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2006-06-27 17:22:29
A place in the quarter-finals awaits the winners of Tuesday’s tantalizing Round of 16 ties, with Africa’s last surviving representative Ghana taking on reigning champions Brazil in the day’s first game. As FIFA World Cup™ new boys, the Black Stars will be playing without the same burden of expectation as their illustrious opponents, or indeed old rivals France and Spain, who meet for the first time on world football’s biggest stage in the evening game in Hanover.
The matches
Brazil - Ghana, 17:00 (CET), Dortmund
Spain - France, 21:00, Hanover
Les Bleus
scraped through the group phase by registering their first FIFA World
Cup win since 1998 at the expense of tournament debutants Togo, and
they will be further boosted by Zinedine Zidane’s return from
suspension. They have never lost to Spain in a competitive match, but
Luis Aragones’ charges looked especially sharp as they cruised through
the group stage. Certain to keep faithful to their spectacular 4-3-3
formation, La Selección start as slight favourites in Hanover.
The duel
In a contest between club-mates at opposite ends of their careers,
34-year-old Zinedine Zidane will need all his vast experience to find a
way past Sergio Ramos in the heart of Spain’s defence. At 20, the Real
Madrid man is one of Spanish football’s brightest prospects, and
despite all his admiration for his fellow Merengue, Ramos will
do everything in his power to achieve the win that forces Zidane to
hang up his boots. The former Sevilla star will surely have given his
compatriots the inside track on Zizou’s array of tricks, but his illustrious opponent is sure to have conducted a briefing of his own.
The absentees
Michael Essien (GHA)
Past meetings
The question
Can Ghana keep the Brazilian steamroller at bay without Michael Essien?
The lungs in the Black Stars’ midfield and master of all he surveys,
the Chelsea ace misses this all-or-nothing tie through suspension.
Having completed 165 passes in the tournament so far (average of 55 per
game) and taken aim with 11 shots, he will be sorely missed by a squad
that simply does not possess the same reserves of talent as the Pentacampeão.
The figures
Birthdays
Spain forward Raul turns 29 today and could have even more reasons to
celebrate if things go his way. Apart from the prospect of securing a
quarter-final berth, a goal against the French would see the Real
Madrid man become the leading Spanish scorer in FIFA World Cup history
with six strikes.
A FIFA World Cup blast from the past
27 June 1994, Germany 3-2 Korea Republic, Dallas.
World champions Germany must have thought they were cruising to victory
after surging three goals ahead on 37 minutes, but an inspired Korean
comeback saw them clinging to a 3-2 win at the final whistle. The hero
that day with a brace for the Mannschaft was current coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Not a lot of people know this…
After picking up a yellow card and a suspension against Korea Republic,
a furious Zinedine Zidane took his anger out on a door in the Leipzig
changing-room. Stadium officials initially considered charging for the
damage, before deciding to leave the boot print as a Hollywood Walk of
Fame-style souvenir from one of the game’s true legends. Their only
worry now is a spate of copycat attacks…
Having a laugh
“This is not a football game… but a card game.” Kim Chan-Ju was
distinctly unimpressed with the Portugal-Netherlands match judging by
his comments on the Fan Chat at FIFAworldcup.com.
