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Match Day 13 > Wednesday 21Jun06

Match 39: PORTUGAL v. MEXICO

Booking: CLAP!

TOTAL COMMITMENT = GREAT MATCH!!

Both sides came out and went after each other as though it was a knockout match next week .. .. POR had their chances in the box while MEX attacked from the left-flank .. .. MEX pumped in quite a few crosses from the left, but just one from the right .. ..

BRAVO had a match to forget – He whizzed his PK past the upper-right corner in the first half and in the second half, he first-timed a sweet over the top pass over the crossbar with the goal begging .. ..  

POR MoM: #11 SIMAO SABROSA was the key man for POR tonight .. .. His left-flank run opened up the MEX defense and then he squared the ball off to MANICHE for the goal .. .. Scored his PK goal with his hesitation move and crushed it > upper-left .. .. Notice the name of his children on his boots?

MEX MoM: #17 FRANCISCO FONSECA was an offensive force around the box all match long .. .. Got MEX back into the match when off a CK, he staked out his spot in the middle of the box and then out-leaped two markers to head it home into the lower-right .. .. 

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Match 40:IRAN v. ANGOLA

Booking: CRAP?

Evenly matched teams after all > Both sides could not complete a killer pass and just gave the ball away .. .. Both sides allowed the other into their box fairly willingly .. .. Can’t fault the effort though .. ..

Interesting, though .. .. TELEFUTURA does almost an immediate update when the ’other match’ scores, but they waited until MEX was 2-0 down before showing any highlight .. .. When MEX made it 2-1, the highlight flashed up almost immediately .. .. hmmm .. ..

But the match did capture the TV MOMENT OF THE WORLD CUP when the world TV-feed showed an IRA player helping put the Captains armband on a ANG player .. .. ahhh ☻☻

IRA MoM: #2 MEHDI MAHDAVIKIA was fairly quiet all match until he scored .. .. Off a CK, he beat his man in the air and almost got a free header into the lower-left of the goal .. .. The scourge of the USA after he scored v. them in 1998, he has made headlines at home this spring with revelations about his private life .. ..

ANG MoM: #16 FLAVIO scored the first goal of the tournament for ANG and certainly made MEX sweat until IRA saved them late .. .. Made a run into the left-box and took a perfect cross from KALANGA and headed back across the goal into the lower-right and left the GK no chance .. .. He has come back to his good form in the African Nations Cup .. .. 

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Match 37: NETHERLANDS v. ARGENTINA

Booking: APLAUDA PARA LIONEL!

Pretty good match considering ARG was out there at about 60% effort and still manager the dangerous chances .. ..

NED were dangerous at times but ARG seemed to be teasing them and just allowed them to do what ARG wanted them to do .. ..

NED MoM: None

ARG MoM: #19 LIONEL MESSI is just dazzling – You can’t take your eyes off him when on the pitch .. .. Terrific vision, passing, pace and even will come back and help on defense without hurting his side .. .. ‘El Pulga’ was born in Argentina and then moved to Spain aged 13 .. .. The Spanish FA tried to get him to suit up for them but he stayed true to ARG .. .. Became Barcelona’s youngest-ever league scorer at just 17 .. ..

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Match 38: IVORY COAST v. SERBIA/MONTENEGRO

Booking: CLAP!

What started out in pouring rain was a poor match in the first half, but IVC saw the rain let up and then started flowing as they could, even without DROGBA .. .. Even though IVC was very leaky in the back, their pace and drive made SCG back-pedal .. ..

With the NED/ARG match going on, who would have thought this match was more value for money than the marquee game of the day?!

More TV MOMENTS here > TV1) Something I’ve never seen on a pitch before .. .. A ball rolled out towards the corner flag, hit it square at a 45-degree angle, and came back out onto the pitch .. .. That prompted a mad scramble by both teams who thought the ball was rolling out .. ..

 TV2) When KALOU was taking IVC’s second PK to take the lead, GK BARRY on the other side of the pitch, couldn’t watch and spent the PK on his knees, facing his own post , praying .. ..

IVC MoM: #15 ARUNA DINDANE again displayed his abilities today .. .. Showed early as he showed good close-control when he split two markers and produced a quality cross .. .. Scored his first goal on a PK when he right-footed his shot into the lower-right twice! He helped equalize with his second goal when he took a terrific deep cross in the left-box and rammed a standing header into the lower-left .. .. 

SCG MoM: #19 NIKOLA ZIGIC used all of his 6-7 frame to good use here .. .. Scored the opening goal when he took a deep cross from STANKOVIC, settled it from a clueless IVC marker, rounded the GK and right-footed it into the lower-right .. .. Helped set up the second goal when another deep cross put the IVC marker under pressure who mis-cleared right to ILIC who scored .. ..