England 1, Paraguay 0. Solid first half from England, a bit of a let down in the second. No matter, Paraguay had few scoring chances. As for the American TV announcers, ick. Grating. Can they mention Beckham without saying 'bend it' in the same sentence?
Update: Randy Paul has previews, of groups A and B, C and D, E (the U.S.'s group), F (featuring Brasil), and G and H. So you can catch up if you need to.
Trinidad & Tobago 0, Sweden 0. A classic underdog story, and a star is born. Sweden, from the outset, clearly have more speed, more size, more talent, and better organization. T&T's goalkeeper is injured shortly before gametime, and can't start. Emergency sub goalie Shaka Hislop is bombarded all game long, and comes up big time and again.
To top it off T&T plays a man down in the second half thanks to a questionable call. The scene after the final whistle tells it all, with the Soca Warriors jubilant and Swedish fans weeping in the stands.
Argentina 2, Ivory Coast 1 The Argentines demoralize a strong Ivory Coast team with two early goals, and then hold on. One for the Africans with ten minutes to go, and several more chances go for naught. Argentina looks like a title contender.
Posted by Walter at June 10, 2006 08:56 AM