Posted on 06/18/2006 5:46:50 AM PDT by soccer_maniac
Sunday games in the 2006 FIFA World Cup will kick off at 9 a.m. ET (ABC) in Nuremburg with a meeting between the only two winless teams in Group F, Japan and Croatia. They will face each other knowing that a defeat will put an end to their World Cup adventures.
In their opening match against Australia, the Japanese could not maintain a 1-0 lead and they were scored on three times in the last 15 minutes. Croatia's debut was not any better, as Brazil's Kaka scored to give the South Americans a 1-0 win over the Europeans.
In Sunday's other Group F match in Munich (11:30 a.m. ET, ABC), Brazil will continue the defense of its title in facing Australia, which enters the game with high hopes after earning its first ever victory by defeating Japan 3-1. In that game, Tim Cahill became a 'Socceroo' hero when he scored two goals after coming off the bench.
Leipzig will be the stage of Sunday's only game in Group G, pitting 1998 champions France against the Republic of Korea (2:30 p.m., ABC), with the pressure of improving on their first game in which they could only muster a scoreless tie against Switzerland.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlsnet.com ...
This scoreline's a complete travesty now, very unlucky Australia.
Well, Cheese eating surrender monkeys vs S. Korea up next. I am rooting for the Koreans. France has not scored a goal in their last 4 world cup matches. Kind of silly with Henry, Trezeguet, Zidane, Saha etc in their line-up. They have really underperformed since 1998 when they upset Brazil.
Arena says Referees Harsh and Inconsistent:
http://worldcup.reuters.co.uk/home/news/usnL18400399.html
"As one example, a Brazilian player fouled another player 20 yards from the goal in their first game. No card. A U.S. player probably would have to serve six months of hard labour for that."
Arena heaps Praise on Warrior McBride:
http://worldcup.reuters.co.uk/home/news/usnL18050658.html
Who keeps adding those stpid keywords at the beginning of the thread?
What kind of Brazilian name is Fred?
Both Brazilian goals were due to horrible defending by the Aussies -- leaving a man completely unmarked on the left side of the 18-year box.
Brazil won because they took advantage of two Australian mistakes. Australia lost because they could not take advantage of their great chances to score.
Australia now has to beat Croatia and that's no easy task. Japan needs to win against Brazil -- good luck with that.
Croatia only has one point, Australia has three, so the Aussies only need a draw to qualify (barring the unlikely event of Japan thrashing Brazil...)
I'm rooting for the Koreans also. Much like Brazil, France have the look of a team living off past glories.
English and Australians are both a bunch of snivelers.
That is nice Thanks
40 minutes till the next French humiliation.
I love the World Cup. :)
Yeah -- brain fart on that. Thought one thing and typed another.
" And losing against the Argies is like swallowing poison to the English."
I'm not still bitter about Maradona punching the ball into the net in 1986, honest! ;)
20 minutes till the next French humiliation.
The owners of one of the local businesses in my neighborhood will be out of control. I went in there the other day and they had the T-shirts on and were telling me how nuts everyone was going in Korea. They couldn't get the smiles off their faces.
S. Korea is the only asian team of note. Japan is OK, but the rest of the pool is pretty lame.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.