French Revolution
French players refused to a man to train Sunday, protesting Saturday's sending home of Nicolas Anelka. General Manager Jean-Louis Valentin announced his resignation over the remaining players' insubordination, saying he was "disgusted" that they refused to practice.
If France had a better shot at reaching the knockouts, this would be high drama. As it sits, it's mostly farce. With a child prostitution scandal papered over in April, the manager's replacement hired in May (and open calls for the manager to be replaced early, not after this tournament), two poor games, and the Anelka affair, this team needs to be smashed to smithereens and rebuilt by the time Euro qualifying begins in September.
Paraguay 2, Slovakia 0
Paraguay cruised to a win against a Slovak side that showed absolutely nothing. Enrique Vera made the most of a half-chance by turning the ball in with the outside of his right foot to put the South Americans ahead on 27 minutes. Cristian Riveros completed the scoring with a blast from the top of the box on 86 minutes.
Slovakia somehow finished with 52|PERCENT| of the ball after having almost no possession in the first half hour. Slovakia's only shot on target came in the 92nd minute when both teams knew full well that everything had been decided. Paraguay look set for the knockout stage, and will want to win against New Zealand in the group finale to avoid Holland in the crossover game.
New Zealand 1, Italy 1
A determined New Zealand side held reigning world champions Italy in one of the shock results of our generation.
New Zealand went ahead when Azurri fullback Fabio Cannavaro misplayed a ball into the box, allowing Shane Smeltz to toe-poke the ball past the Italian goalkeeper. Daniele de Rossi had his shirt pulled in the New Zealand area, went down cheaply, and Vicenzo Iaquinta equalized from the penalty spot. That action all came in the first half hour and that was more or less it.
Italy finished with a 6-1 edge in shots on goal, and a 13-0 spread on corner kicks, but New Zealand defended well to ensure that both teams played a second straight 1-1 draw. New Zealand finish up group play with Paraguay, and Italy play Slovakia.
Brazil 3, Ivory Coast 1
Brazil eased to a win and survived a dirty team to qualify for the knockout stage.
The Coast had most of the early play until Luis Fabiano got past a stumbling defender and roofed a goal to put Brazil up 1-0. After the goal the rest of the first half was very tepid, with Coast heads dropping in disappointment and Brazilian minds getting slightly more conservative.
The second half was more eventful. Luis Fabiano completed his brace but handled the ball in the process. Brazil then scored a lovely team goal finished off by Elano to lead 3-0. Elano was cut down like a cherry tree and stretchered off. Didier Drogba scored unmarked from a standing header to grab a consolation goal for the Elephants.
Things turned ugly with three minutes to go. Fouls had been coming increasingly frequently. The Coast's Keita gently bumped into Brazil's Kaka. Keita then grabbed his own face and fell down as if he'd been elbowed between the eyes. Kaka was sent off. Brazil will surely appeal to the disciplinary committee. Poor stuff from Keita. Shameless.