Slovakia v France
Slovakia (1) v France (4)
But for the heroics of Slovakia's goalkeeper, this would have been a rout of quite large proportions. The crowd was treated to an immense display of one-man defending in this Cape Town Cup semi-final. One on occasion he pulled off a triple save to thwart French ambitions. A mere double save a minute earlier looked routine by comparison.
Sadly his efforts were not matched by his colleagues upfield. They toiled bravely, but had shipped two goals inside 20 seconds. A brilliant pinpoint strike into the corner gave them some hope of a revival after the break, but it was more hope than reality. The French themselves were disjointed and need to find a target man upfront with an assassin's sense of execution if they are to take the trophy on offer. The two scored by the finish were the result of persistent banging on the door, but little more.
Frank Prenesti