 |
|
|
Results expected but Portugal disappoint.
All three matches overnight went as planned for the favourites with wins for Holland, Mexico and Portugal. However Portugal will be disappointed only beating debutants Angola 1-0.
Many pundits have been predicting cricket scores in the opening matches for Angola and Trinidad and Tobago but were surprised to see these nations take the game to their opponent. In Angola's case it took about 15 minutes to settle down however. Pauleta made a run in the opening 15 seconds and narrowly missed as the ball went across the goal. He made up for it in the fourth minute though when he latched onto Luis Figo's cross and put the ball into an open net after Joao Ricardo was drawn out to Figo.
Portugal continued to dominate the early stages until Angola's Mateus hit a long range effort However Ricardo, Portugal's keeper, collected the effort comfortably. A minute later Angolan captain Akwa connected with a bicycle kick only for it to sail over the bar. The crowd appreciated his acrobatics however.
With 35 gone Cristiano Ronaldo's header crashed into the crossbar and nine minutes later Ronaldo again forced a fine save from Joao Ricardo.
The second half display from Portugal however seemed half-hearted and almost resigned to taking a 1-0 win. This cued Angola's attack as Mateus and Loco both came up with decent efforts on goal. Portugal played deeper and deeper as the match went on and eventually got the points. Angola however, who were expected to have five or six put past them, left the field knowing they held a quality team.
The other group D match was anything but bland as Mexico defeated Iran 3-1.
Iran started the stronger of the two with a Vahid Hashemian header in the 11th minute only to see a sprawling Oswaldo Sanchez push iot around the post. It was here Mexico kicked into action as Rafael Marquez headed towards goal. It was easy enough for keeper Ebrahim Mirzapour however.
On 28 minutes however Mexico took the lead. Pavel Pardo sent across a free kick from the right. Guillermo Franco headed towards goal but there wasn't enough power on it. Omar Bravo was in it's flight path though and volleyed home fromabout 3 metres out. Just 8 minutes later Iran equilised from a Ali Karimi corner. Sanchez came off his line but missed the ball due to a deflection. The ball fell for Yahya Golmohammadi who scooped the ball into the roof of the net.
After the break the match hit a lull thanks largely to Jared Borgetti injuring himself within the first minute of the second half. Seemingly a hamstring problem, Borgetti made his way to the touchline virtually pulling himself off. Having just made two half time substitutes, Mexico had to make do with what they had left.
On 76 minutes the game woke up again as Bravo broke through thanks to a Zinha through ball. Beating the offside trap, Bravo put it around Mirzapour to take the lead. On 79 minutes it was all but over as Zinha went from provider to scorer. Jose Fonseca put a cross in which Zinha made no mistake heading in.
Iran couldn't find their feet from here although they did try and make some raids into the Mexican area. by the final whistle however Mexico had a 3-1 win under their belt.
In the opening match of the day Holland overcame Serbia-Montenegro 1-0 thanks to an Arjen Robben goal.
On 18 minutes Robin van Persie played an inch perfect through ball to Robben who beat a high off side trap by the Serbian side. When in the box he made no mistake beating keeper Dragoslav Jevric.
Robben, easily the man of the match, continued to toruble the Serbian-Montenegro defence time and time again. Unfortunatly it resulted in nothing each time. Holland's game was built largely around him being this threat and the less fancied erbians couldn't stop him. They were fortunate not to have a few more against them.
Come full time it was 1-0 to Holland who will take second place in group C on goals scored, behind Argentina.
12 June, 2006 |
