Ireland and Nigeria Soccer

Better to lose that match than the one on June 1st. I think this wake up call will do us the power of good and besides our performance on the night was more than acceptable. I don't think this defeat has suddenly exposed us as a bad team all of a sudden. We will be ok!

France Worried:
Zidane injured as France edge past Korea
By Pierre SerisierSUWON, South Korea (Reuters) - Zinedine Zidane sustained a thigh injury as France completed preparations for their World Cup defence by beating South Korea 3-2 in a friendly on Sunday.


Zidane was substituted in the 38th minute after complaining of a problem in his left thigh, just five days before France play Senegal in the opening match of the World Cup.



France defender Frank Leboeuf slotted home the winning goal with just one minute remaining in a tight game against South Korea, who suffered their first defeat in eight matches in front of 43,000 fans.


"When a side like Korea is backed by their public, they become very dangerous," Lemerre said. "We have suffered a lot.


"We have had to fight hard to cope with the skills, with physical challenge proposed by the Koreans and with their strong will. We have been very often outpaced. But we never gave it up and we managed to win in the end."


France, who lost 2-1 at home to Belgium last week, knew they could not afford another setback and they made a fast start.


Germany Deadly:
Germany 10 Miyazaki 0

Germany, playing in unusual red shirts to underline the unofficial status of this game, boosted their self-confidence ahead of their World Cup opener against Saudi Arabia by putting ten goals past a hapless Miyazaki's youth team.

The game, which was not approved by Fifa, was used by coach Rudi Voller to experiment with his defensive formation, after key defenders Jens Nowotny and Christian Worns were ruled out of the tournament.

Hertha Berlin defender Marko Rehmer made his first start in three months, and his assured display makes him a reliable alternative to Borussia Dormund youngster Christoph Metzelder.

Ramelow, of Bayer Leverkusen, looks almost certain to start against the Saudis, and his comfort with the ball at his feet will see him start as the spare man in the back-three.

Voller did not set much store by the game, but felt the match gave his players a welcome distraction from the relentless routine of training.

The visitors needed 17 minutes to make their physical superiority over the small Japanese youngsters count, when defender Thomas Linke opened the scoring with a header from Bernd Schneider's cross.



England 2 Cameroon 2
A superior Cameroon side led twice through goals from Samuel Eto'o after five minutes and Geremi after 58, before Fowler boosted injury-hit England's morale.


"It's always good not to lose a football game," Eriksson said, before paying tribute to the two substitutes who combined in the dying seconds to repeat Darius Vassell's first-half equaliser.


"A Robbie Fowler goal with Teddy Sheringham involved, it's good to have those two on the bench," he said. "They're both finishers.


"We did good things today, and there are things we must do better if we want to have a good result against Sweden."


England have suffered on the injury front recently, with three players ruled out of the World Cup and captain David Beckham and Kieron Dyer both struggling to recover.



NO CRITICISM


"It was a friendly game today. Of the players out on the pitch, no-one wanted to lose -- but on the other hand, no-one wanted to be injured.


"All of them know that in one week's time it gets really important. I think that's fair and okay, one week before the World Cup starts."


The Cameroon game followed an equally disappointing England result last Tuesday when they drew 1-1 with South Korea at Sogwipo following a particularly poor second half performance.


"It's been good to have these two games," Eriksson said. "First of all you learn that football is never easy any more and, secondly, it's good to meet different kinds of football.


"There was a lot of good quality in the Cameroon team, as there will be when we meet Nigeria in the last game of the group."


England face Argentina on June 7 before meeting the African side on June 12.


But Eriksson knows he must sort out England's problems long before then


Big Phil with Brazil
Luiz Felipe Scolari, known as 'Big Phil', knew what to expect when taking over from Emerson Leao at the head of the most decorated team in football, but few would have imagined such a tumultuous ride. After a disastrous Copa America, Scolari came close to going down as the first manager to fail to bring Brazil to the World Cup finals but
Brazil are back!!

Brazil 4 - 0 Malaysia

Spain winners!
Spain hold on in Ulsan
Group B favourites Spain hung on to win 1-0 against Korean side Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i in their last friendly match before the World Cup today.

Italian skill
Inzaghi injured in Italy's warm-up win
First-half goals from Filippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri gave Italy a 2-1 win over Japanese champions Kashima Antlers in a World Cup warm-up game on Sunday. But Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni was forced to take off Inzaghi in the 29th minute, with the striker appearing to suffer a thigh injury.



http://worldcup2002.eurosport.com/home/pages/wcup/L0/news_Lng0_Sto286325.shtml

Matt Holland has lacerated Roy Keane for "abusing the manager, the players and himself in a hard-hitting interview in the London Independent.
"I described the World Cup as a "pretty big show" in last week's column. Well, courtesy of Roy Keane it turned into the world's biggest story. Considering what else has been in the news, that's quite a statement.

"Never have I witnessed such a foul-mouthed tirade as Keane subjected the manager Mick McCarthy to during that fateful team meeting in Saipan on Thursday."

"McCarthy walked in holding sheets of paper that were transcripts of some interviews Keane had given earlier in the week, the gist of which is public knowledge and concerned the supposedly amateurish preparations and training on Saipan."

"I think the manager wanted an apology from Keane, not so much to himself but to the rest of the players whom Keane had accused of "accepting second best" among other compliments."

A little humility from Keane and it would have been a simple "clear the air" meeting as McCarthy intended but when he waved the papers at Keane and asked "What is all this about?", Keane reacted aggressively, immediately trying to defend himself.

"He wanted the discussion to be between him and McCarthy only in other words, in private but McCarthy explained that it was Keane's own actions that had made everything public so it was to be dealt with in front of the whole squad."

"The rest of us just sat there. Keane refused to apologise for his comments. In fact he reiterated that he still stood by them and then he launched an abusive attack on the manager. It was absolutely extraordinary to listen to, and like the rest of the squad, I was stunned."


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