Not quite going to plan

Some of the "big guns" of the World Cup have found the going slightly tougher than anticipated over the last 26 hours.

Firstly Brazil, five time winners of the competition and many a school boys inspiration back in the 70s, nearly came unstuck against North Korea. It took them 55 minutes before scoring their first goal and added a second soon after, which was just as well as Korea scored a late consolation goal.

Fast forward to today's games and Chile were the only team who did what was expected when they beat Honduras 1-0, keeping themselves on course for a showdown in their final group game against pre-tournament favourites, Spain.

And so to Spain ... favourites, a team packed full of highly talented players and expected to steamroller Switzerland. Well the Swiss obviously didn't read the script as they ran out 1-0 winners to turn the group on its head. Howard Webb and his team were in charge of this one and there was nothing in the highlights to suggest anything went seriously wrong.

Finally tonight, the hosts South Africa were taking on Uruguay. It is Youth Day, a national holiday commemorating the events of June 16, 1976 when violence erupted and the South African police killed over 200 Sowetan school children. It is a very special day to the Bafana Bafana. The hopes were high for a victory but they were dashed by 3 goals from Uruguay.

The first was a dipping drive from more than 25 yards by Diego Forlan. His second goal came from the penalty mark in the 80th minute. A deflected pass found Suarez alone in the South African goal area where he was fouled by goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune who was dismissed by referee Massimo Busacca.

Forlan turned provider in the very late stages as he passed to Suarez whose cross was met by Alvaro Pereira. The ball glanced off his face, dropped on to his shin and bobbled across the goal line. The hosts are in danger of being the first to go out in the Group stages.

There's a little something going on ...

... in South Africa as the FIFA World Cup finally kicked off with a game for the hosts against Mexico.

The game passed off reasonably quietly with a goal early in the second half for the Bafana Bafana but a late equaliser saw the game finish 1-1. The British media were gushing in their praise for the referee, Ravshan Irmatov from Uzbekistan even though he issued 4 cautions.

The second game between Uruguay and France was a slightly less exciting not nonetheless enjoyable game. No goals but the Japanese referee, Yuichi Nishimura found valid reasons for early cautions for Evra and Ribery of France. More cautions followed, 5 altogether excluding the ones leading to the tournament's first dismissal when Nicolas Lodeiro received a second caution in the same game.

So now we're on to South Korea vs Greece. From the radio commentary, Greece are struggling to make any kind of impact and just after half time, they are 2-0 down. The next game is Argentina and Nigeria. This is one of the games I've been looking forward to as the Argentinians always play exciting football and with the legendary Diego Maradona as their coach, there will be another reason to watch, to see how he behaves in the technical area.

Finally tonight is the opening game for England against USA. I've forecast a 3-1 win for England. If it finishes that way, then I might buy an extra lottery ticket for Wednesday!