France V Senegal 0-1
The opening match of the 2002 world cup was between
the holders France and African country Senegal,
it was a match similar to the opening match of the
1990 world cup between Argentina and Cameroon. Everybody
expected France to walk this game; however things
didn’t go to plan for the French. Senegal made their
mark on the world cup by defeating France 1-0. It
was Senegal’s midfielder Pape Bouba Diop who stole
the show and put Senegal in charge of the match
on the half hour mark. The French suffered without
Zidane who was out of the team because of injury.
The goal came from an excellent run by El Hadj Diouf,
who ran past Marcel Desailly and Frank Lebouf, before
crossing the ball to Bouba Diop who smashed the
ball into the net.
The French had opportunities to level the score,
Viera had a free header which he headed straight
to the goal keeper and Henry hit the woodwork, however
France were unable to find the vital goal needed
to put them back in the match and Senegal won 1-0,
France next had the daunting prospects of playing
the groups tougher teams, Uruguay and Denmark.
Senegal V Uruguay 3-3
Senegal came into the match with already 4 points
and the knew a draw would be good enough to see
them through to the knockout phase, on the other
hand Uruguay had to win this match to stand a chance
of going through to the second round.
After 19 minutes from the start of the game, Senegal
were awarded a penalty kick, as Fabian Carini brought
down Senegal striker El Hadj Diouf and Khalilou
Fadiga held his nerve and converted the penalty
into the back of the net. Papa Boube Diop scored
his second goal of the world cup in the 26th minute;
it came from an assist by Camara who squared the
ball to Diop who smashed the ball into the net.
Senegal scored their third goal in the 38th minute;
however the goal should have been disallowed as
Diop appeared offside when he volleyed in a cross
through the underside of the bar.
Uruguay came on fully refreshed in the second half
and it only took them twenty seconds to score and
put them back in the match, as Morales tapped the
ball into the net to make it 3-1.
Uruguay kept putting pressure on the Africans,
there second goal came in the 69th minute, through
an incredible volley by Diego Forlan. Forlan had
few opportunities to equalize for Uruguay however
with two minutes left of the match Uruguay were
awarded a penalty and Recoba scored the penalty
to put Uruguay on level terms. During injury time,
Morales missed a golden opportunity to win the match
for Uruguay as he headed wide from only two yards.
Senegal were through to the knockout phase with
5 points and Uruguay were left to reel what might
have been.
Germany V Saudi Arabia 8-0
Germany were very poor in the European Championships
in 2000, and wanted people to forget about there
disastrous performance in that competition. They
came into the tournament not in the best form, they
had lost 5-1 to England in the qualifying round
and some people thought they may not even make it
past the group phase. However they couldn’t have
started off the world cup any better than they did
against Saudi Arabia. Germany recorded there biggest
ever win in the world cup finals, hitting 8 goals
into the Saudi Arabian net and made sure everyone
knew they were a force to be reckoned with in this
tournament. German striker Klose opened up the scoring
with a goal in the 20th minute with a header. Klose
few minutes later doubled the German lead heading
in a cross by Ballack. The third German came by
another header, this time by Michael Ballack. Jancker
scored Germany’s fourth goal just before the half
time interval, which really already confirmed victory
for Germany. The Germans came into the second half
hoping to score even more goals and they did. Klose
completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute to put
the Germans 5-0 in front. Linke made it 6-0 for
the Germans and then German substitute Oliver Bierhoff
scored Germany’s seventh goal. Schnieder completed
the rout for Germany in injury time which made it
8-0, Germany now had a new confidence which they
could bring into the rest of their matches.
Argentina V England 0-1
England were looking to avenge Argentina’s victory
over them in the 1986 World cup and their victory
in the second round of the world cup in France in
1998. England’s game didn’t go according to plan
as they lost midfielder Owen Hargreaves through
injury in the opening 20 minutes. Owen nearly gave
England the lead after 20 minutes however his shot
hit the post. Just before the half time interval
Mauricio Pochettino tripped Michael Owen in the
penalty box and England were awarded a penalty.
Beckham had the responsibility of taking the penalty,
and he took it with power and precision to give
England a half time lead. England had a number of
chances in the second half to seal the victory,
Beckham saw one of his shot go wide of the post.
Teddy Sheringham volleyed the ball from a cross
by Paul Scholes, however the Argentine keeper spectacularly
saved the shot. Sheringham then squandered another
golden opportunity few minutes later. Argentina
put England under pressure in the final ten minutes
and David Seamen made a couple of fine saves to
ensure England won this match, and place them top
of the group knowing that they only need a point
in their final match against Nigeria to ensure they
go through to the knock out phase.
Brazil V Turkey 1-0
These two teams met in the group phase where Brazil
beat Turkey 2-1. Brazil had been excellent throughout
the tournament winning all their games emphatically
and Turkey had certainly defied their critics. Turkey
had improved as the tournament went on especially
after their opening game defeat by the Brazilians.
The Turks created the first opening of the game;
Alpayozalan’s header was saved well by the Brazilian
keeper. Brazil then took control of the game with
a spell of brilliant football, Rivaldo created few
excellent opportunities which were well saved by
the Turkish keeper Rustu. Both Ronaldo and Rivaldo
had great opportunities to give Brazil the lead;
however Rustu made two more excellent saves to keep
the match all square. Turkey still created chances
on the counter attack. Yildiray Basturk and Hasan
Sas were causing problems for the Brazilian defence.
After the half time interval, Brazil continued
attacking and Ronaldo gave the Brazilians the lead
into the first five minutes of the second half.
He received the ball from teammate Gilberto Silva
and ran past the Turkish defence, he then toe-poked
the ball past the Turkish keeper to give Brazil
the lead.
Brazil created more openings after Ronaldo’s goal
and substitute Luizao could have scored a second
for Brazil on a couple of occasions.
Brazil’s victory meant that they were going into
their third consecutive world cup final.
Italy V South Korea 1-2
After three good performances in their opening
matches, the hosts fancied themselves against the
Italians. Italy started the match the brighter team,
and they took the lead in the 18th minutes through
a Christien Viere. After that the Italians were
playing more defective football and still were creating
openings. South Korean striker Ahn Jung-Hwan, had
a couple of chances however the Italian keeper comfortably
saved them. With few minutes of the match left,
a mix up in the Italian defence allowed Seol Ki-Hyeon,
to put the ball into the back of the net. Immediately
after the equalizer, Christien Vieri had a golden
opportunity to clinch victory for the Italians,
however he squandered his chance, and his shot went
wide of the post. The Italians began to dominate
the match during injury time, however to the delight
of the Korean crowd Ahn Jung-Hwan headed the ball
into the net, to clinch victory for South Korea.
South Korea had now reached the furthest they
have in a major tournament and were anticipating
there quarter final match against Spain.