Football is not always what it seems, today’s events have been tremendous with Mohamed Kader of Togo scoring a terrific goal for Togo in their encounter today.Football never obeys a logical script, however, and Togo took the lead with a goal of some quality but did not hold on to their lead, due to the loss of their Captain ‘Jean-Paul Abalo’ who was given the marching orders in the first half of the match. This reduced the ferocity by which the Togolese played the Koreans and thus surrendered the match to South Korea who capitalised on this show of weakness and put in two goals to humble Togo. A late attempt by Adebayor did not even help this floored team.Therefore Togo lost 2-1 to a South korean side.
France were humiliating in their draw encounter with Switzerland. France were tipped to pull surprises in this World Cup or at least, win all their first round matches convincinly which they never achieved in the last World Cup. This stage is Zidane’s farewell to a game he has graced with utmost skill and finesse. Of those lining up to assume the great man’s mantle, Franck Ribery has pressed his claims more than ever over the past season. This was his first start for the national team and for the first 15 or 20 minutes he buzzed dangerously before the heat of mid-afternoon applied a brake to his endeavours. Todays match with Switzerland was not the first time for France as, they had met Switzerland home and away in the qualifying campaign and both those games had ended as ties: 1-1 in Berne, 0-0 in Paris.
Brazil had a good reason to smile today with a narrowly conceived victory against Croatia. Brazil’s winning run now stands at eight victories. It began all the way back in Ulsan 1,471 days ago with a 2-1 success over Turkey and tonight in Berlin it reached a special milestone with today’s victory. No team in the history of the FIFA World Cup has put together such a long, victorious streak as Brazil. It was not the stuff from which legends have been constructed but it was enough and the winning goal from Kaka a minute before the break was a collector’s item. There were too many Croatian chances in the second half for this to be a concern-free zone for coach ‘Carlos Alberto Parreira’ and his team. Three times those wonderfully vivid tablecloth shirts were in position to score; three times they could do no more than aim the ball down Dida’s throat. But sadly, the score remained the way it was to be.
Tomorrow kicks off with Spain facing Ukraine, Tunisa sparring off with Saudi Arabia and the gracious host country, Germany meeting Poland.
Source: FIFA
Tags: Football, Soccer, Germany, Berlin, World Cup,
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