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The World Cup started with a shocker, as defending champions France, playing without suspended Zinedine Zidane, were shutout by tournament newcomers Senegal, 1-0. In fact, the French failed to score a goal in finishing last in Group A, their only points coming from a scoreless draw with Uruguay. An impressive Denmark won the group, joined by Senegal in the next round.
Spain had an easy time sweeping Group B, with Paraguay needing a late goal against another newcomer, Slovenia, to tie South Africa on goal difference (they were already tied on points) and move to the second round on the next tiebreaker, goals scored. Brazil swept Group C; the only thing marring their play was Rivaldo's faking a head injury in a win against Turkey. The Turks did advance to the next round, over Costa RicaThe Costa Rica national football team nicknamed Los Ticos is the national team of Costa Rica and is controlled by the Federacion Costarricense de Futbol. They made two World Cups, including an improbable run to the 1990 World Cup second round under coach on goal difference. ChinaThe China national football team finished second at Asian Cup 2004. Thus far the team has been to one World Cup competition in Korea/Japan 2002, in which it failed to score a goal. As football is widely followed in People's Republic of China, any triumph, coached by Bora MilutinovicVelibor "Bora" Milutinovic (born September 7, 1944 in Yugoslavia) is a football (soccer) coach, the only one to have coached five different teams at the World Cup: Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the United States in 1994, Nigeria in 1998, and China i (a fifth different team he coached in five successive World Cups), failed to get a point or score a goal.Group D saw a shocker as the United States beat much-fancied PortugalAlthough the Portuguese national football team has never won any major competition at senior level, nor had they reached a final before Euro 2004, they usually play very attractive football and can produce some great performances, playing head-to-head wit 3-2. Then, phenomenal goalkeeping by Brad FriedelBrad Friedel (born May 18, 1971 in Lakewood, Ohio) is an American international football goalkeeper currently playing for Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League. Club career Friedel studied at UCLA (where he was a NCAA champion in 1990 and won the earned the Americans a 1-1 tie with South KoreaKorea, in ancient times, had a ball game called 'chuk-guk' very similar in form to contemporary football. However, Koreans first saw the present version of football in 1882 when British crew members played a game while their vessel was visiting the lnchon. Then, with Korea already assured of advancing, the co-hosts beat Portugal to send the Europeans home and give the US a ticket into the second round. PolandPolish national football team ( Polish: polska reprezentacja narodowa played its first international match on 18 December 1921 in Budapest against Hungary and was defeated 0:1. It won the Gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and the Silver med finished last in the group.
Germany trashed Saudi Arabia 8-0 in Group E behind three goals from Miroslav Klose. Ireland, playing without ex-captain Roy Keane, sent home days before the World Cup, but led by his namesake, Robbie, was good enough to nip African champions Cameroon for second place.Other than France's failures, the biggest shocker of the tournament came in the Group of Death, Group F as pre-tournament favorites Argentina failed to move out of the group. A loss to England 1-0 on a David Beckham penalty and a subsequent tie with Sweden kept the South Americans from advancing. The Scandinavians won the group, with England also going through. Nigeria finished last.
In Group G, Italy, Croatia, and Ecuador all beat each other once, but the Italians' tie against group winners Mexico, while the other two lost to the Central Americans, gave the three-time World champions second place in the group.
Co-hosts Japan breezed through Group H, joined in the second round by Belgium. Russia and Tunisia were two of the dissapointments of the tournament, in what was considered the weekest group of the eight.
In the Round of 16, Germany beat Paraguay 1-0 on a late goal by Oliver Neuville. England trashed previously-impressive Denmark 3-0. Senegal continued their impressive run with a Golden Goal victory over Sweden, 2-1. Robbie Keane's late equalizer for Ireland to make it 1-1 was not enough as Spain won on penalty kicks.
In the battle of CONCACAF rivals, United States took it to Mexico 2-0 behind the goals of Brian McBride and Landon Donovan. Belgium played well against Brazil, but was at the wrong end of the 2-0 score. Turkey ended co-hosts Japan's run with a 1-0 win. The other co-hosts, South Korea, beat Italy on a Golden Goal, 2-1, in a controversial match that saw Francesco Totti red-carded in overtime for diving.
In the quarterfinals, Ronaldinho's free kick sailed over the stunned David Seaman as Brazil beat England 2-1. The US was unlucky to lose to Germany 1-0 on a Michael Ballack goal; they outplayed the Germans everywhere but on the scoreboard and were denied an obvious penalty on a hand ball in the box. South Korea got another controversial win, beating Spain on penalties after a 0-0 tie; the Spanish had two goals disallowed, which replays proved to be wrong decisions. Turkey continued their remarkable run, stopping Senegal's own with a 1-0 Golden Goal victory.
The semifinals saw two 1-0 games; first, Ballack's goal was enough for Germany to top South Korea. However, Ballack received a yellow card during the match, which forced him to miss the final based on accumulated yellow cards. Then, Ronaldo scored his sixth of the competition to beat Turkey in a rematch of a first-round match. Turkey beat the Koreans 3-2 for Third Place, their first goal coming straight off the opening kickoff.
With Ballack's yellow card suspension thwarting the German offense, the final was Ronaldo time. The Golden Boot winner scored his seventh and eighth goals, as previously-steady Oliver Kahn was victimized. The German keeper, who had a terrific tournament, allowing just one goal in previous six matches, failed to hold Rivaldo's shot in the 67th minute that Ronaldo easily knocked home for the game winner. The second goal 12 minutes later made the result academic. The game was over with the 2-0 result and Brazil had their record fifth World Cup title.
Football World Cup