Work gets in the way

I've done my best to keep up with the coverage of the World Cup by listening to the commentaries on Radio Five Live.

It's not been easy as I have to work at the same time and falling asleep is disapproved of. The games have hardly set the world alight. Yesterday, Holland eased their way past a difficult opponent in the form of Denmark. The Danes had taken the game to the Dutch for much of the first half but when they came out for the second half they conceded twice with no reply. A calamitous own goal by Daniel Agger right at the start of the half was joined by a poacher's goal by Dirk Kuyt, following up a rebound off a goal post.

Cameroon, the African team expected to make the biggest impact in tournament, fell to a goal just before half time from Honda. It was his birthday on Sunday and this was probably a great, late present.

Normal service was resumed in the evening as another draw was played out between Paraguay and Italy. Paraguay scored a well crafted goal in the first half but then a disastrous attempt by their goalkeeper to collect a cross, saw the ball fly over his head and poked in by De Rossi with a little over 5 minutes left.

And so to today ... in the lunchtime kick off Slovakia's lead was cancelled out by a New Zealand goal in added time at the end of the second half. This meant that New Zealand earned their first ever World Cup Finals point.

This brought us to the much anticipated clash between Ivory Coast and Portugal. With the prospect of Ronaldo and Drogba on the same field, it seemed that goals might flow. As things turned out, Ronaldo could do no more than hit the post and Drogba, suffering from a broken wrist, did not join the fray until late in the second half. The game then stuttered through to another 0-0 draw.

Tonight's game sees the highest ranked team playing the lowest ranked, as Brazil meet North Korea. This game should see goals, so I'll be settling down for this one in 15 minutes.