World Cup 23/06/06

This was the final day of first round play, and I was looking forward to seeing who the remaining final 16 teams would be.

The Saudi Arabia vs Spain match was dominated by the Spanish reserve side, although the Saudis came forward a number of times, and the Saudi keeper Mabrouk made some great saves. The only goal by the Spanish was the result of a lovely header.

The Ukraine vs Tunisia match was an ebb and flow from end to end, until a Tunisian was sent off just before half time. After that, the Ukrainians seemed to push forward more often, but only got one goal, a dodgy penalty kick call. To me it looked like the Ukrainian tripped over his own feet in the end.

The Koreans had a slight advantage on shots, and shots on goals, but just could not score against Switzerland. This was a very physical game, with 10 yellow cards being handed out, 5 a side. A lovely header resulted in the first Swiss goal, and a second goal guaranteed the Swiss would go through to the next round in first place in their group.

It was only a matter of time before France scored in their match against Togo. They dominated from start to finish, and got two goals to see them go through in second place in their group.