The second day running when the lineup of matches did not excite me as much! The three matches scheduled for the 11th day of the FIFA World cup were between Togo & Switzerland, Ukraine Vs. Saudi Arabia and Spain Vs. Tunisia. Though Ukraine is a class side and Spain too has found favour with me in the past, I wasn't too inclined to hang up till late night to catch their encounter! Did I miss anything by skipping those two matches? You bet I did !
Ukraine had suffered defeat against the spaniards in their opening game and were keen to make amends for that pedestrain performance. And for the match against the middle-eastern country, their talismanic striker, Andriy Schevchenko was back. So it was little surprise as they routed the Saudi Arabians 4-0 ,with first hald goals from Rusol & Rebrov and second half strikes from Schevchenko and Kalinichenko.The first match of the day was a drab encounter between Togo and Switzerland which the Swiss duly won 2-0.
The Spain Vs. Tunisia match also was an exciting one as the Spaniards ran their opponents ragged and thumped three goals past them. That, after Tunisia had taken the early lead through a lucky strike from Mnari in the eighth minute! A double substituition in the second half saw Raul and Cesc Fabregas coming on and that had a remarkable effect on the match as Raul scored in the 71st minute and Fernando Torres doubled the tally five minutes later. Spain sealed the 3-1 win with a stoppage-time goal via a penalty which was duly converted by Torres, who became the leading scorer of the tournament.
