Italy VS Paraguay~~Drawn !!

Match 11 - Group F - 14 June



Holders Italy opened their 2010 FIFA World Cup™ campaign with a 1-1 draw against Paraguay in Group F on a rainy evening at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town.

Antolin Alcaraz shocked the Gemany 2006 champions in the 39th minute to open the scoring, while Italy’s Daniel De Rossi took advantage of some unconvincing goalkeeping by veteran Justo Villar to equalise just after the hour mark. New Zealand and Slovakia play the group’s other opening match tomorrow in Rustenburg.

The two teams were well-organised in the early stages despite the difficult conditions and neither could fashion a chance of note in the opening of the match. In the 22nd minute, however, the South Americans showed they would be dangerous on the break, finding Aureliano Torres all alone on the edge of the box. But the defender failed to hit his shot cleanly and Gianluigi Buffon let it run wide as Italian supporters held their breath.

Italy threatened shortly after as young midfielder Claudio Marchisio swung in a nicely flighted corner, but Cristian Riveros was first to it, stretching smartly to clear over his own crossbar with striker Vincenzo Iaquinta lurking.

Paraguay were again quickest from a dead ball situation six minutes before the break to open the scoring. Torres sent in a lovely free-kick, and defender Alcatraz cut in front of Daniel De Rossi and rose higher than Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro to thump a header past the stranded Buffon.

At half-time the Squadra Azzurri got more bad news as Buffon retired hurt for Federico Marchetti, who won just his sixth cap between the sticks. But the four-time FIFA World Cup winners began stronger after the restart, and an unmarked Simone Pepe might have scored at the far post from Gianluca Zambrotta’s cross, but he could not connect with an ambitious overhead kick.

Pepe had another chance in the same spot just minutes later, but Villar caught it just in front of the charging Italian. However, the keeper was keft completely stranded in the 63rd minute when he came out to collect Pepe’s corner, only to miss the ball and watch helplessly as De Rossi flicked it simply into the empty net.

The momentum swung solidly in Italy’s favour after that, but Villar came up strongly for the South Americans. First, he claimed the ball well in front of Iaquinta from a similar looking corner to the one he missed, and then in the 80th minute, he held Pepe’s low shot in front of the eager Italian attack. And he continued his redemption three minutes later, as he saved to his right to claimRiccardo Montolivo’s long but skipping shot.

Italy next play New Zealand on Sunday in Nelspruit, while Paraguay take on Slovakia the same day in Mangaung/Bloemfontein.

Japan Wins over Cameroon, Score:1:0

14th June Group E, Match 10:



Japan recorded their first FIFA World Cup™ win on foreign soil after Keisuke Honda's 39th-minute strike proved enough to down Cameroon at the Free State Stadium.

Honda's decisive contribution was handsome reward for Japan coach Takeshi Okada's gamble to deploy the CSKA Moscow midfielder in a central attacking role in an attempt to remedy his team's lack of goals. The Japanese, without a clean sheet in their warm-up matches, then frustrated Cameroon at the other end, surviving a late scare when the woodwork denied Stephane Mbia.

With the victory – their first in an opening game – Japan joined the Netherlands on three points at the top of Group E, while Cameroon's second match against Denmark, the day's other losers, assumes do-or-die dimensions.

The match began with a surprise in the Cameroon starting lineup with Mbia asked to fill in at right-back, his usual holding role in the middle going to Joel Matip. It was Cameroon's left-back Benoit Assou who was busier, though, with most of Japan's forward movement coming down their right side through Daisuke Matsui.

The Grenoble-based midfielder was the creator of Honda's winning goal when, after several crosses that came to nothing, he finally got his angles right and swung over a high ball which evaded the Cameroon defenders and fell at the far post to Honda. The CSKA Moscow man needed one touch to control the ball before steering it coolly past Hamidou Souleymanou.

Ironically Honda's strike came just moments after Cameroon had a shooting chance at the other end, when Eric Choupo Moting played a ball back to Enyong Enah but his low effort from the edge of the box went straight at Eiji Kawashima. There had been little end product up to then from the west Africans, despite their greater share of possession.

Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon's captain, had a quiet half, although the couple of occasions he did get on the ball brought the promise something might happen. The constant noise inside the stadium rose several notches when the Inter Milan forward delivered an early scare for Japan's defence after eight minutes, freeing Pierre Webo on the right side of the penalty box but his intended cutback to Choupo Moting was cleared.

Eto'o produced a flash of brilliance shortly after the restart when he span away from three blue shirts by the corner flag and teed up Choupo Moting for a shot that sailed over the far post. Cameroon were pushing Japan back and as night began to fall, and the temperature with it, coach Paul Le Guen looked to increase the pressure by sending on a fourth forward, Achille Emana, in place of Matip in the 63rd minute.

Webo got through but was offside, another Cameroon forward – Mahamadou Idrissou – entered the fray but still Japan absorbed the pressure. Indeed they might have had a second when Makoto Hasebe drew a low save from Souleymanou; substitute Shiniji Okazaki put the follow-up against the post but was offside. At the other end Mbia drove a shot against the crossbar but Japan – eight years to the day since their last FIFA World Cup victory – held on.

Netherlands Beats Denmark, Score: 2:0

14th June Group E



A Daniel Agger own goal and Dirk Kuyt’s late winner earned the Netherlands a deserved 2-0 win over Denmark at Johannesburg’s Soccer City as the Dutch took an early lead in Group E and stretched their long unbeaten run.

Oranje coach Bert van Marwijk had sprung a pre-match surprise with the inclusion of Arjen Robben as a substitute and the early stages could certainly have done with the Bayern Munich winger’s pace and trickery. With Soccer City bathed in afternoon sunshine, the players took some time to establish the expected tempo, and the best efforts of a tight opening 20 minutes came through two hugely ambitious and off-target free-kicks from Wesley Sneijder and Thomas Enevoldsen.

Neither side were doing themselves justice at this stage but, of the two, it was the Netherlands who were displaying the greater attacking intent, with Rafael van der Vaart proving a lively deputy for the sidelined Robben. Twice in as many minutes midway through the half, the Real Madrid midfielder turned neatly on the edge of the box to fashion scoring opportunities, but on each occasion was unable to find the target.

Thomas Sorensen, fit again after suffering a dislocated elbow, endured a heart-stopping moment shortly after when he fumbled a tame-looking Dirk Kuyt shot only to recover the ball at the second attempt. The Dutch would have been worthy of a goal at this stage, but their failure to convert territorial dominance into goals threatened to cost them dearly as half-time approached.

The warning signs had been there when, with 28 minutes played, Nicklas Bendtner found space at the back post to head wastefully wide from a measured Dennis Rommedahl cross. Rommedahl himself tried his luck soon after, firing straight at Maarten Stekelenburg at the end of a lightning Danish break, while Thomas Kahlenberg provided the best effort of the half with a flashing left-foot shot that forced a terrific save from the Dutch No1.

However, it is not for nothing that Van Marwijk’s side came into this match on a record 19-match unbeaten sequence, and they took a deserved lead within a minute of the second half commencing. Robin van Persie was the goal’s architect, beating Sorensen to a through ball before curling over an inviting cross which Simon Poulsen, in his attempts to clear, headed across goal, but crucially against the back of Agger and into the net.

The Danes nearly self-destructed again four minutes later when a misplaced pass allowed Van Persie a clear sight of goal, but the Arsenal forward hesitated and Sorensen smothered bravely. Van der Vaart then came close an early contender for goal of the tournament with an audacious flick matched only in quality by Sorensen’s agile save, while Sneijder rattled the crossbar with a deflected 25-yard shot.

The Dutch were not to be denied, however, and their continued superiority was rewarded with five minutes remaining when Dirk Kuyt slotted home from close range after substitute Eljero Elia’s initial effort had struck the post. The bounce of the ball had again favoured the Oranje, but there could be no Danish complaints about a result that is sure to enhance their Group E rivals’ standing as genuine FIFA World Cup™ contenders.

Germany Defeated Australia by 4 Goals !!

13th June Group C:


Any worries Germany might have had about the loss of influential captain Michael Ballack were quickly put to rest in their 4-0 opening win against outgunned Australia in Durban.

Richard Garcia provided an early scare for the three-time world champions in the nervy awkwardness of the opening exchanges, but it proved a false dawn as Germany were a goal to the good inside eight minutes of the teams' Group D curtain-raiser. Miroslav Klose fired a warning shot after four minutes which was well dealt with by Mark Schwarzer, but Australia’s Fulham-based net-minder could do nothing about what came just four minutes later. A diagonal ball from Mesut Oezil sent Thomas Mueller breaking down the right side of the penalty area and the Bayern Munich starlet crossed low for Lukas Podolsk to drill home with his left foot past Schwarzer, who did well just to get a hand to it.

The Australians were stunned by the early set-back and the heavy underdogs, labelled as such by captain Lucas Neill in the build-up, had no luck grinding their way back into the contest. After 20 minutes, Garcia was again vaguely threatening, but his tame strike from the edge of the box failed to do justice to some clever approach work. The Germans were in the ascendancy and threatening from both flanks. In the 24th minute, Klose – usually so reliable on the world stage – fluffed an absolute sitter, blazing over a brilliant cross from out left by scorer Podolski, who was looking a new man after a disappointing season with Cologne.

It did not take long for Klose to make amends. With 26 minutes played, he rose high to head home an inch-perfect cross from captain Philipp Lahm, whose recent claim that this Germany side is the best he has played in suddenly began to gain weight. Oezil had another golden chance on the half-hour mark, but his delicate chip over Schwarzer was booted clear by Neill, who was leading a rearguard in serious danger of total collapse by the time the half-time whistle, mercifully for Australia, brought an end to the opening stanza.


The second half began with Neill unceremoniously planting a knee into the back of danger man Klose. That bit of impetuousness combined with a red card for Tim Cahill in the 56th minute for a reckless challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger was the full measure of Aussie resistance. With a man advantage, the German juggernaut went into overdrive. Oezil and Podolski both went close to scoring from close range before the outstanding Mueller made it 3-0 with a sharp strike in off the post after a wily give-and-go with Podolski had cut a swathe through Australia's defence in the 66th minute. Two minutes later Cacau added a fourth and final goal with his first touch of the ball after coming on as a substitute for Klose, slotting home the simplest of finishes from six yards out.

The Germans' victory moved them level on three points with Ghana, winners against Serbia earlier in the day. Joachim Low's men next face the Serbs on 18 June in Nelson Mandela Bay while Australia will look to rebound against a powerful Black Stars side one day later in Rustenburg.

Algeria VS Slovenia

Another Match Between Algeria and Slovenia.
uptil now, no goals scored by any of the two sides.

Match Drawn Between England and America

England''s hopes of a winning start to their World Cup campaign were shattered by an extraordinary blunder by goalkeeper Robert Green that gifted the United States their equaliser in a 1-1 draw here on Saturday.England captain Steven Gerrard gave his side a dream start to their Group C campaign with a fourth minute strike at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium. But Fabio Capello''s men were sent back to square one when Green let in Clint Dempsey''s tame, 25-yard shot five minutes from half-time. "The idea tonight was to win the game, but unfortunately we have let a poor goal in and we couldn''t go on and get the winner," said Gerrard. "The target now has got to be seven points." US coach Bob Bradley praised his side."It was a great team effort to come back and equalise. At half-time we said we had a chance to win and at the end we took a point," he said. England had gone ahead from their first foray into opposition territory. Picking up a Glen Johnson throw-in from the right, Frank Lampard threaded a pass that was flicked on by Wayne Rooney to Emile Heskey on the edge of the area. The Aston Villa striker got in front of Jay DeMerit and his first-time ball anticipated an untracked run by Gerrard, who prodded the ball past Tim Howard with the outside of his boot. That might have precipitated a collapse from less resilient sides but the Americans were soon creating problems, particularly down the right. England had a significant let-off when Jozy Altidore headed Landon Donovan''s chip wide after outjumping Ledley King but they generally looked in control of the match until Green''s 40th-minute blunder. Gerrard was partly culpable, having allowed Dempsey to twist away from him on the edge of the area but still there seemed no danger as the West Ham goalkeeper knelt to gather a shot directed straight at him. Somehow the man Capello had selected ahead of the more experienced David James allowed the ball to spin off his right glove and over the line. England hit back through Glen Johnson, who tested Tim Howard after a mazy run to the edge of the area, but they were unable to restore their advantage before the interval.Heskey should have done so soon after the restart, when Aaron Lennon''s first-time pass sent him clear of a flat-footed American defence. But the striker''s shot was unleashed too early and straight at Howard.England''s frustration was clear as Jamie Carragher, on as a second half substitute for King, and Gerrard picked up bookings in quick succession for late challenges.Lampard made his presence felt with a left-foot drive that Howard had to touch over at full stretch.But it was the Americans who enjoyed the clearest chance of a winner, Donovan releasing Altidore whose close range strike was touched on to the post by Green.England''s best chance of the second period fell to Shaun Wright-Phillips, but Howard was able to comfortably beat away the Manchester City winger''s poorly directed shot from the left of the goalmouth and it was the Americans who finished the match pressing for a winner.

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