Day 7 - "Picking up steam"

After a tentative week, we're into the 2nd stage of the 1st stage in the first round of... anyway, you know what I mean, right?! These are the games that, once played, are gathering all the team's fans round the drawing table, calculating all the if's and but's and how's and why's and everything or anything else that could happen. You gotta love the World Cup ;)

Yesterday's games were purely thrilling and after Uruguay's win against the hosts on Day 6, Mexico and France were left to battle it out to see what the teams would be required to do on their final games in Group A.

This was a game both the French and the Mexican's knew they had to win. Defeat would leave things very awkward in their final matches and this seemed to inspire both to drop their defensive tendencies and go for it.

France started the strongest but gradually, much against what all had predicted, it was Mexico that started to take control of the game. Their slick passing often finding spaces all around the leaking French backline and it was just surprising they didn't get anything for it in the first half.

By the second half though, the Mexican's finally got what they deserved. A delicate ball played over the static back line of the French and substitute Javier Hernandez - soon to be plying his trade at Manchester United - showed great composure to round one of the best keepers in the business and put the Mexican's 1 up.




This should have pumped the French up but instead, it was Mexico who got the second from the penalty spot. A darting run from Pablo Barrera ended when Eric Abidal took a lunge and brought him down. That was pretty much game set and match as 37-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco stepped up to convert the penalty. 2-0 Mexico!

The other two games of the day were also super exciting. Nigeria vs Greece had both teams going full pelt from the off and it was Nigeria who took the lead with one of those free kicks-come-crosses from 50 yards. Every player jumps, nobody touches it and it goes straight in (making the keeper look a little silly).

Till then, Nigeria had been the stronger of the two so deservedly took the lead but on 33 minutes, the game was around when Nigeria's Sani Kaita was sent off for, what looked like a kick-out at Vasileios Torosidis. Replays are inconclusive as to whether there was any contact, but it was still foolish of Kaita to raise his foot like that, after the two had tussled slightly on the side line.

From there, the game was all for Greeks to go out and win and so they did. The first came from a deflected strike from Dimitrios Salpingidis, right at the end of the first half and second was a tap in, after Nigeria keeper Enyeama spilt his save and the rebound was tucked in by Alexandros Tziolis, giving Greece their first ever World Cup win. You can imagine the celebrations ;)

Finally, Argentina and South Korea. Well, what can I say. Sunah and I watched at our local, which was understandably joyous and packed pull of expectant Korean fans and I wish I could make this blog a nice one for them to read (I'll try though, I promise, me and my bias little eyes ^^).

First and foremost, I'd just like to say that the final score, in my opinion (seriously), was not a fair reflection on how the game went. It may have been a fair score line when you look at things like possession, style of play and goal scoring opportunities, but as for the pattern of the game, I think it was a bit harsh and people, here in Seoul, were genuinely hurt.

After such a convincing performance against the Greeks, The Red Devils seriously thought they could have a fair crack at the Argies and although everyone here was saying it was impossible or that the best they could get was a draw, deep down, everyone believed an upset was possible. Especially after all the shenanigans with the Spaniards the night before and the French and Italians, the English... the list goes on.

All the talk prior to the game (in fact, since the draw was made back in December last year) had been about one thing in particular. How do we stop Messi? He's been the talk of the town since arriving in South Africa and today, he played in a slightly unfamiliar role, playing in the hole behind Higuain and Tevez.

It was a bit surprising to see him so deep and personally, I don't think that's his best position. He seemed to be floating around a little too much for my liking but still, when he did get the ball, it was, as many predicted, a joy to watch.

The two first goals came from Argentina. One from a Messi free kick which was very unfortunately turned in by Park Chu Young and another from a Messi cross, flicked over by Nicolas Burdisso and simply turned in at the back post by Higuain.

A rout was on the cards and South Korea needed something from somewhere and they almost got it with a spectacular drive from Celtic's Ki Sung Yeung (who many have labeled as the Korean Gerrard). Unfortunately, the shot, which was from almost 30 yards out just fizzed over the bar with Sergio Romero scrambling over but effectively beaten.

South Korea probed but it was Argentina with the more assured control and Messi once again wowed the crowd with a dazzling little run and a chip that was just pulled wide of Jung Sung-Ryong in the Korean goal.

The show really was belonging to Messi but with time running out at the end of the first half, South Korea sprung a little surprise on the Argies when Dimichelis was caught napping at the back by Bolton's Lee Chung-Yong, who nicked the ball off him on the edge of the box and finished with class, clipping a half volley with the outside of his boot, over the advancing Argentinean goalkeeper to make it 2-1.

That was the last action of the half and when the second half began, we saw a far more adventurous Korean side coming out of the blocks a little harder and faster then their Group B opponents. The quality possession still belonged to the South American's but slowly, the Koreans were ruffling a few of their feathers, including Messi who was getting ever more frustrated by the tight marking on him.

Gabriel Heinze saw a yellow too for ungentlemanly conduct by throwing the ball away before Yeom Ki-Hun had the chance to change the game around and write his name in the history books. A wonderfully placed through ball put him one on one with the keeper the but winger placed his shot wide with his left foot, when he probably should have used his right.

That was pretty much that and with the Korean's pushing for the equalizer, the Argies took full advantage of the spaces left at the back to hit them on the counter with two goals in quick succession. Both goals had Messi to thank (at some point in the move) and both were converted by Higuain who became the first player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup since Portugal's Pauleta in 2002.

Now, with the Greece vs Nigeria match finishing the way it did, South Korea have to beat the Nigerians or get at least the same result that the Greeks get against the Argentineans, who will more that likely be playing an under-strength side next week.

Man. What a day!

Day 6 - How did they do THAT?

Well, well. So now we all know the answer to one of the most burning questions asked to any football fan. What do you get when you put Real Madrid and Barcelona on one team? You get Málaga CF! No disrespect to Málaga CF of course but the club fought long and hard to stay in the extremely uncompetitive La Liga last year.

Last night saw one of the great upsets in World Cup history (am I being too dramatic here?). Switzerland, underdogs and outsiders to progress from Group H showed true grit and determination to beat the highly fancied Málaga CF 1-0 and put themselves joint top of the group with Chile.

It was a game of two halves with, basically, Málaga CF attacking like bumblebees in both of them, seemingly spurred on by the sweet-sounding, home-calling vuvuzelas. But it was the Swiss who parked the honey bus in front of goal, defended like men against bee-girls and got that sweet tasting nectar to drip down their tongues in the end ;)




Amazing stuff really. It must be said, Málaga CF did do all the attacking as their 22 shots at Diego Benaglio and 66% of possession will show, but for all their endevours, their little flicks and through passes and all their pin-point, cross-field balls and driving runs, they were unable to find a way through. Even bringing on the not-so-fit-yet Torres couldn't save them. And the more the game wore on, the more it looked like the Swiss might get a goal on the counter too.

And so it was. A route one punt up field in the 52nd minute and world held it's breath. Mayhem at the back with Puyol and Gerard Piqué unable to clear and the good old Swiss pounced and got their goal through Gelson Fernandeson. Once that happened, they cunningly stuck the The Alps in between both countries (knowing full well that the Málagans didn't know how to ski), and held them off for their first ever competitive win against their Group H rivals.

It rests now to be seen, whether Málaga CF have any chance of coming out top of this group. But to say they're unscathed? No way. They'll be licking their wounds in the next few days and, well, they'll probably bite back even stronger. Still, once again, just a reminder, Switzerland 1, Málaga CF 0! ;)

The other group game saw an exciting one with the Red Hot 'Chile' Peppers taking the spoils with a deserved 1-0 win against the Hondurans, who probably thought they were still back home, soaking up some well deserved summer sunshine.

I was quite impressed with the Chilean performance actually and the way the previous game went, who knows who'll get through from this stage. Jean Beausejour's scored in the 34th minute to give La Roja their first WC victory in almost 50 years! And once they score, they never really looked like letting go of that lead either.

The Honduran side did threaten a couple of times from set pieces but if anything, it was Chile who were desperately unlucky not pull further ahead. A crossed ball was met by the head of Waldo Ponce who couldn't believe his eyes as Noel Valladares saved his Honduran side, once again, this time with the save of the tournament so far.

With Alexis Sanchez and Sporting Lisbon's Matias Fernandez running the show in the middle of the park, Chile simply had too much for Honduras and they'll have to produce something pretty special in their next game if they're to have any chance of getting something from this group.

Finally, in the late kick off of the day, Uruguay showed a real assured performance to out-class and out-do the Bafana Bafana in Pretoria with Diego Forlan putting on a world class performance. It was a bit of an unfortunate thing to find the Uruguayan’s in such good form, but it has to be said that the South African’s didn’t really turn up today.

In the end, Uruguay ran out worthy 3-0 winners, in a game with one major talking point. South Africa were down 1-0 and in the 79th minute and then Luis Suarez, the young Uruguayan striker was brought down in the box by Itumeleng Khune.

It's actually the second match I've been a bit annoyed by the little front man. Contact was minimal, but he made it look like he'd been spun round by a tornado, flipping and rolling over a couple of times before he realized he'd got what he'd obviously been looking for.

As a result, the South African keeper was sent off and even that was a little dabatable as Suarez had knocked the ball, back into an area with other players and therefore wasn't on his way to score. Anyway, whether it's worth appealing for or not, I'm not sure.

Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira later complained about the referee, Massimo Busacca, stating that it was the worse performance by an official at this year's WC so far and that he “doesn’t deserve to be here”. I can't say I fully agree with him but then again, I'm not South African.

The Bafana boys now have it all to do in their final match against France, who play later today against Mexico, but with all the twists and turns that have happened in the tournament so far, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the last we'd heard of the hosts.

Day 5 - Dead, or Alive?

A quick mention for New Zealand in group F. Well done!

Onto group G (lol – I’ll chat about it later ^^). The so-called "Group Of Death"!!!! Grrrr! Firstly, I'm not sure how I should feel about North Korea being in the Group Of Death. Not when Portugal (and therefore, I) is/am - in there with them. And especially not after seeing Jong Tae Se's performance - who incidentally, cried during the playing of his national anthem - and the way he spearheaded the North Korean attack throughout.

The Brazil vs North Korea was a nice way to conclude the opening matches of Group G and it has to be said that, much like in '66, the Korean's have surprised a good few people. Now, many players show fighting talk before their games. It's obvious; you want to come across as confidently as possible. But NK's 'fighting talk' always makes you a little worried. "We will destroy all of our opponents" they said. Hmm... You have to wonder what they will destroy if they don't win their matches!

Anyway, to be fair, that comment could have been misquoted, although, to be equally fair, their track record doesn't help them all that much either.

Still, it must be said that they played a great game and for a while, there even looked like there may very well be one of the biggest upsets in WC history on the cards. That was, until the Brazilian right back, Maicon, popped up with a goal of sweet Brazilian class. One of those goals that makes people ask "But, did he really mean it?"

You know that when you ask a question like that, that if he did mean it, the goal was pure genius. Running and stretching down to the bye-line, his shot was hit with perfect swerve to nick in between the post and the keeper. 95% of players would have tried to push that back into the box for someone else to tap in... but because he's a Brazilian full back…

Finally Brazil got a hold of the game and when Robinho angled a delightful pass, through the defense to Elano, the game was effectively over when the midfielder tucked his shot away into the bottom right corner.

North Korea did have one last go and scored a great goal through Ji Yun Nam but it was too little, too late. Still, for a team over 100 places below the 5-times World Champions they should not feel bad about coming away with a result like that.

In the other game... O dear. What can I say about the other game ...*buries his head in his hands*... In the other game, Portugal and the Ivory Coast drew in an intense (for me, anyway) but ultimately, largely disappointing game.

I'm not exactly sure which game the Portuguese press was watching, but it sure as hell didn't seem to be the same one I watched. Maybe I just blinked at important moments but, the way I saw it, Portugal were very lucky to come away from it with a draw.

One newspaper decided it would be good to say that the Portuguese "ran more" than their opponents. Apparently they ran a total of 109 673 metres, just over 4km's more then the Ivory Coast’s players. Ermm... So What???! Heck. Maybe that's cus they were chasing the ball more.

They also pointed out that they had more shots at goal (7-5) and that they hit the target more (2-1). You wouldn't have thought it though. Watching this match was utterly annoying from my point of view and Deco was the only one to really echo those thoughts afterwards.

Claiming he didn't like the position he was being played in (right mid - a position he's never played in his whole career), he openly criticized Queiroz's tactics, stating that their "long ball and direct play", suited the Ivorian's just fine. So, at the end of the match, when Queiroz said he thought Portugal were the better side and were the ones who were unlucky to find an Ivory Coast sitting back and "waiting for the Portuguese mistake", I couldn't quite believe it!

Seriously? I mean, was I indeed watching the wrong match last night??? Please, somebody tell me. Urgghh.

In the end, Ronaldo said "we were unlucky". OK. Maybe he was unlucky, yes. Had his thunderous crack at goal found the net, midway through the first half, instead of just removing some of the paint off the Ivory Coast's post, then maybe we'd have been talking about that goal for years to come and yes, lady luck could have played a part.

But there was nothing unlucky about how well The Elephants played. They were industrious, faster and more skilled than the Portuguese. If the Portuguese play like that against North Korea in next week's match... then I think we'll be the ‘dead’ ones in the Group of Death.

About New Zealand's result, sorry about the joke at the beginning of this blog but I hope you understood my reasons for not wanting to delay my feelings about Portugal ;)

A great match for the All Whites! I have to say I was very happy with that one. Maybe my little bit of bias is coming out here - but still. The first half was a little slow and when Slovakia scored in the second, things didn't look too good.

But credit to the Kiwis, they came back strong and scored through Winston Reid in the 93rd minute. Reid later stated that it was the most important goal of his career. The chap's only 21 so let's hope he gets a few more, eh? Still, very well taken goal and 3 minutes into injury time too. Its the stuff dreams are made off, that's for sure ^^! I guess nobody will blame him for getting booked for removing his shirt after that one (although the fact Shane Smeltz almost pulled the entire team into the moat during the celebration was rather funny!).

A Couple Of Surprises...

Japan and Paraguay raised a few eyebrows in the world of football yesterday. Of course I don't mean they physically went up to sleeping folk and jokingly giggled away with their team-mates while pushing random people’s eyebrows up and down. I mean, they seriously managed to surprise a few of us out there.

Firstly, Japan won their first World Cup match off of home soil. Well done! Maybe they carried some soil with them to South Africa as a kind of good luck thing... then again, maybe not. Who knows?!

In a match that the critics described as 'tepid', there wasn't really too much to shout about really. It was a match of 'firsts', however, as Keisuke Honda became the first ever football player with the same name as a car and bike manufacturer's to score a goal (please correct me if I'm wrong here!) and I wouldn't be surprised if Honda's sales have increased in some random parts of the world as a result!

The game was also a ‘first’ in that it was the first time that Cameroon had lost it's opening game in a World Cup competition. To be honest, they probably deserved at least a draw and had Stéphane Mbia's rocket-of-a-shot gone in and not just almost destroyed the cross bar, then I wouldn't have begrudged them a win. Still, it wasn't to be and now, rather shockingly, The Blue Samurai's have joined The Netherlands at the top of group E.

The Dutch - my bet for this year's WC - came out on top against a steely Danish side which seemed out to defend rather than do anything else really. You'd have to say that it was a deserved win but, without Robben out there, they did look like they lacked something.

Everyone had to wait till just after half time for a goal and it came in the form of a bizzare own goal by Daniel Agger. A bit of a mix-up in the box saw - Poulsen, arguably Denmark's best player - head back across his goal only for the ball to hit Agger on the back on bounce clear of Sorensen and into the back of the net. Strange things happen in football.

The game opened up a little after that but the Danes never really threatened with Bentner, their most dangerous player up front, playing too much on his own. They did start to have a little more possession but then the Dutch brought on young winger Elija for his WC debut and he certainly turned the game around again.

His pace down the left caused all sorts of trouble and late on, when put through, was unfortunate only to watch his shot come back off the post. Luckily for him and the Dutch though, Dirk Kuyt was on hand to convert a simple knock-in and put the game to bed.

And then... The Italians. A little surprisingly, the current WC champions are only 16-1 on to retain their trophy but many believe they are just too old this year with 5 players in this game's line-up having played in the final 4 years ago. It seemed to show too, as they struggled to come back and salvage a point against a lackluster and not-very-creative Paraguayan side.

The Azzurri were the dominant side though. They controlled possession well and always looked to pressure their opponents. Paraguay, however, kept their shape very well and always seemed to have the Italians at an arms length.

The game, therefore, was a bit of bore draw. In fact, most of the time it was more enjoyable spotting some of the lovely looking Italian lady fans in the crowd, blowing kisses at their adored players, then watching the match itself!

Still, there was no upset today and it looks like, if Andrea Pirlo comes back soon, they should make it comfortably through this group.

Day 3 - Red Cards Day...

3 more games. 3 more tales and after the horrors of England and Rob Green, came another goalkeeping howler, this time in the Algeria vs Slovenia match. Complaints from Algerians rang in about the pitch being half grass, half synthetic and when Koren took a speculative pop from about 20 yards out, the claims were that the ball "bounced funny" in front of keeper Faouzi Chaouchi.

The truth of the matter was that the game will probably be somewhere in the top 5 for worse and most boring matches of the tournament by the end of it. Apart from a few semi-dangerous set pieces, the only "highlight" of the game was yet another red card for a substitute. Abdelkader Ghezzal's first contribution was to foul someone and 10 minutes later he purposely and stupidly handled a ball, got his second yellow and was off.

BBC's Ian Crocker kindly described it as "a stinker of a game" and I'd have to go a long way to find a better way to describe it myself.

Game 2 saw another crazy handball but this time in a far more exciting match between Ghana and Serbia. The game had all the ingredients for a fabulously set-up match and it didn't fail to deliver either. In the end, Serbian coach Raddy Antic will be bitterly disappointed for the way Zdravko Kuzmanovic stuck out an arm and handled a dangerous cross in the box to give away a penalty 5 minutes from time.

Asamoah Gyan stepped up and smacked it in convincingly for all three points and to give Ghana and an African nation, their first win of the tournament.

There had been fears that the Ghanaian midfield might not be strong enough, following Essien's injury and when Ghana manager Milovan Rajevac (who coincidently is also a Serb) chose to leave Sulley Muntari on the bench, question were asked. But The Black Stars responded brilliantly and their task was made even easier when on 74 minutes, Aleksandar Lukovic was sent off for his second bookable offence for holding on to Gyan as he tried to break away.

And finally, Australia - Germany. This was one of those games that, on paper, could have been a bit of a banana skin for Germany but which, in the end turned out to be more of a sitting-on-a-beach-sippin-on-a-coconut-cocktail game for them. The Ozzies wanted it and came out fighting and even had the first chance through Cahill to take an early, shock lead.

It wasn't to be their day though as Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Thomas Mueller and Cacau then went on to put 4 past them. The Germans looked solid and assured and once they went ahead, didn't take the foot off the pedal until the job was done.

The unfortunate Tim Cahill was the one who probably suffered the most though. The Everton forward apparently shed some tears as he saw a straight red for his tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger after 55 minutes. It's hard to tell exactly whether it was intentional or not but the ref certainly seems to have seen it that way and if FIFA agree, that could spell the end of the tournament for Cahill.

Personally, it looked like he was going for the ball but then Schweinsteiger stepped in and it does seem like Cahill tries to take his feet away from it a little - meaning there was no real malice in the tackle. However, if you look at his face just before he dives in... well, it doesn't do him many favours, that's for sure. His one hope is that the ban will only be for one match.

We shall wait and see.

Day 2 - What a day...

Day 2 of the WC was a fantastic one! Well, fantastic for some of course. Near right disastrous for others too. The crux of it though was, 3 games, 3 very differing emotions. Firstly let’s get this stupid England game out the way.

Well, what can be said? England got off to a flier with a great goal and it was all smiles from The Eng-er-land. A nice passage of passing outside the box culminated in a good through ball from Heskey (of all people!) who found Steve Gerrard bursting into the box. The captain kept his cool and slotted it home in style, past the onrushing Tim Howard.

Less than 40 minutes later and a moment of madness that stunned the nation. Clint Dempsey got the ball about 25 yards from the England goal and took a shot. The ball went straight at Rob Green, bouncing a couple of times before the keeper disastrously spilled, what should have been a bread-and-butter save and turned to watch it trickle into the England net.




He crouched for a moment in what looked like a kind of upright fetal position, seemingly instantly begging the gods for forgiveness, before bouncing back up, grabbing the ball from the back of the net and then holding his hand up apologetically to the rest of the team and all England fans.

"Apology not accepted!" I shouted out in the pub I was watching the game at! It may very well have been a sentiment echoed by the millions of England fans watching around the world. A few moments later, the ball was rolled back to him and amidst a whole ringing of mockingly nervy taunts from the band of American fans in the pub, I wondered: "Do we forgive him?"

Capello has done just that for now, declaring he will play in England's next match against the Algerians on Friday. If England fail to make it past the group stages, Rob Green will certainly not hear the end of it and will probably have to endure a barrage of hatred of Beckham-esque proportions when he gets home. Dear oh dear.

In group B, South Korea brushed aside the Greeks in what turned out to be a pulsating match (at least here in Seoul it was). Sunah and I went to a chicken and beer restaurant with 20-odd mates and the 200+ venue went off as goals from Lee Jung Soo and Park Ji Sung gave the South Korean's a deserved win.

And it could have been more had Park Chu Young tucked away his one-on-one with the keeper as well. The performance was a solid one and apart from only a couple of scary moments in the last 10 minutes or so, the Greeks had no response to the Korean's efficiency and hard graft.

The other game saw Argentina take on Nigeria and this game was all about Leo Messi announcing his arrival at this years competition. The striker was in imperious form showing off the sublime skills we're now luckily getting used to seeing. Fact is, were it not for Super Eagles super keeper Vincent Enyeama, Messi alone could have got 3 or 4 goals just himself.

As it was, the Argies were made to sweat a little and fight it out against a determined Nigeria side that, to their credit, didn't stop pushing till the final whistle. Ultimately, however, and thanks to a wonderful diving header, put away by Gabriel Heinze early on in the game, they were able to hold out and claim a well earned 3 points to go level with South Korea at the top of the group.

Phew! What a day...

Day 1 complete!

It was very unfortunate that the day had to start with such terrible news. The tragic death of Nelson Mandela's great granddaughter in a car accident just before the start of the World Cup, cast a dark cloud over proceedings in Johannesburg. She was only 13 years old and, understandably, Mr. Mandela was therefore unable to attend the games. I'm sure the world is united in passing on it's deepest condolences to the Mandela family.

Sepp Blatter and Jacob Zuma gave a quick, but moving message to the jam-packed Soccer City Stadium and announced the Mr. Mandela himself wanted the games to start and so they did. As both National Anthems were sung, you could sense the excitement all around as finally, after 4 years, the games begun once again.

The game itself ended in a draw but was a wonderful and fully passionate one. Once it kicked off, it was obvious the Mexican's weren't just here to make up the numbers. There was a game to be won and they showed some silky skills throughout it.

I was particularly impressed with Dos Santos. The Tottenham player (who was out on loan to Galatasaray this season) did everything a good attacking midfielder should do throughout, creating some great chances and having a blasted shot unbelievably parried away by spiderman-esque Bafana Bafana goalkeeper and hero for the night, Itumeleng Khune.

In fact, it was the South Africans, much against the run of play, that scored the opening goal. And what a goal it was. Worthy of starting off any world cup, that's for sure. Mexico were throwing men forward and leaving themselves a little exposed at the back, midway through the first half and Siphiwe Tshabalala took full advantage of a wonderfully slotted, through ball by Teko Modise who split the defence wide open.

Tshabalala still had some work to do but after taking a couple of quick touches, he thundered a wonderful shot, right into the top corner, setting Soccer City alight with vuvuzela joy! In truth, the strike couldn't have been crisper or more top-corner either. Something any striker would have been super proud of...*I've scored a couple like that in my time, so I should know*... ;)

But credit to Mexico, they didn't let their heads down and just over 10 minutes from time, got the draw they deserved. A cross from Andres Guardado from the left and Barcelona centre back Rafael Márquez was on hand to control and smash the ball home from close range.

The other game saw a slightly more eventless draw between Uruguay vs France played out in Cape Town stadium. The highlight of which was probably the first sending off of the tournament which went to Uruguay's young, promising striker Nicolás Lodeiro for a second bookable offence after a dirty challenge on Bacary Sagna.

In fact, overall, I was rather dissapointed with both France and Uruguay's performance although the latter will probably be the happier of the two with this result.

France started brightly enough and pressed, looking to take the initiative throughout the first half with Diego Forlan, having Uruguay's only real chance after cutting in from the left and letting fly with powerful shot, only to see Hugo Lloris parry away to safety.

But as the game wore on, you could almost sense the two heading for the bore draw. In fact, it was probably only in the last quater, after the sending off that France finally pressed and looked for that winner but it was to no avail.

So, group A has all 4 teams, even on 1 point a piece. Probably a fair result for all parties.