Group C
Argentina 2, Ivory Coast 1
Still haunted by the last World Cup, Argentina really needed this victory. And a determined Ivory Coast team made the two-time Cup winners work for it.
PHOTO: AFP
Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola took advantage of some shaky defense to score first-half goals, and the Argentines hung on for a 2-1 victory on Saturday night in the first game of what many think is the tournament's toughest group.
"It was savage," Crespo said. "We were nervous, so much wanting to do things well. This is the first step."
Didier Drogba, a key to Chelsea's consecutive English Premier League titles, got Ivory Coast's goal in the 82nd minute. After he just missed a header, the ball was cut back in front, and Drogba converted a left-footed shot for his 24th goal in 33 international appearances.
Argentina, whistled at by the crowd of 49,480 for its delaying tactics, won its fourth straight World Cup opener and next plays Serbia-Montenegro on Friday, when Ivory Coast meets the Netherlands. The Dutch faced Serbia in their Group C opener yesterday.
Argentina fans in blue-and-white-striped shirts filled the other corner of the stadium and brought along drums for some extra noise. Dressed in an Argentina jersey and watching from stands was Diego Maradona, who led his country to the 1986 title.
"This is a young Argentina team," coach Jose Pekerman said. "Many are playing their first World Cup, and a debut like this is going to give them confidence."
Ivory Coast, which got past African power Cameroon to qualify for the first time, was dressed in bright orange jerseys, and so were its fans. The supporters serenade the team with "When the Elephants dance, it's the ground that suffers" after wins, but they didn't have much to sing about.
"I think maybe we deserve something better than what happened tonight, but Argentina's players were very good," Drogba said. "They played very well, and I think they scored when they had to score. That was the difference between them and us. We had a lot of chances, but we were unlucky to not score."
At the 2002 tournament in Japan, Argentina beat Nigeria, lost to England and tied Sweden, its worst performance since failing to qualify for the 1970 tournament. Players were ridiculed back home, where newspapers took a photo of the team's defensive wall and superimposed handbags draped on the players' arms.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS