World Cup Blog

Yesterday saw the appearance of two of the tournament's big guns, but all in all they were largely disappointing outings for both teams.

France extended their barron spell in front of goal, drawing 0-0 with Switzerland with a performance that fell on the wrong side of dire. Henry was isolated up front, Zidane was bickering with his own team and it was only the inability of the Swiss to take their numerous chances in front of goal which saved France from defeat. Incidentally, it was the first time the Swiss have ever kept a clean sheet in the World Cup. That's how bad the French were.

Meanwhile in Berlin, Brazil scraped a 1-0 win over Croatia thanks to a sublime curling shot from Kaka but they were far from convincing.

Ronaldo was largely anonymous throughout and was finally put out of his misery in the 69th minute when he was substituted for Robinho, 10 minutes after his first shot.

If Croatia had been more convincig in front of goal, it could have been a different story entirely...

In Frankfurt South Korea came from behind to beat 10 man Togo 2-1. Despite not knowing who their manager would be when they started the match and being in the midst of a wage dispute Togo posed a threat, even after Jean-Paul Yaovi Abalo Dosseh was sent off after bringing down Park Ji-Sung.

Today sees Germany face Poland in what promises to be a tense match, and the first games of Group H played.

Wednesday, 14 June 2006

Germany v Poland, 20:00

Spain v Ukraine, 14:00

Tunisia v Saudi Arabia, 17:00