June 13: The Daily World Cup Wrap
The big names came out today, with Brazil and France taking their first steps into the 2006 World Cup. Zinedine Zidane began his long goodbye by showing he’s still got the goods, but maybe the rest of his team aren’t on the same wavelength. Thierry Henry battled hard, but really deserved more support from his fellow forwards. Ronaldinho was his usual lively self, and while he didn’t write any headlines he was a constant menace to a solid Croatian back line. The big disappointment was Ronaldo. Maybe it’s the blisters, maybe it’s the fever, maybe it’s the spare tire hidden under his jersey, but he won’t break Gerd Muller’s goal-scoring record unless he moves around a bit.
Daily Wrap Awards:
Top Man: Otto Pfister. Welcome back.
Top Team: Switzerland. Job well done.
Top Goal: Mohamed Kader’s for Togo. Tight angle and all.
Bit of Skill: Dario Simic’s drag back/reverse pass combo. Not bad for a defender.
Saw That Coming: Ronaldo’s laziness. Ask any Madrid fan.
But Not That: Alexander Frei’s attempt to emulate Maradona.
South Korea vs Togo | LiveBlog | South Korea World Cup Gear, Togo World Cup Gear
Korea Republic 2 (Lee 54, Ahn 72)
Togo (Kader 31)
Bouyed by Otto Pfister’s u-turn, unfancied Togo got off to a great start. Mohamed Kader’s first touch took him beyond two Korean defenders, then he struck from a tight angle, rifling the ball just inside the far post. Couldn’t have hit it better myself (obviously). The celebration was just as good, as Kader and team-mates did a sort of “riding miniature horses” dance.
It all went wrong in the 54th minute, when Jean-Paul Abolo earned a second yellow for taking down Park Ji-Sung. From there Korea seized the advantage. Lee Chun Soo got his angles right, bending a vicious free kick around the Togo wall and into the top corner. Ten man Togo attacked again, but Korea always looked the more secure, possibly due to the one man advantage. Ahn Jung Hwan was given too much time and space on the edge of Togo’s box and clalmly dispatched a dipping shot past Agassa to give Korea the win.
Tough break for The Sparrow Hawks, and Emmaneul Adebayor failed to shine. But given the recent madness the team has been through this was an excellent team effort, proving they belong at the tournament. Should be an absolute belter when they go after France.
Video highlights here.
Fan Photos: Korea and Togo fans…
- Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thanks to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
- Head for the South Korea or Togo team pages to discuss this game further.
- Buy World Cup tickets to South Korea and Togo’s next matches.
France vs Switzerland | LiveBlog | France World Cup Gear, Switzerland World Cup Gear
France 0
Switzerland 0
At the final whistle, Glenn Davis of ESPN shouted “and it’s mission accomplished for France!” Not quite Glenn, unless their mission was to stretch the goal drought to four World Cup games.
Led by Zidane, the French prodded and probed a resolute Swiss defence, but couldn’t find a clear opening. France never really put a good move together, and seemed content to give Henry the ball, then stand back and see what he could do with it. Frank Ribery had a great chance to shoot but inexplicably squared it to Thierry Henry, and badly. Henry still managed to get a shot away but it struck defender Patrick Muller’s hand. Handball or ball to hand? The ref said ball to hand, so no penalty, but it could have gone either way. Visit our resident ref for an expert opinion.
Switzerland hit the inside of the post from a Tranquillo Barnetta free kick, and Alexander Frei missed the rebound when it was easier to score. His later Maradona style attempt to score with his hand was equally unsuccessful. It was still off target, and a well earned booking was the result. When Vikash Dhorasoo came on for France, he became the first player of Indian descent to appear in the World Cup. Good knowledge. He nearly wrote headlines with a late shot from the right, but it was just wide.
Fair result in the end. France will have to refine their plan of attack (David Trezeguet wore a frustrated look on the bench) but it could have been worse, while the Swiss will be happy with a well-earned point.
Video highlights here.
Fan Photo: Flying the flag for France…
- Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thanks to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
- Visit the France or Switzerland team pages to discuss this game.
- Buy World Cup tickets to France and Switzerland’s next matches.
Brazil vs Croatia | LiveBlog | Brazil World Cup Gear, Croatia World Cup Gear
Brazil 1 (Kaka 44)
Croatia 0
Not the gravity defying performance that six months worth of Joga Bonito commercials would have you expecting, but the hype isn’t Brazil’s fault (it’s mostly Nike’s). The Seleção still claimed 3 points through Kaka’s beautiful curling shot though.
As predicted, Croatia were very well organised defensively and not too shabby going forward either, forcing more than one save from Dida. Brazil couldn’t really break through to create a clear chance and a draw would certainly have been fair, but Kaka’s moment of magic was the difference.
Bad day for Ronaldo, he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Or maybe in his belly. Either way, he barely moved, and the most running he did was when he came off, replaced by the more lively Robinho.
Video highlights here.
Fan Photos: Brazil and Croatia fans combined to create a colourful atmosphere…
Fan Video: Beating the drum for Brazil…
- Follow the links for more World Cup Blog photos and video, or submit your own to enter our photo and video contest. Thanks to Umbro and Subside Sports for providing the prizes.
- Head for the Brazil or Croatia pages to discuss this game.
- Buy World Cup tickets to Brazil and Croatia’s next matches.
Have a look what today’s results have done to the group tables.
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Comments
By Luis | June 14th, 2006 at 1:00 am 
ESPN coverage sucks. You can’t see the game behind all the graphics.
Posted from 
United States
By Trent | June 14th, 2006 at 1:07 am Kader’s goal was schaweet. He cut his own angle to almost nothing, and then knifed it into the opposite corner. One of the best two or three goals so far. Class.
By Keyser | June 14th, 2006 at 1:10 am Ronaldo was nailed to the floor.
I wonder if he has his own frigo bar in the bench. Playing like this he is going to stay there for a while, so he may fill it with goodies.
By Mcthingy2 | June 14th, 2006 at 1:41 am Ronaldo was pathetic. Togo were great until they got their guy sent off………stupid stupid stupid.
Posted from United States
By ranjit | June 14th, 2006 at 2:39 am espn coverage has sucked over 3 world cups. these morons haven’t realized that we can actually see what’s going on, and we don’t need a play by play. they also try and sell us the game while we’re watching it, as if their ridiculous enthusiasm will bring the network a few extra bucks.
then, there are always those mindless baseball and football analogies. when a long range free kick curls over the bar, some espn idiot yells: freddie brown from downtown!!!
what’s the alternative? pray for tommy smythe. if you don’t hear him, switch to the spanish language broadcast and turn the sound down low. these guys are better, but they talk and shout a lot. let’s have a mass exodus from espn, else they’ll never learn! i urge every person pissed at their graphics and commentary to submit an ultimatum to the network via this site. or write them directly.
Posted from United States
By Lympadora | June 14th, 2006 at 3:10 am Togo’s failure:
‘Tactical naivety, weak goalkeeping poor home pitches, internal strife, individualism, lack of confidence and even an inferiority complex have all been put forward as explanations’
Posted from 
New Zealand
By bill | June 14th, 2006 at 4:08 am france and brazil didn’t play their best football yesterday.the best game yesterday was togo against korea.france just couldn’t score.the swiss was just too stubborn.
Posted from 
Taiwan
By diego | June 14th, 2006 at 4:54 am Julie Foudy is the only half brigth spot on the entire ESPN/ABC team. At least she is articulate, relatively informed and seems to care enough to have done her homework. Unluckily for me, I speak fluent spanish and can tell you that even though it might sound good at low volume, the Univision commentary leaves much to be desired - which peeves me off even more because you would expect these guys to know better. At this point, even the audio feed on the chinese TV webstreams is beggining to sound like a more appealing alternative. AGHHHH!!!
I’m seriously hoping that 4 years from now we’ll have a full array blogs like these offering audio/video webstreams of every game.
Posted from United States
By zé | June 14th, 2006 at 5:26 am ESPN (in Brazil at least) is pretty good. I watch them all the time for the Spanish and Italian leagues. I guess it’s something with ESPN USA.
Posted from 
Brazil
By Philip | June 14th, 2006 at 5:57 am Zé (and everyone),
It probably has more to do with the American soccer announcers, and with what ESPN erroneously thinks American soccer fans expect. I would guess that in Brazil they hire Brazilian announcers who have a resume of doing broadcasts for other Brazilian networks, right?
80% of the problem is that they they think they’re broadcasting to absolute neophytes with no knowledge whatsoever of the game. While this is arguably true of the WC in the US, in any other sport there’s an expectation that new people watch long enough to pick up the rules. For example, the Super Bowl attracts many once-a-year fans, but they don’t explain the much more complex rules of American football while the game is going on.
Another 18% (90% of 20% :)) is that US announcers think their job is to create something worth listening to, rather than to stay out of the way. My favorite announcers, for soccer or anything else, take one word to tell you who has the ball. Then they shut up and let the crowd create the background noise. US soccer announcers seem to understand this less than anyone!
I was enjoying the Chinese TV of the Brazil match today. Even though I didn’t understand the commentary, most of the time the guy just took one word to tell us who had the ball!
By FIFAworldcup.com - The Un Official Site of Fifa World Cup 2006 | June 14th, 2006 at 6:42 am Video: France vs Switzerland
Date Played: June 13, 2006 (Group Stage)
Below is a video of the FIFA World Cup 2006 game between France vs Switzerland. There were to many missed opportunities for France to score but could not convert any goal. Switzerland also had it’s chan…
Posted from United States
By Harsha | June 14th, 2006 at 11:35 am ESPN, India is ok…. decent coverage.. commentary is also ok along with the previews and post game reviews…
The only thing i dont like is the ‘Duniya Goal hai’… both the guys are already stupid and they continue embarass themselves even further.. nothing short of a monkey show !
Posted from 
India
By Observer | June 15th, 2006 at 12:15 pm Well, there we are as we saw Angela Merkel jump up and down with joy like a little daft Girl as cheating refree helps German through to 2nd round :))
It is shame to see Merkel involved with match fixing 
Posted from 
United Kingdom
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