Special report: 2006 FIFA World Cup
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| Italy's players celebrate their
first goal during the first round match of the World Cup 2006 Group E
against Ghana in Hanover, Germany, June 12, 2006. (Xinhua
photo) |
HANNOVER, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Australia staged a
great comeback to score three late goals to beat Japan 3-1 in their opening
first World Cup Group F tie on Monday while the Czech Republic and Italy easily
won their openers.
In Kaiserslautern, Tim Cahill who came on in the
second half turned around the table with two superb goals.
The Everton player scored Australia's first ever goal
in the World Cup finals to level the scoreline in the 84th minute when he took
advantage of a goalmouth scramble to shoot home.
In the 89th minute, he made it 2-1 as his shot from
the edge of the box hit Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi's right-hand post and flew into the
far corner.
Another second half substitute John Aloisi wrapped up
the win, charging through on goal to bury the ball in the left-hand corner.
In Gelsenkirchen, thanks to a double-effort from
Tomas Rosicky,the Czechs scored a comfortable 3-0 win over their Group E rivals
the United States.
"We're really satisfied with the victory and how we
played," said the midfielder, who has just signed for Arsenal from Borussia
Dortmund.
He also said the match was not as easy as the result
showed: " They were tough opponents and I am not sure that the score can
indicate how tough they were."
Rosicky, who has been a constant thorn for the U.S.
defence, scored his first on the 36th minute with a 20-meter drive and seeing
the ball swerved into the top corner, giving Kasey Keller no chance.
After the interval, he again coolly finished into the
top corner with the outside of his right boot at the 76th minute after Pavel
Nedved of Juventus made his way into the box and put Rosicky through on goal.
Jan Koller, Rosicky's teammate for both club and the
national side, opened the scoring in just 5 minutes for the Czechs, who had made
eight appearances in the World Cup Finals as the Czechoslovakia played a
successful qualifying campaign to return to the tournament after a 16-year
absence.
The
towering striker wasted no time after receiving a nice cross from Zdenek Grygera
from the right wing and sent in a bulletheader to earn an earlier upper hand at
5.
His team, however, suffered a major blow at the break
as Koller rolled over in the 42nd minute with a challenge from Oguchi Onyewu,who
had been booked in 4 minutes for a late challenge on Pavel Nedved, and was
carried off on a stretcher while the challenge was not ruled as a foul.
Vratislav Lokvenc replaced the 33-year-old in the
following minutes.
Czech coach Karel Bruckner now has to worry about the
injury concerns of his team as Koller went off Monday's opener with a hamstring
tear, Nedved was also hurt which made the match halt for several minutes, and
Milan Baros had been sidelined even before the match kicked off by a foot
injury.
In Hannover, substitute forward Vincenzo Iaquinta's
late strikesealed a 2-0 win for Italy in their opening match against World Cup
Group E rivals Ghana.
The Udinese top striker beat a Ghana defender and the
goalkeeper in a solo run, steering the ball right into the open goal in the 83rd
minute.
AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo's 39th minute
powerful volley,a right-footed shot from outside the box, had given Italy a 1-0
half-time advantage.
Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic said that their
opponents were the superior team.
"They were very good," Dujkovic said. "All the
stories (on match-fixing) in Italy at the moment have not affected them. They
deserved to win.
Luca Toni, the winner of last season's Italian first
division Golden Boot after scoring 31 goals for Fiorentina, led the line well
for them and could potentially be a star of the tournament.
The Italians were looking the more incisive team
against their African rivals, who also had their moments.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi paid tribute to Ghana
after the match.
"Our opponents showed themselves to be as strong as
we thought they would be," said Lippi .
"In certain aspects they were better than us. But I
think overall we deserved to win.
Ghana were the better side after the interval as they
pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
In the 72nd minute, Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan tried
a flying slide shot at the goalmouth but his right foot failed to touch theball,
just an inch wide.
With 12 minutes remaining, Ghana players demanded a
penalty after Asamoah Gyan was brought down inside Italy's area by De Rossi but
referee Carlos Simon who was close to the action said toplay on.
Shortly after, Michael Essien's long distance effort
went off-target.
The Italians, marshaled by captain Fabio Cannavaro in
central defence, held firm and threatened on the counter-attack.
Ghana created many scoring chances in the game but
few of their shots were on goal.
With the win, three-time world champions Italy collected the same points in the group E with the Czech Republic who earlier routed the United States 3-0. Enditem [1] [2] [3] [4]
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