 |
| Spain's Raul celebrates scoring his team's
first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2006 Group H round 2 match against
Tunisia at Stuttgart's Gottlieb-Daimier Stadium, Germany, June 19, 2006.
Spain won 3-1. (Xinhua
Photo) |
BERLIN, June 19
(Xinhua) -- Spain rallied from one goal down to beat Tunisia 3-1 qualifying for
the World Cup last 16 on Monday, both Ukraine and Switzerland scored their first
victories to stay alive, while Togo had to bow out of the tournament with two
defeats.
In a rain-affected Group H game in Stuttgart, Spain,
who downed Ukraine 4-0 in their opener, waited until the second half to equalize
through Raul and go on to win in style from two more goals thanks to Fernando
Torres.
Joahar Mnari put Tunisia into a shock lead after
great work from Ziad Jaziri inside the penalty area in the eighth minute. The
ball from Jaziri found Mnari whose initial shot was saved by Iker Casillas but
he tucked away the rebound.
Raul, who was on in the second half for Luis Garcia,
equalised in the 71st minute by pouncing on Ali Boumnijel's poor parry from Cesc
Fabregas' weak shot inside the area.
It was Raul's first goal since October 19, 2005 when
he scored against Rosenberg in the Champions League.
Five minutes later, Spain was 2-1 ahead. Torres, 22,
scored Spain's second goal as the Atletico Madrid striker latched on to a
Fabregas pass and rounded keeper Boumnijel to put the Spaniards into the lead.
Torres, who was top scorer for Spain in the
qualifiers with seven goals, killed off the game in the final minute. He picked
himself up after he was fouled to fire in the spot-kick.
"We were rather nervous in the first half, " said
Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre. "Spain pushed us to the limit in the second half
and our players were tired."
When asked about Tunisia's last group match against
Ukraine, Lemerre, who was the first coach to guild France and Tunisia to
different continental champions, said that "I am a realist. I am neither an
optimist nor an pessimist. I hope our team can go far. Ukraine is at the same
situation with us, but we know the result will be decided in the last match."
Spain coach Luis Aragones said the victory is very
important for Spain's future.
"It's a very tough game," he said. "Tunisia played
counter attacking football. We played too many long passes. We have problems in
the first half. But in the second, we played extremely well and could play our
style. That is technical skill."
"We played better in the second half. We deserved the
win."
In Hamburg, Andriy Shevchenko and Serhiy Rebrov were
among the scorers as Ukraine put the pain of the Spain match behind them to
slaughter Saudi Arabia 4-0 in their second World Cup Group H match.
"We have the fighting spirit back and now we can go
on dreaming of winning the title," said coach Oleg Blokhin after the match.
"We scored early, which gave us safety and I think we
now have good chance improving to the next round."
Ukrainians were ahead inside four minutes when
Mabrouk Zaid needlessly gave away a corner and Andriy Rusol bundled in Ukraine's
first-ever World Cup goal off his knee, following Maxim Kalinichenko's corner.
Rebrov doubled Ukraine's scoring with an absolute
cracker from 35 yards out in the 36th minute as the Saudi goalkeeper Mabrouk
Zaid toppled over in comedy fashion.
One minute into the second half, Shevchenko's bullet
header made it three, following yet another pinpoint cross from Kalinichenko. It
is the Chelsea striker's first ever World Cup goal.
Kalinichenko, awarded Man of the Match, smashed the
ball into the top of the net after great work from Shevchenko to seal the
victory 4-0.
"Saudi Arabia are not very strong opponents. That
made it easier for us in the difficult situation after the big defeat to Spain,"
said Blokhin.
Ukrainians were quick and neat in attacking. And
after they enjoyed a comfortable two-goal halftime advantage, Saudi slow-paced
defense was dismantled both physically and mentally.
Saudi Arabians were apparently troubled on the
slippery pitch, soaked by a storm starting about half an hour before the match
kicked off.
"The pitch was wet and slippery, which made the ball
roll fast and hard to control. Also, their early goals built up the edge," said
Saudi coach Marcos Paqueta.
However, Kalinichenko shrugged off the rain element.
"It's just a question of choosing the right shoes," said the Spartak Moscow
midfielder.
In Group H, Spain will next play Saudi Arabia and
Tunisia vie for the other knockout stage spot against Ukraine.
Ukraine are up and running after this emphatic
triumph and the outlook now appears bleak for Saudi Arabia, who collected only
one point from two games, however, with Spain still to come.
In Dortmund, Switzerland managed their first World
Cup win in Germany, beating Togo 2-0 despite a boring performance with nothing
of an entertaining brand of football.
With the win, the Swiss moved temporarily on the top
of the Group G table, leading on goal differences over South Korea, who also
marked 4 points after beating Togo 2-1 in their World Cup opener and drawing 1-1
with France on Sunday.
"Of course that was important," Swiss scorer
Alexander Frei told German TV after the match. "Our coach told us at halftime
that we had to score a second, and we did. The 2-0 victory is ideal."
"I've expected the win, I think we deserved it," said
Switzerland's coach Koebi Kuhn at the post-match press conference.
"There are no easy teams. Togo were strong opponents,
they have good players," he added.
Togo coach Otto Pfister said "The Swiss didn't have a
lot of chances. They just used their opportunities better than us."
Togo will have to go out of the tournament after
committing two defeats from as many matches, while France kept hopes alive with
draws twice.
In 16 minutes, Tranquillo Barnetta, at the far post,
proded Ludovic Magnan's cross into the path of Alex Frei, who scored
Switzerland's first goal of this World Cup.
Barnetta later scored himself to make it two for the
Swiss in the dying minutes, arrowing a sweet strike in at the far post at 88.
The match was once put in doubt, however, as Togolese
players boycotted it and they refused to board the bus on the time Sunday
morning before being threatened with sanctions by FIFA and finally flying for
Dortmund.
It's a precedent in the 76-year history of the World
Cup that a team withdrew from a match.
The Togo squad have been embroiled in a pay dispute
since before the tournament started and has also endured turmoil with coach
Pfister leaving then being re-instated as coach.
On the first minute of the stoppage time in the
do-or-die clash against Switzerland on Monday, Togo rushed into a hurry as
Mustafa Salifou's shot was tipped over by Swiss keeper Pascal Zuberbuehler.
They have been knocked out of their stride by the
Swiss' goal at 16 and hardly touched the ball since.
Togo failed to get back in the game in the second
half, while Adebayor did not take long to get into the action, climbing all over
Philippe Senderos at 47 and then complaining vociferously when the free-kick
went against him. Enditem
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