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Korea-Japan 2002: Group Stage

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Korea-Japan 2002: Groups - Matches - Road to the Final - Stadiums - Teams + Bookings + Injuries + Leading Goalscorers.
Home: World Cup 2002: Korea-Japan Finals: 1st Round: Match Report

The World United Through Football Saturday June 8th, 2002

Travel to Italy Italy vs Travel to Croatia Croatia in Ibaraki (1:2)

Rejuvenated Croatia Beat Lacklustre Italy

While this Italian side didn't seem as hungry as the one against Ecuador, Croatia began much better than they did against Mexico.

The game started very evenly balanced, until Nesta was injured in the 23rd minute.

Although Croatia pushed up and troubled Buffon in the Italian goal, they failed to score and Italy slowly found their rhythm towards the end of the first-half.

The Totti and Vieiri combination didn't cause any real threats though and unless things change in the second half, Croatia must feel they can get a result in Ibaraki; to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

Half-time: Italy 0 - Croatia 0

Vieri had a goal disallowed for offside, five minutes after the restart, as Italy tried to up the tempo.

Leading Goalscorers 1:0
On Italy's next serious attack, Christian Vieri netted his third goal of the tournament.... heading in Christaino Doni's right wing cross, after approach work from Totti - 55 mins.

Leading Goalscorers 1:1
After Vieri missed a chance to put Italy two goals up, Croatia countered with Robert Jarni crossing for substitute Ivica Olic to head the goal and level the score - 73 mins.

Croatia continued to stretch Italy and had a few chances to go in front in the next couple of minutes.

Leading Goalscorers 1:2
And the renewed pressure paid off as Nico Kovac headed into the area for Milan Rapajc to turn and float the ball over Buffon with his left foot - 76 mins.

Three minutes from time, after concentrating for a while, Francesco Totti curled a free-kick onto the inside of Croatia's left goal post. Stipe Pletikosa was totally surprised as the bounced across his goal and could think himself lucky that no-one was following up to poke it in.

With four minutes added on, Italy continued to push up in search of a point at least and Filippo Inzaghi flicked in an equaliser.... that was amazingly ruled offside.

France, Portugal, Argentina and now Italy have all suffered defeats at the hands of supposedly lesser teams, to make the 2002 World Cup a delight for fans of the underdog.

Final Score:
Travel to Italy Italy 1 - Travel to Croatia Croatia 2

Man of the Match:
Milan Rapajc - Probably the best player in the rejuvenated Croatia team and definitely the match winner.

Red and Yellow Cards in the 2002 World Cup Yellow Cards:
Robert Kovac (39 mins)
Christian Vieri (51 mins)

The Teams

Italy:
1 Gianluigi Buffon; 5 Fabio Cannavaro, 3 Paolo Maldini, 13 Alessandro Nesta (23 Marco Materazzi - 23 mins), 2 Christian Panucci; 11 Christaino Doni (9 Filippo Inzaghi - 79 mins), 17 Damiano Tommasi, 19 Gianluca Zambrotta, 6 Cristiano Zanetti; 10 Francesco Totti, 21 Christian Vieri.

Croatia:
1 Stipe Pletikosa; 17 Robert Jarni, 21 Robert Kovac, 15 Danijel Saric, 3 Josip Simunic, 4 Stejpan Tomas; 10 Nico Kovac, 5 Milan Rapajc (20 Dario Simic - 79 mins), 14 Zvonimir Soldo (16 Jurica Vranjes - 63 mins), 7 Davor Vugrinec (18 Ivica Olic - 57 mins); 11 Alen Boksic.

Referee: Graham Poll Travel to England

Teams by Group

2002 FIFA World Cup matches in Korea
In Korea

Group A
Travel to Denmark Denmark, Travel to France France, Travel to Senegal Senegal, Travel to Uruguay Uruguay.

Group B
Travel to Paraguay Paraguay, Travel to Slovenia Slovenia, Travel to Spain Spain, Travel to South Africa South Africa.

Group C
Travel to Brazil Brazil, Travel to China China, Travel to Costa Rica Costa Rica, Travel to Turkey Turkey.

Group D
Travel to Poland Poland, Travel to Portugal Portugal, Travel to South Korea South Korea, Travel to USA United States.

Korea First Round Matches.

2002 FIFA World Cup matches in Japan
In Japan

Group E
Travel to Cameroon Cameroon, Travel to Germany Germany, Travel to Ireland Republic of Ireland, Travel to Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia.

Group F
Travel to Argentina Argentina, Travel to England England, Travel to Nigeria Nigeria, Travel to Sweden Sweden.

Group G
Travel to Croatia Croatia, Travel to Ecuador Ecuador, Travel to Italy Italy, Travel to Mexico Mexico.

Group H
Travel to Belgium Belgium, Travel to Japan Japan, Travel to Russia Russia, Travel to Tunisia Tunisia.

Japan First Round Matches.

The Road to the Final

2002 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.

Group Tables - Leading Goalscorers.

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Group Matches

Friday, May 31
France vs Senegal

Saturday, June 1
Ireland vs Cameroon
Uruguay vs Denmark
Germany vs S. Arabia

Sunda, June 2
Argentina vs Nigeria
Paraguay vs S. Africa
England vs Sweden
Spain vs Slovenia

Monday, June 3
Croatia vs Mexico
Brazil vs Turkey
Italy vs Ecuador

Tuesday, June 4
China vs Costa Rica
Japan vs Belgium
S. Korea vs Poland

Wednesday, June 5
Russia vs Tunisia
USA vs Portugal
Germany vs Ireland

Thursday, June 6
Denmark vs Senegal
Cameroon vs S. Arabia
France vs Uruguay

Friday, June 7
Sweden vs Nigeria
Spain vs Paraguay
Argentina vs England

Saturday, June 8
S. Africa vs Slovenia
Italy vs Croatia
Brazil vs China

Sunday, June 9
Mexico vs Ecuador
Costa Rica vs Turkey
Japan vs Russia

Monday, June 10
South Korea vs USA
Tunisia vs Belgium
Portugal vs Poland

Tuesday, June 11
Denmark vs France
Senegal vs Uruguay
Cameroon vs Germany
S. Arabia vs Ireland

Wednesday, June 12
Sweden vs Argentina
Nigeria vs England
South Africa vs Spain
Slovenia vs Paraguay

Thursday, June 13
Costa Rica vs Brazil
Turkey vs China
Mexico vs Italy
Ecuador vs Croatia

Friday, June 14
Tunisia vs Japan
Belgium vs Russia
Portugal vs S. Korea
Poland vs USA

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World Cup Finals

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Appearances:
How many appearances each country has made in the World Cup Finals.

Second Round

The last 16 continued on the Road to Yokohama, with four games in South Korea and four games in Japan.

Group A winner and runner-up went to Japan.

Group B winner and runner-up stayed in Korea.

Group C winner and runner-up went to Japan.

Group D winner and runner-up stayed in Korea.

Group E winner and runner-up went to Korea.

Group F winner and runner-up stayed in Japan.

Group G winner and runner-up went to Korea.

Group H winner and runner-up stayed in Japan.

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