() - My predictions
South Africa 1 x 1 Mexico (1x1)
Opening game of the tournament and both teams were a bit timid. South Africa scored first on a counter-attack, but Mexico tied the game on a defensive mistake by South Africa. Neither team showed they're a threat.
France 0 x 0 Uruguay (1x1)
Embarrasing game for both teams. France looks old and very individualistic, while Uruguay showed why they needed a final playoff game to qualify for the tournament. Both teams have a lot of talent, but they can't put it all together.
South Korea 2 x 0 Greece (1x1)
South Korea has been playing well since the 2002 World Cup. They're composed and surprisingly skillful, so their win didn't surprise me. Greece is old and they've never scored in a World Cup tournament. They looked old and very sloppy, but tried very hard.
Argentina 1 x 0 Nigeria (3x0)
Credit Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama for not allowing this game to be a blowout. Argentina tried, but were shut down for the most part. Nigeria can be dangerous, but they have to be firing on all cylinders and this seldom happens. Looks like Messi is starting to play like he does for Barcelona. If he keeps it up, Argentina will go far and you can give Messi his 2nd FIFA World Player Award.
England 1 x 1 USA (2x1)
England's goalkeeper Robert Green had the first big "oops" of the tournament. What looked like an easy shot to grab, turned into a nightmare when Green let the ball slip away from his hands. The USA didn't show much in this game, but thanks to Green's mistake, they're in as good of a shape as England, so I think it'll all work out at the end, but I don't see them going past the Round of 16.
Algeria 0 x 1 Slovenia (1x3)
Slovenia is this year's surprise team in most people's opinion. I didn't see much from them and they only scored after Algeria was down to 10 players. They also got a little help from Algeria's goalkeeper, who misjudged the bounce of the ball in front of him.
Ghana 1 x 0 Serbia (0x2)
A hand ball by Serbia's Zdravko Kuzmanovic allows for Ghana to be the 1st African nation to win a match in the tournament. I expected a lot more from Serbia as I thought they would be the team that surprised everyone. I never thought they could actually win the tournament, but I thought they would put up a good fight. Ghana is very young and are without Essien, but they held their own against Serbia and are now in a good position to advance to the next round.
Germany 4 x 0 Australia (2x0)
Official start of the World Cup! Finally a team scoring more than 1 or 2 goals. Germany looks very scary right
now. They don't have some of the big names from 2006, but they're playing well together and they can definitely score. For me, Australia always plays dirty and they don't deserve to be in the tournament. If things don't go their way, they will hurt you.
Netherlands 2 x 0 Denmark (3x1)
The Dutch played without Robben, a game changing player in my opinion. As it has always been for the Netherlands, they're loaded with talent, but they always fall short. Still, they showed they can go far in this tournament, but I don't think they can win it all. Denmark played solid, but they won't threaten any of the favorites.
Japan 1 x 0 Cameroon (0x2)
Japan is organized, but are not very talented. They also have a hard time scoring. Everyone expected more from Cameroon, but it looks as if they will fall short of the knockout stage and will have a very disappointing tournament.
Italy 1 x 1 Paraguay (1x1)
Just like France, Italy is old, they don't have enough playmakers, and I think they might be in trouble this tournament. Pirlo didn't play, Buffon got hurt, but Italy's tradition alone will intimidate opponents. Paraguay is a solid team and I think they might be able to pull off 1st place in Group F, but as of this game, it doesn't look like they're too much of a threat.
New Zealand 1 x 1 Slovakia (0x2)
Ugly game between 2 weak teams. Slovakia had this game won until the last minute of injury time. Nothing else exciting to talk about this one.
Portugal 0 x 0 Ivory Coast (2x0)
Drogba was cleared to play with a cast on his broken arm, but he only came in as a sub in the second half. This wasn't enough time to get him warmed up. In my opinion, whoever scores more goals against North Korea between these 2 teams will advance. I think only Big Phil was able to get Portugal to play to their pontential and once again, Cristiano Roanldo came up small in a big game. Sorry Ronaldo, but you're going to see Messi win many more FIFA World Player Awards in the years to come.
Brazil 2 x 1 North Korea (4x0)
The only team that plays "down" to the competition. North Korea is mainly made up of Soldiers from the North Korean Army and no one really knows anything else about them. They defend with all 11 players. Brazil could've sent a message with this game, but they decided to play around and try to be fancy. They did show some precision passing and shooting in their 2 goals, but a defensive lapse let the North Korean's score at the end of the game. Still, Brazil will be taking things a lot more serious in the next 2 games.
Honduras 0 x 1 Chile (1x2)
Much like Paraguay, Chile played a solid game and were very impressive. Chile will be a tough opponent to Spain and Switzerland, so Group H will be very tight in my opinion. Honduras gave a good effort and like many of the less favored teams, they showed there aren't any easy games in the World Cup.
Spain 0 x 1 Switzerland (3x0)
The first big upset of the tournament! I don't think anyone would've predicted this. Switzerland isn't really a soccer powerhouse. They do play well, but no way would I've thought the would beat arguably the favorites to win the cup. I have been saying for a long time that Spain has the talent, but they still lack chemistry. Spain will still advance, but if they end up second and Brazil end up 1st place in group H, one of the 2 most favored teams to win the tournament will be going home early.
Summary:
Not the most exciting start to a World Cup. A lot of complaining about the Jabulani ball and not a lot of scoring. Only Germany was able to score more than 2 goals in a game, but the Germans have been using the Jabulani in the Bundesliga for the past 4 months, so they're already used to the With the exception of a handful of referees, refereeing so far in the tournament has been horrible. Let's hope things pick up in the next round of games.
