Short Corner 8212; Chandigarh

Shearer sets up England 2-0 victoryCaptain Alan Shearer led by example by scoring with a typically forceful header to set England up for a d...

Shearer sets up England 2-0 victory
Captain Alan Shearer led by example by scoring with a typically forceful header to set England up for a deserved 2-0 victory in their opening group G8217; clash with Tunisia on Monday. Paul Scholes grabbed the second in the 89th minute with a fine 20-metre right-foot shot to seal the win. It was his fourth goal in eight internationals.

Violence again
Hooligan violence erupted for the second time in 24 hours in Marseille today shortly before England played Tunisia in a World Cup match. Police said 10 English fans were arrested outside the Stade Velodrome as they clashed with Tunisian fans, throwing bottles and fighting. Police snatch squads moved in to arrest ring leaders and several English fans were beaten severely before being led away in handcuffs, eyewitnesses said.

Perfect start
8220;The French team got off to a perfect start with their emphatic 3-0 victory over South Africa. They have some incredibly talented players but there were still doubts about whether they have sufficient firepower to go all the way in the tournament. Playing in front of the partisan home crowd is a massive advantage as we saw with England in the European Championship in 1996,8221; writes Peter Shilton.

Lack of firepower
A lack of firepower and in one crazy-filled moment a lack of discipline, led to all four Asian teams in the World Cup finals losing their opening matches. The Asian zone has four teams in the finals for the first time and with Japan and Korea co-hosting the tournament in 2002, and automatically qualifying sides from the region are under intense scrutiny.

Paes-Bhupathi lose
India8217;s Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi suffered a mild setback in their buildup to Wimbledon championships starting next week when they crashed out to Patrick Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman in the semifinals of Queens Grass Court tournament in London on Sunday. The Italian Open winners lost to the Aussie-Swede combination of Rafter-Bjorkman in the last-four stage, in a tensely fought battle 1-6, 6-7 12-14.

Battle of North Sea
One of the Norwegians dubbed it 8220;The battle of the North Sea.8221; If Norway wins that battle tomorrow against Scotland, it means a big step towards the second round, having tied Morocco 2-2 in their Group A opener.

Croatia win
Croatia beat Jamaica 3-1 in the battle of the World Cup final debutants with a classy display of attacking soccer in group H last night. After a nervous start when the reggae boyz from the Caribbean gave as good as they got, Croatia took the lead in the 27th minute from Mario Stanic.