Ammon News - A Results from Thursday's games at the World Cup in South Africa:



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Slovakia 3, Italy 2

Robert Vittek scored a pair of goals that boosted Slovakia to a 3-2 victory Thursday over Italy and into the knockout round of the World Cup in Johannesburg.

Slovakia opened the day in fourth place in Group F, but the win only one of two in the group's six round-robin games allowed it to pass Italy (0-1-2) and New Zealand (0-0-3) and finish second in the group behind Paraguay (1-0-2).

The Slovaks (1-1-1) will meet the Netherlands, which won all three of its Group E games, in an elimination game Monday.

Vittek put Slovakia up midway through the first half when Italy's Daniele De Rossi lost control of the ball near the top of the box. Slovakia's Juraj Kucka controlled the ball and passed to Vittek, who squeezed between two defenders to break free before driving the ball low and into the goal.

Slovakia took a 2-0 lead in the 73rd minute off a corner kick, which came in low from the right to Vittek, who had an easy try for the goal.

Italy got its first goal about 8 minutes later when Antonio Di Natale punched in a rebound, but Slovakia's Kamil Kopunek locked the game away with a score in the 89th minute. It turned out that goal was needed as Italy's Fabio Quagliarella managed a goal in stoppage time and Simone Pepe just missed an excellent chance to tie the score 5 minutes into extra time.



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Paraguay 0, New Zealand 0 (tie)

Justo Villar and the Paraguayan defense collected their second shutout of the World Cup, tying New Zealand 0-0 Thursday in Polokwane, in clinching first place in Group F.

Paraguay gave up just one goal over its three group games, winning the first two and playing conservatively against New Zealand in the knowledge that the one point for a tie would give it the group title with a 1-0-2 record.

Paraguay will go against Japan, which defeated Denmark 3-1 Thursday and finished second in Group E, Sunday in its first elimination game. Slovakia (1-1-1) defeated Italy 3-2 Thursday and grabbed the second Group F spot in the next round.

Defending World Cup champion Italy (0-1-2) ended up fourth in the group behind Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand (0-0-3).

The Paraguayan strategy was to keep the ball, as shown by Paraguay's 58 percent time of possession. As a result, Paraguay was able to fire many shots at New Zealand goalkeeper Mark Paston, totaling 17 shots for the game of which five were deemed on target.

That left New Zealand with few chances to test Villar, the Paraguayan goalkeeper. New Zealand had only four shots, none of which were on target.



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Japan 3, Denmark 1

First-half goals from Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo carried Japan to a 3-1 win Thursday over Denmark in Rustenburg and into the World Cup elimination round.

Japan entered Thursday's game even with Denmark in the Group E standings but had the tie-breaker edge over the Danes. The win made the tie-breakers unnecessary as Japan ended group play 2-1-0 and Denmark 1-2-0.

The Netherlands (3-0-0) won the group while Cameroon (0-3-0) was fourth.

Japan next goes against Group F first-place finisher Paraguay on Sunday.

Both of the Japanese first-half goals came on direct free kicks.

Honda's came from right of the goal, with his 17th-minute kick crossing the length of the goal and ending up in the left side of the net, beyond the reach of a diving Dane goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.

In the 30th minute, Endo set up on the left of the field and sent a bending kick just inside the right goal post.

Denmark got on the board in the 81st minute when Jon Dahl Tomasson had his penalty kick try saved by Japan's Eiji Kawashima but Tomasson was able to finish off the rebound.

It took only about 6 minutes after that, however, for Japan to make it 3-1 when Honda drew out Sorensen and passed to an open Shinji Okazaki for an easy goal.



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Netherlands 2, Cameroon 1

Robin van Persie scored a first-half goal and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar added one in the second, allowing the Netherlands to claim a 2-1 World Cup win Thursday over Cameroon in Cape Town.

The win cemented the Netherlands' (3-0-0) first-place finish in Group E. The Dutch are the second team to win all three of their group games, joining Argentina. Brazil and Chile will try to match the feat Friday.

The Netherlands move to a knock-out round game Monday against Slovakia, which defeated Italy 3-2 earlier Friday to earn its second-stage spot.

Cameroon ended Group E play 0-3-0. Japan's 3-1 win Thursday over Denmark allowed the Japanese (2-1-0) to also advance while the Danes (1-1-1) were third in the group.

Van Persie's goal came in the 36th minute on good teamwork. Dirk Kuyt and Rafael van der Vaart worked the ball with van Persie, who then ran a give-and-go and freed him on the right side.

Van Persie then drove the ball through the legs of Cameroon goalkeeper Hamidou Souleymanou.

Samuel Eto'o evened the score for Cameroon with 65th-minute penalty kick after van der Vaart was called for a hand ball. The goal made Eto'o the leading goal scorer in Cameroon team history.

But Huntelaar was able to give the Netherlands the win in the 83rd minute, putting away the rebound when a shot from Arjen Robben came back off the post.

*UPI

**Getty Image: Mohamadou Idrissou of Cameroon and Arjen Robben of the Netherlands shake hands after the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Group E match between Cameroon and Netherlands at Green Point Stadium on June 24, 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa.