Group C




Argentina 2 Ivory Coast 1

Argentina were expecting the Ivorians to be a tough bunch, I think that the Ivorians underestimated Argentina and it was to their own detriment. The first game of this tough group really lived up to expectations and we saw both teams play open and entertaining soccer.

Argentina were unfortunate to have had a goal disallowed early on but came back with two good goals from Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola, the second one was well worked and caught Ivory Coast off their guard. The Ivorians must be credited for fighting back and were probably unlucky not to have got more out of this game.

Holland 1 Serbia and Motenegro 0

The Dutch would probably count themselves unlucky not to have perhaps got another goal or so, they should be pleased with the result and will be looking to confirm their spot in the next round when they face Ivory Coast on Friday. Serbia were a shadow of the team they were in qualifying and did not play up to expectation - they can’t complain with the results and could well be eliminated in the next game against Argentina.

Group D




Mexico 3 Iran 1

The Mexican’s played some real fluent football at times and really put Iran under the knife for vast periods during the game - there were periods when Iran clawed their back in and gave Mexico a scare when they pulled the scores level at 1-1.

Iran then let themselves down with some armature mistakes in the second half and has only themselves to blame for Mexico’s second goal as the goalkeeper and defender made elementary mistakes.

One cannot have such lapses of concentration and gift the opposition the ball in dangerous areas as the Iranians did. They paid the price of their mistakes.

Angola 0 Portugal 1

The early indications in this match were that it was going to be an easy match - in actual fact it was the exact opposite. After having an early scoring opportunity and then taking the lead early on - Portugal must have thought that a hiding was on the cards.

In fact it was just the opposite as Angola came into the game gradually and carved out some neat opportunities for themselves. They can be really happy with the way they played in their first ever match at a FIFA World Cup and have a lot to build on for their remaining games against Iran and Mexico.

Preview of Monday’s games




Group E

Ghana Vs Italy


FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hanover


Kick Off 21h00


12-06-06

Three times World Champions Italy under the guidance ship of Marcello Lippi will be looking to put behind them the disappointment from Korea/Japan four years ago, as well as their early exit from Euro 2004 in Portugal two years ago.

As they go in search of their fourth World Title, the Italians have a strong, youthful and highly experienced team and will be looking to the likes of Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero and the prolific goal scoring talents of Luca Toni to bring them success.

Marcello Lippi has transformed the Italians way of thinking from more defensive minded combinations to much more attacking orientated styles of play, which has seen the Azzuri go unbeaten for seventeen games.

Ghana on the other hand come into the game as FIFA World Cup rookies but do possess in their team a number of players with vast experience the likes of Chelsea’s Michael Essien could turn the tide their way.

Their goalkeeper Sammy Ajei with defensive kingpin Sammy Kuffor who plays his club football in Italy, holding the key towards keeping things tight at the back. Kuffor incidentally has a wager on this game with Roma team mate Francesco Totti who he will be hoping to keep at bay this evening.

It will be an interesting game I feel given Ghana’s lack of World Cup experience Italy will probably win this one but it won’t be easy.

Czech Republic Vs USA


FIFA World Cup Stadium, Gelsenkirchen


Kick Off 18h00


12-06-06

When these two teams met sixteen years ago at Italia 90, the Czechs playing at the time as Czechoslovakia triumphed 5-1 and eventually made it to the ¼ Finals where eventual winners Germany knocked them out.

Since then the USA have grown from strength to strength and made the ¼ Finals four years ago narrowly losing to Germany They also have made it to every FIFA World Cup since Italia 90.

For the highly talented Czech team this is their first FIFA World Cup outing since then and have a lot of pressure placed in them after narrowly missing out on glory at Euro 2004.

For the likes of European Player of the year Pavel Nedved, AC Milan defender Miroslav Jankulovski and goalkeeper Petr Cech they are aware that they will play important roles if the Czech’s are to go far.

At EUR0 2004 they played highly entertaining non stop football and they will need to produce that same kind of form this time around if they want to be billed as one of the favourites.

The USA also possess a squad of star quality and will obviously look towards Landon Donovan, the former Bayer Leverkusen player as well as PSV Eindhoven’s DeMarcus Beasely for inspiration.

The USA are vastly improved side and currently deserve their 5th place ranking in the FIFA World Rankings, it definitely won’t be as easy for the Czech’s as it was in Italy sixteen years ago I think this game will be a draw.