a lack of fitness was obvious. Still he had a few conspiciousscenes in attack but more often got stripped of the ball by the agressive Danish defending players. Danmark, with very concentrated and defensive work, perfectly captialised from their first clear chance and took lead already midway first half through Rommedahl. This further brought desperation to the French who needed to win by two goal and frustration grew throughout the match with more close misses and two times hitting the goalframe. A foul by Tomasson, not seen by the referee, enabled the danish striker to be alone in front of the goal and decide the match. Though firing one of the highest numbers of shots of all teams of the first round towards the goals of the opponents France became the first title holders to be eliminated without even scoring. |
#35
| Jun 11 1130 GMT
Cameroon - Germany 0:2
1st half: -('1) Cameroon not yet concentrated and Germany with a first half chance -('8) Early harsh yellow cards for Foe and Jancker, obviously referees have been adviced clamp down on tackling -('10) Ballack with a half chance -('12) Cameroon beat the offside trap, it is Olembe against Kahn but like Eto'o against Ireland he cannot beat the keeper - a huge opportunity -'13-'20 A slow game of two opponents fearing to take chances, Cameroon more defensive than Germany -('21) Schneider tries from 50 meters to lob Alioum, but unsuccessful -('24) Accidents can happen and they happen more often in the half where the ball is. Because this is the Cameroonian half suddenly an unintended ball finds Jancker well positioned and Cameroon have a lot of work to prevent the Germans from shooting at the goal -('26)('27) Cameroon: dangerous free kick from the right, Kahn saves with his fists against the body of defender Metzelder and the ball rolls wide by a narrow margin. A sequence of corners and crosses follow, the last has Song free but his header again misses the goal by centimeters -('29) good looking attacks on either side, and hard work for both defences -the referee is as trigger happy as the one in the first match, already 4 yellow cards -('30) Mboma through is stopped by an offside call which looked wrong -('34) The little games: Germans play what has become fashion this World Cup and is known as 'hypocritical fair play': Cameroon play the ball out because a German is injured. Germans play it back out and play pressing on the ensuing throw in, conquer the ball and become very dangerous on the resulting attack (good Alioum dave). Also it can be seen that Ballack successfully tries to provoke Foe (already yellow)who pushes him but without consequences. -('37) fifth yellow card for Ramelow and free kick for Cameroon, 25 meters, but Geremi far wide -('39) Eto'o brakes through on the right hand side, gets fouled by Ramelow, the German sees his second yellow card -('40) the free kick is deflected by the wall -('41) Oliver Kahn tries to provoke Song by jumping against him although the match is interrupted, both see yellow cards number 7 and 8, it remains a secret why Song -('43) Tschato sees yellow for a litlle hand to the shirt, the referee certainly is on the hunt for becoming famous 2nd half:
final score 0:2
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#36
| Jun 11 1130 GMT
Ireland - Saudi Arabia 3:0
The Irish began furiously and took the early lead through Robbie Keane. But in the course of the match Saudi Arabia more and more took over the match and several times came close. But it were the Irish who scored their second goal what clearly brought back some confidence. Eventually it was a big mistake by the Saudi Arabian keeper which decided the match and allowed the third goal. |
day 13
#37
| Jun 12 630 GMT Argentina
- Sweden 1:1 (final score)
Argentina with two thirds ball possession and a constant siege of the Swedish penalty area. Sweden survived inumerous goal scenes of the first half, trying to copy the English second half strategy against the South Americans. One of several free kicks, this one early in second half, beat the Argentinian keeper for the lead for the Skandinavians. Argentina, desperatly seeking two goals, brought in Crespo, Veron and Kily Gonzales for Batistuta and two more defensive players, what not only brought even more pressure but also open spaces for Swedish counter attacks. An Ortega theatre piece brought a penalty, which was saved and finally netted by Crespo, who shoved the loose ball across the line. Allowing the goal was the second mistake of the refereeing team (seemed a well conducted match apart from this): Crespo had already been 5 meters into the penalty are when the penalty was executed. With a few more minutes to go Argentina tried everything but somehow Sweden survived. |
| Obvious the parallels between France, Argentina, and
Cameroon: Producing goals a big problem, strategies leaving them attacking,
shutting down their potential and beating their sometimes unconcentrated
defences by few (counter) attacks successful.
All three had been under pressure against outsiders with nothing to lose (even England did not consider their chances as big and were not frustrated by the draw against Sweden). Adding to it some tough luck and three potential World champions are out early. |
#38
| Jun 12 630 GMT England
- Nigeria 0:0 (final score)
1st half: Nigeria with a very young squad and an inexperienced goalkeeper. But the Africans surprised England with some good attacking scenes, although the English defenders had the final word. It were the more established players like Okocha and Aghahowa who played the most conspicious. England overcareful, but with too much space for Beckham on the right. Enyeama, the new keeper, went for the crosses, but several times failed to reach them (Remember that Shoronmu allowed, or had to allow, a half dozen Argentinian corners to fly to the second goalpost very close to his goal, eventually leading to the Batistuta goal). Enyeama had his best scene when he deflected a shot by Scholes to the goalpost, the biggest chance of the first 45 minutes. 2nd half: England wanted the scoreless draw and got it easily. Nigeria, happy with the 'honorable' draw, going home with one single goal in three matches confirmed their way back to the African modesty of the 80's. |
#39
| Jun 12 1130 GMT
South Africa - Spain 2:3 (final score)
1st half: -('5) A typical coup of African goalkeeping (exempt Cameroon, Senegal)? Arendse, already with problems in the first match, without being under much pressure gifts the ball to Raul who walks it into the goal - 0:1 -the idea that teams with keepers like Arendse and the old overweighted Chilavert, who seems more focussed on scoring a goal at a World Cup than to save his country a clean sheet, could beat Germany with a Kahn in goal seems absurd - at this moment -('10) Sibaya with a long range shot right on Cassilas, a first sign of life by the South Africans -('13) Spain outplay the South African defence but a player can rescue on the line -a fast match of attacking football from both sides -('19) Arendse and a defender go for the same corner kick and the ball falls to the feet of a Spanish player but his attempt is deflected for a another corner -('20) very good looking counter attack by South Africa - Zumas shot is deflected for a corner by Casillas, the Spanish keeper -'21-'27 Arendse seems to have won back confidence and South Africa play a good game. The referee lets it flow, and this makes it good looking even in passages where ball possession changes often -('29) huge save by Arendse against a short range Morientes header -('31) the ball is headed quite high up in the air in the Spanish penalty area and McCarthy in real goalgetter style is there first where it falls down and firses it onto the goal to beat Casillas who touches it but cannot prevent it from clashing into the back of the net - 1:1 -there is quite a lot of space sometimes in midfield And the South Africans and their conspicious midfielder Zuma, who is having a great tournament so far, are making use of it, playing fast combinations (unlike Cameroon yesterday) -but Spain are similarly skillful in this aspect of play and so create dangerous attacking scenarios regularly -('45) free kick from 18 meters: Mendieta sends Arendse into the wrong corner like at a penalty, rather a masterpiece by the midfielder than a mistake by the keeper - 1:2 -no injury time in a fluent match halftime 1:1 2nd half:
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#40
| Jun 12 1130 GMT
Paraguay - Slovenia 3:1
Everything seemed clear after 45 minutes. Slovenia in the lead by an own goal of Chilavert and Paraguay down to 10 men after 22 minutes. And Slovenia with opportunities to decide the match. But then came a substitution: Cuevas, 22, playing for Argentinian champions River Plate, did more than half of the work to turn the match around in miracolous manor with his dribblings and two goals. A sometimes odd looking Paraguay reached the second round by a half goal thanks to those individual highlights of the substitutes: the second Paraguayan goal was also scored by a substitute, Jorge Campos. |
day 14
#41
| Jun 13 0630 GMT
Brasil - Costa Rica 5:2
Entertainment price of the tournament! Costa Rica with a great piece of brave attacking football, beautiful to look at and Brasil with a similar great cynism in scoring beautiful goals (or creating dangerous goal scenes) whenever the open (and fair) Costa Rican style of play allowed them the joy of displaying their magic or even whenever it was necessary to score to prevent the match from a u-turn. Brazil took a 3:0 lead before Costa Rica came close (3:2) and Brazil again decided the match. But all around the goals, there were chances en mass for both sides.. With the same quality in striking, the match might have ended 5:5 or 6:5. Costa Rica always had an eye on the parallel match, so that at some time, a loss with one goal (or depending on a potential Chinese score with two goals) could have been sufficient to advance. They were obviously one of the better teams in the tournament and unlucky to have been drawn into the same group as the later World Champions and Bronze medal winners. |
#42
| Jun 13 0630 GMT
Turkey - China 3:0
Turkey needed not only a win, it was important to win by three goals to be independant from the scoreline of the parallel match - a Brazilian win was necessary nevertheless. They began strong against disappointing Chinese who had their worst start into the match yet. Quickly Turkey scored two logical goals and such gained confidence and supplied pressure on the Costa Ricans in the parallel match. China found better into the match and were unlucky when Chen Yang hit the goalpost and Shao got a harsh red card. Ümit 5 minutes before the end sealed the Turkish progress into the knock out stage and the first victory for the Europeans. |
#43
| Jun 13 1130 GMT
Mexico - Italy 1:1
Mexico were lucky when an early goal by Italy was called offside and then took over the match by monopolising the ball. Almost a minute the ball was passed around before a Blanco cross found Borgetti who beat Buffon with a header against his own move, a great goal. The Mexicans continued their fine display until they started to grow tired towards the end and Italy equalised through substitute Del Piero after 85 minutes. In the remaining minutes Italy, in knowledge of the scoreline in the parallel match, stopped attacking and opted for conserving the score and the second place in the group. Maybe a mistake? |
#44
| Jun 13 1130 GMT Croatia
- Ecuador 0:1
The Croats needed only to win against the World Cup newcomers and two time losers. They continued their generation metamorphosis and began with new hope Olic, leaving out Suker and Prosinecki again for the entire match. But a certain tiredness and helplessness against South American football was evident. The goal was scored by Mendez ('48) Reports speak of 'big problems within the Croatian camp' as the reason for the disappointing failure. Ecuador displayed some decent football but did not look like a potential impact team in this World Cup. |
day 15
#45
| Jun 14 630 GMT Japan
- Tunisia 2:0 (final score)
Before: -The other match has no influence: Only one of these two teams will advance. If Tunisia win by two goals ore more it will be the Africans, otherwise the Japanese 1st half -'1-'15 Tunisia shy, careful, and harmless (or to pur it more positively: beginning with a rather defensive strategy), Japan with attacking football. The referee generous, it would be easier for the players the referees stick to a similar strategy and not change their style every second day -'15-'30 With Tunisia never coming near the goal the Japanese game has won a lot of confidence and the Japanese try several tools to break down the Tunisian wall, but yet without creating clearcut chances. But with the ball exclusively in the Tunisian half, free kicks and goalmouth situations are inevitable. Tunisia are seeking Jaziri with long balls, yet the Japanese are quick enough to keep him from becoming a threat. -('34) Boumnijel saves a 20 meter attempt by Yanagisawa -('37)('38) half chances on both sides with shots far wide from outside the penalty area -('45) it looks like the old Kasperczak tactics: Tunisia defend well and then suddenly become dangerous on a set piece: a corner and Badras header neither going on target nor finding Jaidi at the second goalpost -('45+1) Trabelsi, challenged falls inside the penalty area, but the referee says no penalty halftime 0:0 Tunisia are still two goals away 2nd half -('46) Substitutions on both sides, Inamoto out for Japan who have brought on two new players. Baya has come in for Tunisia. -('48) One of the inumerous balls into the Tunisian penalty area, defended, lands in front of the feet of Morishima who fires it into the net - 1:0 -('49) Without a clearcut chance yet, the Tunisians now will have to score three -('53) Japan with more space now: Morishima with a diving header against the goalpost -'55-'70 Japan with more goal scenes, Boumnijel saves well against a header by Ono -('74) Nakata header after cross from the right - 2:0 -('78) The Tunisians have brought on a striker! They do want to score a goal at last? And Zitouni immediately makes a bycivle kick after a corner, just wide -('82) Zitouni's deflected shot clashes against the crossbar -('85) Ono volleys a rocket, just wide -('90+1) Tunisia: Ben Achour with a superb shot - against the outside of the net final score 2:0 Tunisia did not get what they did not want. This match is the perfect sample what the talk about progressing Africa is really worth: Japan, a nobody 10 years ago, are now a class ahead of the average African World Cup team. The North Africans, without belief, seeming rather looking for a honorable result like Chinese than to take chances for the idea of progressing. |
#46
| Jun 14 0630 GMT
Belgium - Russia 3:2
Belgium needed to win the match and lead by the strong captain Marc Wilmots forced their way into the second round. Russia seemed to make the mistake twice to wait and react instead of acting in a quite good match in which Belgium took an early lead through a Walem free kick. Russia equalised after 52 minutes (Bestschastnich) but again Belgium scored when necessary (Sonck '78, Wilmots '82) before big young hope Sitchew marked the second Russian goal too late ('88). |
#47
| Jun 14 1130 GMT
Korea - Portugal 1:0
Portugal had not learned enough from the USA match and again begain with only 75% steam. The Korean defence had shown punctually weaknesses in the first two matches but the compact midfield of the home team prevented the back players from coming under pressure. A brutal looking challenge by Joao Pinto reduced the Portuguese to ten men early ('27) and the rest of the half was very carefully played by both sides. The Portuguese, aware of the scoreline in the parallel match, tried to get away with a draw and obviously 'offered' the result to the Koreans (though this here means in the way they played, rumours even speak of real oral attempts to persuade the Koreans to a draw) . The Asians who seemed confused over this new approach to the game, now had sequences of passively passing the ball around altering with attacks attempted on the now entirely defensive Europeans. A harsh second yellow card against Beto brought new dramatics into the match, as now it was 11 against 9 and Portugal took off lone attacker Pauleta for tactical reasons. Only a minute later Korea scored when Park seized an unexpected opportunity for a fine display of technical skills in front of the goal. Suddenly Portugal faced elimination and started to attack furiously. Immediately it became visible how easy it had been to put the Korean defence under pressure as the Portuguese even with two men down forced several big chances, including a very unlucky Conceicao shot against the goalpost. On the other side Korea wasted a handful of logical counter opportunities, proving that the strikers not yet have the same qualitiy as their European opponents. Portugal instead of exploiting their huge football potential at this tournament, instead of applying positive pressure on their opponents, tried to sail through the first round without using their strengths, suddenly finding themselves wasting powers on peripheral issues and without top fitness of Figo and health of the Euro 2000 key player Rui Costa, proved a bigger failure than France or Argentina who at least had tried to force their luck for 270 minutes by attacking the opponents goal. |
#48
| Jun 14 1130 GMT
Poland - USA 3:1
Poland: Everything that went wrong before went right here. USA: Everything that went right before went wrong here. Poland who had had a good start into their first match as well before collapsing, took an early 2 goal lead ('3) ('5) and were lucky a 5th minute Donovan goal was ruled foul. USA attacked and were able to force opportunites but not to force goals which suggests that a counter position suits them more. With the lead in the back Poland at least made one good match and the USA were lucky to be able to celebrate the progress to the second round thanks to the result in the other match. |
> knock out matches (matches 49-64)
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