j a m s h a i d’s blog

This was the most spectacular match so far.

Brazil's star striker – Ronaldo relieved the pressure he was playing under in this world cup when he made two awesome goals. He made the first equaliser goal at 45' and the other at 81'. This was a remarkable come back of Ronaldo after criticisms of being over weight and not playing well. He proved to the world that he is still one of the best.

The other two goals were made by Juninho at 53' and Gilberto at 59'. Robinho was doing great too and he made several unsuccessful attempts to score for his country.

The Brazilian team realized that they have to stop playing "individually" as they were playing in the first half. A good "team play" and short passes allowed them to make 3 more goals in the second half of the match. Though the Japanese had placed a strong defense and despite having a good goal keeper, they couldn't stand the continuos attacks by the Brazilian strikers. So the Japanese had to say sayonara to the world cup. They were left with only 1 point where Brazil remained at the top of the group with 9 points. Brazil now faces Ghana in the second round of matches on 27th June.

Brazil: Dida (Rogerio 82), Lucio, Juan, Cicinho, Gilberto, Kaka (Ze Roberto 71), Ronaldinho (Ricardinho 71), Silva, Juninho, Ronaldo, Robinho.
Subs Not Used: Adriano, Cafu, Carlos, Cris, Emerson, Fred, Julio Cesar, Luisao, Mineiro.

Booked: Gilberto.

Goals: Ronaldo 45, Juninho 53, Gilberto 59, Ronaldo 81.
Japan: Kawaguchi, Santos, Tsuboi, Kaji, Nakazawa, Hidetoshi Nakata, Ogasawara (Koji Nakata 56), Nakamura, Inamoto, Maki (Takahara 60), Tamada, Takahara (Oguro 66).
Subs Not Used: Doi, Endo, Fukunishi, Komano, Moniwa, Narazaki, Ono, Yanagisawa.

Booked: Kaji.

Goals: Tamada 33.

Fifa man of match: Ronaldo

Att: 65,000.

Ref: Eric Poulat (France).

Possession: 63% Brazil; 37% Japan