Day Five of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was a keenly anticipated one for two reasons. The Current Wolrd Cup holders Brazil and the previous World Cup Winners France, both were playing their first matches on this day! While France took on Switzerland, the Brazilians faced-off against Croatia. The third match of the day was between Korea and World Cup newcomers Togo. The Koreans triumphed 2-1 over Togo, courtesy goals from Chun Soo and Ahn Jung. But it was the Togoans who opened the scoring, through Mohamed Kader. I did not see this match and had read it upon the net 😐
The second match of the day, was IMHO, the most boring one till now! Whereas all the matches played till now had something or the other in the form of excitement, the France Vs. Switzerland match was a dull and drab 0-0 draw! Altough there were a few flashes of brilliance from the Les Bleus,they played pretty poorly. The Swiss gave a good account of themselves as they attacked quite a few times but without success. I almost went asleep during this match..and before long I had switched channels:evil:. The Last match of the day was the most-awaited one as Brazil took on Croatia.All pre-tournament hype centered around Brazil and though they did not live up to the Billing, the did turn out to be 1-0 winners. The first hald saw both teams evenly-matched..with Croatia making some telling surges into the Brazilian goal though never managing to find the back of the net! Brazil, on the other hand looked nervy & testy! Ronaldo was more like a Humpty-Dumpty-Sat-on-a-Wall kinda figure….waiting near the D for any pass to fall at his feet so that he can strike it home 👿 . He did little to no running around and was largely ineffective. The Lone goal of the match came in the 44th minute from Kaka, the fourth member of the famed Quartet. 'twas a peach of a strike as he took the ball just outside the box and unleashed a fierce drive which settled in the top-left of the Croatian net! The second half saw some aggressive strikes from the Croatians but each time they failed to beat Dida, the Brazilian custodian.
My Wierd Wired World 