June 12: The Daily World Cup Wrap
Not a good day for Bruce Arena. He picked Australia as one of the two weakest sides in the competition when the groups were drawn, incurring endless (though slightly disproportionate) wrath from down under. Today’s results will give the Aussie press ample opportunity to rub Arena’s face in it. His other pick was Trinidad & Tobago, which has proved equally wrong. Weakest team of the tournamnet so far, both results and performance wise is Arena’s USA team. He came into this tournament with a growing reputation but - unless he masterminds a dramatic turnaround - could leave with it in tatters.
Daily Wrap Awards:
Top Man: Tim Cahill. Best substitute ever.
Top Team: Czech Republic. Looked mighty impressive.
Top Goal: Tomas Rosicky’s first for Czech Republic. Woosh.
Bit of Skill: Mark Viduka’s back heel to Marco Bresciano. Silky.
Saw That Coming: Italians unaffected by scandal. Used to it?
But Not That: USA’s surrender. Whither patriotism?
(feel free to disagree with and/or debate these)
Australia vs Japan | LiveBlog
Australia 3 (Cahill 84, 89, Aloisi 92)
Japan 1 (Nakamure 26)
Easily the big story of the day, the Socceroos scored three goals in the last ten minutes to overturn Japan. There was some debate around Japan’s opener (visit our referee blog for an expert opinion), Nakamura’s free kick floating straight in while Schwarzer was tangled up with Japanses players. The ref saw nothing wrong, but Guus Hiddink did and looked ready to punch his way through officials until he found one that agreed with him.
Instead, Hiddink brought Tim Cahill (who nearly missed the tournamet through injury) off the bench. Cahill pounced on a loose ball to score Australia’s first ever World Cup goal and level the match, then lashed home a great shot to score their second ever, five minutes later. John Aloisi skipped through Japanese defenders to add a late third.
Japan played some tidy passing football without going for Australia’s jugular, and will regret not pressing home their fortunate advantage. Should be the start of a long running Asian Football Confederation rivalry, and maybe a fairytale World Cup for the Aussies.
Highlights here.
Fan Photos: Australia fans- what a difference three goals in ten minutes can make…
Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thank-you to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
Did we get it Right? The WCB prediction panel was evenly split. Two of our five Nostradamus wannabes picked the Aussies to win, two picked the men from Nippon and one foresaw a draw. None of them got the correct score though.
Want to discuss today’s games? Go celebrate on the Australia page, or ponder what might have been on the Japan page.
USA vs Czech Republic | LiveBlog
USA 0
Czech Republic 3 (Koller 5, Rosicky 36, 76)
The anticipated Koller vs Onyewu clash of the titans never happened, as Koller cleverly focused on the slightly smaller (though not exactly tiny) Eddie Pope. Jan Koller left the game on a stretcher before half time, but had headed the Czech Republic into an early lead. His replacement Lokvenc wasn’t nearly as effective, but who needs strikers when you’ve got Tomas Rosicky? From about 30 yards out the new Arsenal signing sent the Teamgesit ball beyond Kasey Keller and into the top corner, then later received a perfect pass from Nedved and beat Keller with a flick.
USA will wonder what happened. They were disorganized and nervous even before Koller scored. Eddie Lewis and DaMarcus Beasley couldn’t have trapped a bag of cement, never mind a football. Eddie Johnson provided a spark from the bench but it was far too little, far too late.
One bright spot for FIFA. The 2nd ranked team in the world were 3 goals better than the 5th ranked team, proving that the FIFA World Rankings are an exact science after all, and can be used to predict results. That is how it works isn’t it? If so, the 5th ranked US team should bounce back on Saturday by beating 13th ranked Italy 8-0.
If you’re a Czech Republic fan, click here for highlights. Not recommended for USA fans.
Fan Photos: Czech fans heading for victory, USA fans heading for defeat…
But at least they all got along…
Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thank-you to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
Did we get it Right? Nick and Bob predicted a Czech win, but not such a convincing margin. Sean went for a draw, while Chris and Peter were expecting a US victory.
Want to discuss this game further? Head to the Group E topping Czech Republic page or the Group E basement dwelling USA page.
Italy vs Ghana | LiveBlog
Italy 2 (Pirlo 40, Iaquinta 83)
Ghana 0
Italy went some way towards lifting the gloom of the Moggi match fixing scandal by defeating a lively Ghanaian team, but it didn’t come easily. Some unorthodox work from keeper Richard Kingston kept the Italians at bay until nearly half time, but Andrea Pirlo’s shot beat him, possibly taking a deflection on the way. Ghana had threatened, with Michael Essien looking more like the unstoppable midfielder who starred for Lyon in 2005 than the subdued, sometimes clumsy one who meandered through the 2006 season at Chelsea.
Luca Toni struck the bar with an impressive volley on the run, and Essien tested Buffon with a volley from outside the box. Ghana looked more than capable of pulling things level, and were denied what looked like a penalty when Asamoah Guan was chopped down in the box with ten minutes to go. Ghana were still seething over the injustice when a sloppy mistake from Samuel Kuffour surrendered possession cheaply, allowing Vincenczo Iaquinta to round Kingston and seal the win.
For an expert view on the penalty that never was, visit World Cup Blog’s resident referee.
Highlights here.
Fan Photo: Italy and Ghana fans…
Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thank-you to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
Did we get it Right? No. Again. That’s two days in a row without a single correct prediction. Perhaps the WCB prediction panel should join Bruce Arena in a tactical rethink.
To discuss this game further head over to the Italy and Ghana team pages.
See what today’s results have done to the group tables.
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Comments
By Ali Siddiqui | June 13th, 2006 at 1:09 am 
I really thought Japan would pull through against Australia. After witnessing their playing in 2002 I was amazed and thought they would really be big contenders for the WC. I guess that’s not true anymore. 
Posted from 
Canada
By owen | June 13th, 2006 at 1:43 am Best bit of skill I saw was actually Michael Essien slaloming down the right hand touchline right by three Italian tackles - not quite like they weren’t even there but almost - but even he couldn’t unlock a really tough Italian defence
but all your other commments are spot on
Posted from 
United States
By ken | June 13th, 2006 at 3:01 am i thought japan were extremely unlucky. the euphoria of 3 points seems to have gone to ozzie heads. i’m a neutral, and to me the japanese played with much better technique, showed better movement off the ball (especially when attacking) - the keeper made some good saves but nothing special and his moment of madness at the corner really cost them the game. well done australia, but don’t go crazy - for 85 minutes that was long-ball, huff-and-puff stuff. cahill was great - quick and direct as ever.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By gabriel | June 13th, 2006 at 3:19 am For something completely different since I don’t really know where to post this. Bob was asking for German lessons yesterday so he could understand the commentators better. I found this http://www.vimeo.com/clip:79148 excellent video (only 3 minutes long) somebody made that might help (or at least amuse) him and others.
Also meditate on the German philosophy of soccer in the first six phrases taught and you might reach enlightenment. (interpretation or additional tidbits upon request)
Posted from United States
By VooDoo | June 13th, 2006 at 3:19 am Magic is all over the World Cup 2006!
Because of some strangeness in game results - this site becomes more and more famous http://www.voodoo4football.com
Is it possible - that synchronous desire of a lot of fans concentrates and affects on the results of the football game?
Posted from 
Ukraine
By Nicolas | June 13th, 2006 at 4:43 am I’m a neutral too…but watched the game with ozzies..and i disagree..i thought they were the better team and deserved the win
…of cause Japan will always (or at least as the teams currently stand)..look better interms of movement (this is their strength)…that and their passing game etc… but i thought the ozzies dominated the match begining to end…this is shown in the possession and shots on goal etc…plus Japan’s goal was i think probably a foul (the ref has apparently said as much and appologised to them)
Plus i think this is a real positive step for them… and considering how well they perform in other sports despite their tiny population…i can’t see why they couldnt eventually become a credible footballing nation….so i think we are being too unfair on them
…i still dont see them progressing out of their group but i also wouldnt be speachless if they did….Hiddink is clealy something special… and they have shown they can score goals…where they’re sloppy is defence…whilst they dominated the game and possesssion…whenever japan got the ball they looked realy dangerous…
(but yes this is all pretty unlikely) but i think its unfiar to cheepen their win by calling them lucky etc
I dont think they’re getting too carried away… you just have to consider how long it has been since they qualified for the finals..and how many times they’ve only just missed out (Iran, Uraguay etc) so it think they’re reaction understandable…why put them down now?? let them have their moment? They went out, were the better team and finally got their just deserts.
good luck to them
Posted from 
Australia
By Paul | June 13th, 2006 at 4:59 am Well Ali - I guess not! I must admit, being an Aussie I had my fingers crossed, and was nearly admitting defeat at the 80 minute mark. However, it’s great to see the legendary “Never Say Die” Australian spirit come to life. Soccer has always been the underdog sport here, so this World Cup Campaign may finally put us on the map. This podcast is worth a listen to get the Australian perspective on the win: http://www.freedigitalcontent.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=129 . Go the Socceroos!!
Posted from Australia
By elAdi | June 13th, 2006 at 6:11 am Yeah, Paul, I think this actually supports ken’s theory. I watched it with Aussies as well, and everyone had given it up at 80 minutes. You only give a game up, when you think you can’t score. And appart from the first 5 minutes, they never really looked like they’d score. Considering the Japanese goal was a foul, I thought 1-1 would have been a fair result. 3-1 for the Roos was way too much.
Go Czech Republic! We want a new World Champion!!!
Posted from Australia
By FIFAworldcup.com - The Un Official Site of Fifa World Cup 2006 | June 13th, 2006 at 7:50 am Video: Australia vs Japan
Date Played: June 12, 2006 (Group Stage)
Below is a video of the FIFA World Cup 2006 game between Australia vs Japan where the Socceroos made an amazing comeback down 0-1 early in the game up to the last 10 minutes of the match.
Anyways, after …
Posted from United States
By Ali Siddiqui | June 13th, 2006 at 8:22 am Well Paul, congrats to the Socceroos! That podcast was interesting to hear good see the Aussie side of things. I was really rooting for Japan…of course I was asleep and missed the games! 
But still good to see the Australian underdogs pulling through and from what I saw in the highlights I was impressed by the last two goals almost back to back! Congrats Australia!!
Posted from Canada
By Dave Hamilton | June 13th, 2006 at 1:26 pm USA is far worse than I thought. Arena is toast after this Cup.
Socceroos bring enthusiasm and nay-say-die attitude.
Italians have a HORSE in Toni and appear to be as good as I called.
Ghana played very well, but needs one genuine forward who can attack with regularity. All African teams have looked better than ever before at a Cup so far. A tribute to the coaching.
Posted from United States
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