14 June 2006

BERLIN - Brazil opened their campaign for a sixth title when they beat Croatia 1-0 in the Berlin Olympic Stadium on Tuesday.

South Korea, semi-finalists in 2002, woke up from a nervous, mistake ridden start to beat 10-man Togo 2-1 and go top of Group G after France were held 0-0 by Switzerland in a tame draw.

The Koreans face the French on Sunday in Leipzig in a match that could decide who qualifies for the next round.

In Berlin Kaka's 44th-minute screamer lifted Brazil to a 1-0 victory over Croatia in their Group F match, but the five- time champions generated little magic and a lumbering Ronaldo was pulled off in the second half.

With 70,000 fired-up fans packing Berlin's Olympic Stadium, the match was drifting into a lull when Brazil broke it open with an explosive move helped by a rare lapse in Croatia's iron defence.

Cafu slipped down the right wing and centred low to Kaka, who shook off two hesitant Croats and drilled a shot with his weaker left foot into the net from the edge of the area, bringing the entire Brazilian bench to its feet in jubilation.

The victory saw Brazil establish a new World Cup record of eight consecutive wins, breaking the seven-win record they shared with Italy.

Kaka admitted that Brazil did not play as well as they can. "We really did not have an easy time. We were not particularly creative today," he said. "We moved too little, failed to open enough spaces."

France, who became the first defending champions to go home without scoring a goal in 2002, made an unconvincing start.

The French, with Zinedine Zidane at the heart of everything without playing to his best, never found a way through the Swiss defence and Thierry Henry was isolated up front.

The Swiss could even have won but Fabien Barthez stopped Daniel Gygax's point-blank header with his legs and Tranquillo Barnetta's free-kick hit the post. Only Eric Abidal's desperate lunge prevented Alex Frei from pushing the rebound over the line.

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