Brazil, France, SKorea return to Cup looking similar to last time
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-14 07:35 France lost to Senegal and Denmark at the last World Cup and left after the
first round.
Ahn Jung-hwan scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute for South Korea,
which faced a team that nearly played in Frankfurt without a coach.
Togo made its chaotic debut at the World Cup with coach Otto Pfister quitting
Friday and then returning for the match. The 68-year-old German had left the
team because of a dispute between his players and the country's soccer
federation over bonuses.
Mohamed Kader gave the African team the lead in the 31st with a shot from 14
meters (yards).
But seconds after Togo captain Jean-Paul Abalo was sent off for getting his
second yellow card, Lee Chun-soo sent a free kick over the defensive wall and
past Togo goalkeeper Kossi Agassa for the equalizer in the 54th minute.
"I'm so very happy that the South Korean team played here in Europe and won
this match," Ahn said.
Injuries continue to plague many players at the World Cup, but Andriy
Shevchenko said he feels fit to play Wednesday in Ukraine's first match against
Spain.
"I feel quite well," Shevchenko said Tuesday. "The coach will decide this
evening whether I can play on his team. I am ready for any decision he might
make."
The Czech Republic, which beat the United States 3-0 on Monday, trained
without strikers Jan Koller and Milan Baros. Team officials were not certain if
the injured players would be available for the team's next match against Ghana
on Saturday.
Serbia-Montenegro central defender Nemanja Vidic is out for sure because of a
knee injury.
In London and Liverpool, the English team's matches will no longer be shown
on big screens in public areas because of violence that broke out at both venues
last weekend.
A German fan was attacked by four men and stabbed in a town near Hamburg,
apparently because he had painted his country's flag on his cheeks, police said.
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