SEOUL, 9 June — Four-time world champions Brazil cruised past debutants China 4-0 to move closer to the second round of the 2002 World Cup, while South Africa got their first-ever tournament victory, 1-0 over Slovenia, and Croatia shocked Italy, 2-1.
In the Group C match in Seogwipo, South Korea, the Chinese side coached by Bora Milutinovic were hopelessly outplayed by the South Americans, who got off to a slow start but then showed their class to dominate the action virtually at will.
Roberto Carlos opened the scoring after 14 minutes on a free kick from 25 meters out after Li Weifang had fouled Ronaldinho. The blast by Carlos through the wall caught Chinese keeper Jiang Jin just out of position. That was Brazil’s first shot of the match.
In the 31st minute Rivaldo made it 2-0, left-footing a cross from Ronaldinho from two meters out, leaving Jiang chanceless.
The Chinese did their best to stem the tide, cheered on by a partisan crowd of about 25,000 fans. But the Brazilians made it 3-0 on a penalty by Ronaldinho after Ronaldo, almost through, was pulled down by Li in the 43rd minute. Ronaldo finished the scoring at 4-0 in the 55th minute on an expertly-placed cross from Cafu.
“Anyone who knows anything about Chinese football knows that when you lose in this way, there is nothing you can tell your players,” Milutinovic said. He said China produced a performance worth remembering in South Korea’s city of Seogwipo.
Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said experience, not class, was the key.
“We knew China would begin the game by applying a lot of pressure, so we decided to wait for the first 15 minutes before beginning to...take control of the game,” he said. “We are constantly improving and getting better every match we play.”
In Taegu, the South Africans claimed a historic 1-0 victory against Slovenia to put themselves in a commanding position in Group B to advance the knockout stages of the World Cup.
Siyabonga Nomvethe bobbled in a Quinton Fortune free-kick just four minutes into the game in what proved to be the winner as Slovenia fought in vain for the equalizer.
The victory was South Africa’s first at the finals and has given Bafana a tremendous confidence boost ahead of their final qualifying match against Spain who are already through to the second round.
“I salute the boys. They have done history with this first win at the World Cup,” said coach Jomo Sono, adding that he was aware that the game against Slovenia was not a nice one to watch: “We did not come here to play nice football. We came here to win.”
In Ibaraki, Japan, Croatia struck twice within three minutes in the second half to turn the tables on favored Italy and grab a precious 2-1 victory in a Group G match which saw two Italian goals controversially disallowed.
Christian Vieri headed in his third goal of the World Cup in the 55th minute to give Italy a 1-0 lead it appeared might hold up for the rest of the hard-fought encounter.
But substitute Ivica Olic pushed in the equalizer in the 73rd minute after the Italian defense let a cross from Robert Jarni slip through. Then, Milan Rapaic lofted a soft shot from 15 meters out high into the corner of the goal in the 76th to put Croatia up 2-1.
Italy made a massive push forward looking for the equalizer, as Francesco Totti hit the inside of the left up-right in the 86th minute and Filippo Inzaghi had Italy’s second goal of the game disallowed two minutes into injury time.
“Incomprehensible. Twice we scored and twice the linesmen pulled his flag up,” said Vieri, who had a goal disallowed in the 50th minute for being ruled off-sides.
Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni added: “One of the two goals if not both (which were disallowed) should have counted...We had a lot of chances at the end and I don’t understand how the equalizer was not allowed.”
Croatia’s win before 36,472 fans at Kashima Stadium pulled them even with Italy and Mexico atop Group G with three points. Mexico and Ecuador play their second match today in Miyagi.
“Only a great team can come back after being behind against Italy and win,” Croatian coach Mirko Jozic said. “It’s the heart of my players...The collective agreement of my team was not to give up after Italy had pulled ahead 1-0.”
