Day 18 - Oranges and Lemons...

I just have to quickly say that in my last blog, I forgot to mention that Tevez didn't only score a controversial off-side goal, he also scored an absolute belter to make it 3-0 that also pretty much put Argentina through.

Along with Suárez's curler for Uruguay the previous day and both of Japan's free-kicks, it's definitely up there in the Top 5 for the tournament so far.

The striker may have got a little lucky with an attempted through ball ricocheting into his path, but there was nothing lucky about his wonderfully struck, 64 mph strike that - excuse the cliché - almost burst the back of the net.

Argentina look on top form here and they're gonna be hard for Germany to knock down. Still, if anyone can, then I guess the Germans can, right? ;)

The top half of the draw was completed yesterday too. Adding to the first QF, the second will be a-must-watch Brazil vs Netherlands. The Brazilians won 3-0 and brushed aside a Chilean side that never really picked up steam and rarely threatened to get off the mark.

First Juan thumped home a header, then Luís Fabiano finished off a swift counter. Finally, in the second half, Robinho tucked away a wonderful strike after Ramires' run had torn the Chilean team apart with purpose and power, right down the centre of the field.



The Dutch, buoyed by the return of Arjen Robben, put in a quiet but efficient performance against Slovakia, beating them 2-1.

Robben himself got Holland going in the 18th minute, running onto a wonderful pass from Wesley Sneijder and then cutting back inside in typical Robben fashion before hitting a crisp, low shot into the bottom corner.

It wasn't all plain sailing though and the Dutch had to wait till the 84th minute before getting that second comfort goal. This time it was Sneijder's turn to finish off a nice move when Dirk Kuyt put the midfielder in for a simple, side foot tap in after taking advantage of a quickly taken free kick.

Now, The Netherlands have gotten this far with very minimal effort. Van Persie still hasn't hit top form and I haven't seen much in the way of real, positive, attacking football from them to suggest that they'll beat the Brazilians in their match but isn't that often the sign of a good team? Get the job done without being at their best?

I went for them at the beginning of the tournament and I'll stick with them. It's gonna be a cracking game on Friday!!

And Now For TV Replays!

Once again, sorry for the weekend delay :-)

You know, I didn't think this World Cup could get any better, but my word, it HAS! I've got Saturday and Sunday's games to catch up and there was one real ingredient that was missing from the World Cup that we now, finally have. Controversy!

OK. There were a few points in the group stages with some wrong decisions, unnecessary dismissals and other little talking points, but Sunday saw 2 talking points that will really evoke changes within FIFA and Sepp Blatter's camp for sure.

Firstly, just quickly, Saturday saw the elimination of South Korea and the United States at the hands of Uruguay and Ghana respectively. The latter two will now meet in the first Quarter Final on Friday.

Both games were highly competitive and both the Koreans and Americans will be bitterly disappointed with the way they went out.

The South Koreans were left with their hearts in tatters as hopes were genuinely high here. They had the majority of possession too but the truth was, when it counted, Uruguay showed the kind of quality that the Koreans lacked when it mattered most with two great strikes by young striker Suarez.

On Sunday, in the first game of the day, England took on Germany in a fantastic encounter. It pained me to watch England's rivals play such great football but I firmly believe this will give England the kind of kick-up-the-backside they need to move on.

Germany thrashed England 4-1. There's no two ways about it either. They were outclassed and outgunned by a young, vibrant side, full of endeavor, strength and invention and I'll be the first to hold my hands up and say they fully deserved their result.

All the talking points came in a thrilling first half with 45 minutes flashing by in an instant. Personally, I actually thought England played better than they had in the previous 3 games but were still being taken apart by the young Germans anyway.

The goal didn't take long and as a route one goal kick was punted up field, schoolboy positioning errors by the humiliated Terry and Upson let Miroslav Klose nip in and the striker showed Wayne Rooney what a real striker does. Persist, fight and get to the ball first instead of moan, whinge and whine when decisions don't go your way.

Germany started running the show and Klose should have made the Brits pay again but fortunately, James was on hand to block his shot.

But there was little he could have done 10 minutes later as, once again, England's back line got their pants pulled down and comprehensively spanked. Some lovely, simple interchanges from Klose and Muller left the latter to sprint away from Terry like he wasn't even there.

With that, Johnson had to come over to cover the huge gap left at the back (Upson was somewhere near the touch-line at this point, for some god-forsaken reason) and Lukas Podolski was left free on the back post. The Polish-born striker composed himself and smacked it under the helpless David James. 2-0 Germany.

5 minutes later, Upson got a goal for England! Strange, I know. A short corner knocked to Gerrard who crossed for the tall defender to knock one in and boring, boring England suddenly thought they might get something from this.

Then came a moment that the English will talk about forever. Shades of '66 is all I can say and it has to be said that the ref's made a right old howler over this one. Defoe looked good as he spun away to run on goal but the defender got a touch on it.

The ball fell to Lampard who lobbed a wonderful volley over the super-tall German keeper Manuel Neuer. It came off the underside of the bar and clearly fell in the goal before bouncing back out again. Goal? No! It wasn't given and the Germans must have been laughing their heads off, feeling finally vindicated for a possible injustice that occurred 40-odd years earlier.



About that final in '66, many English supporters say, "Well, we scored another goal afterwards so it doesn't matter anyway". Well, guess what? Germany then scored another 2 against us on Sunday so why don't we just put both these arguments behind us now, shall we?

"But the game would have been different"... right? Again, the argument now goes both ways.

Please don't get me wrong here. I love England, through and through and, as one of our fiercest rivals, I've never liked Germany, but I didn't cry on Sunday. I didn't weep and I didn't feel in the least bit sorry for English football.

The truth is, we've got an ageing side and this sudden "Golden Generation" label - one I've never heard of till this world cup - is utter rubbish. If the press want to use it, then here goes:

I for one am more than happy to see the back of this Golden Generation. Let's pick it up and flush it down the toilet! Starting with Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard and the two Coles. Please, please, PLEASE do a Paul Scholes and retire from international football NOW!!!

If you don't, then England will not have any chance of bringing new faces through and we'll get stuffed in Brazil in 4 years time. We might do a little bit of damage at the Euro's with this team in 2012, but our hopes for world domination will have to wait another eight years at least!

Capello should also go. I don't care what kind of experience he's got and what kind of reputation and trophies he's famous for. The fact is, he hardly speaks English! How could a man, who needs a translator to sit beside him during press conferences, pick up a team that's 2-1 down and spur them on to win a match against Germany in the last 16 of a World Cup?

Terry came out and said that he fully supports Capello. Well, no wonder. I don't blame Capello. It's just that he's come into the fray with England, when this "Golden Generation" are there. The selection picked itself and Capello had no choice but to go with the golden oldies.

Had he not, he would have been to blame for not taking any experience to the World Cup. So actually, I feel a little sorry for him. He was the wrong man and the wrong time, taking the squad to what should have been the right place.

Out with them all!

The other game saw Argentina defeat Mexico 3-1 in, what also turned out to be a highly controversial match. Carlos Tevez scored a goal when he was clearly offside but the linesman and referee didn't see it.

But then, somebody decided to show the replay on the big screens in the stadium and suddenly there was pandemonium!!! And rightly so! If I was a Mexican player, I'd have been furious. The referee's made a mistake and they were shown it on the big screen so suddenly, the referee's were in big trouble.

What should they do? Disallow the goal or let it go? FIFA are gonna have their hands full after this one.

The big argument now is for video evidence to be put in place. But what about the pace of the game? I'm not all that sure right now. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Day 14 & 15 - There's too much happening!

It's official. This is by far the best World Cup that I can remember!!! There's just too much going on and I'm loving it all :)

I have 2 days to catch up on so I'll have to do it briefly but first of all, I just wanna say that I've just calculated that this is my 7th World Cup! I can remember my first one back in 86. Mexico! I was 10 and I can clearly recall being utterly dumbfounded when Maradona's "hand of god" effectively knocked England out.

I think I was still in shock when, minutes later, Maradona (again!) picked up the ball inside his own half and under pressure, taught Zidane how to do his own "Zizou 360 move" before taking it past another 4 playes and scoring the most memorable goal in footballing history.

I'm gonna say that because, when you look at "moments in footballing history" there are very, very few that compare with that one. Technically, there are many, many great goals. Fantastic volleys, bicycle kicks, goals from the half way line, free kicks, bla, bla, bla.

But, put everything together, including the importance of the goal and in my opinion, this one beats all of them. They even put up a statue in dedication of the goal outside the stadium. Anyway, let’s leave that debate for another time and maybe another blog ;)

Maybe this is one of those "age" things. A kind of "Do-you-remember-where-you-were-when..." thing. I mentioned it to my class the other day and one of my students said "Oh 86! That's when I was born!" I then asked him if he remembered it but after a few moments of contemplation, the answer was negative.

He did, however, have a moment of clarity and feigned a punching action, similar to that of the Diego man himself, when he realized the year! (Funny what people remember though. Instead of the magnificent goal, here's a South Korean, born in the same year, knowing about the match for the infamous hand of god instead.)

If the USA think they've been unjustly treated this tournament then just turn the page back 20 odd years, look at that quarter final and think about how we felt and still feel now.

Anyway, back to World Cups. Since then, we've had Italia 90 and the mysterious Salvatore Schillaci. Disciplinarily, one of the worse world cups ever with 16 red cards dished out, including the first ever in a final. USA '94 (not happy cus England weren't in it!), France 98 and the Beckham-sending-off saga. 2002 with the Ronaldinho lob and 2006 with the Zizou head butt.

But I really can't remember one as exciting as the one unfolding in South Africa right now. I can understand people's frustrations when we look at goals and winners and losers in matches, but the truth is, you need that so that you can put great footballing moments into real perspective.

So, a quick re-cap then, the final 16 is decided and it kicking off later today in Port Elizabeth where South Korea will take on Uruguay.

The biggest surprise is the omission of both of last World Cup's finalists, France and, somewhat amazingly, Italy. The Italians were - and probably still are - in utter shock as they made a super-dramatic exit, losing to Slovakia in their final game 3-2. Unbelievable stuff!

For the first time, I actually feel a little bit sorry for them... but in football, you learn that actually, there is no such thing as pity for your opponents. So actually, deep down, I'm quite happy hehe (sry to all Italians out there).

Last night there were no real surprises, Brazil and Portugal made it through with a very boring 0-0 draw (luckily I got drunk so actually I don't really remember it! - in fact, to tell the truth, I'm still a bit drunk now!) and Spain also scrapped in with an ill-tempered match against Chile. In the end, Switzerland couldn't score against Honduras so the South American's are through as well.

The night before that was the one with the Italian's scandalous departure, Paraguay and Slovakia making it through there and in Group E, Japan put in an impressive performance to fend off the Danes, with the Netherlands already through, beating Cameroons 2-1.

So, here we go! The last 16! Great games to come with Spain playing Portugal and England taking on the Germans. The winners will face either Argentina or Mexico in the quarters.

Other games see Brazil vs Chile, Paraguay and Japan, Netherlands against Slovakia and later today USA vs Ghana to add to the South Korean game.

If, like me, you thought it was exciting till now... just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait ;)

Day 13 - 4 More Through

4 more teams made it through to the last 16 last night. 4 more teams and a lot more drama! It's all becoming almost too much for some with grown men weeping in the crowds (I didn't see any by the way but I can just imagine it ^^).

Firstly, Group D saw Ghana and Germany battle it out for top spot, while Serbia and Australia were hoping for results to go their way a little.

Both Germany and Ghana looked impressive. The Germans, ever industrious, ever strong and forever (annoyingly) successful! The manager Joachim Löw made a few changes from the one that lost 1-0 to Serbia in their last game.

Out went the suspended Klose and Holger Badstuber and in came Cacau and Jérôme Boateng. For the Ghanaians, Jonathan Mensah came in for Lee Addy in defense.

Both teams went out to win it and both showed some calm, confident football and in the end, they were in fact so evenly matched, it took a wonderful strike from new German sensation Mesut Özil to separate the two teams.

The Germans took it 1-0 but the Ghanaians could so easily have had a few of their own too, were it not for a combination of wasteful chances and heroics at the back for the Krauts(!), including a wonderful block by stand-in captain, young Philipp Lahm. I'm not sure where he's from but that name sounds awfully French to me ;)

Still, the result meant that either Serbia had to draw or Australia had to win by a margin of 4 goals and in a pulsating match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, both results actually looked like they may have come through (!).

After a goaless first half, the Australians came out strong and scored twice in quick succession through Cahill and new hero Brett Holman but the Serbs broke Ozzie hearts and hopes when a tricky shot came in, Mark Schwarzer spilt it and Pantelić was on hand to swing it back in Serbia's favour with a toe poke from close in.

So, in the end, German and Ghana through, 1st and 2nd respectively.

In group C, The Americans were in a good position to go through, by they needed to beat the Algerians and for most of the game, they really seemed like doing it. But they were given a stern warning after just 4 minutes when Algeria came close by smashing the bar.

But that was as close as they'd get as the U.S. picked up the game and started to probe forward. They must have thought things were totally against them too as they had another goal disallowed, this time for offside. Replays show the decision was probably just about correct, but it was very close.

In the end though, they got their just rewards 2 minutes into injury time, when Donovan pounced on to a parried shot to slot the ball home, with the Americans celebrating like there was no tomorrow. Luckily for them, there is a tomorrow, and in fact, there is Sunday and a place in the last 16 too.

That meant that England needed a victory over Slovenia by 2 goals or more in their game against Algeria to top the group and avoid a clash with the Germans in the last 16.

Right from the beginning, it was obvious there was a little more urgency in Fabio Capello's team than in the two previous games. Recently, the trials and tribulations surrounding the England camp bore the marks of the kind of rapidly sinking ship that the French got on before they sailed out here.

John Terry was the focal point, stating that the manager needs to play Joe Cole if he's to have someone on the pitch that can 'unlock' the opposition's defense (which I agree with actually). That, and a statement indicating that there was unrest among the players, was not seen by the Italian in a nice light.

Still, everything rectified, and Terry himself put in a would-be-captain's performance to help England get through. The much awaited goal of comfort, came from Jermaine Defoe, who finally started up front with Wayne Rooney.

James Milner, also a change from the last game, replacing Aaron Lennon, whipped in a wonderful cross from the right and Defoe got in front of his marker to put the ball in the back of the net. It looked like it came off the inside of his calf, to be honest, but he won't mind and neither will England.

Frankly speaking though (!!!), personally, I was really rather disappointed with the performance. In truth, I didn't believe they really looked like a side capable of going too far. They were miles behind the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Germany themselves and even Spain, who haven't played that well but still look better.

I was a little in shock when the next morning, the press seemed to be bathing Capello's tactical nuances in sweet champagne, praising the teams dedication and also the brilliant way in which they got their victory. To be fair to John Terry at least, the guy almost dislocated his blimmin arm when heroically throwing himself at a Slovenian shot when he was practically on the ground already!

But still, playing a mediocre team, I wanted GOALS! Once again, maybe I was watching a different game to the one the newspapers were watching. I dunno. To me they still looked very slow, languid and short of quality.

Rooney had an abysmal first half apart from a nice little knock back to Gerrard who, to his credit, tried to place it into the bottom corner but the shot lacked power.

Apart from that, I thought Rooney lost too much possession and in the second half, he had a great opportunity to score, breaking the offside trap, but seriously lacked composure by scuffing his shot. The keeper got minimal finger tips to it and it went off the post but all in all, I really didn't rate him at all. Maybe he hasn't quite got over his outburst on the telly after the Algeria game. I don't know.

Sooooo, this result means a clash with Germany on Sunday. A team that look like they're up and ready to kick anyone out of this world cup. A team to genuinley fear. Just one more goal and we'd be in the top half of the table. Now we have to face the Germans and - if we get through - the Argentineans, and then - if we get through - the Spanish / Portuguese, and then... Well, I'll be singing a different song if we get that far!

So, ummm... Why were we so pleased again?

Day 12 - The Last 16 Is Open For Business

In a way, the knockout stages began last night. At least, it's the knockout stages of the first phase of the... you know what I mean ;)

We've gone full circle twice and last night, 8 teams from both Groups A and B, fought it out for the right to progress through to the next round. In Group A, Uruguay and Mexico faced each other knowing that a draw would automatically guarantee them qualification.

The only way one of them couldn't, would have been for one of them to suffer and defeat and for there to be a 5 or 6 goal swing, in favour of one of the teams from the other game which pitted the hosts, South Africa and the French together.

Now, this is also the annoying stage where, because of the scandal of the "Shame of Gijón" back in '82 - when West Germany and Austria played out 80 minutes (after the Germans scored in the 10th) of mutually beneficial, non-attacking football so that both teams could progress - all the last games of the group stages are played at the same time.

This means that usually, you have to decide on one game or another (unless you're in a bar/pub that has both matches on simultaneously which then usually results in you getting a sore neck from turning to face different tellies every couple of minutes) and because of Lauren (my good friend and work colleague) is from South Africa, we decided to watch the Bafana Bafana vs Froggies game.

The game was good, although understandably super tense for Lauren, with both sides showing a little more gusto than in previous matches, but in the end, I must say that I was rather surprised (though maybe I shouldn't have been) to see the sorry demise of a French side resembling a cart, full of top-notch fruit in it... but with nobody there to push it to the market.

It's kind of what their team is really. Loads of talent but no cohesion and riddled in scandal, they’ve had a appalling World Cup. After drawing in a tepid match against Uruguay back on the 11th of June and getting well beaten by the Mexican's, there was to be no bizarre/miraculous revival as they succumbed to the hosts 2-1.

The faster they forget this World Cup, the better I think. I watched a CNN report this morning that showed crowds of French people by the Eiffel Tower - watching the game on big screens - actually cheering when the South African's scored their first goal!!!!! Ahhh... you gotta love the French sometimes ;)

So thanks to a grand final game by Bafana Bafana, the French are going home. And look! South Africa even gave them a plane to go back on ;) Isn't that nice :o



In the other game, apparently (cus again, I couldn't watch it), the Mexican's were terrible but because they only lost 1-0, they went through with Uruguay who topped the table in a total shock to World Cup Group A. My pre-tournament prediction turned out to be an exact mirror image of what actually happened!

France 1st, South Africa 2nd, Mexico 3rd and finally Uruguay in 4th. What do I know about football, eh? I'm just happy I've never been a gambling man ;)

To Group B! Here in Seoul, for some reason, nobody was watching Argentina vs Greece ;) What? Messi is on the other channel and no-one is watching it???

That's right, because here, at 3.30am, everyone was out on the streets or in bars, restaurants or at river side parks with millions of others, cheering on and expectantly hoping that South Korea beat Nigeria and made it through, past the group stages for the first time ever off of home soil.

It was a nail biting game though as Nigeria, who might also have progressed if they won and if The Argies beat the Greeks, started the brighter of the two and scored early on through Kalu Uche in the 12th minute.

The Red Devils - playing in white this time round - got one back though through Lee Jung Soo who found himself on the end of a free kick crossed in the from the left. The defender kinda scooped down to head the ball and actually missed it but somehow, luckily it hit his leg (somewhere!) and it went in! And the streets here went crazy!

If the scores stayed like this, South Korea were through!

Into the second half and in the 49th minute, South Korea got a free kick on the edge of the box. AS Monaco striker, Park Chu Young lined up what looked like a cross but instead he expertly curled it in to the bottom left corner, leaving keeper Enyeama totally helpless! Delirium as people everywhere jumped up in the air, tipping chairs and beers all over the place!

So now they just needed to hold on but to their credit (and maybe some peoples dismay) they kept it lively, going for a third and the game started to see end-to-end action all round. As the match wore on though, it was the Nigerians in the ascendancy as the Koreans started to get understandably nervous, trying to hold on to the result when they didn’t score the comfort goal.

Still, you had to think it was their night though as on around 65 minutes, Yakubu missed a chance to level the score from less than 4 yards out and with an open goal. How did it happen? You need to ask him. Amazingly, a cross came in low and beet the keeper, only for the Everton striker to knock it back between Jung Sung-Ryong, the post and out for a goal kick.

It wasn't the miss of the tournament; it was the miss of ALL tournaments!

But 4 minutes later, Nigeria were awarded a penalty and Yakubu, with balls of steel or something, stepped up to redeem himself and put Nigeria back on level terms. In the other game, the Argies finally scored after 77 minutes of trying, which suddenly meant that if Nigeria could score another, THEY would go through!

The final 10 minutes was frantic with the South Korean's doing everything they could to run down the clock, keeping the ball as much as possible or hoofing the ball up field. Each time, the latter was greeted with screams of ecstatic delight from the locals here!

It was heart-in-mouths time but South Korea held on for the draw and with the other game ending 2-0 to Argentina, they automatically qualified in 2nd.

So, the first part of the draw is complete! Uruguay will play South Korea and Argentina will play the Mexicans!

And tonight... it's England! A win and their through. Simple. A draw and they'll be looking over at other results with the USA likely to pip them for 2nd place. That would be interesting.

Also, in Group D, Ghana could become the first (and probably only) African team to go through if they win or draw against Germany. If they lose, they still go through unless the Serbs win.

There is also a small chance Australia could do it if they beat Serbia and make up the 5 goal difference on Ghana ooooor if Ghana straight up beat the Germans and the Ozzies win their game, then Ghana and Australia would go through!

Go Ghana and Australia!!!!

It’s hotting up I tell ya!

Day 11 - Iberian & Brazilian teams finding their feet

The 4 matches to catch up on from Sunday and Monday are from Groups G and H and bring to a close the second phase of the first stage of the... well, again, you know what I mean ;)

Starting with Group H and Spain came out against a Honduran side knowing that victory was imperative for their chances of progressing through to the next round. It didn't take long for David Villa - who was unfortunate to only hit the crossbar with a wonderfully struck shot moments earlier - to score with a stunning solo effort.

The striker picked up the ball way out on the left flank, jinked past 2 players and then nipped inside a third before lashing home a glorious shot into the top left corner.

The Honduran side put up little resistance and Villa added another in the second half to make it 2-0. The striker then had a chance to get this year's second hat-trick from the spot but fluffed it wide and the score stayed as it was.

The other game saw a highly entertaining match between Chile and Switzerland. Highly entertaining for two reasons. Firstly, the Chileans put on a pretty good showing with some nice touches and I was impressed with their all round play. But secondly - The Ref! LOL!

In truth, I can’t see Saudi Arabian referee, Khalil Al Ghamdi, being selected to go through to the next round after a really rather laughable performance in which he showed a total of 10 cards. One of which was a very questionable straight red.

I was watching it outside the GS25 (our little local supermarket) and me and my mate Kellen where having a field day! Into the second half, every time a player did something weird or sometimes even touched the ball, we'd be shouting "BOOK HIM"! BOOK HIM! Hehehe!

The first yellow came after less that 60 seconds of play and went to Humberto Suazo for a high tackle that really didn't seem that bad at all. One Swiss guy then tripped and fell on a Chilean dude and got booked for that too. Others seemed to calmly ask the referee a question and got booked for that as well! Incredible stuff! We loved it ;)

Anyway, the game finished 1-0 to Chile, giving them 6 points and an out-right lead in the group. Good job!

And then...*drum roll please*... Group G! Rah!

Group G saw Portugal get their first win and goal(s)(!!!) of the 2010 World Cup. No fewer than 7 in fact! A strange old game saw North Korea rattle the Portuguese a little in the first half, coming close through Cha Jong Hyok and Hong Yong Jo.

They played some industrious football and nearly took the lead but in the 29th minute, Porto's robust midfielder Raul Meireles burst through the North Korean defense and was exquisitely found by man-of-the-match (in my view anyway) Tiago. He took the ball in his stride and smashed it under the advancing keeper.

The first half ended 1-0 with both teams still in it but after the break, the Portuguese took control. First, Simão Sabrosa on 53 and then Hugo Almeida on 56 put the game beyond North Korea's reach.

4 minutes later, Tiago capped a wonderful Portuguese move by scoring the 4th and suddenly the rout was on. "A Selecção das Quinas" then wasted a whole host of chances including a superb Ronaldo shot that smashed the cross bar, before substitute Liedson got their 5th on 81 minutes.

Ronaldo then finally got what he'd been looking for with a bizarre goal. Liedson intercepted a ball off the North Korean defense and the two of them were through on goal. Ronaldo got there first but only just managed to poke the ball in the keeper’s direction.

The ball then somehow rose up into the air before seemingly resting on Ronaldo's back who was stumbling forward after jumping over the keeper! Weird, I know! (See the video if you want, just here to the right ~>)

Somewhat fortuitously, it then rolled down his right side and he was left with a simple tap in to get Portugal's sixth.

Unbelievably, it wasn't over yet and in the dying minutes, Tiago added another and his second to make it seventh heaven for Portugal.

The mood here was not the best. It may seem strange to some (including myself a little), but to many (South) Koreans, Korea is still one people and regardless of the problems between the two Nations in recent times, watching their "brothers" let 7 past them was not a nice thing at all.

Finally, the other game in the group was Brazil vs Ivory Coast and the Brazilians took it 3-1. The game had two major talking points. Firstly Luis Fabiano's 2nd goal definitely looked like he handled the ball on his way through to scoring. Put that aside for a moment and it was actually a wonderfully worked goal from the striker.

But pictures show the referee actually asking the player afterwards if he had handled it! Fabiano said "no", of course... but I wonder what would have happened had he said "yes"??? Hmm... interesting. Would the ref have pulled it all back and disallowed it? That certainly would have been a first.

The second big talking point was Kaka's second yellow and subsequent red card, with shades of the Rivaldo 2002 incident, seemingly coming back to haunt them.

It looked like the squeeky clean, golden boy of Brazilian football, really didn't do much to Abdelkader Keita as the two innocuously came together but the Ivory Coast winger went down in dramatic fashion, clutching his face and rolling around like he was being stung by a billion bees or something.

After a big kafuffle involving players and staff from both sides, Kaka was sent off and will now miss the game against Portugal (phew! hehe) and, depending on how FIFA see it, may even miss the one after that too.

But the win guarantees Brazil's participation in the last 16 and the game against Portugal next Friday will be one to be watched. The winner and loser almost certainly deciding who will top the group and subsequently, who will face Spain (probably) in the next round!

I can't wait!!!!

Days 9 & 10 - Into The Final Stages!

Firstly, sorry about the delay on the blog. Weekends seem to be busier than week days recently ;) So just quickly, I'll recap on 5 games. A lot has happened! We're into the final stages of the group matches and much has been decided!

Firstly, in Group D, after Serbia's surprise victory had blown the group wide open with a great win over the Germans the previous night, Australia and Ghana both knew that this was a great chance to get some valuable points up on the board.

Playing without Tim Cahill due to suspension, Australia took the lead through stand-in Brett Holman. The goal, somewhat surprising, marked the first ever time Australia had scored first in a World Cup Finals game. But the lead was shorlived as Ghana came back into it as Harry Kewell was sent off for a deliberate handball in the box. Kewell complained like nothing but the stiker can have nothing to complain about after replays clearly showed he handled it on the line and stopped them scoring. Silly sausage!



Ghana scored from the penalty spot and the game then flowed, more Ghana's way but with the Ozzies counting on the counters, there were chances at both ends and either side could have snatched it in a frantic finale to the game. Still, it wasn't to be and both had to settle for a 1-1 draw, so everything is still to be decided.

In Group E, Cameroon - many people's tip to go furthest out of all African teams (including mine) - was the first to fall out. In a game strewn with mistakes, the The Indomitable Lions got the "In" taken out of them by the Dominating Danes (sorry about that one ^^).

Samuel Eto'o, unlike in the previous game, was played up front and it seemed to have worked when he put the Cameroonian side ahead but Denmark fought back valiantly with two good goals from Bendtner in the 33rd and another from Rommedahl in the 61st minute.



In the other game, Wesley Sneijder’s powerful shot gave the Dutch all 3 points in their match, with a Japanese side that showed good fighting spirit but were in effect, ineffectual.

The result meant that The Netherlands were the first team to guarantee qualification through to the next round and leaves Morton Olsen's men to battle it out with the Samurai Blues for the right to go through with them. Should be a good one that.

In Group F, the game between Italy and New Zealand produced the real shock of the past few days with the All Whites claiming an historic draw over the current World Champions.

Shane Smeltz gave the Kiwi's a surprising 7th minute lead and although the Italians clawed one back via a highly debatable Iaquinta penalty, they failed the break down a resilient New Zealand side that held on for what was certainly their proudest ever result. Crazy stuff!

Finally, Paraguay eased past a poor Slovakian side in a relatively dull match, with goals from Vera and Riveros. This means that everything is out in the open for the last match next week. Paraguay are in pole position with 4 points, Italy and New Zealand follow with 2 and Slovakia brings up the rear with 1.

Next Blog is a special one so stay tuned ;) hehehe

Day 8 - Big Egos...

England had to play against Algeria today, but over here in Seoul, the game started at 3.30 a.m. So I decided to put my alarm on for 3.20 so that I could get up for it. But something strange happened... my alarm didn't go off!

When the daylight streamed into the room, I rolled over to check the time and saw that it was 6 a.m. "Damn!", I thought, "I've probably missed the revival and stunning victory that Rooney himself predicted would be easy, for even an under-strength England side! Dammit!"

Moments later, and after checking the scores on the BBC website, I felt simultaneously pissed off and ecstatic. Pissed off cus Wayne Rooney obviously lied to everyone and super-happy cus I didn't waste 2 hours of valuable sleeping time over it.

England had drawn to Algeria 0-0, in a lackluster, drab and extremely dull encounter. Boy was I happy / angry! So, what does this result mean? Well, basically, it means that England are crap! Sorry for the language but, seriously, this is a terrible result.

In terms of qualification, what it means is that there's still no need to panic. This seems to be the general message being voiced from the England camp. Don't panic, don't panic. We just need to win our next game and we're through!

I don't know. Maybe I'm becoming cynical in my old age but hell, from the highlights I saw, England were exactly all those things; lackluster, drab and extremely dull. And to top it all, as Wayne Rooney was walking off the pitch, he turned to the camera and said: "Nice to hear your own fans booing you, that's loyal supporters".





Well, I think I'm not alone when saying that if I was one of those supporters, I'd be pretty annoyed too. Maybe £1000-odd is not that much money for Wayne, but I'm sure it's quite a big dent on the wallets of many of those England supporters who traveled out there, and I think they've got every right to boo the team off the pitch.

Maybe this is also what the team needs too. A kick up the backside and someone to tell them we're not happy with all this. But isn't that Capello's job? Anyway, I guess we've got nothing else but hope... so lets stick to that. Thanks England! I was kinda hoping for some good football instead of hoping or depending on hope itself.

Anyway, on to Germany! Yay! The Germans are in a bit of an interesting position too. At least it wasn't only us that had a stinker. Playing against Serbia at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and after having thrashed the Ozzies 4-0 in their previous encounter, the Germans were seriously caught out with their over confidence.

Before the match, The German newspaper Bild had stated: "We're going to blow you all away"! Well, they certainly blew something away! At least, unlike ours, the game was exciting though. The Germans were having most of the chances until 2 stupid tackles by Miroslav Klose earned him 2 yellow cards and an early bath.

To be fair, he probably didn't deserve the first one, but after receiving it, he really should have been a little more careful. 90 seconds later, the Serbs got their goal through Milan Jovanovic and then held on to take a shock victory 1-0. Lukas Podolski wasted the best of the Germans' chances, including a penalty, easily saved by Vladimir Stojkovic after Nemanja Vidic had inexplicably handballed in the box.

The other match saw a riveting contest between Slovenia and the USA. The Slovenians took a shock 2-0 lead into the break before being pegged back in the 2nd with goals from Landon Donovon and Michael Bradley and they should have won it with a last-ditch goal that was unfairly ruled out for a mysterious tug in the box.

Donovon hit a good free kick into the box and for a moment, it seemed the Americans had done the unthinkable and snatch it at the end when Maurice Edu hit a great volley into the back of Handanovic's net, but the celebrations were cut short as referee Koman Coulibaly, officiating in his first ever world cup, disallowed the goal for a pull on one of the Slovenian defenders.

It was an unfair finale to the game and one the Americans will rightly be furious about but they'll have to pick themselves up and (like the English, and everyone else in the group) win their last game if they're to have any chance of making it through to the next round.

All in all, it was a day of big ego's getting smashed (maybe not so much for the Americans but certainly for the English and Germans). Will this serve as a message to be learned from? I guess we'll only know next week.

Day 7 - "Picking up steam"

After a tentative week, we're into the 2nd stage of the 1st stage in the first round of... anyway, you know what I mean, right?! These are the games that, once played, are gathering all the team's fans round the drawing table, calculating all the if's and but's and how's and why's and everything or anything else that could happen. You gotta love the World Cup ;)

Yesterday's games were purely thrilling and after Uruguay's win against the hosts on Day 6, Mexico and France were left to battle it out to see what the teams would be required to do on their final games in Group A.

This was a game both the French and the Mexican's knew they had to win. Defeat would leave things very awkward in their final matches and this seemed to inspire both to drop their defensive tendencies and go for it.

France started the strongest but gradually, much against what all had predicted, it was Mexico that started to take control of the game. Their slick passing often finding spaces all around the leaking French backline and it was just surprising they didn't get anything for it in the first half.

By the second half though, the Mexican's finally got what they deserved. A delicate ball played over the static back line of the French and substitute Javier Hernandez - soon to be plying his trade at Manchester United - showed great composure to round one of the best keepers in the business and put the Mexican's 1 up.




This should have pumped the French up but instead, it was Mexico who got the second from the penalty spot. A darting run from Pablo Barrera ended when Eric Abidal took a lunge and brought him down. That was pretty much game set and match as 37-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco stepped up to convert the penalty. 2-0 Mexico!

The other two games of the day were also super exciting. Nigeria vs Greece had both teams going full pelt from the off and it was Nigeria who took the lead with one of those free kicks-come-crosses from 50 yards. Every player jumps, nobody touches it and it goes straight in (making the keeper look a little silly).

Till then, Nigeria had been the stronger of the two so deservedly took the lead but on 33 minutes, the game was around when Nigeria's Sani Kaita was sent off for, what looked like a kick-out at Vasileios Torosidis. Replays are inconclusive as to whether there was any contact, but it was still foolish of Kaita to raise his foot like that, after the two had tussled slightly on the side line.

From there, the game was all for Greeks to go out and win and so they did. The first came from a deflected strike from Dimitrios Salpingidis, right at the end of the first half and second was a tap in, after Nigeria keeper Enyeama spilt his save and the rebound was tucked in by Alexandros Tziolis, giving Greece their first ever World Cup win. You can imagine the celebrations ;)

Finally, Argentina and South Korea. Well, what can I say. Sunah and I watched at our local, which was understandably joyous and packed pull of expectant Korean fans and I wish I could make this blog a nice one for them to read (I'll try though, I promise, me and my bias little eyes ^^).

First and foremost, I'd just like to say that the final score, in my opinion (seriously), was not a fair reflection on how the game went. It may have been a fair score line when you look at things like possession, style of play and goal scoring opportunities, but as for the pattern of the game, I think it was a bit harsh and people, here in Seoul, were genuinely hurt.

After such a convincing performance against the Greeks, The Red Devils seriously thought they could have a fair crack at the Argies and although everyone here was saying it was impossible or that the best they could get was a draw, deep down, everyone believed an upset was possible. Especially after all the shenanigans with the Spaniards the night before and the French and Italians, the English... the list goes on.

All the talk prior to the game (in fact, since the draw was made back in December last year) had been about one thing in particular. How do we stop Messi? He's been the talk of the town since arriving in South Africa and today, he played in a slightly unfamiliar role, playing in the hole behind Higuain and Tevez.

It was a bit surprising to see him so deep and personally, I don't think that's his best position. He seemed to be floating around a little too much for my liking but still, when he did get the ball, it was, as many predicted, a joy to watch.

The two first goals came from Argentina. One from a Messi free kick which was very unfortunately turned in by Park Chu Young and another from a Messi cross, flicked over by Nicolas Burdisso and simply turned in at the back post by Higuain.

A rout was on the cards and South Korea needed something from somewhere and they almost got it with a spectacular drive from Celtic's Ki Sung Yeung (who many have labeled as the Korean Gerrard). Unfortunately, the shot, which was from almost 30 yards out just fizzed over the bar with Sergio Romero scrambling over but effectively beaten.

South Korea probed but it was Argentina with the more assured control and Messi once again wowed the crowd with a dazzling little run and a chip that was just pulled wide of Jung Sung-Ryong in the Korean goal.

The show really was belonging to Messi but with time running out at the end of the first half, South Korea sprung a little surprise on the Argies when Dimichelis was caught napping at the back by Bolton's Lee Chung-Yong, who nicked the ball off him on the edge of the box and finished with class, clipping a half volley with the outside of his boot, over the advancing Argentinean goalkeeper to make it 2-1.

That was the last action of the half and when the second half began, we saw a far more adventurous Korean side coming out of the blocks a little harder and faster then their Group B opponents. The quality possession still belonged to the South American's but slowly, the Koreans were ruffling a few of their feathers, including Messi who was getting ever more frustrated by the tight marking on him.

Gabriel Heinze saw a yellow too for ungentlemanly conduct by throwing the ball away before Yeom Ki-Hun had the chance to change the game around and write his name in the history books. A wonderfully placed through ball put him one on one with the keeper the but winger placed his shot wide with his left foot, when he probably should have used his right.

That was pretty much that and with the Korean's pushing for the equalizer, the Argies took full advantage of the spaces left at the back to hit them on the counter with two goals in quick succession. Both goals had Messi to thank (at some point in the move) and both were converted by Higuain who became the first player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup since Portugal's Pauleta in 2002.

Now, with the Greece vs Nigeria match finishing the way it did, South Korea have to beat the Nigerians or get at least the same result that the Greeks get against the Argentineans, who will more that likely be playing an under-strength side next week.

Man. What a day!

Day 6 - How did they do THAT?

Well, well. So now we all know the answer to one of the most burning questions asked to any football fan. What do you get when you put Real Madrid and Barcelona on one team? You get Málaga CF! No disrespect to Málaga CF of course but the club fought long and hard to stay in the extremely uncompetitive La Liga last year.

Last night saw one of the great upsets in World Cup history (am I being too dramatic here?). Switzerland, underdogs and outsiders to progress from Group H showed true grit and determination to beat the highly fancied Málaga CF 1-0 and put themselves joint top of the group with Chile.

It was a game of two halves with, basically, Málaga CF attacking like bumblebees in both of them, seemingly spurred on by the sweet-sounding, home-calling vuvuzelas. But it was the Swiss who parked the honey bus in front of goal, defended like men against bee-girls and got that sweet tasting nectar to drip down their tongues in the end ;)




Amazing stuff really. It must be said, Málaga CF did do all the attacking as their 22 shots at Diego Benaglio and 66% of possession will show, but for all their endevours, their little flicks and through passes and all their pin-point, cross-field balls and driving runs, they were unable to find a way through. Even bringing on the not-so-fit-yet Torres couldn't save them. And the more the game wore on, the more it looked like the Swiss might get a goal on the counter too.

And so it was. A route one punt up field in the 52nd minute and world held it's breath. Mayhem at the back with Puyol and Gerard Piqué unable to clear and the good old Swiss pounced and got their goal through Gelson Fernandeson. Once that happened, they cunningly stuck the The Alps in between both countries (knowing full well that the Málagans didn't know how to ski), and held them off for their first ever competitive win against their Group H rivals.

It rests now to be seen, whether Málaga CF have any chance of coming out top of this group. But to say they're unscathed? No way. They'll be licking their wounds in the next few days and, well, they'll probably bite back even stronger. Still, once again, just a reminder, Switzerland 1, Málaga CF 0! ;)

The other group game saw an exciting one with the Red Hot 'Chile' Peppers taking the spoils with a deserved 1-0 win against the Hondurans, who probably thought they were still back home, soaking up some well deserved summer sunshine.

I was quite impressed with the Chilean performance actually and the way the previous game went, who knows who'll get through from this stage. Jean Beausejour's scored in the 34th minute to give La Roja their first WC victory in almost 50 years! And once they score, they never really looked like letting go of that lead either.

The Honduran side did threaten a couple of times from set pieces but if anything, it was Chile who were desperately unlucky not pull further ahead. A crossed ball was met by the head of Waldo Ponce who couldn't believe his eyes as Noel Valladares saved his Honduran side, once again, this time with the save of the tournament so far.

With Alexis Sanchez and Sporting Lisbon's Matias Fernandez running the show in the middle of the park, Chile simply had too much for Honduras and they'll have to produce something pretty special in their next game if they're to have any chance of getting something from this group.

Finally, in the late kick off of the day, Uruguay showed a real assured performance to out-class and out-do the Bafana Bafana in Pretoria with Diego Forlan putting on a world class performance. It was a bit of an unfortunate thing to find the Uruguayan’s in such good form, but it has to be said that the South African’s didn’t really turn up today.

In the end, Uruguay ran out worthy 3-0 winners, in a game with one major talking point. South Africa were down 1-0 and in the 79th minute and then Luis Suarez, the young Uruguayan striker was brought down in the box by Itumeleng Khune.

It's actually the second match I've been a bit annoyed by the little front man. Contact was minimal, but he made it look like he'd been spun round by a tornado, flipping and rolling over a couple of times before he realized he'd got what he'd obviously been looking for.

As a result, the South African keeper was sent off and even that was a little dabatable as Suarez had knocked the ball, back into an area with other players and therefore wasn't on his way to score. Anyway, whether it's worth appealing for or not, I'm not sure.

Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira later complained about the referee, Massimo Busacca, stating that it was the worse performance by an official at this year's WC so far and that he “doesn’t deserve to be here”. I can't say I fully agree with him but then again, I'm not South African.

The Bafana boys now have it all to do in their final match against France, who play later today against Mexico, but with all the twists and turns that have happened in the tournament so far, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the last we'd heard of the hosts.

Day 5 - Dead, or Alive?

A quick mention for New Zealand in group F. Well done!

Onto group G (lol – I’ll chat about it later ^^). The so-called "Group Of Death"!!!! Grrrr! Firstly, I'm not sure how I should feel about North Korea being in the Group Of Death. Not when Portugal (and therefore, I) is/am - in there with them. And especially not after seeing Jong Tae Se's performance - who incidentally, cried during the playing of his national anthem - and the way he spearheaded the North Korean attack throughout.

The Brazil vs North Korea was a nice way to conclude the opening matches of Group G and it has to be said that, much like in '66, the Korean's have surprised a good few people. Now, many players show fighting talk before their games. It's obvious; you want to come across as confidently as possible. But NK's 'fighting talk' always makes you a little worried. "We will destroy all of our opponents" they said. Hmm... You have to wonder what they will destroy if they don't win their matches!

Anyway, to be fair, that comment could have been misquoted, although, to be equally fair, their track record doesn't help them all that much either.

Still, it must be said that they played a great game and for a while, there even looked like there may very well be one of the biggest upsets in WC history on the cards. That was, until the Brazilian right back, Maicon, popped up with a goal of sweet Brazilian class. One of those goals that makes people ask "But, did he really mean it?"

You know that when you ask a question like that, that if he did mean it, the goal was pure genius. Running and stretching down to the bye-line, his shot was hit with perfect swerve to nick in between the post and the keeper. 95% of players would have tried to push that back into the box for someone else to tap in... but because he's a Brazilian full back…

Finally Brazil got a hold of the game and when Robinho angled a delightful pass, through the defense to Elano, the game was effectively over when the midfielder tucked his shot away into the bottom right corner.

North Korea did have one last go and scored a great goal through Ji Yun Nam but it was too little, too late. Still, for a team over 100 places below the 5-times World Champions they should not feel bad about coming away with a result like that.

In the other game... O dear. What can I say about the other game ...*buries his head in his hands*... In the other game, Portugal and the Ivory Coast drew in an intense (for me, anyway) but ultimately, largely disappointing game.

I'm not exactly sure which game the Portuguese press was watching, but it sure as hell didn't seem to be the same one I watched. Maybe I just blinked at important moments but, the way I saw it, Portugal were very lucky to come away from it with a draw.

One newspaper decided it would be good to say that the Portuguese "ran more" than their opponents. Apparently they ran a total of 109 673 metres, just over 4km's more then the Ivory Coast’s players. Ermm... So What???! Heck. Maybe that's cus they were chasing the ball more.

They also pointed out that they had more shots at goal (7-5) and that they hit the target more (2-1). You wouldn't have thought it though. Watching this match was utterly annoying from my point of view and Deco was the only one to really echo those thoughts afterwards.

Claiming he didn't like the position he was being played in (right mid - a position he's never played in his whole career), he openly criticized Queiroz's tactics, stating that their "long ball and direct play", suited the Ivorian's just fine. So, at the end of the match, when Queiroz said he thought Portugal were the better side and were the ones who were unlucky to find an Ivory Coast sitting back and "waiting for the Portuguese mistake", I couldn't quite believe it!

Seriously? I mean, was I indeed watching the wrong match last night??? Please, somebody tell me. Urgghh.

In the end, Ronaldo said "we were unlucky". OK. Maybe he was unlucky, yes. Had his thunderous crack at goal found the net, midway through the first half, instead of just removing some of the paint off the Ivory Coast's post, then maybe we'd have been talking about that goal for years to come and yes, lady luck could have played a part.

But there was nothing unlucky about how well The Elephants played. They were industrious, faster and more skilled than the Portuguese. If the Portuguese play like that against North Korea in next week's match... then I think we'll be the ‘dead’ ones in the Group of Death.

About New Zealand's result, sorry about the joke at the beginning of this blog but I hope you understood my reasons for not wanting to delay my feelings about Portugal ;)

A great match for the All Whites! I have to say I was very happy with that one. Maybe my little bit of bias is coming out here - but still. The first half was a little slow and when Slovakia scored in the second, things didn't look too good.

But credit to the Kiwis, they came back strong and scored through Winston Reid in the 93rd minute. Reid later stated that it was the most important goal of his career. The chap's only 21 so let's hope he gets a few more, eh? Still, very well taken goal and 3 minutes into injury time too. Its the stuff dreams are made off, that's for sure ^^! I guess nobody will blame him for getting booked for removing his shirt after that one (although the fact Shane Smeltz almost pulled the entire team into the moat during the celebration was rather funny!).

A Couple Of Surprises...

Japan and Paraguay raised a few eyebrows in the world of football yesterday. Of course I don't mean they physically went up to sleeping folk and jokingly giggled away with their team-mates while pushing random people’s eyebrows up and down. I mean, they seriously managed to surprise a few of us out there.

Firstly, Japan won their first World Cup match off of home soil. Well done! Maybe they carried some soil with them to South Africa as a kind of good luck thing... then again, maybe not. Who knows?!

In a match that the critics described as 'tepid', there wasn't really too much to shout about really. It was a match of 'firsts', however, as Keisuke Honda became the first ever football player with the same name as a car and bike manufacturer's to score a goal (please correct me if I'm wrong here!) and I wouldn't be surprised if Honda's sales have increased in some random parts of the world as a result!

The game was also a ‘first’ in that it was the first time that Cameroon had lost it's opening game in a World Cup competition. To be honest, they probably deserved at least a draw and had Stéphane Mbia's rocket-of-a-shot gone in and not just almost destroyed the cross bar, then I wouldn't have begrudged them a win. Still, it wasn't to be and now, rather shockingly, The Blue Samurai's have joined The Netherlands at the top of group E.

The Dutch - my bet for this year's WC - came out on top against a steely Danish side which seemed out to defend rather than do anything else really. You'd have to say that it was a deserved win but, without Robben out there, they did look like they lacked something.

Everyone had to wait till just after half time for a goal and it came in the form of a bizzare own goal by Daniel Agger. A bit of a mix-up in the box saw - Poulsen, arguably Denmark's best player - head back across his goal only for the ball to hit Agger on the back on bounce clear of Sorensen and into the back of the net. Strange things happen in football.

The game opened up a little after that but the Danes never really threatened with Bentner, their most dangerous player up front, playing too much on his own. They did start to have a little more possession but then the Dutch brought on young winger Elija for his WC debut and he certainly turned the game around again.

His pace down the left caused all sorts of trouble and late on, when put through, was unfortunate only to watch his shot come back off the post. Luckily for him and the Dutch though, Dirk Kuyt was on hand to convert a simple knock-in and put the game to bed.

And then... The Italians. A little surprisingly, the current WC champions are only 16-1 on to retain their trophy but many believe they are just too old this year with 5 players in this game's line-up having played in the final 4 years ago. It seemed to show too, as they struggled to come back and salvage a point against a lackluster and not-very-creative Paraguayan side.

The Azzurri were the dominant side though. They controlled possession well and always looked to pressure their opponents. Paraguay, however, kept their shape very well and always seemed to have the Italians at an arms length.

The game, therefore, was a bit of bore draw. In fact, most of the time it was more enjoyable spotting some of the lovely looking Italian lady fans in the crowd, blowing kisses at their adored players, then watching the match itself!

Still, there was no upset today and it looks like, if Andrea Pirlo comes back soon, they should make it comfortably through this group.

Day 3 - Red Cards Day...

3 more games. 3 more tales and after the horrors of England and Rob Green, came another goalkeeping howler, this time in the Algeria vs Slovenia match. Complaints from Algerians rang in about the pitch being half grass, half synthetic and when Koren took a speculative pop from about 20 yards out, the claims were that the ball "bounced funny" in front of keeper Faouzi Chaouchi.

The truth of the matter was that the game will probably be somewhere in the top 5 for worse and most boring matches of the tournament by the end of it. Apart from a few semi-dangerous set pieces, the only "highlight" of the game was yet another red card for a substitute. Abdelkader Ghezzal's first contribution was to foul someone and 10 minutes later he purposely and stupidly handled a ball, got his second yellow and was off.

BBC's Ian Crocker kindly described it as "a stinker of a game" and I'd have to go a long way to find a better way to describe it myself.

Game 2 saw another crazy handball but this time in a far more exciting match between Ghana and Serbia. The game had all the ingredients for a fabulously set-up match and it didn't fail to deliver either. In the end, Serbian coach Raddy Antic will be bitterly disappointed for the way Zdravko Kuzmanovic stuck out an arm and handled a dangerous cross in the box to give away a penalty 5 minutes from time.

Asamoah Gyan stepped up and smacked it in convincingly for all three points and to give Ghana and an African nation, their first win of the tournament.

There had been fears that the Ghanaian midfield might not be strong enough, following Essien's injury and when Ghana manager Milovan Rajevac (who coincidently is also a Serb) chose to leave Sulley Muntari on the bench, question were asked. But The Black Stars responded brilliantly and their task was made even easier when on 74 minutes, Aleksandar Lukovic was sent off for his second bookable offence for holding on to Gyan as he tried to break away.

And finally, Australia - Germany. This was one of those games that, on paper, could have been a bit of a banana skin for Germany but which, in the end turned out to be more of a sitting-on-a-beach-sippin-on-a-coconut-cocktail game for them. The Ozzies wanted it and came out fighting and even had the first chance through Cahill to take an early, shock lead.

It wasn't to be their day though as Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Thomas Mueller and Cacau then went on to put 4 past them. The Germans looked solid and assured and once they went ahead, didn't take the foot off the pedal until the job was done.

The unfortunate Tim Cahill was the one who probably suffered the most though. The Everton forward apparently shed some tears as he saw a straight red for his tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger after 55 minutes. It's hard to tell exactly whether it was intentional or not but the ref certainly seems to have seen it that way and if FIFA agree, that could spell the end of the tournament for Cahill.

Personally, it looked like he was going for the ball but then Schweinsteiger stepped in and it does seem like Cahill tries to take his feet away from it a little - meaning there was no real malice in the tackle. However, if you look at his face just before he dives in... well, it doesn't do him many favours, that's for sure. His one hope is that the ban will only be for one match.

We shall wait and see.

Day 2 - What a day...

Day 2 of the WC was a fantastic one! Well, fantastic for some of course. Near right disastrous for others too. The crux of it though was, 3 games, 3 very differing emotions. Firstly let’s get this stupid England game out the way.

Well, what can be said? England got off to a flier with a great goal and it was all smiles from The Eng-er-land. A nice passage of passing outside the box culminated in a good through ball from Heskey (of all people!) who found Steve Gerrard bursting into the box. The captain kept his cool and slotted it home in style, past the onrushing Tim Howard.

Less than 40 minutes later and a moment of madness that stunned the nation. Clint Dempsey got the ball about 25 yards from the England goal and took a shot. The ball went straight at Rob Green, bouncing a couple of times before the keeper disastrously spilled, what should have been a bread-and-butter save and turned to watch it trickle into the England net.




He crouched for a moment in what looked like a kind of upright fetal position, seemingly instantly begging the gods for forgiveness, before bouncing back up, grabbing the ball from the back of the net and then holding his hand up apologetically to the rest of the team and all England fans.

"Apology not accepted!" I shouted out in the pub I was watching the game at! It may very well have been a sentiment echoed by the millions of England fans watching around the world. A few moments later, the ball was rolled back to him and amidst a whole ringing of mockingly nervy taunts from the band of American fans in the pub, I wondered: "Do we forgive him?"

Capello has done just that for now, declaring he will play in England's next match against the Algerians on Friday. If England fail to make it past the group stages, Rob Green will certainly not hear the end of it and will probably have to endure a barrage of hatred of Beckham-esque proportions when he gets home. Dear oh dear.

In group B, South Korea brushed aside the Greeks in what turned out to be a pulsating match (at least here in Seoul it was). Sunah and I went to a chicken and beer restaurant with 20-odd mates and the 200+ venue went off as goals from Lee Jung Soo and Park Ji Sung gave the South Korean's a deserved win.

And it could have been more had Park Chu Young tucked away his one-on-one with the keeper as well. The performance was a solid one and apart from only a couple of scary moments in the last 10 minutes or so, the Greeks had no response to the Korean's efficiency and hard graft.

The other game saw Argentina take on Nigeria and this game was all about Leo Messi announcing his arrival at this years competition. The striker was in imperious form showing off the sublime skills we're now luckily getting used to seeing. Fact is, were it not for Super Eagles super keeper Vincent Enyeama, Messi alone could have got 3 or 4 goals just himself.

As it was, the Argies were made to sweat a little and fight it out against a determined Nigeria side that, to their credit, didn't stop pushing till the final whistle. Ultimately, however, and thanks to a wonderful diving header, put away by Gabriel Heinze early on in the game, they were able to hold out and claim a well earned 3 points to go level with South Korea at the top of the group.

Phew! What a day...

Day 1 complete!

It was very unfortunate that the day had to start with such terrible news. The tragic death of Nelson Mandela's great granddaughter in a car accident just before the start of the World Cup, cast a dark cloud over proceedings in Johannesburg. She was only 13 years old and, understandably, Mr. Mandela was therefore unable to attend the games. I'm sure the world is united in passing on it's deepest condolences to the Mandela family.

Sepp Blatter and Jacob Zuma gave a quick, but moving message to the jam-packed Soccer City Stadium and announced the Mr. Mandela himself wanted the games to start and so they did. As both National Anthems were sung, you could sense the excitement all around as finally, after 4 years, the games begun once again.

The game itself ended in a draw but was a wonderful and fully passionate one. Once it kicked off, it was obvious the Mexican's weren't just here to make up the numbers. There was a game to be won and they showed some silky skills throughout it.

I was particularly impressed with Dos Santos. The Tottenham player (who was out on loan to Galatasaray this season) did everything a good attacking midfielder should do throughout, creating some great chances and having a blasted shot unbelievably parried away by spiderman-esque Bafana Bafana goalkeeper and hero for the night, Itumeleng Khune.

In fact, it was the South Africans, much against the run of play, that scored the opening goal. And what a goal it was. Worthy of starting off any world cup, that's for sure. Mexico were throwing men forward and leaving themselves a little exposed at the back, midway through the first half and Siphiwe Tshabalala took full advantage of a wonderfully slotted, through ball by Teko Modise who split the defence wide open.

Tshabalala still had some work to do but after taking a couple of quick touches, he thundered a wonderful shot, right into the top corner, setting Soccer City alight with vuvuzela joy! In truth, the strike couldn't have been crisper or more top-corner either. Something any striker would have been super proud of...*I've scored a couple like that in my time, so I should know*... ;)

But credit to Mexico, they didn't let their heads down and just over 10 minutes from time, got the draw they deserved. A cross from Andres Guardado from the left and Barcelona centre back Rafael Márquez was on hand to control and smash the ball home from close range.

The other game saw a slightly more eventless draw between Uruguay vs France played out in Cape Town stadium. The highlight of which was probably the first sending off of the tournament which went to Uruguay's young, promising striker Nicolás Lodeiro for a second bookable offence after a dirty challenge on Bacary Sagna.

In fact, overall, I was rather dissapointed with both France and Uruguay's performance although the latter will probably be the happier of the two with this result.

France started brightly enough and pressed, looking to take the initiative throughout the first half with Diego Forlan, having Uruguay's only real chance after cutting in from the left and letting fly with powerful shot, only to see Hugo Lloris parry away to safety.

But as the game wore on, you could almost sense the two heading for the bore draw. In fact, it was probably only in the last quater, after the sending off that France finally pressed and looked for that winner but it was to no avail.

So, group A has all 4 teams, even on 1 point a piece. Probably a fair result for all parties.