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Slovenia hopes dashed Fluke Nomvethe strike gives South Africa 1-0 winPosted: Saturday June 08, 2002 2:28 AMUpdated: Saturday June 08, 2002 10:26 AM
TAEGU, South Korea (Reuters) -- Siyabonga Nomvethe's fluke goal gave South Africa its first World Cup finals win Saturday, a 1-0 victory over Slovenia that completed a disastrous week for the European side by knocking it out of the tournament. Nomvethe was unmarked as he stooped to head a Quinton Fortune free kick from the left, but the ball struck his thigh and flew into the net after only four minutes to seal South Africa's first victory in its second appearance at the finals. South Africa was left in second place in group B on four points behind Spain, which booked its place in the second round Friday with a 3-1 win over Paraguay. The African side's coach Jomo Sono said his team had been rewarded for its thorough preparations. "We planned well for this team (Slovenia), we must have looked at the tape a million times," he said. "We could have scored more, we missed a lot of chances."
Slovenia, playing in its first World Cup, had clearly failed to regroup following the expulsion Thursday of playmaker Zlatko Zahovic after a bust-up with coach Srecko Katanec, and appeared woefully short of creativity and spirit. (Slovenian fairy tale ends in tears) It failed to put a single shot on goal to test South African keeper Andre Arendse in the first half. The South Africans, who made their World Cup finals debut in 1998, provided the more attacking football, but even they sometimes looked ragged, with numerous crosses and free kicks mis-hit or landing in empty space. Sono played two strikers and was rewarded with far more chances, many of them coming from crosses from midfielders Fortune and Sibusiso Zuma. Slovenia defender Aleksander Knavs appeared to be marking Benni McCarthy in the first half, but that left Nomvethe with the space to run down the right, often backed by Zuma. Match officials ordered an increasingly disgruntled and protesting Katanec, who has pledged to quit Slovenia after the World Cup, to leave the dugout and watch the second half from the stands.(No insults from me, says Katanec)
From there he ordered a double substitution, replacing Milenko Acimovic, an ineffective stand-in for Zahovic, with Nastja Ceh and Knavs with Spasoje Bulajic. The move added some graft to the Slovenian midfield and defense and produced a couple of late half-chances. South Africa drew its opening game against Paraguay 2-2. The other sides eliminated from the tournament are Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. SummarySouth Africa 1 Slovenia 0 - resultWorld Cup, group B Scorer: Siyabonga Nomvethe 4 Yellow cards: South Africa - Lucas Radebe 12, Tebeho Mokoena 60 Slovenia - Muamer Vugdalic 35, Ales Ceh 62, Miran Pavlin 75 Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 47,226 Teams: South Africa (4-4-2): 16-Andre Arendse; 2-Cyril Nzama, 4-Aaron Mokoena, 19-Lucas Radebe, 3-Bradley Carnell; 7-Quinton Fortune (11-Jabu Pule 85), 6-MacBeth Sibaya, 12-Tebeho Mokoena, 15-Sibusiso Zuma; 14-Siyabonga Nomvethe (18-Delron Buckley 71), 17-Benni McCarthy (23-George Koumantarakis 80). Slovenia (4-5-1): 1-Marko Simeunovic; 6-Aleksander Knavs (23-Spasoje Bulajic 60), 4-Muamer Vugdalic, 3-Zeljko Milinovic, 19-Amir Karic; 7-Doni Novak, 8-Ales Ceh, 11-Miran Pavlin, 13-Mladen Rudonja, 18-Milenko Acimovic (20-Nastja Ceh 60); 21-Sebastjan Cimirotic (9-Milan Osterc 41). Referee: Angel Sanchez (Argentina) Linesmen: Jorge Ratalino (Argentina), Ali Al Traifi (Saudi Arabia)
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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