rediff.com
rediff.com
sports
      HOME | SPORTS | OLYMPICS | NEWS
September 17, 2000

general news
general features
slide show
archives

SCHEDULE
GO

pick your sport


archery
badminton
baseball
basketball
beach volleyball
boxing
canoeing
cycling
fencing
football
gymnastics
handball
hockey
judo
pentathalon
rowing
shooting
show jumping
softball
swimming
table tennis
taekwondo
tennis
track events
triathalon
volleyball
waterpolo
weightlifting
wrestling
yatching

Dettop.gif

South Africa shock Brazil

Mike Collett

South Africa scored an upset 3-1 victory over gold medal favourites Brazil on Sunday to leave the Brazilians' place in the last eight of the Olympic soccer competition -- and Wanderley Luxemburgo's position as coach -- seriously in doubt.

Goals from Manchester United's Quinton Fortune after 10 minutes, and substitutes Siyabonga Nomvethe (74) and Steve Lekoelea (90), gave South Africa victory.

South Africa's David Kannemeyer (L) and Brazil's Ronaldinho battle for possession. REUTERS/Greg White At the same time it raised more question marks about the future of Luxemburgo whose job is already under threat because of Brazil's indifferent start to their World Cup campaign.

The result -- coupled with Japan's 2-1 victory over Slovakia in the other Group D match in Canberra -- means Japan top the group with a maximum of six points followed by Brazil and South Africa on three and Slovakia with none.

Brazil now have to play Japan, who have won their last 19 straight matches, in their final group match in Brisbane on Wednesday while South Africa play the Slovaks in Canberra on the same night.

But on this performance -- and their lacklustre display in their 3-1 win over the Slovaks in the opening match -- Brazil will need a massive improvement to beat the Japanese, who scored a 1-0 win over Brazil in the 1996 Olympics.

Brazil's only goal came from Edu a minute after Fortune opened the scoring for South Africa. Although Edu twice had the ball in the net again, both efforts were ruled offside and their dreams of winning the Olympic soccer title for the first time in their history are hanging in the balance.

SWEET AND SOUR FOR FORTUNE

South Africa took the lead in the 10th minute direct from a free-kick after Marcos Paulo fouled Delron Buckley 20 metres out.

The South Africans worked a clever dummy off the ball, ending with Fortune whipping the ball straight into the net with a curling left-foot shot over the Brazilian wall and well out of reach of goalkeeper Helton who had no chance of saving.

That was some consolation for the Manchester United midfielder who had picked up his second booking of the competition after only four minutes for a clumsy bodycheck on Fabiano and is now suspended for the match against Slovakia.

Brazil took less than a minute to equalise. Straight from the centre, they attacked down the right with Fabio Aurelio whipping in the final cross for Edu who powered in a downward header.

With Brazil dominating the game, but not really troubling the goalkeeper, South Africa slowly came back into the match, but it was still a real surprise when Nomvethe scored with a looping header that left Helton stranded.

With Brazil pushing forward for the equaliser, South Africa added a third in the dying seconds when Lekoelea fired into an open goal after Helton could only parry a shot into his path.

Mail your comments

Back to top
(C) 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similiar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters Sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.Reuters
HOME | NEWS | MONEY | SPORTS | MOVIES | CHAT | INFOTECH | TRAVEL | NEWSLINKS
ROMANCE | WEDDING | BOOK SHOP | MUSIC SHOP | GIFT SHOP | HOTEL BOOKINGS
AIR/RAIL | WEATHER | FREE MESSENGER | BROADBAND | E-CARDS | EDUCATION
HOMEPAGES | FREE EMAIL | CONTESTS | FEEDBACK