Day 5: 28.9.06

Reports - Day Five

Homeless World Cup 2006

England (8) v (0) Czech Republic

The starting line up for England was Tony Peacock, Ricardo Brandao, Paul Smith and Kevin Garrighan. All England’s players excelled again today.

They were awarded a penalty and Smith scored, followed by a
skillful Brandao goal. Nicky Meta came onto the pitch and some great teamwork from Peacock, and Smith and led to superb Meta goal.

England was awarded another penalty and Peacock converted to make it 5-0 at half time.

Peacock went down the length of a pitch and blasted the ball at the goal and unfortunately it was just over.

Brandao scored another securing his hat trick, and he got another before full time along with Meta.

The final score was 8-0, and the clean sheet was down to Garrighan who had a superb game.

Kate Wilson

Ireland (4) v (1) Ghana

Ireland got off to a flying start with Michael Murphy scoring, but controversially it was ruled out by the referee for an unknown reason.

Ireland, however, soon went in front thanks to Dave McPhillips, making it 1 – 0.

Then came a comical moment in the game as Simon Canning chipped the ball to the Irish ‘keeper. The ball hit the keeper’s shoulder and rolled along the top of the bar then ricocheted from the cross bar to the floor a few times, leaving the ‘keeper bemused.

Ghana hit back with a fierce shot, but the Irish ‘keeper pulled off an outstanding save.

Ghana were then awarded a penalty, and the player made no mistake converting the spot kick making it 1 –1 at half time.

Ireland started to put Ghana under constant pressure, with Tom Grimes scoring to put them in front.

They were then awarded a penalty – Eddie Murray scored with a powerful shot.

Tom Grimes scored again with a great shot on the turn to make it 4 – 1 to Ireland at the final whistle.

Lee Dixon

Kazakhstan (6) vs (1) Brazil

Kazakhstan achieved their second win of the day when they beat the highly rated Brazil.

Half time the game was still in the balance and up for grabs, but Kazakhstan came out the second half and played out of their skin.

Kazakhstan’s first half goal came after a basic mistake by the Brazilian goalkeeper who stepped outside the penalty area.

This meant a penalty to Kazakhstan which they converted into a goal. Kalikov Yergali’s two terrific goals in the second half edged his side in the forefront, a lead they would never surrender.

Brazil struggled to find their way back in the match and the pressure seemed to get to them.

One player that has to be mentioned in the winning team is it’s goalkeeper, Bitenbayev Timur, who was a standout player for his side.

Timur saved a huge number of possible goals and isn’t scared to put his body on the line.

Ruan Bruwer

Chile (1) v Rwanda (3)

An intense match, with Chle putting up a good fight against Rwanda, the African country beating them 3-1.

Juan took advantage of the opportunity he had, the ball free of players, and scored the first goal for Chile in the second minute.

Chile did not remain in the lead for long though, as Ernestine Uwimana scored for Rwanda in the third minute, bringing the score to a draw, 1-1.

Husseni Ntakiuruti suffered a minor injury but was able to continue playing. Kassim Nsengiyumva went on to take Rwanda into the lead by scoring a goal, the crowd cheering him on.

Both teams came back into the second half with a renwed attitude, somewhat of a determined nature. Chile skills are good with the ball but they don’t result in goals for their side.

A Rusian player comes to pitch side to enjoy the music and starts to dance: “The music is beautiful.” Chile reserves and coach concentrating on the game, start to sing songs in an attempt to hype up the players.

Rwanda’s Angelique Nzabanita scores the final goal in the game, resulting in a win for Rwanda 3-1.

By: Tamara Metrowich

The Netherlands (0) vs (6) Portugal

In a totally one sided affair, Portugal found no trouble to smash The Netherlands by 6 goals to zero.

The score could and should have been much higher if it wasn’t for the fact that a number of possible goals went a begging due to strikes by the Portuguese being off target.

Although Holland was only 0-3 down at the break, one could clearly see their heads dropping as the second half progressed.

Holland simply had no answer to the Portuguese and the referee’s final whistle was no doubt a big relief for The Netherlands.

Ruan Bruwer

Nigeria 2 (2) vs Poland 1 (2)

In a fast match packed with action and drama, Nigeria managed to scrape a win against Poland in a group 1 match.

For the entire game no more than a single goal separated the two teams.

Very few scoring chances occurred during the game as both team’s defending was rock solid.

Nigeria probably did most of the attacking during the second half, but they simply could not get the ball past Tomasz Figlarz, goalie of Polska.

Late in the game Poland has a golden opportunity to break the deadlock and take the lead when they received a penalty.

Poland’s captain, Rafal Rozanski took the responsibility on his shoulders to score what should have been the winning goal.

His effort however sailed high over the net which resulted that the encounter ended 2 all after full time.

In the penalty shootout Figlarz who was so reliable previously, faded under the pressure and wasn’t able to defend any of the two kicks aimed at him.

Nigeria’s fist attempt was taken by Omotola Abdul Latif who sold a brilliant dummy kick which effectively caught Figlarz by surprise. A second success for Nigeria wrapped the game up for them and resulted in a famous win.

Ruan Bruwer

South Africa (4) vs (2) Italy

The host nation South Africa ended day five on a winning note when the beat the defending champions Italy.

South Africa scored very early in the match thanks to a shining long range goal by James Steenberg.

A short while later, Steenberg was in the action again as he and fellow teammate Nathan Abels coordinated a beautiful maneuver with Abels scoring the team’s second one pointer.

SA’s third score came when Gerald Bez received the ball while unguarded and made no mistakes with only the keeper to beat.

While the home team did most of the attacking in the fist half, Italy started to show why they have won the cup twice before with some great attacking themselves.

It wasn’t long before they only found themselves only 2-3 down.

They nearly drew things level but an attempt at a goal missed by a half a meter.

This seemed to be a wakeup call to South Africa and close to full time Bez scored another impressive goal from about half way to give his team a hard fought win.

* Earlier in the day South Africa trashed Estonia by 17-0. Not only was this the largest margin of victory by a team, it was also the most goals scored by a team thus far in the 2006 Homeless World Cup.

Denmark’s 13 goals against Australia (13-4) are the second most goals by a team with England’s 11 (11-1 against Hong-Kong) the third most.

England and Lithuania are sharing the record for the second largest margin of victory (win by 10 goals) as Lithuania beat Hungary 10-0 on day four.

Ruan Bruwer