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| Brazil Ease past Ghana, France Stun Spain |
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Brazil will face France in the quarterfinals. In the 1998 World Cup final, France had stunned the world with a 3-0 win over Brazil. In Dortmund, Ronaldo opened scoring for the holders in just five minutes when he received a pass from AC Milan sensation Kaka and kicked off a 20-meter solo run, mugging Ghana keeper Richard Kingson with a trademark step over to slot the ball home. Adriano extended Brazil's lead to 2-0 in the dying minutes of the first half as the Inter Milan striker, who regained the starting position as Robinho was sidelined by a slight right thigh injury, lobbed in a close pass from Cafu, who ran off a nice goal-mouth effort with Adriano after connecting with Kaka. The third score came late in the second half when substitute midfielder Ricardinho tipped the ball over Ghana's center-backs and Jose Ze Roberto cut across, flicked it past Richard Kingson and tapped in at 84. "We won the game, but the result doesn't show it was not an easy game at all. The first half they did well, they should have scored. They had chances," said Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. "The big guys are coming to the quarter-finals. It is getting closer and closer. It's getting tougher and tougher. "History doesn't talk about the beautiful game, it talks about champions. We like to play beautifully and if we can, we will. ...We have five world championships under our belly and we want to make it six." With the earlier two goals for the five-time champions, Ronaldo set a new scoring record of the World Cup finals with 15, breaking the former mark of 14 jointly held by the Real Madrid striker and Germany's Gerd Muller. "It's a great satisfaction to make this record, but let's not forget our main objective is to reach the final. The players are very confident and our team is meeting our goals," said Ronaldo after the match. In Hanover, forward David Villa scored a goal from the penalty spot in the 28th minute to lift Spain to a 1-0 lead. The penalty kick came from Spain's defender Pablo who was fouled from behind by French defender Lilian Thuram. As most Spain's fans believed that the match would go smoothly in favor of Spain, France had their equalizer in the 41st minute when midfielder Frank Ribery ran a one-two with Patrick Vieira, who sprang Ribery free behind the defense. Ribery rounded the goalkeeper Iker Casillas and finished into the net with two Spanish defenders sliding desperately to try to save. Casillas was unable to contain his frustration at Spain's exit. "We were so close. It was undeserved, an undeserved defeat," said Casillas. "But that's football, we're heading home and there's nothing we can do about it." The turning point came on 83 minutes when France world-class playmaker Zinedine Zidane sent in a free kick which was deflected by Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso. But it set up perfectly for Vieira at the back post and his powerful header hit Spain defender Sergio Ramos' leg and flew into the net. Spanish coach Luis Aragones was unhappy over the free kick awarded to France. Referee Roberto Rosetti blew for a foul when French forward Thierry Henry went down after a tackle by Spain defender Carles Puyol. Aragones said: "Their second goal came from a free kick that wasn't a foul and we were punished by a refereeing error." He added, "Football is unjust sometimes, but not always. France was a very tough opponent." Zidane, 34, who is playing for his last World Cup, sealed the win in injury time by steering an accurate low blast home in the box after dancing past Spain defender Carlos Puyol. The French hero said: "It was a celebration, the Spanish made it difficult but the adventure continues." "We wanted to accomplish something and show the people we had the qualities even if in our group it was difficult." "As for Zidane, he kept going for the whole match. In the last minute, he stuck to it. He still accelerated," said Domenech. France, who was humiliated in the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup with an early exit without a single goal, played brilliant football tonight to stun the world. The 1998 world champions really came back! Spain coach Luis Aragones said after the match that his players made more errors in today's game than their previous matches. "We played well only in the first half," he said. France's victory not only extends Zidane's World Cup journey, but also means Brazil will face their nemesis Zidane again, the player who scored twice against them in the 1998 World Cup final. (Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2006) |
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