Asia PR News

BERLIN, 29 June /PA/ –

The World Cup has now reached the quarter-finals stages and here are some
of the tournament’s magic moments from the past seven days.

AUSTRALIANS ENJOY THEIR MOMENT

Australia went football crazy as the Socceroos came through a stormy
encounter with Croatia to reach the knockout phase. It was a hard-fought
affair, with referee Graham Poll losing control and booking one player three
times, but it was strong evidence of Australia’s growing strength on the world
stage.

GHANA CELEBRATES

Wild celebrations also broke out across Ghana as their team reached the
last 16 with a 2-1 victory over USA. Some reports reckoned the entire
population of Accra were out on the streets partying. Haminu Dramani and
Stephen Appiah, with a controversial penalty, scored the goals that ensured
Ghana reached the knockout stages on their first World Cup appearance.

HOSTS MARCH ON

Host nation Germany have been outstanding in the tournament so far, not
only delighting their fans with their progress, but also thrilling audiences
with their attacking football. Sweden were expected to provide a stern test in
the last 16 but they were swept aside after two goals from Lukas Podolski in
the opening 12 minutes.

RONALDO SHOWS HIS CLASS

Brazilian legend Ronaldo was vilified in the early matches for being
overweight and looking a pale shadow of his former self. He may have lost some
of his pace but he showed he can still cut it with two goals against Japan
before going on to break Gerd Muller’s World Cup record. Ronaldo showed his
trademark stepover and finished coolly against Ghana to register his 15th World
Cup goal.

ZIDANE RETURNS TO FORM

Another of the game’s greats, Zinedine Zidane, looked off the pace in the
opening matches but he sensationally returned to form in France’s second round
win over Spain. His rhythm and balance seemed to have returned as he pulled the
strings to see off an impressive Spanish side late on. He capped the 3-1 win
with a fine goal.

By Andy Hampson