Sunday 15th August

Colombia  0 - 0  Japan

Group A

Half time: 0 - 0

The second day of the competition brought out the sun and some exciting football from both these sides.

It was clear early on that Japan were going to be the more adventurous of the two sides with Columbia absorbing the pressure then hitting Japan on the counter attack.

Despite Japan making all the early running it was Colombia who had the first big chance, half way through the half, as Juan Parra shrugged off a couple of challenges only to fire wide of Daisuke Sato’s right hand post.

With Japan continuing to produce some good flowing movements it seemed likely that they would score before half time. However, it was Colombia who had the best chance on the stroke of half time when they were awarded a penalty for a fourth Japanese foul.

Deivy Mendoza stepped up to take the penalty but a great save from Sato kept the score 0-0 at half time. The second half brought a slightly more adventurous Colombian side with Parra providing a constant threat to the Japanese goal with his driving runs and quality ball striking.

Midway through the half Tomonari Kuroda broke through for Japan but a fantastic sliding tackle from Freddy Lopez stopped him in his tracks and then set off another Colombian counter attack, from which Parra shot just wide.

Another counter attack saw Parra have a shot tipped over and then some top class defending prevented him scoring from the resulting corner.

With seconds remaining Kento Kato weaved his way past the resilient Colombian defence but with the goal at his mercy fired past the right hand post. This was the last action of the game as the final whistle was blown straight after with the score line finishing 0-0.

Colombia

Miguel Munoz (GK), Freddy Lopez, Sebastian Sarate, Deivy Mendoza, Carlos Ortiz, Jhon Hernandez, Sergio Beserra, Juan Parra, Jadir Bello, William Aristizabal (GK)

Japan

Daisuke Sato (GK), Akihito Tanaka, Tomonari Kuroda, Hiroshi Ochiai, Yasuhiro Sasaki, Kento Kato, Kenro Mihara, Shuichi Yamaguchi, Haijme Teranishi, Naoya Abe (GK)

Match Officials: Francois Carcouet, Paul Leversuch, Craig Grundy, Mariano Travaglino

Attendance: 180

Argentina  0 - 1  France

Group B

Half time: 0 - 0

This game saw the first appearance in the tournament of reigning champions, and pre-tournament favourites, Argentina up against France.

The opening five minutes saw a cagey start to the game with both sides looking to move the ball between themselves. Both teams’ captains, Silvio Velo – Argentina, and Frederic Villeroux – France, looked the most likely to cause the most problems for either side.

It took fifteen minutes until the first real chance of the game came about when Velo powered his way through the French defence and drilled in a low shot across Grangier in the French goal. His reactions were top class as he got down quickly, tipping the ball wide of the post.

Five minutes later the French took up a good position on the edge of the Argentina box when Martin Baron ghosted inside from the right flank but his shot flashed across the face of the goal.

The last chance of the half came when a French defender almost put the ball into his own net from an Argentina corner, but again Grangier stood firm to beat the ball away.

Velo continued to look lively as he barged his way through to fire just over, seconds into the start of the second half. This, however, was to be the only decent piece of action for fifteen minutes as the game turned scrappy and the fouls kept being clocked up. Angel Deldo, was booked for a cynical foul on French skipper Villeroux, stopping him dead on another of his mazy runs.

With just five minutes to go France were awarded a penalty but Abderahim Maya was unable to convert the chance.

Then with half a minute remaining French talisman Villeroux took off on a dazzling run, waltzing through three Argentinean tackles before firing low past Juani in the Argentina goal.

Argentina couldn’t manage to pull a goal back in the short time remaining and the game finished 1-0 to France.

Argentina

Ernesto Juani (GK), Angel Deldo, Silvio Velo, Gustavo Maidana Eduardo Diaz, Diego Cerega, Ivan Figueroa, Lucas Rodriguez, Oscar Asiar, , Dario Lencia (GK)

Angel Deldo

France

Jonathan Grangier (GK), Martin Baron, Yvan Kepmengi, , Abderahim Maya, David Labarre, Arnaud Ayax, Frederic Villeroux, Charaf Ait Taleb, Frederic Jannas (GK)

Frederic Villeroux

Match Officials: Iguchi Kenji, Wellington Souza, James Adcock, Niels Haupt

Attendance: 260

Brazil  2 - 0  China

Group B

Half time: 1 - 0

The fourth game saw the battle between two very skilful and attack minded sides in Brazil and China.

Both teams looked very comfortable with the ball at their feet and were equally as willing to run at each other and commit players.

For the opening ten minutes it looked as if China were going to have it all their own way with the games only chances falling to them. However, Brazil’s number ten, Ricardo Alves, began to show the flair that is expected of the Brazil team.

With fifteen minutes gone neither side, despite some brilliant football, looked like they had the killer instinct to open the scoring. In an attempt to change this, the Brazil coach brought on Jeferson Goncalves for Alves and he made an instant impact.

With his first shot, only seconds after coming on, Goncalves cracked the ball against the woodwork as he offered a different outlet at the head of the Brazilian attack.

China didn’t heed this warning and just moments later Goncalves waltzed through a compact defence to fire past a flailing Chu Xu, into the roof of the net. This was to be the last action of the first half with the teams going into half time at 1-0 Brazil.

Shortly after the second half kicked off China lost their captain Yong Chen through injury and this seemed to put them on the back foot. Brazil kept piling on the pressure and finally it told when China gave away a penalty for a foul inside the box.

Severino Silva stepped up with confidence and buried the ball into the top left hand corner of the net to send the Brazilian team into raptures.

With the fouls clocking up it wasn’t a surprise to see more penalties given away by both sides. However, Brazil missed their second penalty of the game and China was made to rue their two misses as the score finished 2-0 Brazil.

Brazil

Fabio Vasconcelos (GK), Scharles Santos, Damiao Souza, Marcos Felipe, Jeferson Goncalves, Sandro Soares, Joao Silva, Ricardo Alves, Severino Silva, Antonio Carvalho (GK)

Jeferson Goncalves, Severino Silva

China

Hua Chu Xu (GK), Shan Yong Chen, Li Jing Zhang, Tang Bao Gao, Tian Qi Gao, Zhou Bin Wang, Wen Fa Zheng, Ya Feng Wang, Lei Niu (GK)

Match Officials: Germinal Lubrano, Alexandros Karaiosif, David Bryant, Francois Carcouet

Attendance: 390