Thrilling Second Day sees T&T's Explosive Start

Yellow-Carded
By Chris O'Brien
June 11 2006

Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and Gabriel Heinze were all in action on the second day of the World Cup finals. It was 10-man Trinidad & Tobago's heroic display which stole the show, with England and Argentina both securing hard-fought victories.

Whilst the World Cup sees some of the most overpaid superstars of the beautiful game battling it out for success, Trinidad & Tobago showed the world the spirit the game of football should be played in with an heroic performance against Sweden.

With ex-Manchester United star Dwight Yorke on board, the Caribbean nation defended superbly with 10-men to clinch a superb stalemate against the much-fancied Swedes and keep their World Cup dream alive. Avery John was sent-off for the Soca Warriors, but that didn't stop them keeping out the likes of Henrik Larsson, Freddie Ljungberg and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to secure a valuable point.

As reported earlier, the first game of the World Cup's second day saw England scrap to a 1-0 win over Paraguay. Sven-Goran Erikkson's men failed to impress against the South Americans, despite dominating for long periods during the first-half. A third minute own goal from Carlos Gamarra, headed in from a David Beckham free-kick, was enough to separate the two sides.

Saturday's final game saw the "Group of Death" get underway as Argentina kicked-off their campaign for a third World triumph against Ivory Coast. Gabriel Heinze was in action for the South Americans, and worked his way into the book for a two-footed tackle on Didier Drogba. The Chelsea forward netted his country's first ever World Cup goal in the closing stages, but it wasn't enough for the African Nation's Cup runners-up as goals from Hernan Jorge Crespo and Javier Saviola were enough for the Argentineans.