“Today we complete the first set of 2010 World Cup group play games. I’ve watched more than 90% of all the minutes – and yet managed to miss five goals live (Holland, Argentina, Slovakia, Brazil’s second and North Korea’s). It’s been an educational experience. I’ve learned many interesting factoids (many acquired by virtue of this being the first Twitter World Cup) and made a few observations as well.” (Pitch Invasion)
“This essay by Martha Saavedra affirms that all sporting terrain has a history, both personal and corporate. Organizers of the 2010 World Cup discovered this when developing the site of Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. Football grounds offer testimonies buried in sediment and memory.” (The Global Game)
“A good game in both tactical and entertainment terms – North Korea defended resolutely and their front two showed their technical quality, but Brazil’s patience was rewarded in the second half. Firstly, it’s never nice when websites blow their own trumpets, but you can be assured that this is actually a vuvuzela ZM is blowing on.” (Zonal Minute)
Why Brazil’s breakthrough was always going to come from Maicon
“It was inevitable that Brazil would eventually score against North Korea, and it was almost as inevitable that they would do so through Maicon, their rampaging right-back. Here’s why. Firstly, the diagram on the left shows general positioning of both teams when Brazil had the ball in midfield. Brazil have four attacking players who play clearly-defined roles, whilst North Korea effectively had eight defensive players – three centre-backs, two wing-backs, and three central midfielders, the central one sitting deeper than his two colleagues.” (Zonal Minute)
One Name Is Better Than Two
“‘It’s madness that Dopey left Duck and Goose off the team,’ Mr. Silva, a shop worker in downtown São Paulo, says in Portuguese. Brazil may take soccer more seriously than any other nation. Some banks will close and even many nursery schools are letting out early in honor of the country’s World Cup debut Tuesday against North Korea.” (WSJ)
“‘Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that,’ former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said. Uncomfortably close to a bald statement of fact for fans of the beautiful game in Somalia, who risk their lives to watch the World Cup unfolding in South Africa. In the final weeks before the tournament kicked off on Jun. 11, demand for satellite dishes was high. But the Islamist groups that control much of the country have declared the World Cup un-Islamic, threatening dire consequences for anyone found watching.” (IPS)
“We are now five days into the 2010 World Cup finals and already several key themes are being discussed ad infinitum. The weight of the balls being used and the influence of the vuvuzelas have already been discussed in the media to the point of saturation in the media (none of which is to say that we won’t return to these particular themes over the next couple of days or so), as have the paucity of goals seen so far. What seems to be becoming one recurring theme so far during the 2010 World Cup is a degree of under-achievement on the part of the qualifiers from the UEFA confederation.” (twohundredpercent)
“It was the goal heard around the world on Saturday when England’s net-minder Robert Green let a tame shot by U.S.A.’s Clint Dempsey slip through his hands, sending the game to a 1-1 draw. A day later, Algeria’s keeper Fawzi Chaouchi mishandled a long-range strike from Slovenia’s Robert Koren, costing Algeria the 0-1 match.” (Vanity Fair)
“As Spain prepares to take on Switzerland on Wednesday, the world is abuzz with anticipation. Not only are Spain joint favorites with Brazil, but the tournament needs the Spanish team like a fish needs water. After one of the drabbest opening rounds in memory, fans everywhere are looking for reasons as to why things are so awful this time round. The long European season, the austral winter, the security concerns and the stress it creates, the ultra-defensive attitudes, and the worst ball in history that was still round: the Jabulani. Thanks, adidas, for a World Cup with no shots on goal.” (Soccer Politics)
“The sun had barely risen on a typical Saturday in Lagos. Yet there was life beneath the concrete overpasses of Nigeria’s megacity of some 15m people. Dozens of boys were out playing football, in any space they could find, before the unforgiving African sun got too high.” (Guardian)
“Brazil, the most successful team in the World Cup, started the group stage with a match against North Korea. It’s a match that would appear to be very one sided but North Korea have shown in AFC World Cup Qualifying they can be a very tough defensive team.” (The 90th Minute)
“A hard-fought draw in a game that was a must-not-lose rather than a must-win for both sides. There was a disappointing lack of goalmouth action, but both defences were excellently organised. The one minor surprise in the Portugal line-up was the welcome sight of Danny Alves in the first XI, although he was deployed in a wide role as Nani’s replacement, rather than the central position he favours. Fabio Coentrao was ahead of Duda at left-back, whilst Pedro Mendes was preferred to Pepe, still returning to full fitness after seven months out, in the centre of midfield.” (Zonal Minute)
“Oh, dear! Are Fabio’s birds coming home to roost? As one who has known and largely admired him both as player and coach these many years, I’ve never really wanted to join in the somewhat sycophantic chorus which has responded to him since he took the England post.” (World Soccer – Brian Glanville)
Cape Town, South Africa
“Ivory Coast tied Portugal 0-0 at the World Cup on Tuesday, largely outplaying its higher-ranked opponent despite Didier Drogba only coming on as a late substitute. Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo rattled a 30-yard strike off the left post in the 11th minute, but Ivory Coast otherwise created the better chances.” (ESPN)
Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal
“Ivory Coast and Portugal contested a goalless draw in a cagey opening game to the World Cup’s so-called group of death at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. With Brazil also in Group G, it was obvious that both sides were desperate to avoid defeat and there was an extent to which both teams cancelled each other out. It was the first competitive fixture of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s short spell in charge of the Elephants and he can be pleased with the unity and discipline his side showed, particularly with talismanic striker Didier Drogba missing from the starting line-up.” (BBC)
Portugal expects from Cristiano Ronaldo
“It was a bleak end of summer in Portugal. The Algarve may have glistened in the sun, but in the pubs and cafes were glum-looking fans, wearing the national team’s replica jerseys with heads bowed and shoulders hunched.” (BBC)
Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) 0-0 Portugal – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – World Cup – 15 June 2010
“The Group of Death (or Group G) began play with two strong nations at the Ivory Coast played Portugal. It’s a crucial match to determine who will make it out of the group and a loss would be devastating for either side. Cristiano Ronaldo would feature for Portugal while Ivory Coast has Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.” (The 90th Minute)
World Cup 2010: New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia
“Having given the television coverage a review/kicking over the weekend, it’s time to take a look at the radio coverage of this World Cup. Ian Dennis is our host, and Jacqui Oatley and Graham Taylor are our commentary team for the opening stages, with Dennis taking over. Oatley is one of three prominent ladies at the World Cup, alongside Gabby Logan, and ITV’s Kelly Cates. Logan and Cates are more high profile, but considering most of the games that we’ve had so far, Oatley has considerably the toughest job of the three.” (twohundredpercent)
New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – World Cup – 15 June 2010
“Two of the smallest countries in the tournament faced in Group F play as New Zealand played Slovakia. The Kiwis were not favored to get a result while Slovakia are seen as a good chance to get second in the group. The other two teams in the group are Italy and Paraguay who played to a 1-1 draw yesterday.” (The 90th Minute)
“On Sunday afternoon, I rode the metro up from my place in the thirteenth arrondissment to Belleville, in the northeastern part of Paris, to take in the Algeria-Slovenia match in a neighborhood with a large Algerian population. Almost as soon as I emerged from the station onto the wide Rue Belleville, I met Ben, an Algerian immigrant whose parents were French, and his son Ilias. They were selling the green and white jerseys of the Algerian national team, both draped in Algerian flags themselves. Ilias predicted a 2-0 Algerian win; Ben thought 1-0.” (Soccer Politics)
“In case you missed the U.S.’s “victory” over England over the weekend, you’re in luck. The website Lego Fussball has gone through the trouble of recreating the key plays with Legos. Unlike the actual game, we all win in this one. (via Guardian).” (Huffington Post)
“If you’ve been at or watched a World Cup match on tv in the past few days, all you hear from the crowd noise are the sounds of the vuvuzelas. They are the loud horn that have been present at all the World Cup matches and extremely loud. They have drowned out virtually all other crowd noise including chants from particular countries.” (The 90th Minute)
“Sporting history surely teaches us not to be too hasty in drawing conclusions. Yet it is already tempting to observe as this World Cup unfolds that Germany might be rising again, and Italy, the defending world champion, falling. There seems to be a new, vibrant, powerful Germany — a side whose players are too young to fear defeat and whose diverse ethnic backgrounds are a testimony to the society now forming in that country.” (NYT)
“Italy dominated the game but rarely provided a real goal threat, whilst Paraguay sat back, defended and were happy to rely on set-pieces. Marcello Lippi’s switch to 4-4-2 on the hour mark resulted in Italy looking a far better side. Italy started out in a 4-2-3-1 shape, with Claudio Marchisio playing the attacking midfield role ahead of Ricardo Montolivo and Daniele de Rossi. Simone Pepe was a slight surprise on the right, so Vincenzo Iaquinta switched to the left. Domenico Criscito came in at left-back, so Gianluca Zambrotta started on the right.” (Zonal Minute)
“Laurence McKenna, co-host of the EPL Talk and World Cup Buzz Podcasts, recently had a golden opportunity to sit down with one of the most remarkable English football writers and authors, Barney Ronay of The Guardian and When Saturday Comes.” (EPL Talk)
“Italy fell behind, then lost its star goalkeeper for the second half. So a 1-1 World Cup draw with Paraguay should not have been all that disturbing for the defending champions. Yet the Azzurri’s underwhelming, rain-soaked draw hardly was pleasing to coach Marcello Lippi, the same man who guided the Italians to their fourth championship in 2006.” (ESPN)
Holders Italy on the defensive
“If Italy’s World Cup campaign doesn’t get off to a flying start against Paraguay tonight, it won’t be because the world champions have been dragged down by the weight of expectations. The nation is braced for failure after an uninspiring qualifying campaign, dreary performances in warmers and the loss of their main creative force, Andrea Pirlo, at least for the first two games with a calf problem. The core of the team are over-30s from the 2006 squad, several clearly past their best, including Gianluca Zambrotta and captain Fabio Cannavaro, who will play in Dubai for Al-Ahli next season after Juventus let the centre-back go.” (WSC)
Italy 1-1 Paraguay – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – World Cup – 14 June 2010
“The 2006 World Champions began their Group Stage of the 2010 tournament against CONMEBOL side Paraguay. Italy come into this World Cup with almost no one picking them to repeat as champions. Paraguay know that any result in this match would put them in good position to move into the knockout stage.” (The 90th Minute)
“Robert Green’s ‘hand of clod’ goal against the United States, painful as it was to watch (here it is again!) … … was not the first howler committed by the England keeper.” (NYT)
“The sound of booing from his own team’s supporters will not surprise Brazil’s head coach at Ellis Park tomorrow night. Whatever goes on inside the mind of Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, better known as Dunga, his exterior is armour-plated. And, having heard it all before, he will not allow criticism to deflect him from his mission.” (Guardian)
Durban Transport
“One of the most consistent teams in the history of the World Cup, Germany, began the 2010 tournament against AFC side Australia. The Socceroos surprised last year with some great play that moved them into the round of 16 and looking to build on that in 2010. The match was a 20:30 local time start on Sunday, June 13, 2010.” (The 90th Minute)
Germany 4-0 Australia: Germany excellent, but quality exaggerated by poor Australian tactics
“We’ve now seen half of the 32 teams that will be contesting this tournament, and whilst we haven’t yet sampled the three most exciting sides – Holland, Brazil and Spain – it is undeniable that Germany have been by far the most impressive so far.” (Zonal Marking)
World Cup 2010: Germany 4-0 Australia
“It’s a conundrum for English national team fans, who to support out of the football and cricket arch-enemies. But it’s not a problem for long as the game is over as a debating point within the first quarter. In the ITV studio, Edgar Davids is making it clear that it’s “C’mon Aussie, C’mon” for him. He looks perplexed when Adrian Chiles brings up England’s propensity to lose to Oz at rugby and cricket. He’s clearly not sure what rugby and cricket are; but he looks just as puzzled at every question Chiles asks.” (twohundredpercent)
Holland 2-0 Denmark: Dutch struggle to break down a disciplined Danish defence
“A quiet game won by two scrappy goals – not really the performance we were hoping for from Holland. Some credit should go to Morten Olsen – his tactics stifled Holland’s creative players and Denmark did have chances to score. Holland lined up as expected considering the injury to Arjen Robben – Rafael Van der Vaart played on the left, Dirk Kuyt was on the right, and Welsey Sneijder played behind Robin van Persie.” (Zonal Marking)
Lack of depth tempers Dutch expectations
“You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the media here – or indeed in the country as a whole – who doesn’t think the Dutch will win their opening Group E match against Denmark. This may smack of overconfidence, but it’s probably more accurate to describe it as justifiable optimism. The team’s long unbeaten run and impressive performances in the last three practice matches before leaving for South Africa – banging in 12 goals against Hungary, Ghana and Mexico – has instilled a healthy degree of self-belief.” (WSC)
World Cup 2010: Netherlands 2-0 Denmark
“Half way through the opening set of fixtures then, and we’ve already seen two of the semi-finalists in action. Only Germany have really looked good enough to be worthy of it so far, but the lower half of the draw contains more big guns, with favourites Spain and Brazil, not to mention holders Italy, all to come shortly.” (twohundredpercent)
“Two goalies emerged scarred out of the drama of yesterday’s USA-England game. One injured but with pride intact, another perhaps irreparably damaged professionally. I remember well how, as a kid playing YMCA soccer in suburban Maryland, I learned the universal lesson we were reminded of yesterday: being a goalie is hell. Perhaps the only goalie to have won the Nobel Prize for literature, Albert Camus (in the front row in the snazzy clothes below) wrote that what he know most surely ‘about morality and the duty of man,’ he learned from playing football at the Racing Universitaire d’Alger in Algeria as a young man.” (Soccer Politics)
“Nothing in football is so traduced as the offside law. Most seem to regard it as a piece of killjoy legislation, designed almost to prevent football producing too many goals and being too much fun, while for the punditocracy it has become the universal scapegoat, the thing that ‘nobody understands’. Just because Garth Crooks doesn’t get something, though, doesn’t make it a bad thing. The modern offside law may be the best thing that’s ever happened to football, and it is almost certainly the reason Barcelona have been so successful with a fleet of players whose obvious asset is their technique rather than their physique.” (Guardian)
“In early April, silly flags were already flapping all around Beirut. A non-resident would think that dignitaries from the entire United Nations were about to make an appearance, adding a touch of color to our city. According to numerous sources, the flags had sprouted much earlier. As early as January, my sister made sure to tell me. I don’t think any earlier than that, my mother said. People were too busy with Christmas and New Years, and in 2009, Ashura, the Shiite holiday fell at the same time—far too much going on for anyone to concentrate. It was still not 2010, in any case.” (TNR), (Must Read Soccer)
“I made certain vows and promises in the days before this started respecting things I wouldn’t touch, and I can’t break them now. So if it feels like something’s missing from this argument, it’s only that I’m trying to save my soul. You can fill in those blanks better than I could, anyway.” (Run of Play)
“Every four years, a young player emerges and blossoms into a star at the World Cup. Often the young player comes off the bench in the first game, and then during the rest of the tournaments, he’s the main man.It is hard to predict exactly which players will be prominent at this kind of tournament, as lots of coaches pick young players with energy and fresh legs to do the damage at the latter stages of a tense game. With club officials and coaches from world class teams scouting young players at the World Cup, more and more younger players become stars after the World Cup.” (Just Football)
“We all know that with the thrill of the World Cup comes an astonishing array of national, racial, and cultural stereotypes. While we are not yet through the opening round of matches, we are taking a look for posterity’s sake at some of these, seeing how they’ve held up (or not) so far and what might become of them.” (Soccer Politics)
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! We’re writing this column under proper World Cup conditions—with vuvuzelas blasting in both of our ears. Is everyone already exasperated with the Infamous Plastic Horn of Distraction? WE SAID, IS EVERYONE ALREADY EXASPERATED WITH THE INFAMOUS PLASTIC HORN OF DISTRACTION?” (WSJ)
“A World Cup is like time speeded up, a kaleidoscope of emotions crammed into a month. But the tournament is rarely won by the team that gets out of the blocks fastest. For those sides that start well, dealing with euphoria can often present problems – as the Germans might find after their superb 4-0 win over Australia. Pacing tournaments is normally a traditional German strength, but the 2010 team are young and it will be interesting to see how they cope with the expectations they have now aroused.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
“England were the better side, but struggled to make their dominance count and came close to losing the game. The USA’s 4-2-2-2 shape caused problems and prevented England’s full-backs from getting into the game. England started with their usual shape from qualification, Wayne Rooney partnering Emile Heskey upfront. In Gareth Barry’s absence, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard played together in midfield and James Milner started on the left – although only stayed there for half an hour.” (Zonal Minute)
For Abject England, Expect More of the Same
“England fans have traditionally been guilty of the sin of not really looking. Reading the English press, there seems a general sense of shock about how their team performed in their first game yesterday. But to a neutral observer, the result, and England’s sorry, tired performance, was not really all that much of a surprise. And while they are still a smart bet to get out of this group, it is hard to imagine an English team with so many obvious deficits advancing very far in this tournament.” (EPL Talk)
Luck of the draw
“For the United States, Saturday’s 1-1 tie with England wasn’t quite 1950 vintage, but the team will take it. Ties, of course, never taste as sweet as victories. But when your team falls behind early, gets a Santa Claus-sized gift from the opposing goalkeeper and hangs on to snag a point against the presumed group favorites, the aftertaste is plenty satisfying. In the process, the U.S. did plenty to enhance its chances of reaching the second round.” (ESPN)
England miss out on fine start as USA benefit from Robert Green gaffe
“Just as South Africa opened their World Cup with a goal that will be remembered forever, so England, as is their wont, contrived to open theirs with a goalkeeping blunder that will never be forgotten. No sooner had Fabio Capello placed his confidence in Robert Green than his judgment was mocked by the sort of bungle no professional footballer can comfortably watch, an unforced error that allowed the United States back into a game on which England appeared to have a comfortable grip after Steven Gerrard’s early goal.” (Guardian – Paul Wilson)
England ask too much from Rooney bursts of brilliance
“It’s all very well saying that England have the man to beat the world in Wayne Rooney but no one can really do that, not on his own and not even Diego Maradona when you get right down to it. Not when one disaster is piled upon another as swiftly as it was here last night, which is to say as quickly as the night swoops down on the highveld. Suddenly, Rooney and his team-mates knew that they had two huge tasks. One was to beat a United States team who had made an impressively spirited response to an early setback.” (Independent – James Lawton)
World Cup 2010: Alan Shearer on England
“I feel desperately sorry for goalkeeper Robert Green after his horrendous mistake led to the United States’ equaliser against England. But I’m not surprised to see the criticism he has got in the newspapers back home because that is part and parcel of being an England player – in fact, I expected him to get more stick than he has done. I was impressed he came out to face the media afterwards because he could have hidden away. Instead he has faced up to what’s happened, and said how he was trying to forget about it. Strangely, he appeared more relaxed and composed when he was talking after the game than he did beforehand.” (BBC)
“Tim Howard may be Jesus’s desktop, but pride kills progress. You can’t claim honest rivalry on one end and moral victory on the other, especially if you went to the game as a knowing participant in a fury of modern hype. Not even Manchester City does that. So for the sake of self-respect, or whatever the equivalent is when you’re writing about hope and strangers, it has to be acknowledged: our guys missed chances that didn’t want to be missed (Altidore missed one in each half), gave up a goal that didn’t want to be scored, defended clumsily at times, and got pinned back in their own territory for far too much of the second half.” (Run of Play)
Soweto, Kliptown. 1890 and 1910.
“Serbia and Ghana faced off in Group D action with both teams knowing that a loss would put their knockout stage chances in the balance. Both teams are likely fighting for second place with Germany a clear favorite to win the group. The teams played the early match (13:30 local time) on Sunday, June 13, 2010.” (The 90th Minute)
“Two teams who made it to the World Cup through playoffs met on Sunday, June 13, 2010 in Group C of the World Cup. It was Algeria facing Slovenia in a match that neither team could afford to lose if they wanted to have a realistic chance of getting out of the group stage. Slovenia would be slightly favored to win the match.” (The 90th Minute)
World Cup 2010: Algeria 0-1 Slovenia
“I volunteered for this game. On paper it seemed a good idea to do. I’d seen Slovenia play Spain at Euro 2000, and Slovenia are some of the loudests fans I’ve ever come across. They only really have one song: “Kdor ne skače,ni Slovenc, hej, hej, hej”. And when they sing, they jump up and down in unison, and if you’re in the upper tier of a stadium with 10,000 Slovenians ten feet away for them, you get that a great atmosphere, with the slight sense of unease that the stadium is going to collapse.” (twohundredpercent)
“Is America a soccer nation, now? On the morning of the United States’ most-hyped ever game against England, I combed through the front covers of every single American newspaper listed at Newseum, a good couple of hundred of them (which is not comprehensive, but is a pretty hefty sample-size), to see what Americans were waking up to read about it on their front pages — if anything at all.” (Pitch Invasion)
“We’re into the cycle — as dependable as the World Cup itself — of the never-ending discussion on soccer in the U.S. It’s an incredibly predictable pattern, one already nicely explored in Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism and Soccer in a Football World, and it gives me a little bit of a headache. While fans, advertising firms, and networks gear up for the World Cup, a plaintive wail echoes across the land.” (Soccer Politics)
“Best places to watch – A World Cup pub crawl might start here, and it might last all month.” (NYT)
“One of the most anticipated 2010 FIFA World Cup Group Stage matches took place on Saturday, June 12, 2010 as England faced the United States. The only other time the two teams met in the World Cup was in 1950 when the USA upset England 1-0.” (The 90th Minute)
England 1-1 USA
“England goalkeeper Robert Green suffered a World Cup nightmare as they were forced to settle for a disappointing draw in the opening game of their campaign against the United States. Steven Gerrard gave coach Fabio Capello the perfect start to this South African mission when he slid Emile Heskey’s pass beyond Tim Howard after only four minutes. And while England rarely hit the heights, they were maintaining their advantage in relative comfort until five minutes before half-time when West Ham United’s Green suffered the lapse that will haunt him.” (BBC)
Goalkeeping blunder hands U.S. hard-earned point vs. England
“Clint Dempsey scored on a blunder by goalkeeper Robert Green in the 40th minute, and the United States came from behind to tie England 1-1 in the Americans’ World Cup opener Saturday. Steven Gerrard put England ahead in the fourth minute, blowing past Ricardo Clark to beat goalkeeper Tim Howard from short range.” (ESPN)
“Argentina began their first World Cup under manager Diego Maradona. They had a poor qualifying campaign but are one of the most talented sides in the entire tournament. Nigeria are a team with talent as well but will be the underdogs against Argentina.” (The 90th Minute)
Argentina 1-0 Nigeria: Maradona’s men dominate but fail to convince
“Eight years ago, Argentina started with a 1-0 win against Nigeria and then crashed out before the knockout stages. You wouldn’t bet on the same thing happening again, but this performance didn’t suggest that Argentina have the ruthlessness needed to win the trophy.” (Zonal Minute)
“There is not much for me to say about today’s match: it has already been said, not even an hour after the match’s conclusion. We even broke Twitter, twice the whole network seized up – too many of us telling each other all about it. It was a game of two halves, and two nervous teams. Throughout the first act South Africa was afraid to attack, and the whole side seemed to play stopper.” (From A Left Wing)
“Your first book is Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, about an obsessive Arsenal fan. Isn’t it a bit depressing? It’s not depressing! It’s very funny and was also almost the book that started this all off. Actually, the book that started it all off was Pete Davies’s All Played Out. That came out in 1990, and has been called the John the Baptist to Nick Hornby’s Jesus. Because when Pete Davies’s book did well, publishers realised there was a literate football fan audience out there, and then Nick Hornby came and proved it with a vengeance in 1992.” (Five Books – Simon Kuper)
“An American soccer star joins the TRIAD Trust using the game to educate children and young adults about how to protect themselves from contracting H.I.V.” (NYT)
Condoms for the World Cup and other ways to keep HIV at bay
“In three months hundreds of thousands of soccer fans are expected to descend on nine South African cities for the 2010 World Cup. But for so many visitors going to a country where more than 10 percent of the population is estimated to have HIV/AIDS, many public health experts are worried that the event will kick off a spike in transmission. South Africa, in turn, has responded by requesting one billion condoms for the year (many of which will be supplied by the U.K.)—more than twice as many as usual, the BBC noted.” (Scientific American)
“An entertaining game that finished with a fair result, a point apiece. Both sides will be relatively disappointed to come away from the opening game with just a draw, and the match demonstrated the faults of both sides more than it did their qualities.” (Zonal Minute)
Uruguay 0-0 France: no cohesion in attacking zones from either side
“Group A is wide open after the first round of matches, after a draw in both games. The earlier game was open and exciting throughout – this one started well but faded badly as the game went on. Uruguay’s expected 3-5-2 became a 3-4-1-2 with Ignazio Gonzalez pushing forward to play just behind Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez. Mauricio Victorino came in on the right side of defence, and Egidio Arevalo took the midfield role requiring the most positional discipline.” (Zonal Minute)
“The winds are howling and the world’s shaking itself loose; at least it feels that way. The night scratches its back against our houses, the heat of the day falls away like a dream; and then the cycle reverses, unpredictably, tapping out weird rhythms of hot-cold that upset our animal patterns over the days of this tense spring. There is a feeling of unrest in the Land of the Free, a disquiet. The feeling is immanent and of the time. It has been here before and will be again.” (Run of Play)
“Two weeks ago in Philadelphia, at the half-time stage of the United States’ final send-off friendly, home fans could have been forgiven for a sense of deep pessimism about their country’s chances of making an impact in South Africa. West Ham’s Jonathon Spector had just been thoroughly tormented by the gifted young Turkish forward, Arda Turan, who had scored to give the Turks a 1-0 lead, but it could easily have been two or three more. Having already lost 4-2 to the Czech Republic four days earlier, the US team’s official, Nike-generated slogan of Don’t Tread On Us was looking as hubristic as it did four years ago when they left Germany with just one point and two goals.” (WSC)
Cape Town
“Two teams who will be fighting for a spot in the knockout stage met on Saturday, June 12, 2010 as South Korea faced Greece. Argentina is highly favored to win the group so the two teams would need a win as a loss would probably end their hopes of getting to the next round.” (The 90th Minute)
World Cup 2010: South Korea 2-0 Greece
“Statistics are often as misleading as they are informative. On one hand this game is between the 2004 European Championship winners and the 2002 World Cup Semi-Finalists. Another way of describing the game is between a side whose World Cup finals record outside their own country is just one win in seventeen games (and that over African minnows Togo) and the only European nation ever to play at a World Cup without scoring. At the outset, that may be harsh, as the South Koreans are showing that the co-hosting of the Cup in 2002 has been beneficial in the long-term as the 1994 World Cup was for the United States.” (twohundredpercent)
“Back in December, when England and the United States were drawn in the same World Cup group, an instant thought went round my head: This might just revive my flagging career as a Hollywood movie star. Six decades before Saturday’s clash in Rustenburg, the two nations met in Brazil in what turned out to be the biggest World Cup upset of them all. The shock 1-0 victory for the US was immortalised in film a few years back, with yours truly playing the part of the BBC radio commentator in order to help tell the story. The movie, released in 2005, was initially called The Game Of Their Lives, although it was later retitled The Miracle Match for DVD.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
“It is the dream of Joe Gaetjens’ surviving family that U.S. striker Jozy Altidore score against England with a diving header. Poetry of this measure would live forever. A Haitian soccer player and later a political victim of former Haitian president Francois Duvalier, Gaetjens scored the winning goal for the United States in a 1-0 victory against England in the 1950 World Cup.” (mlive)
“The United States and England will begin their 2010 World Cup with a match against each other in Saturday, June 12, 2010. The winner of this match will be the favorite to win the group so it could be a very crucial match when it gets to the knockout stage. So, what will be the major points of the match and what will determine the match? Which players will be crucial to England and the United States? Who has to play well for both sides to get a result?” (The 90th Minute)
Matías Fernández (Chile)
“The following 32 names represent Football Further‘s players to watch at the 2010 World Cup. We’ll be following their performances closely over the course of the tournament, with weekly scouting reports rounding up their progress. Names preceded by squad numbers. Players in bold have been scouted by Football Further in the build-up to the World Cup. Players in brackets were scouted but not called up by their national sides.” (Football Further)
“France began their 2010 World Cup with low expectations after a poor performance in the last several years. They had to go through a playoff to qualify and recently lost a 0-1 friendly against China. Uruguay qualified from the South American region and contain some very talented strikers (such as Diego Forlan). Below are video highlights and a full recap of the match.” (The 90th Minute)
“It’s going to happen. You know it and I know it. At some point in this tournament, with the whole world watching, a player will take a dive. Somebody will engage in play-acting of an extravagantly transparent design. The tut-tutting will start. We’ll hear some guy on TV, probably from England, who will be all bluster and denunciation. The game will be declared to be in disrepute. Standards lowered. Somewhere in the denunciation, in the outrage or in the subtle subtext, there will be a suggestion that what the diving, play-acting international soccer player has done is unmanly. Unworthy. Not sporting.” (The Globe and Mail), (Must Read Soccer)
“From the moment the World Cup draw was announced back in December, the United States’ opening game against England has been one that almost everyone, even neutrals, circled on their calendar. That the Three Lions are tabbed as heavy favorites matters little. For the U.S., the match is as an opportunity to recapture the spirit of 1950, when the U.S. delivered perhaps the biggest upset in World Cup history, beating England 1-0. Can history repeat itself Saturday? It’s possible, and there are some factors that appear to be working in the Americans’ favor.” (ESPN)
“The opening match of the FIFA 2010 World Cup was the host nation South Africa taking on CONCACAF side Mexico. A host nation has never lost an opening match but Mexico could provide a tough test for South Africa. Would South Africa get a win or would Mexico start off with a win over the host country? A full recap of the match along with video highlights are below.” (The 90th Minute)
World Cup 2010: South Africa 1-1 Mexico
“The gloves are now off. For the first game of any World Cup, you always need to pick your strongest side. Anything else would be foolhardy, so we can be fairly sure we are seeing people’s strongest hand. How, then, did ITV do? This year it was their turn to take the opening game for the first time in eight years, and they looked keen to show they meant business. Their key new acquisition was Adrian Chiles, who continued to exude his unaffected charm with such familiarity that you could almost believe he’d been kidnapped from the BBC in his sleep and no-one has yet told him.” (twohundredpercent)
World Cup 2010: The Opening Ceremony… Live!
“Though it has slipped under many people’s radar, there is some sort of World Cup due to be held. Soccer City, Johannesburg is the venue for the start of this summer (winter)’s festivities. South Africa and Mexico wait in the wings to entertain us with some actual – wait for it – football. But first, of course, comes the dubious pleasure of the opening ceremony.” (twohundredpercent)
“This, my friends, is the smoke before the fire, the thunder before the lightning, the salty sea breeze that portends the coming hurricane. Enjoy and savor the smell, because when all is said and done, when your house lies in rubble, your cash savings burned to keep warm, a smile shall not grace your face. But rather a physical embodiment of WTF?” (futfanatico)
“The reigning European Champions and the bookmakers’ favourites – this isn’t a position Spain are used to. Usually they are flashy outsiders everyone expects to self-destruct at the knockout stage, but the incredible results Spain have recorded over the past four years shows that this is both a talented and ultra-professional squad.” (Zonal Marking)
“Nearly there folks, the World Cup starts today. Yes, that’s today, and next time you hear from me I’ll have some actual real actual football to talk about. Just one more thing before we’re underway. As hopefully you’ll know by now, twohundredpercent is going to be a very busy place over the coming few weeks – our team of, uh, hand-picked experts will be providing the best coverage possible from the comfort of our own living rooms, and we thought it was only fair that we nail our colours to the mast first so that you know where we all stand.” (twohundredpercent)
“Everyone knows that Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney are the star men for their sides – here are six more relatively unsung heroes that could be crucial for their respective teams.” (Zonal Marking)
Six to watch: the fringe players
“Often players who weren’t considered part of the starting XI at the beginning of a tournament emerge to play a leading role by the knockout stages. Here’s six who hope to do that…” (Zonal Marking)
“On the eve of the World Cup, after four years of anticipation and hope, tactics and maneuvering and hype, interestingly, it is possible to sum up the mood of the French capital on the state of the national team in a word: pessimism. Pessimism abounds, and it is not unjustified. Les Bleus, as the team is affectionately known here, looked disorganized in the qualifying matches and even suffered a painful 1-0 loss to lowly China. (A recent article in the sports journal L’Equipe that summarized these developments was titled ‘De l’optimisme a la crainte.’)” (Soccer Politics)
Scissors Kick 