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What’s the biggest threat at the World Cup? Ronaldinho’s magical feet, Beckham’s free-kicks or Henry’s dazzling runs? Ask any goalkeeper in Germany and they are minor irritations compared to those being caused by the Teamgeist ball and its revolutionary design has some of the world’s best ‘keepers bamboozled.
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A first-half moment of magic by AC Milan star Kaka gave defending champions Brazil a 1-0 win over Croatia in their opening World Cup Group F match at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Tuesday. Kaka ended a frustrating opening period for the five-times winners when he sent a curling left foot drive zipping past helpless ‘keeper Stipe Pletikosa four minutes before the break.
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France and Switzerland opened their World Cup campaigns with a goalless draw high on endeavour but short on flair on Tuesday. France, the 1998 champions, were out to erase the nightmare they endured at the last World Cup when they never recovered from a first-match defeat to Senegal.
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Ahn Jung-Hwan scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute on Tuesday to give South Korea a 2-1 win over Togo and their first World Cup victory away from home. Ahn, who also scored the winner against Italy four years ago to send the Koreans into the World Cup semifinals, sent a 25m shot past Togo goalkeeper Kossi Agassa.
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Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe will be given a warning about smoking on the touchlines at the World Cup after he lit up during the 3-1 victory over Iran, world soccer governing body Fifa said on Tuesday. Fifa officials spotted Lavolpe smoking when they reviewed the videotape of Sunday’s match in Nuremberg.
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The superstars of Brazil were set to burst on to the World Cup stage on Tuesday as the reigning champions start their bid for a sixth title when they play Croatia in the German capital. The team, spearheaded by Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, are the hot favourites to retain the title they won four years ago in Japan.
A German gentleman criminal who vanished with his employer’s truck full of money and enjoyed a spendthrift life at a beachside home in South Africa was sent to jail on Monday for 46 months for theft. Goetz Decker (47) was nabbed after he bragged to German television and a newspaper about his lifestyle and girlfriends.
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Italy’s ”danger man” came through for the Azzurri. Andrea Pirlo, a player identified by Ghana as someone it needed to stop, scored in the 40th minute on Monday, and Vincenzo Iaquinta added a goal in the 83rd to give Italy a 2-0 win over Ghana in Group E at the World Cup.
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Jan Koller scored early, and Tomas Rosicky added two more goals on Monday to lead the Czech Republic to a 3-0 win over the United States in Group E of the World Cup. ”They punished us for every mistake we made,” US coach Bruce Arena said.
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Mexico scored twice in three second-half minutes to beat Iran 3-1 on Sunday and give a massive boost to their bid to go past the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time. The world number four and Group D seeds were held at 1-1 for 40 minutes by a battling Iran before Omar Bravo broke the deadlock with his second of the match.
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Arjen Robben powered the Netherlands to a vital 1-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro in their first World Cup Group C game on Sunday. With Argentina beating the Ivory Coast 2-1 on Saturday, this was a must-win match for the Dutch in the tournament’s ”group of death”, and an irrepressible Robben ensured just that.
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Argentina took a huge step towards securing a berth in the second round of the World Cup finals by beating an unlucky Côte d’Ivoire 2-1, although the African Natons Cup finalists threatened the two-time winners at the end. The Ivorians, spearheaded by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, repeatedly and clearly troubled the South American defence.
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Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, who was called into the team at the last minute, pulled off a string of fine saves to give 10-man Trinidad and Tobago a 0-0 draw with Sweden on their World Cup finals debut on Saturday. The 37-year-old West Ham keeper replaced Kelvin Jack, who injured his knee in the warm-up, and he proved to be the star of the show.
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England launched their bid to win the World Cup for the first time in 40 years with a 1-0 victory over Paraguay in a scrappy Group B encounter on Saturday. A headed own goal after only four minutes from Paraguay captain Carlos Gamarra settled the encounter, but it was far from the convincing display that England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson had been hoping for.
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Togo coach Otto Pfister has left the World Cup and has been replaced until further notice by his former assistant Kodjovi Mawuena, Togo team official Messan Attolou told Agence France-Presse on Saturday. ”Otto Pfister has left for Switzerland and his assistant Piet Hamberg has also left the team,” Attolou said.
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Ecuador began their World Cup campaign with a precious 2-0 win over Group A rivals Poland on Friday. Carlos Tenorio broke the deadlock in the 24th minute with a stooping header and Agustin Delgado made the points safe with a simple tap-in 10 minutes from time. Poland enjoyed plenty of possession but were short on ideas in the final third of the pitch.
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An army of police and stadium guards met tens of thousands of partying soccer fans at the World Cup’s opening games on Friday — and aside from a handful of arrests the biggest problem was long lines caused by tight security. Officers on horseback patrolled outside the stadium where Germany played Costa Rica.
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Germany got the win they wanted at the start of the World Cup. The hosts beat Costa Rica 4-2 on Friday in the opening match of the tournament, hoping to inspire enough confidence in the team for the rest of the World Cup. Striker Miroslav Klose celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring two goals.
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The 2006 World Cup officially began on Friday, kicked off by a colourful ceremony celebrating football lore and the 32 nations taking part in the globe’s biggest single sporting event. From a stage at Munich’s dazzling new stadium, German President Horst Koehler declared the start of the championship’s 18th edition since 1930.
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Under-pressure Brazil striker Ronaldo on Friday called on the media to stop harping on about his weight and called on reporters to show him more respect. ”The issue of my weight does not interest anyone; it’s just ridiculous,” the 2002 World Cup winner snapped.
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Hours to go before the World Cup started on Friday, the streets of Munich were alive with exuberant fans singing, showing their colours and waiting for the whistle to blow as hosts Germany meet Costa Rica in the curtain-raiser. A giant screen set up by German public television station ZDF in Munich’s central Marienplatz counted down the seconds.
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Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago kick off their World Cup campaigns on Saturday with both teams pinning their hopes on two 34-year-olds looking to shine once more in the twilight of their careers. The Swedes, tipped to qualify alongside England from Group B, will be buoyed by the evergreen Henrik Larsson.
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Germany captain Michael Ballack believes he has recovered from injury and disagrees with coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision to rest him for the opening game of the World Cup against Costa Rica on Friday, a report said. ”I have had intensive treatment. I feel fit and I’m not feeling pain any more. I want to play,” Ballack told Friday’s Bild newspaper.
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United States midfielder DaMarcus Beasley has heard the ugly words, vicious taunts screamed by fans in The Netherlands simply because he is black. Cameroon’s brilliant Samuel Eto’o was so sickened by insults hurled his way that he threatened to walk off the field.
Berlin has, after more than 60 years, reversed a policy of concealing the location of the bunker where Adolf Hitler shot himself in the final days of World War II. A large information panel was erected on Thursday near Wilhelmstrasse, above the underground labyrinth where Hitler married Eva Braun hours before committing suicide with her on April 30 1945.
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Injured England midfielder Steven Gerrard has emerged as a fitness concern for Saturday’s World Cup opener against Paraguay, describing himself as only ”50-50” for the match. The in-form Liverpool star has been forced to sit out training over the past two days after complaining of a sore back caused by a bang on the hip.
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A smiling Wayne Rooney resumed training at England’s base camp in southern Germany on Thursday, giving the side a huge boost ahead of their World Cup campaign. The 20-year-old striker was put through his paces with his teammates and showed no ill effects in his first run-out since jetting being given the green light to play in the World Cup.
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Germany captain Michael Ballack has lost his battle to be fit for Friday’s World Cup opener against Costa Rica, manager Jurgen Klinsmann said on Thursday. Ballack was forced to pull out of Wednesday’s training with his calf injury still troubling him and Klinsmann said his star midfielder would not be available in Munich.
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Three English football hooligans have been refused entry to Germany as they attempted to cross into the country through the Czech Republic ahead of the World Cup, German police said on Wednesday. They had chosen an indirect route into Germany in order to escape detection, said a spokesperson for the German border police in Sankt Augustin near Bonn.
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Portugal’s World Cup rivals will be making a huge mistake if they write off Luis Figo as a has-been, teammate Simao Sabrosa said on Wednesday. Figo is now 34 and has been widely written off despite a glittering club career with the likes of Sporting Lisbon, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
European leaders stepped up the pressure on Tuesday on shareholders in Paris-based stock market operator Euronext to agree to merge with Frankfurt’s Deutsche Boerse. Last week the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext signed off on a -billion merger paving the way for the first trans-Atlantic stock market.
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For the first time in 32 years, the defending champions will not open the World Cup and, for that, Brazil must be truly grateful. Down the years, reputations of the mighty have been shattered when the first exchanges take place in the four-yearly tournament with memories still fresh of Cameroon’s win over Argentina in 1990.