Day 9 got off to a good start with Portugal dashing the hopes of Iran. Goals from Deco in the 62nd minute and Cristiano Ronaldo from the penalty spot in the 78th minute secured Portugal’s passage into the last 16 of the World Cup. This feat, made Ronaldo the youngest ever goalscorer for Portugal at a World Cup finals. The previous record was set by Simoes in 1966 who was 22 years and 217 days old when he scored. With this victory, Portugal have successfully navigated a World Cup group for the first time since 1966 when they finished in third place. Iran have now failed to survive the group stage in all three of their World Cup participations. Meanwhile in another bone crunching encounter, Africa recorded their first win at the Mundial as the Black Stars of Ghana shocked the Czech Republic with goals from Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari. Ghana’s historic win gives them genuine hope of qualifying for the second round. In their final group game they will play the USA, while the Czechs – disappointing today without strikers Jan Koller and Milan Baros – will hope for better in their showdown with Italy in Hamburg. Asamoah Gyan’s opening goal after one minute and eight seconds is the fastest at the 2006 World Cup while his missed penalty marked the first unconverted spot kick at this championship. They(Ghana) became the first of the six debutants in Germany to gain a maximum, the first African nation to win at this tournament and the eighth nation ever from the continent to complete a World Cup victory. In the final game of the night, the Azzurri were held to a one all draw by the USA. AC Milan forward, Alberto Gilardino headed Italy into a 22nd-minute lead but their lead last only five minutes until Christian Zaccardo turned the ball into his own net. That was the end of the scoring but a minute later the Azzurri lost Daniele De Rossi to the first of three red cards. The USA’s Pablo Mastroeni then saw red in the 45th minute and Eddie Pope followed suit two minutes into the second half. The result left both sides in contention before their final games, with Italy top on four points and the USA bottom with one. This was the fourth World Cup match ever to feature three sendings off, and was the first since Denmark lost two players and South Africa one in a group stage encounter in 1998. Daniele de Rossi’s red card was the sixth for an Italian player at the World Cup.
Tags: Ghana, Czech Republic,Italy,
UP GHANA! they tried oh.