match day 5?

i lost count of the match day numbers now. but this day will be perhaps best known for the incredible goals and superb comebacks in this world cup. australia beat japan by 3 goals to 1, australia coming back from one goal down to score three straight goals in under eight minutes. japan opened the scoring in the 1st half, an awkward goal which really shouldn't have been conceeded by the socceroos. a cross in from nakamura floated into the penalty area and went straight in goal after the australian keeper mark schwarzer was put under pressure by takahara and he failed to catch the incoming ball. it took the australians quite a long time to equalize, in the 84th minute to be exact. a corner swung in by kewell(i think) wasn't dealt by the japanese defense and was punished when cahill slotted in from close range. after less than 5 minutes, cahill struck again with a low shot towards the lower right hand corner of the goal, striking the post before going in for 2-1. john aloisi wrapped up all three points for australia when he dribbled past almost the entire japanese defense before unleashing a shot towards the lower left corner of the goal with his left foot.

the second match featured USA and the czech republic, which was fairly interesting, with the czechs thumping USA 3-0. two superb goals from tomas rosicky and a bullet header by jan koller. rosicky performed superbly in this match, pundits hinted that czech's world cup success could well depend on the rising star from arsenal.

the third match was between italy and ghana, with italy winning comfortably against the africans. goals from andre pirlo and luca toni gave the italians a flying start in their world cup campaign.

tonight will be eagerly awaited by football fans all around the world, as the two previous world champions, brazil and france battle it out to try and kick start their campaign with a win. brazil is up against croatia, while france battle the swiss. the early match today is between korea and togo, which the koreans should be able to win without breaking much sweat.