Sunday June 13th

Group Minnows Share Points

Switzerland and Croatia who on paper at least, were playing under the shadow of France and England knew that they needed to win this match to have any chance of progress to the next round, but failed to score. The first real chance of the match fell to Frei in the 14th minute whose low shot from the edge of the box was parried by Butina in the Croatia goal. At the other end Kovac failed to find the target with a close-range header in the 36th minute, and 3 minutes later Croatia had their best chance to score when a free kick from the right found the head of Simunic. Steel managed to keep the ball out but Olic could only head the ball onto the top of the crossbar from the rebound. Switzerland had the play 40 minutes of the match with 10 men when Vogel was shown a second yellow card for a foul, but Croatia failed to capitalize. Steel was nearly punished when he was caught in no-man's-land, but he ran back to save the ball on the line. The best shot of the second half came from Huggel in the 77th minute, but Butina dived low to sent the ball out for a corner kick. Croatia pushed forward in stoppage time, but the Swiss held on

Zidane's Late Show Stuns England

Two goals in stoppage time from Zinedine Zidane beat England who had been heading for victory. The only notable incident in the first half came when Lampard headed home from a Beckham free kick in the 38th minute. The closest France came was a header from Trezeguet, which went over the bar. In the beginning of the second half France hit the target several times, but David James was not troubled in the England goal. In the 72nd minute Rooney won the ball in the centre of the pitch and ran towards goal. His speed forced Silvestre to bring him down in the box. Silvestre was booked and Beckham stepped up to take the penalty. Barthez who had played with Beckham at Manchester United for many years, guessed right and made the save. Two minutes later a shot from Vassell bounced awkwardly and came off the face of Barthez who needed treatment. A well-struck free kick by Zidane in stoppage time cancelled out England's lead. A minute later it was all over for England as Gerrard attempted to hook the ball back to David James, failing to notice Tierry Henry who was unceremoniously brought down by the England keeper. Zidane sent James the wrong way, showing his Real Madrid club-mate Beckham how to be a match winner.