WORLD NEWS

World Cup Results: Croatia 2-1 Italy, Azzurre robbed of points by bad calls; Brazil 4-0 CHina, Samba Power too much for Bora's babies; South Africa 1-0 SLovenia; Nightmare cup continues for Slovenia, and more... June 9, 2002 - STM Staff

Brazil 4-0 China
Seogwipo, South Korea

Sometimes just being at the World Cup is enough, but you will have a hard time selling that to the Chinese players who recently got whipped by the Brazilians 4-0 and were given a lesson in the samba to boot.

Head Coach Bora did well to get his fledglings into the big dance, but this is no prom and the Chinese were made to look sophomoric in their game against a resurgent Brazilian team.

Brazil took control of the match right from the starting whistle and never really allowed the Chinese to touch the ball.

Brazil got goals from all the big-time, big money players including Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho. The Green and Yellow were up 4-0 with Ronaldo's 55th minute strike and never looked back.

Brazil have found their confidence with a weak group draw, and now sit with 6 points atop the leader board in Group C. China is effectively out of the tournament barring a series of crazy circumstances that culminates with the seas of the pacific flooding Tokyo.

Croatia 2-1Italy
Ibaraki, Japan

This game will go down in infamy in Italian sporting lore as the game they were cheated out of by repeated miss calls by the lines man and the centre referee.

The Italians dropped a controversial 2-1 decision to Croatia in a match marred by poor decisions by the referees that costs the Azzurre a goal and the points.

Croatia's Ivica Olic and Milan Rapaic scored second half goals and Italy had two called back due to offside rulings, effectively handing the Croats the match and a crucial three-point win.

Croatia's two goals came just three minutes apart in the 73rd and 76th minutes respectively. Olic slipped behind three defenders and tucked the ball into the back of the net for the first goal. Rapaic scored off a shot deflection to give the underdogs the 2-1 lead.

The group standings have been thrown completely out of whack with the Croatia win. Mexico and Croatia and Italy are all tied for first place in the Group F.

South Africa 1-0 Slovenia
Daegu, South Korea

South Africa (1-0-1) have set themselves up for a possible trip tot e second round with a 1-0 win over an broken down Slovenia (0-0-2) side in the heat and humidity of Dague. It is clear that the Slovenians are just waiting to pack their bags and take an early exit from the cup after their star player was sent home and coach was kicked off the sidelines. He will resign after the tournament. Yikes!

The South African goal was something of a fluke when Quenton Fortune's cross bounced of forward Nomvethe's knee when a header was attempted) yet still spin into the back corner of the net for the game-winner. But you will take them where you an get them in the World Cup.

Head Coach Jomo Sono will prepare his team for a huge match against a heavily favored, and already qualified. Hard to tell if the Spanish coach will field his first team squad or save them for the knock out stages and give a run-out to the benchwarmers.

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