Day 5 of the World Cup

A new day, and three new matches. One of today's matches, out of Group F, is one of the most highly anticipated matches in the early stages of this tournament. We'll finally see Brazil's team as they square up against Croatia who are dark horse contenders themselves. The other two matches are the first two from Group G. Playing right now are Togo & South Korea where Togo took a shock early lead through a brilliant goal by Mohamed at the 31st minute. The half ended with Togo taking a 1-nil lead into the break; however, SK came out swinging and levelled on 54 minutes through Lee. And, sadly, the second red card of the tournament was issued today to Togo player Abalo. Perhaps we'll see another example of tenacious defending as Togo plays SK to a draw with only 10 minutes. The second game in Group G is France/Switzerland. France has revealed that they will be going with a loan striker up top in the form of Thierry Henry, but nothing else has come to light yet. Guess we'll see in a few hours. I will not be posting my prognostications here. I will, instead only post results. For surely, I harmed those poor teams yesterday. :-) **UPDATE** South Korea completed their second half antics with substitute Ahn Jung-hwan goal on the 72nd minute. Hapless, 10-man Togo couldn't stop them and have lost their first World Cup game ever 2-1. However, I think they made the most of it, and shocked not only S. Korea but the football-world by scoring first. On a side-note, there are four (4) African Nations that are debuting in the World Cup this year. I think that speaks volumes for the character of the nations involved. Togo, Angola, Ghana & Ivory Coast all have teams in the World Cup for the first time ever. Cheers to you, boys! **UPDATE** It's mid-way through the France/Switzerland match in Stuttgart and the scoreline sits at nil-nil. It's hot & humid and Arsenal's Thierry Henry keeps getting shut down by Arsenal's Phillippe Senderos. I guess the young Swiss defender is really coming into his own these days. More later as the match finalises draws to a conclusion. Somewhat surprisingly, this game finished the same way it started, 0-0. One wonders where the French of 1998 have gone and why they were incapable of scoring against a technically inferior Switzerland. France is going to feel hard-done by, but what can be done? The Swiss national team took the game seriously and secured a very important point from the draw. At this stage, who'd have guessed that S. Korea would sit alone at the top of Group G? Up next is Brazil v Croatia. I'll keep us posted. **UPDATE** Well, it took 43 minutes to happen but one second of pure Brazilian brilliance has Brazil over Croatia 1-nil. A superb 20 metre strike by Kaka has placed the defending champions and overwhelming favourites on top of the match...for the moment. **UPDATE** The South Americans did indeed hold onto a slim 1-nil margin for the remainder of the game and have emerged the winners. This sits them on top of the table next to Argentia, but below them in terms of Goal Differential which could very well play a decisive factor in this group. It remains to be seen, but it's my opinion that Brazil did enough, just enough, to win the match; and some of their play made it seem as though they'd have been just fine with a draw. Perhaps Brazil won't come out on top when all the games have been shook out after all. Three more games tomorrow including the much-anticipated Germany/Poland match. See you then. In the meantime, Wastrel On!