GOLTV.ca will continue to provide scheduling information for Canada’s only 24-hour soccer channel, however due to changes to the broadcast climate GOLTV Canada had to alter its programming, online news service and other areas that once made the mobile app very practical and a must-have for those who love the beautiful game.
 

On behalf of GOLTV Canada, I gratefully thank everyone for downloading the mobile app. It was a pleasure to provide this free service.
 
 

The Spanish Supercup pits the country's reigning La Liga (Barcelona) and Copa del Rey (Real Madrid) champions over two legs. The Bernabeu will hosted the first leg on Sunday, which the clubs drew 2-2. The deciding return fixture takes place at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Wednesday, August 17 at 4:55 p.m. ET.

Both matches broadcast live on GOL TV Canada.

El Clasico Notes – Tuesday, August 16

Cristiano Ronaldo feels he is owed a penalty from the first leg of the Spanish Supercup.

The Portuguese superstar told Marca "it was a clear penalty, no doubt about it," of an incident that saw Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes bring his right arm up to trip Ronaldo, as he went chasing for a winning goal during Sunday’s 2-2 first leg draw.

The teams play in the Supercup decider Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET live on GOL TV Canada.

Ronaldo (pictured) does have a legitimate case, but referee Fernando Teixeira overlooked multiple infractions, including potential punishments to Real Madrid’s Pepe and Marcelo for hacking fouls. Shortly after Ronaldo’s penalty claim, Barcelona’s Thiago was taken down in the Madrid area, also without a call.

The referee allowed the players a chance to settle the match. Neither team displayed angelic behavior but despite Real Madrid’s dominance, they were unable to overcome the individual quality of Barcelona goal getters David Villa and Lionel Messi.

Barca will likely play a stronger squad in Wednesday’s return leg with Gerard Pique, Xavi and possibly Pedro starting from the first whistle. All three of the regulars came on as second half substitutes.

Despite the possibility of a strengthened Barca lineup and the delicious partnership of Messi and Alexis Sanchez showing flashes of taking hold, Real’s Karim Benzema is confident Madrid will come out victorious on enemy soil.

"Two great teams faced each other, but honestly, Madrid deserved the win," Benzema was reported to have told AS on Tuesday.

"We did much more than Barca, but, hey, we know we have the chance to win tomorrow in Barcelona and lift the Supercup."

One question that has yet to be answered – and will likely be revealed ahead of Wednesday – is if new signing Cesc Fabregas will receive any minutes on his return to Camp Nou. It seems unfathomable that Barcelona coach and Fabregas’ mentor Pep Guardiola wouldn’t exercise this option to add another layer of thick emotion over one of the great rivalries or sport, politics and culture.

The Spanish Supercup pits the country's reigning La Liga (Barcelona) and Copa del Rey (Real Madrid) champions over two legs. The Bernabeu will hosted the first leg on Sunday, which the clubs drew 2-2. The deciding return fixture takes place at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Wednesday, August 17 at 4:55 p.m. ET.

Both matches broadcast live on GOL TV Canada.

El Clasico Notes – Monday, August 15

Imagine a medical appointment with 35,000 onlookers. That’s essentially what Cesc Fabregas experienced on Monday when the Spain international and local hero returned "home" to join Barcelona in front of cheering supporters.

The appointment with club physicians and subsequent unveiling completes what was widely reported on Friday, Fabregas was once again at the club where he grew up before making a move to Arsenal in 2003 as a 16-year old in search of first team football.

The deal could increase up to approximately $56 million (Cdn) for London-based Arsenal, should Barcelona continue to excel in the Champions League – which the reigning title holders seem to have every intention of doing.

Fabregas was in Barcelona Sunday night, with reports claiming he was staying in a hotel after arriving on a private plane, as news broke of the deal’s conclusion during halftime of the first leg in the Spanish Supercup.

Barcelona drew Real Madrid 2-2 at the Bernabeu and the return leg will be at the Camp Nou on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET on GOL TV Canada.

The midfielder will wear the number four shirt, which was vacated by Thiago days earlier, further signaling that Fabregas’ arrival was imminent.

The Catalan hero thanked the masses in attendance to get a glimpse of him, admitting that he has been "waiting many days, months, years for this day."

"It's a very special day, to come home after eight years away. I am here to face the most incredible challenge of my life."

Fabregas could lift a trophy immediately upon his return to home soil should Barcelona get better of Real Madrid on Wednesday. It would be an ideal first day of work for the 24-year old. Fabregas was mentored at Camp Nou by current Barca coach Pep Guardiola.

The Spanish Supercup pits the country's reigning La Liga (Barcelona) and Copa del Rey (Real Madrid) champions over two legs. The Bernabeu will host the first leg on Sunday, August 14 at 3:50 p.m. ET, with the return fixture taking place at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Wednesday, August 17 at 4:55 p.m. ET.

Both legs will be broadcast live on GOL TV Canada.

El Clasico Notes – Saturday, August 13

The Cesc Fabregas saga may finally come to a conclusion within hours.

The Catalonia-born Arsenal captain is a former Barcelona youth player and had been rumoured to return to his teething grounds for years, after eight seasons in London.

The Spain international (pictured) is only 24-years old. Fabregas made his first team club debut at the age of 16 years and 177 days back in 2003 for Arsenal.

Barcelona coach and Fabregas mentor from his youth football days, Pep Guardiola, fell just shy of confirming that the deal was finalized on Friday.

"The prospects are good, but he’s still an Arsenal player. Otherwise I would confirm it," the Barca coach said as the world’s media focuses on the first leg of the Spanish Supercup set to take place on Sunday away to Real Madrid. 

There are reports suggesting that Fabregas could be in the stands, and more outrageously, in the lineup on Sunday. Those rumours have been countered by others that claim Barcelona has asked the would-be Blaugrana player to remain in England until the deal is finalized on Monday.

Arsenal opens the English Premier League season in Newcastle on Saturday with Fabregas already out of the Londoners' lineup. The transfer is expected to be in the region of $56 million (Cdn).

The Spanish Supercup pits the country's reigning La Liga (Barcelona) and Copa del Rey (Real Madrid) champions over two legs. The Bernabeu will host the first leg on Sunday, August 14 at 3:50 p.m. ET, with the return fixture taking place at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Wednesday, August 17 at 4:55 p.m. ET.

Both legs will be broadcast live on GOL TV Canada.

El Clasico Notes – Friday, August 12.

Maybe it's the foolishness of youth, or calculated mind games instructed by his manager Pep Guardiola, but Barcelona's 20-year old midfielder Thiago (pictured) made headlines on Friday when he proclaimed that the Catalans are the superior side and will win the Spanish Supercup.

"It's quite simple," Thiago offered, "I think Barcelona will win the trophy."

"Real Madrid are our biggest rivals and you never want to lose against them."

The intriguing Spanish rivalry will be played under heavy security at the Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid, in the first leg after several altercations between opposing fans during the clubs' five meetings last season in league, Copa del Rey and Europe. Barcelona won La Liga and Champons League, with Real Madrid taking the Spanish cup.

While Thiago was aggressive with his comments, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo was more measured. He had a cracking season with 40 goals last year but on Friday shifted the spotlight from himself to the greater cause.

The Portuguese superstar told Marca "I'm not thinking about bettering my record from last year."

"I want to win silverware with the club and will do everything to achieve just that. That's what we are all working for."

On Thursday Barcelona learned that they could be without key midfielder Sergio Busquets and centre back Gerard Pique. Ronaldo chief rival for individual glory, Barca's Lionel Messi, skipped the club's U.S. tour after playing through the summer in Copa America, but is expected to start against Real at the Bernabeu on Sunday.
 

The Spanish Supercup pits the country's reigning La Liga (Barcelona) and Copa del Rey (Real Madrid) champions over two legs. The Bernabeu will host the first leg on Sunday, August 14 at 3:50 p.m. ET, with the return fixture taking place at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Wednesday, August 17 at 4:55 p.m. ET.

Both legs will be broadcast live on GOL TV Canada.

El Clasico Notes – Thursday, August 11.

Barcelona could face Real Madrid in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup without midfielder Sergio Busquets (pictured) and defender Gerard Pique.

In a double-blow to the Catalans, Pique came off with an injury in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Italy on Wednesday. His replacement, club teammate Busquets, later hurt his knee according to sources in Europe.

According to Spain physio Juan Cota, Busquets' injury "doesn't seem to be too serious" but Pique has "a muscular problem ... he could recover in time for Sunday."

Pique's injury, combined with captain Carles Puyol's slow recovery from knee surgery, could open the door for Javier Mascherano to take on centre back duties. The holding midfielder arrived from Liverpool last season for roughly $35 million (Cdn) and has yet to cement a place ahead of a star-studded Camp Nou midfield. The middle of the park could get even more crowded should Cesc Fabregas finally complete his agonizing (for Arsenal fans) transfer from London. 

Barcelona's attacking midfielder Xavi skipped the friendly, drawing criticism in some circles for allegedly choosing his club over country.

Discuss this with Asif on Twitter

Already into its second week while England and Spain lumber toward its opening days, Germany’s Bundesliga will be front and centre on GOL TV Canada this weekend.

On Saturday, Wolfsburg hosts Bayern Munich at 9:25 a.m. The next morning, Werder Bremen visits Bayer Leverkusen at 11:25 a.m.

Bayern Munich suffered a shocking start to its campaign. Aiming to restore the Bavarians atop the league table, Jupp Heynckes’ men stumbled out of the gate, losing 1-0 at home to Borussia Monchengladbach.  Bayern’s biggest signing – $25 million (Cdn) – goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (pictured from his Schalke days last season) was left wearing the goat horns for his game-changing blunder.

The team's director of sport, Christian Nerlinger, hasn’t pointed the finger at Neuer, but at the team’s timid performance. Nerlinger told a Munich newspaper that Heynckes’ squad "(needs) to change things fundamentally and become more aggressive," adding that the players were "static" and must "push forward and score goals."

Wolfsburg fared much better in the opening round, riding a Patrick Helmes brace to a 3-0 victory over 10-man Cologne. The Wolves could put Heynckes under increased pressure by maximizing on its home opener at the Volkswagen Arena on Saturday. 

Like Bayern, Bayer Leverkusen suffered an opening week defeat, going down 2-0 to Mainz. In another goalkeeper twist, Bayer’s Fabian Giefer became a story when he was concussed in the loss, later claiming that he has lost all memory of the last month of his life. 

Leverkusen's regular keeper Rene Adler is out until late October and with Giefer's condition, Bayer has acquired 19-year old Bernd Leno on loan from Stuttgart to compete with David Yelldell, who was embarrassed in the German Cup first round, in a 4-3 loss to Dresden.  The schedule gets heavy for Bayer in a hurry. The second place team from last season will need healthy bodies to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage as well as the domestic competition.

Bremen opened the season with a comfortable 2-0 victory at home to Kaiserslautern. Markus Rosenberg scored both goals in the triumph. However, not all is steady at Weserstadion. Defender and captain Per Mertesacker has been targeted by Arsenal for a transfer to England, with a possible move gaining some steam.

 

The Spanish Supercup pits the country's reigning La Liga (Barcelona) and Copa del Rey (Real Madrid) champions over two legs. The Bernabeu will host the first leg on Sunday, August 14 at 3:50 p.m. ET, with the return fixture taking place at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Wednesday, August 17 at 4:55 p.m. ET.

Both legs will be broadcast live on GOL TV Canada.

El Clasico Notes – Wednesday, August 10.

The Supercup - a precursor to the new Spanish season - will start with an El Clasico and as always, whenever Barcelona and Real Madrid get together they court controversy.

Days ahead of the two-leg Spanish Supercup set to start on Sunday, key players on both teams have pulled out of Spain’s midweek friendly against Italy.

League champion Barcelona, after finishing its three-week U.S. tour, saw midfield maestro Xavi pull out of the Spain squad. His action matched that of Copa del Rey winner and Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos.

Both players have faced accusations that they care more about their respective clubs than country – a struggle that most top footballers face in balancing personal and national ambitions.

Malaga's Ignacio Monreal replaced Sergio Ramos in Vicente del Bosque's Spain squad ahead of the friendly. The player nicknamed 'Nacho' signed for $8.4 million (Cdn) from Osasuna in the summer.

Last year Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-3 over two legs to claim their second straight Supercopa.

Despite their near-invincible status in Spain, Barcelona's enthusiasm remains muted ahead of the contest. It was Real Madrid, after all, that beat Barcelona to win Copa del Rey last season.

Barca forward Pedro (pictured) believes Madrid players are "really fired up now" and that there "will be a long and tough season" ahead. For the first leg at the Bernabeu, Pedro feels his side will "have to be very alert of (Real's) counter attacks."

Everyone here at GOL TV Canada is in agreement with the chorus of independent Canadian voices that came together for that spot – which you may have seen on the video screen at BMO Field during the last Toronto FC match. This video was timely, produced ahead of the June 1 BMO Field friendly – Canada v. Ecuador – as the national team warms-up for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Toronto has a proud and rich multicultural heritage. The "All For One" motto used by Major League Soccer club Toronto FC lends to the idea of different football traditions from world over coming together in the city to get behind its local team. It’s now time that this philosophy extended to the Canadian national soccer team with the same passion and loyalty that fans show for the Reds at BMO Field.

Canada’s recent soccer history has been difficult for the country. It hasn’t made the World Cup since 1986, an entire generation of Canadian football has passed since the last major trophy, the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and until Stephen Hart was appointed head coach in 2009, the Canadian team was actually going backwards.

Too often Canadian stadiums are filled with flags and jerseys of opposition countries, its best young talent regularly defects to nations of convenience to which they have weaker ties, and surely these factors have led to a self-defeating mentality that’s heavily weighing down Canada’s soccer spirit. It certainly hasn’t helped Canada in the World Cup qualifying table.

This year Canada has a chance to make its mark at the Gold Cup. Fielding perhaps the best team since 2007, players such as Atiba Hutchinson of PSV Eindhoven and Simeon Jackson (pictured) of soon-to-be English Premier League side Norwich City, are expected to provide plenty of entertainment. While Canadians wait on the likes of Blackburn forward David Hoilett to decide which nationality he wants to pursue; and shelve the disappointment of Teal Bunbury rejecting the Maple Leaf for the American shirt, Canada can be proud of Hutchinson, Jackson, Toronto's own Julian de Guzman and a whole host of other names on the 23-man squad. A strong performance at the Gold Cup will build momentum for 2014 World Cup qualifying matches.

It’s time to start fresh with Canada, just as Toronto did in 2007 when it threw away past disappointments of top flight club football - when teams came and went - and embraced its Reds. The national team travels to Detroit to begin their 2011 Gold Cup quest on June 7 versus the United States. The renewal can begin six days earlier on June 1 at BMO Field. It is no secret that hundreds of thousands participate in or follow soccer in Toronto. It's time for them to get behind the other home team on June 1. That team is Canada.

Here is the supporter powered video:

You can watch the game LIVE on GOL TV starting with the pre-game show at 2:30 p.m. Kick-off is at 3:25 p.m. The game will also be available in high definition on www.goltv.ca for $3.99 and also at Real Sports Bar & Grill in HD.


GOL TV Canada PRODUCING IN HD

All Major League Soccer matches, as well as most matches from overseas, are being produced in crystal clear High Definition including the 21 Toronto FC games on GOLTV Canada. Canada's only 24-hour soccer channel is working hard with its distributors on satellite and cable to make HD viewing available.  Please contact GOLTV Canada or your TV service provider for more information


 

The 22-year old Englishman on loan from Burnley said he sees "great team spirit" at BMO Field since arriving and that he is "ready to play."

"Wherever the gaffer thinks I can fit in, I'm ready to go on."

As for his fitness, Eckersley believes he can log minutes this Saturday against Columbus but cautions "you don't really know how match fit you are until you play."

Head coach Aron Winter has monitored Eckersley for two days. On Monday the defender had a workout with the reserves (who had their match in Downsview canceled Sunday morning due to extreme weather conditions), and Winter felt the former Manchester United youth player "looked good" in his system.

Winter and the Reds are ready to move on from last Saturday's disappointing start in a 3-0 loss to D.C. United. Toronto conceded two goals in the first 10 minutes to opportunistic frontmen Chris Pontius and Charlie Davies. 

"Morale is good," said the head coach, "we've spoken about the way we reacted after the goals."

"They were not completely focused, how that can happen - I was surprised."

Injury concerns have weighed on Winter's mind. Defender Adrian Cann left Saturday's match early with bruised ribs but Winter believes the Canadian international should be on track for a swift recovery.

As for attacking options, Winter says he will learn more about the condition of Alan Gordon (who missed the past two games) on Tuesday afternoon. On the status of winger Alen Stevanovic, Toronto will "have to be careful," according to the coach, as the Reds enters a very busy period with seven games in 21 days that includes trips to Edmonton, Seattle and Dallas.

The not-so-bad and slightly encouraging news is that second to fourth place teams are only two points ahead of seventh spot Toronto. East-leading Philadelphia drew its match and failed to pull away by any more than a manageable four points.

The East could remain a close fight throughout the 2011 season from top to bottom. Unlike the Western Conference where Salt Lake, Colorado, Los Angeles and Dallas (when they get their act together) can create a gulf between the elite and the rest of the region, the East doesn’t have a defined leader as of yet. Therefore, it’s important for teams to get points. In this scenario even draws can prove increasingly important for a view to postseason.

Week 5 MLS Roundup

Toronto kicked off the fifth week of MLS regular season action with a scoreless midweek draw against Los Angeles. Both teams played again at the weekend. Toronto lost to D.C. United 3-0 and LA Galaxy made the best of extra day’s rest in the midst of a three-game road trip to beat Chicago 2-1.

In the other Wednesday match Salt Lake beat their Rocky Mountain rival Colorado 1-0 in a contest of 2009 and reigning MLS Cup champions. The Utah club could add further glory this week in the first leg of the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League Final against Mexico’s Monterrey. Salt Lake’s CCL journey went through Toronto in the group stage in 2010.

Portland Timbers grabbed two successive wins in the first ever matches at their brand new Jeld-Wen Field this week. On Thursday they beat Chicago 4-2 – the first of the Fire’s two losses this week – and Sunday the Timbers did away with Dallas 3-2.

On Saturday Philadelphia drew Seattle 1-1, Vancouver played Chivas USA to a nil-nil final, New York got a small measure of revenge against San Jose for 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs exit by rattling the Quakes 3-0 at Red Bull Arena and Columbus – Toronto’s next opponent – beat Kansas City 1-0 at home.

Sunday’s third match was a tilt between 2006 & 2007 MLS Cup Final opponents Houston and New England, with the Texas side taking maximum points from a 1-0 victory.

Winter, along with his first assistant coach Bob De Klerk and Mariner were brought together in January of 2011 to reshape the club with a new philosphy and culture at BMO Field. Winter reflected on the union and conveyed that honesty was most important to their partnership.

"It's very simple," said Winter, "we came the three of us in January and we sat down with each other. We are honest ... we discuss everything the three of us, what we want, what we think."

"It was tough for me at first. Very new to the league, there are so many rules. It takes a bit of time and (it's) a different mentality."

Mariner admitted that things such as the SuperDraft and salary cap are challenges for those who prefer the European style and he had a task, as the official with the greatest MLS experience, to prepare his new associates.

"The (SuperDraft) is a difficult concept to get a grasp on. But the great thing about Aron and Bob is that they have a fantastic eye for talent."

On the subject of the SuperDraft - the traditional MLS style of youth player distribution - Mariner indicated he wasn't very enthused this year.

"I think the talent pool has thinned. I don't think the combine was that strong this year ... with more teams drafting, the talent pool isn't quite there."

A solution to this for Toronto, both men agreed, is much closer to home.

"There's a lot of talent in (Ontario) and we are reaching out to affiliated clubs," Mariner told the hosts and credited Winter. "Aron's giving kids an opportunity to step in. The head coach is saying 'we believe in you.' When Oscar (Cordon) came on he looked like he fit in."

18-year old Toronto-born Cordon made his professional debut on Wednesday night against Los Angeles Galaxy in a high profile match with international attention. Toronto's next match is on Saturday night at 7 p.m. against D.C. United - their third game in seven nights.

Winter praised Cordon noting his performance is "a good sign for the future." The coach also revealed that the club is looking at recruiting would-be stars at under-15 and under-13 levels in the near term, but for him "the ideal age is under-11" to capture budding football talent.

Mariner stressed the importance of growing more than just great soccer players by turning kids entrusted to the club into men that their parents and guardians can be proud of.

"Yes we want to create a footballer but we are also going to create a whole person."

Education will be a key component of the Toronto FC Academy experience, a realistic Mariner exclaimed, because not everyone will be able to become top flight internationals like himself and Winter.

"We have a vision for the club. The Academy is very very important to us."

In recent days, Valdano has sought to make amends with Mourinho, after a split that emerged following a disagreement on the purchase of a new striker in the January transfer window. Valdano instead backed current players such as Karim Benzema to shine, before the club settled on a loan deal for want-away Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Togo international Adebayor scored on his debut in the Copa del Rey semifinal second leg on Wednesday, helping Real Madrid to a place in the cup final.

Of course, when Real gets there on April 20, they will meet the team that has tormented them for the last two and a half years - Barcelona.

Highlights of the second leg of Copa del Rey semifinals can be seen in the video player.

Die Borussen Bouncing

Runaway Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund is bouncing back to GOL TV Canada on Friday afternoon taking on Schalke. Die Borussen have an 11 point lead over second place Bayer Leverkusen. There are 14 rounds left in the Bundesliga calendar heading into this weekend.

This is a Ruhr Valley derby match that the Dortmund website has described as "the most important match on planet earth."

Paraguay international Lucas Barrios (pictured) leads Dortmund with nine goals, but eight goal man Shinji Kagawa of Japan is now lost for the season after sustaining an injury in the Asian Cup semifinal - a tournament his country ultimately won.

Schalke added a pair of legendary players during the January transfer window in Iranian international Ali Karimi and Greek forward Angelos Charisteas in a bid to end its goal scoring woes that has them seated an unusually low 11th in the 18-team Bundesliga table.

Dotmund-Schalke will be the only live Bundesliga match on GOL this weekend.  On Sunday GOL will carry Freiburg v. Frankfut on a delay at 5 p.m.

In other Bundesliga news, Hoffenheim coach Marco Pezzaiuoli has signed on with the club until 2014. Meanwhile, Cologne has blamed a faulty fax machine for being unable to complete a transfer for Eric-Maxime Choupo-Moting.

10-point Pressure

Of the two La Liga giants, Barcelona is up first this weekend, taking on Atletico Madrid on Satuday afternoon., immediately after Villarreal v. Levante which gets underway at 1:55 p.m. Should Barca emerge victorious, they will create a 10-point gap at the top of the table, while Villarreal could move within three points of second place with a win over relegation-zone Levante.

Second place Real Madrid will have to respond the next day against ninth in the league Real Sociedad. That match will be followed by fourth place Valencia taking on Hercules, which sits 13th in the table. 

Going International

GOL has landed a massive glamour friendly on Wednesday, February 9 – it’s Portugal v. Argentina at 2:55 p.m. More details on this match in days ahead.

Live Matches this week (as of February 3, 2011):

Friday, February 4, 2011
Bundesliga - 2:25 p.m. Borussia Dortmund v. Schalke 04

Saturday, February 5, 2011
La Liga - 1:55 p.m. Villarreal v. Levante
La Liga - 3:55 p.m. Barcelona v. Atletico Madrid

Sunday, February 6, 2011
La Liga - 12:55 p.m. Real Madrid v. Real Sociedad
La Liga - 2:55 p.m. Valencia v. Hercules

Wednesday, February 9, 2011
International Friendly - 2:55 p.m. Portugal v. Argentina

Spain

Jose Mourinho has finally landed a new striker. Togo international and Manchester City bench-sitting specialist Emmanuel Adebayor is off to the Bernabeu.

Real Madrid had been linked to a plethora of top Europe-based forwards during the January transfer window.  The deal for Adebayor is a loan until the end of the current season, but the move could become permanent for the man once affectionately dubbed "Baby Kanu" while at Arsenal because Nwankwo Kanu is his idol.

Securing Adebayor’s signature may not end Real Madrid’s drive to bolster its forward ranks. Cross town rival Atletico are fending off offers for Sergio Aguero – the Argentine has a $61 million (Cdn) buyout clause.

Contract talks between Barcelona and Dani Alves may have broken down, leading Johann Cruyff to conclude that the Catalan club should consider selling the Brazilian fullback.

Germany

In the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg has targeted striker Srdjan Lakic of Kaiserslautern with money available from the sale of Edin Dzeko. Yesterday it was reported that Papiss Cisse is also in their sights.

Hamburg forward Ruud van Nistelrooy is reportedly ‘distraught’ after a potential return to Real Madrid fell through.

The Mark van Bommel saga at Bayern Munich has finally finished, with the Dutch midfielder rejecting Wolfsburg and Liverpool to choose AC Milan. The 33-year old was Bayern’s captain.

By most accounts Guti's time in Istanbul has been fruitful. The 34-year old already has four goal in 12 league appearances, and just last week The Black Eagles booked a place to the knockout stage of the Europa League thanks in part to the Spaniard setting up one of the two goals in their 2-1 victory over CSKA Sofia.

Guti's form off the pitch however, left something to be desired this week as you can see below.
 

According to reports Guti was drunk and while behind his vehicle under the influence at 4 a.m. on Monday morning, crashed into a bus. Nobody was hurt in the incident, but when confronted by the media, he produced the above reaction.

In his defence, Guti claims he wasn't drunk at all. Thankfully, the authorities know better and his driver's licence was confiscated for reportedly being five times over the allowable drunk-driving limit.

Despite a full day to absorb the fact that Russia and Qatar will respectively host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments, English and American media continues to suffer from indigestion today.

Mail Online from the UK has a report indicating that England may never bid to host the World Cup again. Linked to the piece are outright allegations that Russia is a ‘mafia state’ and that their country is ‘ruled by crooks, thugs and spies.’

To drive the point home in the originally cited piece, the Mail uses an undated picture of Red Square where Russians are seemingly indifferent about the World Cup, while in contrast a recent photo depicts the English as they ‘braved the cold near Tower Bridge’ awaiting the bad news.  Apparently, the English handle the cold better than Russians – or so the Mail will have you believe.

Godfrey: Cup Decisions No Surprise

The U.S. may have a bigger gripe than England about their loss to Qatar. After all, with soccer being of little importance in that country, American media didn’t declare an all-out war on FIFA unlike the English, who truly did themselves in.

That being said, America’s fourth round defeat in voting to Qatar did not sit well with many, who are now parroting the anti-FIFA line as per their English cousins. Yesterday, I took issue with Grant Wahl’s Sports Illustrated piece about ‘petrodollars’ (as if an American can genuinely malign petrodollars); but that line of reasoning continued today with one columnist in the New York Daily News calling FIFA ‘stupid or corrupt or both.’ 

The problems with the Russian and Qatar bids are too numerous to count for some. There is even doubt that these oil-rich countries have the proper funds or ability to create wondrous monuments to the beautiful game on tundra or sand. Qatar in particular made promises to build stadiums that are still a product of a wonderful imagination.

Moreover, critics are rightfully irked by a lack of free media in Russia and human rights issues in the Arab world.

These are valid complaints. Russia’s open hostility toward critical media to the point of state-suspected murder should be sickening to anyone that loves freedom and democracy.

Qatar’s reputation as a port for human trafficking is disturbing to say the least. Furthermore, its laws are rarely enforced to protect foreign workers from developing nations that suffer severe exploitation through forced labour.

But as Gabriele Marcotti points out, perhaps as a response to Wahl’s piece on SI, a host country’s record on freedoms and rights matter little when it comes to making sporting decisions. After all, China hosted the Beijing Olympics within months of cracking down on Tibetan monks.

Yes, your state can bash a monk’s head against stone and still host the world for a joyous celebration of athletic achievement. It’s been done and people need to get over it.  If human rights were a qualifier for landing major sporting events, then not a single World Cup bid at FIFA’s table would be accepted. Not one.

Events like the World Cup and Olympics are about looking ahead, not at crimes of the past or even present, for that matter. Should the Iraq War and all of its reported crimes automatically disqualify the U.S. and England from bidding? No. The same goes for Russia and Qatar and their political shortcomings.

One positive aspect of large international events is that it forces countries to be on their best behaviour – or as best as possible – due to increased scrutiny from the outside world in the years leading up to the occasion. It sometimes works, and sometimes it doesn’t to the full extent of humanity’s hope, but the net result is rarely negative.

Two important facets of the 2018 and 2022 decisions, despite some detestable features of Russia and Qatar – both in terms of logistics and politics – is the broader picture they represent.

The first ever World Cup in Eastern Europe signals a validation of the European Union as it continues to expand further east. While Russia is not a member of that organization, many Russians ‘feel’ European and want that to be acknowledged and reciprocated. It’s not a surprise that England, a country that has always remained suspicious of the EU or anything east of Berlin for that matter, can’t quite appreciate Russia’s growing significance.

The first ever World Cup in a Muslim country, a wealthy and quasi-liberal one at that (you are not going to do much better at present), might represent something bigger to nearly 1.6 billion adherents of Islam. Many Asian Muslims may now feel they are a part of one of the west’s most exclusive clubs as there isn’t a bigger metaphorical bridge on the planet than the World Cup. It’s understandable that some Americans, residents of a country with a penchant for unilateral foreign policy, are annoyed by this sort of diplomacy by FIFA in reaching out to Qatar.

FIFA’s decisions are not ‘stupid,’ it could be rather calculated. There may be some corruption and collusion, but their process is at least more thought out than say, calling a local baseball final between two American cities the ‘World Series,’ for example.
 

World football’s governing body FIFA announced on Thursday morning that Qatar, not the United States, will be hosting the 2022 World Cup.

This of course, has resulted in cacophonous acrimony around the U.S. and some Canadian soccer media.

Grant Wahl writes in his Sports Illustrated column that, "Choosing Qatar and Russia is the biggest indictment possible that FIFA is not a clean organization. -- The message here is that petrodollars talk."

An international observer might find the ‘petrodollars’ bit particularly amusing coming from an American. Did Wahl truly forget why his country has military presence in the Middle East?

International politics aside, to dismiss Qatar’s bid as somehow haraam (Islamic term for ‘unclean’) because the United States lost is grotesque. More so given that ESPN commented on the less than stellar U.S. presentation the day before despite a touching closing commentary by President Bill Clinton.

A glimpse at Qatar’s World Cup Vision reveals the extravagance and enthusiasm around its bid. They are willing to spend lots of money to host the world, and yes, money talks. This was once a perfectly legitimate worldview when the United States had unyielding reach and influence – which it used to win the 1996 summer and 2002 winter Olympics – before its economic self-implosion.

Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup just before the Qatari triumph. The shock result from this was England’s ouster in the first round of voting (by comparison the U.S. made it to a fourth round before being eliminated). The Guardian put together a slide show of people to possibly blame for England’s failure, but have since removed it from their website. They have however, included a quotes piece from the announcements that includes reaction from David Beckham and Prince William among others.

Many, including some of my colleagues, are trotting out the old standy that these decisions prove FIFA to be corrupt. There are many reasons to be suspicious of FIFA over the years – ticketing scandals, officiating blunders – but these decisions have little to do with any of that.

It just might be that the English-speaking world is neither as popular nor influential in the brave new frontier of globalization as we once were.

More on this tomorrow. 
 

Barcelona completed a masterful destruction of Real Madrid at the 161st El Clasico, beating its despised rival by a humiliating 5-0 margin.

The Catalans signaled their intent early at home, with Lionel Messi hitting a ball off the post in the opening minutes. But they didn’t have to wait long for the first goal as Andres Iniesta played Xavi through for a chip over Madrid keeper Iker Casillas at the 10th minute.

Barca doubled its advantage at 18 minutes when David Villa’s tight angle shot was touched on to the foot of a  pouncing Pedro at the goal mouth by a helpless Casillas, who watched his countryman pop in to make it 2-0.

Coming out of halftime, Real Madrid didn’t seem to have any answers for the deficit. David Villa snatched a brace three minutes apart to put Barcelona up 4-0 and substitute Jeffren Suarez put the final touch on the score sheet by nailing Bojan Krkic’s pass past Casillas in injury time to make it 5-0.

Madrid’s disastrous outing was completed shortly after Jeffren’s goal when Sergio Ramos hacked at Messi, earning his second yellow card from referee Eduardo Gonzalez.

Altogether 12 yellow cards and a red to Sergio Ramos were dished out by Gonzalez, in a physical affair where Real Madrid was second best at virtually all points of the game.

Barcelona now takes a two point lead over Real Madrid in the standings after 13 rounds. The clubs will play again in Madrid’s Bernabeu grounds on April 17.

Real Madrid will look to recover from this defeat next week at home against tricky opponent Valencia, while Barcelona will attempt to deliver another five-star performance away to Osasuna. Both matches will be broadcast live on GOL TV Canada. 
 

The first edition of Barcelona-Real Madrid (Monday, November 29 at 3 p.m.) with all of its global anticipation is just one day away.  According to the Spanish football blog La Liga Weekly, 891 (press) passes have been issued to 159 organizations from 28 different countries to cover El Clásico.

RELATED: Join The Discussion At Kickoff On GOL TV Live

I don’t know what the exact media figures were for the MLS Cup Final in Toronto last week, but I certainly don’t recall the press box having any correspondents from places such as China, Qatar and Bulgaria. From Brazil to Norway to Japan and all parts in between, when the men from Barcelona and Real Madrid grace the pitch at Camp Nou on Monday, the world will be watching in large numbers.

Real received some good news ahead of the encounter as striker Gonzalo Higuain and midfielder Sami Khedira have been declared fit to play.

Argentina international Higuain has seven goals this season, second in team scoring to Cristiano Ronaldo’s 14. German star Khedira has been influential at midfield for Madrid, featuring in all 12 league matches this year. His holding contribution has allowed Madrid’s attacking players to go forward with little regard to their defensive responsibilities. The 23-year old is molding into a Michael Essien type midfielder for Jose Mourinho – a piece that was integral to the manager’s success in England with Chelsea.

While Mourinho has made a point of reminding Barcelona this week that he got the better of the Catalans with Inter Milan in Champions League, Barca captain Carles Puyol doesn’t see that as a cause for his club to have added motivation.

"We are not playing against Mourinho, we are playing Real Madrid," Puyol is reported as saying to the press this weekend.

Being a point back of Real heading into round 13 should be motivation enough for Barcelona. Last season the title wasn’t decided until the final weekend after both clubs set records for most points, though Barca finishing on top 99-96. The two El Clásico clashes this season could very well decide who wins La Liga for 2010-11.

A list of remaining El Clásico-related programming on GOL leading up to, including and after Monday's match:

Sunday, November 28, 2010
5pm ET/2pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
6pm ET/3pm PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
4am ET/1am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
5am ET/2am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
5:30am ET/2:30am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments

Monday, November 29, 2010
6am ET/3am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
11am ET/8am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
11:30am ET/8:30am PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
12:30pm ET/9:30am PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
1:30pm ET/10:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
2:30pm ET/11:30am PT – El Clasico Pregame coverage
3pm ET/12pm PT – El Clasico: Barcelona x Real Madrid – LIVE
7pm ET/4pm PT - El Clasico Barcelona x Real Madrid – game encore

Mind games from Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho have surfaced just two days before he takes Real Madrid to Camp Nou to face Barcelona (Monday, November 29, 3 p.m. live on GOL TV Canada) for the first edition of El Clasico this season.

The Scottish Daily Record reports Mourinho as saying, "physically we are fine and know what to do but we face a team that has had a lot of time working together and we have only had a few months."

Andy Bernard from ‘The Office’ (U.S. version) might say on a blown sales call, "this is the classic under-sell."

Mourinho knows full well that his team is in top form. They are favoured as much as anyone has been the last two years to topple Barca at Camp Nou and take a stranglehold on La Liga standings.

Furthermore, Mourinho himself admitted earlier in the week that he knows how to beat Barcelona, something he accomplished in Champions League as Inter Milan boss last season.

Regardless of these facts, Mourinho plays down his side’s mental preparedness ahead of the contest at Camp Nou, but his intentions can hardly be lost on anyone that has observed Mourinho's style since he came into prominence.

"It is our responsibility to put on a great game — the coaches, the players and the referee," Mourinho is quoted as saying in the Belfast Telegraph.

Here Mourinho rehashes something many in the Madrid media has been alluding to the last two seasons (losing gracefully isn’t in their nature), that Barcelona receives favourable calls from officials and that’s apparently a major reason for their success.

Mourinho isn’t necessarily giving himself postgame excuses should the worst happen against Barca, but rather trying to manage expectations for Real Madrid supporters. In his own strange fashion, he is also paying compliments to Pep Guardiola’s two-time reigning Spanish champions for their accomplishments, suggesting he himself is unsure that Real Madrid is ready to knock them off the perch.

But with anything Mourinho, only the man himself knows what his side is truly capable of but the world will have to wait to find out Monday.

A list of Saturday afternoon/evening and early Sunday El Clasico-related programs on GOL TV Canada:

Saturday, November 27, 2010
4pm ET/1pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
7pm ET/4pm PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
2:30am ET/11:30pm PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
3:30am ET/12:30am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
4am ET/1am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
4:30am ET/1:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona

Sunday, November 28, 2010
6:30am ET/3:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
9:30am ET/6:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
10:30am ET/7:30am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
11am ET/8am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments

El Clasico is just three more sleeps away (Barcelona v. Real Madrid, Monday, November 29 at 3 p.m.) and GOL TV Canada continues to get in the mood with some great programming on Friday night.

RELATED: GOL TV Schedule Including Live Bundesliga & La Liga Matches This Weekend

At 6 p.m. 60+ will show Barcelona v. Real Madrid from December 13, 2008 when Barca beat Real 2-0 at Camp Nou. This was the first time the Catalans defeated Real Madrid in league play for over three years when Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi struck for Barca.

That victory signaled a shift in power from the Spanish capital to the Northeast, as later that season Barcelona devastated Madrid 6-2 at their home grounds of Santiago Bernabeu, on way to a nine point win in the Spanish table. 60+ will have the Bernabeu bashing Friday night at 9 p.m., featuring goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Ramos for the vanquished, while Thierry Henry and Messi each had a brace alongside Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué strikes.

Barcelona hasn’t looked back since, winning the two contests last season on way to another championship.

Here is a list of Friday evening and Saturday morning programs that are related to El Clasico:

Friday, November 26, 2010
6pm ET/3pm PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
9pm ET/6pm PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
10pm ET/7pm PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
10:30pm ET/7:30pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona

Saturday, November 27, 2010
6am ET/3am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
7am ET/4am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
8am ET/5am PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)

To ramp up the excitement – as if it needs any additional fanfare – south of the border, ESPN Deportes has put a 62-second trailer together ahead of the contest.



In El Clasico news from world over, one source cites that Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has had enough of losing to Barcelona. After four consecutive defeats versus the Catalans, the Spain international believes Madrid can finally take three points at Camp Nou on Monday.

For further reading, BBC’s Jonathan Stevenson took a close look at the greatness of both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo proclaiming, "Messi and Ronaldo are the two best players on the planet right now."

No arguments here, although David Villa tends to make a case for himself in big occasions as witnessed at the World Cup and Euro 2008.

GOL TV Canada’s El Clasico Countdown continues tonight with The Movie – Real Madrid v. Barcelona (6 p.m. & 8 p.m. ET).

With the most important match of La Liga calendar to date taking place in just four days – Monday, November 29 at 3 p.m. live on GOL – the excitement has been building in both camps. 

The teams were in Champions League action at midweek with Real Madrid disposing of Ajax 4-0 on Tuesday and Barcelona following up on Wednesday as 3-0 winners over Panathinaikos.

These clubs are in top form at home and on the continent, setting off like an express train this season, according to one website. In the same article Real coach Jose Mourinho is quoted as saying he is "public enemy number one" at Camp Nou, Barcelona’s home grounds, where he eliminated the blaugrana last season in the Champions League while managing Inter Milan.

Mourinho’s top marksman, Cristiano Ronaldo, has never scored in five matches against Barcelona. Though Ronaldo believes the time is right for him, and Real Madrid, to revive its fortunes against the Catalan giants that they haven’t beaten since 2008.

"It's going to be an emotional meeting and we're in great form so I think we're gonna win there," Ronaldo is quoted as saying in a USA Today piece about the trip to Barcelona.

Barca’s midfield catalyst Xavi had a different take on the encounter when interviewed after their Champions League win in Athens.

"It's an important match and we are favourites because we are playing at home … we are playing well and on good form."

Confidence is not lacking in either camp. The last few seasons there was usually one side in a slightly better mood than the other heading into this fixture, but there is little separating either team at the moment.

Barcelona v. Real Madrid will be shown live on GOL TV Canada on Monday, November 29 at 3 p.m.

Upcoming programs in the El Clasico Countdown:

Thursday, November 25, 2010
7am ET/4am PT – La Liga encore – Real Madrid x Ath. Bilbao (11/20/10)
6pm ET/3pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
8pm ET/5pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona

Friday, November 26, 2010
6am ET/3am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
6pm ET/3pm PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
9pm ET/6pm PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
10pm ET/7pm PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
10:30pm ET/7:30pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona 

In lead up to Barcelona v. Real Madrid on Monday, November 29 at 3 p.m., GOL TV Canada will be your one-stop-shop for all things El Clasico.

The first of two editions of arguably the world’s most watched non-cup match takes place at Barcelona’s Camp Nou with the rivals separated by a single point (32-31) in the Spanish table after 12 rounds. 

David Villa will play in his first El Clasico on Monday, November 29 at 3 p.m.. (Getty)

Real Madrid maintained its narrow margin at the top with a 5-1 drubbing of Athletic Bilbao last weekend, this was right after Barcelona humiliated Almeria away from home with a masterful 8-0 demolition. Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi scored hat-tricks in their respective matches for Los Blancos and the Blaugrana.

Here is a list of El Clasico-related programming on GOL TV Canada in the five days before the contest, starting with Barcelona's 8-0 weekend destruction of Almeria Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010
7pm ET/4pm PT – La Liga encore – Almeria x Barcelona (11/20/10)

Thursday, November 25, 2010
7am ET/4am PT – La Liga encore – Real Madrid x Ath. Bilbao (11/20/10)
6pm ET/3pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
8pm ET/5pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona

Friday, November 26, 2010
6am ET/3am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
6pm ET/3pm PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
9pm ET/6pm PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
10pm ET/7pm PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
10:30pm ET/7:30pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona

Saturday, November 27, 2010
6am ET/3am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
7am ET/4am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
8am ET/5am PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
4pm ET/1pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
7pm ET/4pm PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
2:30am ET/11:30pm PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
3:30am ET/12:30am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
4am ET/1am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
4:30am ET/1:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona

Sunday, November 28, 2010
6:30am ET/3:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
9:30am ET/6:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
10:30am ET/7:30am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
11am ET/8am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
2pm ET/11am PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
5pm ET/2pm PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
6pm ET/3pm PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
4am ET/1am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
5am ET/2am PT – El Clasico – Series Goals
5:30am ET/2:30am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments

Monday, November 29, 2010
6am ET/3am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
11am ET/8am PT – El Clasico – Historical Moments
11:30am ET/8:30am PT – 60+ - Barcelona x Real Madrid (12/13/08)
12:30pm ET/9:30am PT – 60+ - Real Madrid x Barcelona (5/2/09)
1:30pm ET/10:30am PT – The Movie – Real Madrid x Barcelona
2:30pm ET/11:30am PT – El Clasico Pregame coverage
3pm ET/12pm PT – El Clasico: Barcelona x Real Madrid – LIVE
7pm ET/4pm PT - El Clasico Barcelona x Real Madrid – game encore

The end of Wayne Rooney’s successful, yet strange week at Old Trafford comes after the forward used a tact many modern players are taking to negotiate their contracts.  Whether in Manchester or Toronto, players now take their private monetary spats public in order to put a squeeze on the decision makers.

In Toronto, we remember the very open check signing gesture by Dwayne De Rosario at BMO Field in September after scoring a goal in the midst of the Reds’ ultimately unsuccessful MLS Cup Playoffs chase. Rooney’s predicament isn’t much different in principle but unlike some footballers taking this approach, matters such as age and various market factors play wildly to the United man's favour.

Wayne Rooney and England slumbered out of the World Cup but the Englishman remains a star at Old Trafford. (Getty)

Despite tanking at the World Cup in South Africa, Rooney’s worth at Old Trafford remains strong. He is only turning 25 this month. In search of a birthday gift of higher wages, Rooney wrestled for public attention against the master of media diversion tactics, his manager Sir Alex Ferguson. In the end both men can claim victory – the player in particular for getting exactly what he wanted.

When the list of 50 best paid footballers was released earlier this year, the Manchester United forward was slotted in 20th place for the bargain price of roughly $9 million a year (cdn). This was revealed while Rooney was in the midst of his most productive season in the world’s richest league. His superb form had England’s World Cup starved supporters unadvisedly dreaming of a glorious return to 1966.

Ahead of Rooney on that list were his England international contemporaries Frank Lampard, John Terry, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand. Also earning a bigger pay packet than the former-Everton man were EPL’s foreign imports Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Fernando Torres.

Rooney likely fancied himself ahead of this lot given his importance to Manchester United in the post-Ronaldo era. United's desperation to not have another big name player walk out of Old Trafford wasn't lost on the player or his handlers.

The new contract will likely put Rooney in the neighbourhood of cross town Manchester City rivals Adebayor and Tevez, who are EPL’s two highest paid players. Rooney instantly became City’s potential target when the news of unrest at Old Trafford broke this week. His sudden commitment to Manchester United for five years in the last 24-hours means the Abu Dhabi owned Blues will have to settle for some other prize at an obscene price in the January transfer window.

Some in the media are praising Ferguson for turning Rooney’s threat to walk out of Old Trafford into a victory for Manchester United. But players and agents will have learned that putting the club in a position to prove their commitment to a bright future – as Rooney had done – can secure higher wages for star players.

This is not a perfect formula for all however, at 25 and nearing the peak of his career, Rooney’s handlers played the hand of a lifetime and won.

Christian Purslow punched the air as he left London's High Court on the side of victory Wednesday morning. (Liverpool Echo)

Seeing an opportunity to collect on their loan, the club’s chief financial backer Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is ready to unload Liverpool to another U.S. group, New England Sports Ventures (NESV).

The fight over the North West England club has played out a bit like the American Civil War. The South is being led by tough talking Texan, Mr. Hicks while John Henry II – owner of baseball’s revived Boston Red Sox – leads the bid for the northerners.

While bloodshed was limited to only the pocketbooks in this battle, the northern forces once again prevailed as the High Court not only decided in favour of RBS, the ruling has left the Hicks-Gillett camp with potentially a staggering loss of $161 million (cdn) and no chance to appeal the decision.

Club chairman Martin Broughton, who led the five-man Liverpool board on a 3-2 revolt against Mr. Hicks and Mr. Gillett was ecstatic as he declared, "justice has been done."

Mr. Hicks had tried unsuccessfully to reshape the board with his own cohorts he handpicked to replace Broughton allies Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre. The judge in the case deemed Mr. Hicks’ attempt to be in breach of an agreement that he and Mr. Gillett had made with RBS.

With Hicks-Gillett pushed to the curb*, the path is now clear for Mr. Broughton and the board to sell Liverpool. It is likely that NESV will become new owners by end of week.

There is no guarantee that the new set of U.S.-based owners will be any better than the ones who are about to leave the hallowed grounds of Anfield after nearly condemning it to administration status.

What is known about Mr. Henry is that he loves to win and doesn’t merely invest in sports properties to earn a quick profit. He is also accustomed to spending heavily on talent to compete against the New York Yankees in baseball.  Lavish, carefree expenditure is a minimum requirement to lift the English (and European) league title.

Mr. Broughton, Mr. Purslow and Mr. Ayre left the courtroom to the kind of ovation from Liverpool supporters usually reserved for Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. Should it happen that they have found an owner that will cause the Anfield Museum to overflow with silverware, then these three gentlemen may take their place in Liverpool history alongside founder John Houlding.  That’s how important this court victory might prove to be for the 18-time English champions on the verge of financial and existential disaster under its soon-to-be former owners.

*A sports lawyer argues Mr. Hicks & Mr. Gillett may be able to launch another legal challenge, though they will more than likely still lose the club.

David Beckham could start on Friday for Los Angeles against New York. (Getty)

New York doesn’t travel lightly these days. The team features former France and Arsenal superstar *Thierry Henry, who still has a deadly touch on him (yes, with his feet). The forward is serviced by Mexican midfielder Rafael Marquez, who showed at the World Cup that he is far from reaching his best-before date.

Los Angeles is fighting for the Supporters’ Shield trophy, awarded to the league winner in MLS. Both teams are poised for an extensive MLS Cup Playoffs run, which could culminate in a final standoff at Toronto’s BMO Field on Novemeber 21. The Canadian site has been chosen to host 2010 MLS Cup Final and Friday's match could well be a preview.

Back to that earlier match on Friday, Hoffenheim is third in the Bundesliga sitting five points adrift of surprising German leader Mainz. Cologne lost to Mainz last week and a second loss against a team near the top will add major doubt to a team that has yet to get the best footbal form out of German international idol Lukas Podolski.
 
Speakng of Mainz, the pretenders will be tested heavily Saturday morning on GOL at 9:25 a.m. against the defending champion Bayern Munich. This will be a statement match for both sides. Mainz can prove to a skeptical football world that their strong start is merited, while Bayern slumped to an unthinkable eighth place after five rounds, must move up the table lest they face further lashes from the media and supporters.

As always, La Liga is heavily represented on GOL’s weekend docket. On Saturday it’s Levante v. Real Madrid at 1:45 p.m., followed immediately by Athletic Bilbao v. Barcelona. Viewers that fell in love with little Hercules when they beat mighty Barcelona two weeks ago, can catch them again on Sunday at 12:55 p.m. taking on another Spanish giant, Sevilla.

Here is a rundown of the star studded live matches – a total of nine – this weekend from Germany, United States (MLS), Spain and Colombia:

Friday
2:25 p.m. – Cologne v. Hoffenheim
11:00 p.m. – Los Angeles v. New York

Saturday
9:25 a.m. – Mainz v. Bayern Munich
1:45 p.m. – Levante v. Real Madrid
3:55 p.m. – Athletic Bilbao v. Barcelona
7:30 p.m. – Millonarios v. America
9:30 p.m. – Cucuta v. Medellin

Sunday
12:55 p.m. Hercules v. Sevilla
2:55 p.m. Atletico Madrid v. Zaragoza

For the full programming schedule click here.

*Editor's note: Thierry Henry missed the match due to a knee injury.

German World Cup hero Mesut Özil moved from Werder Bremen to Real Madrid this summer. The Bundesliga from Germany and Spain's La Liga are featured exclusively on GOL TV Canada. (Getty)

I would challenge the accusers to spend this weekend watching GOL.

RELATED: For full September 17-23 schedule, including a list of live matches, click here.

Starting Friday, there are nine live matches beginning with that afternoon’s Bundesliga clash between Frankfurt and Freiburg (2:25 p.m.).

On Saturday GOL is showing Real Madrid’s visit to San Sebastián to play Real Sociedad, a few hours after Bayern Munich v. FC Köln kicks off a lineup of four consecutive live matches starting from 9:25 a.m.

The next day Hamburg, Barcelona, Sevilla and defending Brasileirão champion Flamengo are all featured on goal as part of another quadruple-header from Germany, Spain and Brazil that gets underway at 10:30 a.m.

During the European season, GOL has more live soccer matches than any network in Canada, including Setanta Sports, which costs five times more on a cable or satellite bill.

GOL does not show the English Premier League or Italy’s Serie A because it doesn’t have those contracts. They have to leave something for the other networks to air on Saturday mornings otherwise its competitors would be showing poker, curling and fishing (which some still do at soccer’s expense).

GOL is Canada’s only 24-hour soccer channel and certainly the German top-flight and the best of Spain (including every Barcelona and Real Madrid match live for 37 of 38 weeks), is nothing to scoff at. Neither is the Brasileirão an obscure, unimportant South American league with its players that are regular multi-million dollar targets of major European clubs. GOL delivers games from these countries to Canadian viewers exclusively thanks to its relationship with the U.S. network of the same name.

Complain if you must  about  the quality of the Uruguayan or Colombian matches shown on GOL, but that is by no means the primary programming on the network, though the football in those countries isn’t half bad and their matches are rightly followed by very passionate fans.

The one drawback to GOL that I will concede is that the feed is still in standard definition and many (including myself) simply grin and bear it. However, as its Spanish viewers will attest over the SAP saga, when GOL makes a promise they tend to follow through, though it takes some time.

Just as GOL delivered SAP to those who prefer to hear Lionel Messi’s magic described in Spanish, the network is working diligently to switch its feed to high definition. There is no set date yet for when the network will transform to HD, but you can bet that this is a priority. 

GOL is not perfect, but it doesn’t show stock car racing ahead of soccer, unlike some other networks. It may encounter minor glitches after the HD switch, but it will work through those. In the meantime, its programming value is undeniable if you enjoy live football coverage from some of the world’s best leagues.

Asamoah Gyan's World Cup ended in tears burdened by the weight of African expectations on his Ghanaian shoulders. He is looking forward to better days with Sunderland in the English Premier League. (Getty

One piece of transfer news that will be of concern to many GOL viewers came from Spain's La Liga. It marked the end of Rafael van der Vaart’s sorry saga at Real Madrid. Like Gyan, the Dutch forward made the move to the EPL. He will suit up in north London for Tottenham. The Spurs paid $12 million (cdn) for his services.

Another GOL TV staple, the German Bundesliga, will see Klaas-Jan Huntelaar join the squad at Schalke. The Dutch teammate to van der Vaart also had an ill-fated stopover at the Bernabeu before being shipped off to Milan. An $18 million (cdn) transfer was forced on Huntelaar when Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived from Barcelona a few days before deadline day.

The Gyan move intrigues me most because after his World Cup performance, I had hoped that the Ghanaian star should leave France to join a top seven EPL side where he could get regular playing time. While Sunderland isn't quite that big, this signing should solidify Sunderland's place in the top 10 this season after finishing 13th in the 2009/10 EPL campaign.

The 24-year old has been heralded as a "top-class striker" by welcoming Sunderland manager Steve Bruce. This was a club record signing for Bruce and he called it "a great piece of business," before continuing that Gyan "works extremely hard … and will complement Darren (Bent) up front" for the Black Cats.

Bent scored 24 goals last season.

Despite most of these stars taking part in international matches for their countries this weekend, GOL TV Canada is not without live club football. On Saturday El Tanque Sisley plays Nacional in a Montevideo derby at 2:25 p.m. in the Primera Division from Uruguay. That will be followed by Corinthians v. Goias from Brazil at 5:25 p.m.

On Sunday, more Brazilian club football with Flamengo v. Santos at 2:55 p.m., just before Atletico Mineiro v. Sao Paulo at 5:25 p.m.

For our full September 3-9 schedule, including the upcoming weekend, click here.

New boy David Villa will hope to keep Barcelona at the top in 2010-11. (Getty)

Defending champion Barcelona debuts on Sunday, taking on Racing Santander at 1:00 p.m. After spending the last five seasons with Valencia, David Villa is likely to make his league debut for the Catalans, who recently won the Spanish Super Cup.

Real Madrid follows up Barca at 2:55 p.m., taking on Real Mallorca – who were pushed out of the Europa League this year due to massive club debts forcing them into voluntary administration.  Mallorca finished fifth last season and under sunnier circumstances could have given Madrid a match in Jose Mourinho’s league debut. However, a depleted, underpaid squad shouldn’t be much of a challenge against Ronaldo et al.

Monday night football is now a regular feature in La Liga. GOL has that angle covered with Atletico Madrid v. Sporting Gijon at 3:55 p.m.  Despite Sergio Aguero being linked to Chelsea, the Argentine has remained in the Spanish capital. Diego Forlan also returns for Atletico after the Uruguayan won the Golden Ball and made the All-Star Team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The influx of La Liga matches isn’t great news for everyone. GOL Canada’s provider, GOL USA will occasionally be cutting back on its Bundesliga coverage to accommodate live Spanish matches. That means GOL Canada has one live game this weekend from Germany – Friday at 2:25 p.m., Kaiserslautern v. Bayern Munich.  A taped premiere of St. Pauli v. Hoffenheim airs on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.

Including the Major League Soccer match from Carson, California - Chivas USA v. DC United at 10:00 p.m. Saturday - GOL TV Canada will be showing six live matches and six additional taped premieres. A full listing of matches from Friday-Monday can be found here.

Michael Ballack re-signed for Bayer Leverkusen, the club he left in 2002 to join Bayern Munich before opting for Chelsea. He is set to make his second debut at the club in the Europa League on Thursday. If he comes through the Europa test at midweek, Ballack should be available for seclection against Dortmund on Sunday.

Bayern Munich won the German title last season with Schalke finishing as runner-up five points back. Ballack's Bayer finished fourth, Dortmund fifth and Hamburg were seventh in the league table.

Milner Move Complete

In non-German news, Manchester City has sealed the deal for now-former Aston Villa winger James Milner a day after Roberto Mancini's club inked Mario Balotelli from Inter Milan. The English international Milner featured in Villa's opening round EPL fixture last Saturday, a 3-0 win over West Ham in which the want-away player scored in his final match. Milner received a warm applause from fans on being substituted late in the match as Villa claimed they were fighting to keep him. However, that seems to be a case of posturing more than anything.

Another reputedly unsettled Premiership player is Javier Mascherano, who also played a vital role for Liverpool in their opening week 1-1 draw to Arsenal. The Argentine captain is thought to be heading to one of Spain or Italy, but set up David N'Gog's goal at Anfield and was warmly received by the Kop.

The upcoming weekend matches include defending champion Chelsea away to Wigan. Runner-up Manchester United visit London to face Fulham, while Liverpool is involved in a second straight high-profile clash next Monday against Manchester City at Eastlands.

Andres Iniesta runs to celebrate his extra time goal in the World Cup Final, while Joris Mathijsen can't believe the Dutch misfortune. (Getty)

The brutal tactics employed by the Dutch was antithetical to the sport and muted any chance of Spain playing the free flowing football that those who watch them closely have come to expect.

This is what happens in a cup final. The less talented team will look to muck up the affair. Be it with malicious tackles, finishing their challenges by stepping on toes or kicking at heels, virtually anything they can get away with will be used to stifle the better team’s creativity. 

The final is usually the least pleasing to the eyes, unless both teams are equal in talent.

Negative tactics such as what the Dutch used to destroy any chance of inventiveness is a part of the game and can be effective in a one-off situation.  Coach Bert van Marwijk makes no apologies for it, but the Dutch media wants some answers.

Best way to avoid this kind of a surprise if you are a neutral is by watching football regularly. Getting the measure of it from a singular match of desperate importance is virtually impossible because one team will often play to win, the other goes out not to lose.

Fly-by-night entertainment happens at casinos. Football lives within those who absorb it.   

Thankfully, the better team won and it was redemption for Andres Iniesta. The Barcelona midfielder was kicked every which way on the pitch throughout the 116 minutes before scoring his game winner for Spain with four minutes remaining in extra time.


Howard Webb

With almost fundamentalist zeal, referee Howard Webb let the match go into the realms of the ridiculous on Sunday in Johannesburg. 

When Nigel de Jong drop kicked Xabi Alonso while the Spaniard was in mid-air at the 28th minute, Webb should have had enough. In the previous 15-20 minutes the Dutch decided to foul tactically and force the Spaniards out of their flow by kicking at anything wearing a dark blue shirt inside Soccer City.  

Instead of the straight red card as it should have been, Webb only cautioned the Manchester City midfielder, allowing the madness to spill over into the remaining hour and extra time.

Prior to the match Webb was adamant that he didn’t want the spotlight to be on him at the Final. By shying away from making the right decision when it mattered most – which would have been to exile de Jong to the dressing room and force Holland to play football – Webb had to continue to tolerate the Dutch excess and subsequent Spanish response.


Puyol should have been sent off

This Nigel de Jong kick to Xabi Alonso's chest at the 28th minute could have been called more severely by referee Howard Webb. (Getty)

Yes, when Arjen Robben was on his second breakaway (he was stopped by Iker Casillas’ leg in the first), he was impeded by Carles Puyol.

Shockingly, Robben didn’t go down, possibly knowing that his reputation as a diver would have worked against him if he had. Regardless, Puyol should have picked up his second yellow card on the missed foul and been sent off.

However, if we are working with hypothetical red cards, this situation might not have ever come to being had Webb sent off at least de Jong for his assault on Alonso and possibly Mark van Bommel for sweeping Iniesta’s leg at the 22nd minute.  Both de Jong and van Bommel were out to cripple Spain’s influential midfielders Xavi and Iniesta.  They both got away with it because it’s the Final. Why not Puyol?

As far as the match goes, Webb put the clubs level on cause for injustice by ignoring Puyol’s infraction. He knew, as did the 700 million people watching (aside from maybe those wearing orange), that sending off a Spanish player before a single Dutch ejection would have been ethically criminal. 

The Dutch were lucky not to be playing with nine players at the time of Puyol’s interference with Robben.  Had Webb followed the letter of the law, a numeric advantage for Spain would have already put the match out of reach at time of the incident.


Nobody is walking away from football

Away from the Final now and thinking about the tournament as a whole, one of the most annoying things to me during this World Cup was the ‘we know better’ attitude from North American pundits. Maybe it was happening elsewhere too, but I was more acutely aware of it in my own backyard.

Most of us in Canada and the United States that watched every match, enjoyed the football and commented on the tactics and festivities. But a few decided it was their mission to advocate radical reforms in football to make the beautiful game more perfect.

False prophets. The game is thriving everywhere and there is no need to convert the non-believers. They'll never come.

The incessant calls for video replay, with near-zero elaboration on its viability or employment across the board just because North American sports use it, is more arrogant than anything FIFA has conjured up lately. 

Then came the even more atrocious nag on Luis Suarez as a ‘cheat’ because he did what every player in the world would do if his country was faced with elimination from the World Cup. This wasn't just a North American disease, but it was rampant enough both in print and on television here to merit a mention.

Do the ‘cheat’ journalists truly believe that with his goal-preventing handball, Suarez planned for the brilliant Asamoah Gyan to miss a match-winning penalty, or for two of his teammates to take dreadful spot kicks in the shootout bringing Africa to tears?

Suarez isn't that good.

The Uruguayan was ejected for his action and Ghana had a chance to win the match fair and square. He missed. There wasn’t any cheating.

Rules that govern the world’s game do not need to change drastically because the self-righteous sensibilities of a few journalists were offended on a July night in Johannesburg.

The most ridiculous are those who make the unfounded and unsubstantiated accusation that people will walk away from this game because of such actions as that of Suarez. 

The game doesn't have a 'growth' problem. It's popular, even in the United States. What it does have a problem with are meddlers who would rather see it in their own image than accept its vibrancy.

Luis Suarez may be a hero in Uruguay, but some journalists insist on attaching the 'cheat' label on him. (Getty)

If North American sports aren’t obliterated by its athletes taking steroids, facing rape or murder charges off the playing field and beating up taxi drivers in Buffalo, the world isn’t going to walk away from football because there were a small handful of controversies.

Pundits should also know that it makes for boring television when three or four men sit at a desk agreeing with each other about the need for video replay without entertaining any of the opposing views with guests or analysts that disagree. Perhaps they should get John Doyle on to defend the purists.

Another solution could be if the reformists and doom merchants could start walking away from the game themselves and see if anyone follows.

I bet they won't try that one.


Overall refereeing was good

The previous entry takes me into this point.

All of the vitriol that was generated over the disallowed Maurice Edu goal in USA-Slovenia and Frank Lampard’s no-goal call against Germany was more than a bit much.

While these two things could have impacted the tournament, it largely didn’t. Neither did the call Mexico suffered against Argentina when Carlos Tevez was offside before heading in the Lionel Messi floater. 

Yet we had to hear about poor officiating as though it happened on a regular basis. Well, it didn’t.

According to a study of the officiating leading up to the Final, referees’ calls in matches were 96% correct.  The same pundits that like to harangue endlessly about accuracy, must enjoy that stat. But, it likely won’t be good enough for them.

Day 31 - 11:00 a.m. EST

David Villa is one of two remaining candidates for the Golden Boot along with World Cup Final opponent Wesley Sneijder. (Getty)

The day roughly one out of every sixth person in the world waits four years to see has finally arrived. It's the World Cup Final and this edition features a first-time matchup in the most advanced stage of the tournament, pitting the Netherlands versus Spain.

The Dutch have been here before in 1974 and 1978 while it's Spain's first trip to the final.

Neither country has ever lifted the most coveted prize on the planet and whoever leaves South Africa with the FIFA World Cup Trophy will only become the eighth nation to do so. 

Added intrigue is provided by Wesley Sneijder of Holland and Spaniard David Villa, who are tied with five goals each for the tournament's Golden Boot along with Thomas Müller of Germany and Uruguay's Diego Forlan.

My pick is Spain, it has been since before the start and I'll go down with that ship if it comes to it - though unlikely to happen.

The match kicks off at 2:00 p.m. EST. Here is a collection of stories looking ahead to the Final.

David Villa wants Spain to stifle Dutch attack
Gio van Bronckhorst hails Dutch spirit
Spain seeks unity over World Cup
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk stays focused
Spain defined by its heroes
Netherlands practices pragmatism
World leaders and celbrities to attend the Final.

Day 29 - 3:00 p.m. EST

Despite their crisp passing and possession oriented football, solitary moments of brilliance have defined Spain’s march to that country’s historic first World Cup final.

The reigning European champion has never reached this stage of the tournament that it covets most. But they were always meant to be here, weren’t they? 

David Villa (#7) is a five-goal hero for Spain in the 2010 World Cup. (Getty)

Three and a half weeks after that humbling 1-0 defeat to Switzerland in the Group H opener, Spain is now in a position to make that their only loss and leave South Africa as just the eighth champion of the world’s game.

It’s always better to lose the first match than the last.

Spain didn’t do much wrong against Switzerland.  It held a 63%-37% edge in possession and outshot its opponents 24-8.  What lacked that evening in Durban was a burst of individual glory from one of its many superstars.

Worse still, their most reliable man – captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas – made an uncharacteristic error in judgment that helped to deliver the Swiss victory. 

After the loss Casillas pronounced “I think the way we play the game will bring us rewards … Spain always (gets) back up after a fall.”

They haven’t fallen since.

Instead of panicking, Spain stuck to their game plan. In doing so they rolled over Honduras with similar dominance on the ball and attack, this time David Villa hitting for a brace to make all their hard work count for three points.

Next, Chile felt the wrath of Spain’s fury in the Group H finale. On this occasion Andres Iniesta led the charge after Villa again put La Roja ahead with another breathtaking strike. 

Portugal was no match for Spain as the intensity of the passing game picked up in the Round of 16 under the guidance of midfield maestro Xavi. His cultured back heel threaded Villa toward goal and the Iberian derby was settled soon thereafter. 

“We’re taking things step by step,” said Villa in his postgame comments. An understatement if there ever was one in this tournament. They were at this point storming through their opposition.

Nobody will care that Portugal beat North Korea 7-0. Nor will they remember a moment of involvement from Ronaldo as he was tactically marked out of the match by Spain’s “vigilant” defending that coach Vicente del Bosque praised after the game.

After Villa, Iniesta and Xavi had proved their worth one by one, it was Casillas’ turn at redemption.

Still struggling for fitness since a season-ending knee surgery in April, Fernando Torres has yet to score a goal for Spain in South Africa. (Getty)

The captain earned it by smothering Oscar Cardozo’s penalty against Paraguay. It was yet another in what was now becoming a string of remarkable efforts to take Spain from one stage to the next.

Buoyed by their captain’s remarkable spot kick save, Spain rampantly went on the offensive, leading to Villa’s fifth goal after excellent work from Iniesta and Pedro on a quick rush up the pitch. 

This all led to the day Spain was to be eliminated by Germany in the semifinals. The Mannschaft had scored eight goals in their two previous outings, pounding England and Argentina for four apiece. Pundits felt Spain were unconvincing since they hadn’t bagged as many goals.

German striker Miroslav Klose was surely riding on that confidence when he gave his side the edge in a pregame press conference. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, herself weighed in on a 2-1 decision for her country. Even The Christian Science Monitor – that paragon of football knowledge – called Germany “the team to beat” ahead of the semifinal because of its ability to score goals at will. 

Observers who watch football for goals alone, miss everything else that’s great about the sport. Spain hasn’t done much wrong aside from a lack of abundant scoring – which is unnecessary anyway, if a team controls the flow of the game, as Spain does.

The Germans hit the English and Argentines early and then capitalized on the counter when those teams were forced to go forward. As a result, Germany’s goal count was slightly inflated.  Spain not only didn’t give Germany the luxury of an early advantage, but put them under siege with fluid midfield passing from the first whistle.

As the match wore on, the question remained who would ignite that single spark that would give the Spanish a deserved victory.  A new hero emerged in the form of an old warhorse, 32-year old defender Carles Puyol, who broke the German resistance with a leaping header at the 73rd minute.

The man who delivered the ball to Puyol’s head, Xavi, put aside a poor performance against Paraguay and emerged as the man of the match. “We dominated Germany,” he later said. Only a handful of people and an octopus had predicted as much.

Spain has displayed the most dominant team football in this World Cup on a consistent basis.  Beyond that, they are even more special and dangerous due to these moments of singular inspiration that has carried them into the final.

Villa, Iniesta, Xavi, Casillas and Puyol have all delivered.  Is another protagonist set to emerge on Sunday? 

Day 28 - 3:00 p.m. EST

One of the positive surprises of this World Cup has been the transformation of the Netherlands. No longer a crowd pleasing loser that plays beautiful yet fruitless football, the new Dutch treat is the habit of winning. They enter the final on Sunday having won every World Cup match in this tournament, the mental breakthrough coming against Brazil in the quarterfinals.

Arjen Robben and Holland are shining under coach van Marwijk. (Getty)

They had a relatively easy time in Group E, which has to be considered one of the weaker quartets with a squabbling Cameroon and an aging Denmark to round out the speedy and skillful Japan that provided Holland with its biggest challenge.

In the Japan match on June 19, Netherlands faced a stubborn test as the Asian team chose to play a defensive formation, hoping to hit the Dutch on the counter.  Wesley Sneijder eventually cracked the safe at the 53rd minute when Japanese defender Tulio failed to clear a cross, allowing Robin van Persie to take advantage. The ball came to Sneijder and the Inter Milan man became the Dutch hero in a 1-0 victory.

This was a match that the Netherlands expected to win and the close score line made some wonder if Holland would pass muster in the knockout stage of the tournament.

It was in the quarterfinals against Brazil that a convincing answer arrived, but it didn’t start that way.

In the first 45 minutes Holland was nearly invisible. Brazil scored at the 10th minute, passed the ball around seemingly stationary Dutch players, and looked poised to hit the back of Holland keeper Martin Stekelenburg’s net a few more times if not for his acrobatics.

At the restart the outlook changed. Netherlands found renewed purpose and Brazil unexpectedly realized that they had failed to break the Dutch spirit with their dominating first half display.  Brazil is at its worst when it fails to intimidate the opponent.

Many have been at odds with what caused the inexplicable Brazil collapse in the second half at Port Elizabeth Stadium. Some have blamed it all on Felipe Melo’s mistakes. Others have said that Brazil relied too much on coach Dunga’s defensive tactics. Few have actually claimed that Holland itself engineered the Brazilian collapse by refusing to buckle.

Netherlands deserves credit for mighty Brazil’s collapse.

Coach Bert van Marwijk’s men were able to look past the Brazilian dazzle and put the one goal deficit at halftime in perspective.  Regardless of what was said in the dressing room, van Marwijk’s philosophy was revealed in what he told the press a day earlier.

“I know the Brazilian team played beautiful football...so did the Dutch (of the past) but there is no more space for 'total' or 'samba' football these days.” 

Wesley Sneijder is a five-goal hero for Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup. (Getty)

It’s that kind of pragmatism which saw Holland emerge out of the tunnel understanding their mission. ‘Total football’ was out and the grind was on. A suddenly resistant midfield combined with increased pressure and the usual Arjen Robben theatrics, resulted in a pair of goals from Sneijder at the 53rd and 68th minutes.  

At that point Holland was firmly ahead with the Brazilians stunned at their reversal of fortune. Felipe Melo’s 73rd minute red card, as if the villain’s blunder on the opening goal hadn’t been criminal enough, sealed Brazil’s fate. 

Van Marwijk acknowledged that his team was awestruck by the South Americans at the outset, but sense settled in at halftime.

“During the break I told them to play their usual game (in) the second half. Once we scored our first goal we played much better and proved that we've got a very strong squad.”

That squad prevailed again in the semifinals over Uruguay and now will be severely tested in the World Cup final against a country that van Marwijk admires.

"These days Spain is the team that plays the best football.” 

Day 22 - 6:00 p.m. EST

Dunga Done As Brazil Coach

Brazil coach Dunga made the decision to quit the national team following his country's World Cup quarterfinal exit from South Africa.

From the dugout to the dog house of Brazilian football, Dunga's time as coach of the national team is finished. (Getty)

His team looked certain for a semifinal berth after the opening 45 minutes as they outplayed Netherlands convincingly and held a 1-0 lead via a Robinho goal at the 10th minute.

It all came crashing down for Dunga in the second half however, when a Felipe Melo own goal at the 53rd and a Wesley Sneijder header fifteen minutes later (when he was badly marked in the area), vaulted Holland to a 2-1 lead that the Dutch held on to until finish. 

Dunga was defiant as Brazil coach. Since taking over in 2006, he played a defensive, counter-attacking style that was unpopular in his home country.  Brazilians generally prefer a creative and free-flowing version of football.

Although often accused of playing a boring style, Dunga's methods delivered success. As a player he won the World Cup with Brazil, lifting the trophy as its captain in 1994. As manager, his controversial team selection and strategy led the team to the Copa America (2007) and FIFA Confederations Cup (2009) titles.

He deflected criticism by pointing to his success but even Dunga couldn't explain the incredible second half collapse Brazil suffered against Netherlands in South Africa.

“We are all responsible for this situation but I have the greatest responsibility,” admitted Dunga, whose contract would have been up for renewal at the conclusion of the World Cup. 

He will return home empty handed and the Brazilian public will fault his defensive tactics for - by their standards - a humiliating exit from a horrendous second half to Holland.

On the same day that Fabio Capello was retained as England manager after their underwhelming World Cup campaign, few likely conceived that it would be the end of Dunga's reign with The Samba Kings. With this self-anointed sacred cow of South American football now minced, one wonders if Diego Maradona is next when Argentina faces Germany on Saturday.

Gyan: The New Face Of African Football?

Asamoah Gyan has nothing to be ashamed of in Ghana's penalty kick exit to Uruguay.

The inconsolable figure of the 24-year old Rennes striker weeping on the grounds of Soccer City in Johannesburg will be a lasting and heartbreaking image of the 2010 World Cup.

Teammates try to comfort Asamoah Gyan after Ghana's exit from the World Cup in South Africa. (Getty)

What Gyan won't care about for some time is that he has emerged ahead of Samuel Eto'o and Didier Drogba as Africa's top marksman at this tournament. He powered his country to a pair of victories over Serbia in group play and then the United States at the Round of 16. His heroics fell short with a penalty miss in the dying seconds of extra time in the quarterfinals against Uruguay. Unable to better the 1-1 result in extra time, he eventually witnessed Ghana's 4-2 defeat on penalties.

The burden is not on Gyan alone. Ghana captain Jonathan Mensah and young star Dominic Adiyiah missed back-to-back penalties with badly placed shots. Going back to the Uruguay equalizer at the 55th minute, it was a goalkeeping error from Richard Kingson that allowed Diego Forlan to score from a direct free kick.

Gyan showed tremendous character in striking the first penalty in the shootout to make amends for hitting the crossbar minutes earlier. It was also smart of Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac to let Gyan be the first kick taker so he couldn't spend much time reflecting on his earlier failed attemp.

That one error will not define Gyan's carreer which is still at its relative infancy. He was tasked with carrying the hopes of a continent today, after bigger and  better paid names failed to lift Africa.

He has featured and scored in the two World Cups that Ghana has taken part in and if healthy, in 2014 he will be at the peak of his career should the Black Stars qualify to play in Brazil. Along with Adiyiah, the two will make up a fearsome strike force in Africa and the world.

In the meantime, it would be wise for a leading Bundesliga or a top seven English Premier League team to make a move for Gyan. Those leagues suit his style better than Spain or Italy - where he already played with Udinese.

For his part, if approached and feels the need to test himself beyond the French league, Gyan should choose a destination that lets him flourish into an even stronger leader and striker with plenty of minutes, and not simply furnish the expensive benches of clubs like Chelsea or Real Madrid. 

John Doyle at the Globe and Mail made what I believe to be a strong defence against the use of video technology in football this week. 

It nicely rebuts the Nigel Reed piece on CBC.ca both in terms of its substance and style.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said this week he will bring video review or some type of goal line technology up for discussion. Many wish he wouldn't. (Getty)

I believe Mr. Reed and his like-minded colleagues are sincerely interested in justice. But the idea that the game’s credibility is on the line at this World Cup is hyperbolic when the video-replay activists only focus on two or three instances out of 56 matches played and refereed. 

The call for what could eventually be a destructive change toward the Americanization of soccer via NFL-style video replay began in earnest during the Thierry Henry handball saga. The reader will note that the catastrophic decision against the Irish hardly dented the enthusiasm of the planet for the World Cup. 

The incident was largely a blip outside of Ireland and France-hating England.  A small but vocal circle in North America chimed in, as they always do, because this part of the world (where some sporting events have the feel of a nightclub but an accidental bit of athleticism occasionally breaks out) has apparently perfected sports presentation.

I haven’t seen any evidence that people are walking away from football because of these often karmic injustices. Ireland got as far as France partially due to Georgia suffering a bad call earlier in World Cup qualification. But nobody cries for Georgia (as will be the fate of all small countries if they can't afford to install technology).

Mr. Doyle argues that the video replay perfectionists have “a childish sense of right and wrong” and I believe he is correct. But what concerns me even more is that here the well-intentioned pundits who harangue about technology do so out of soccer-insecurity and that's not reason enough to alter the sport.

Those of us who love and follow the game here have at times felt a desperate need to justify it to the shrinking “soccer sucks” public.  Our groveling is quite sad and I used to be guilty of it. Now I prefer indifference.

I truly don’t care to force the sport’s growth on a slowly dwindling demographic that faintly pays attention to football every four years. They don’t deserve its richness and the sport doesn't need to cater to them. But soccer is growing here regardless due to shifting population dynamics, economic viability and its availability on satellite and cable television.

This World Cup will boast highest-in-the-world ratings just as the last one had. In May of 2011, the UEFA Champions League Final will be the most watched single day sports event of the year like it usually is. In 2012 the European Championship will be the biggest TV draw of that summer internationally.

No other sport will come close on a global level, they never do. North American viewers are a small but growing part of this success. The ones already seeking out these games are probably not going to switch to poker on TV because there’s video replay and it’s more just.

I don't see any gain for North American pundits in making wholesale changes to how football is enjoyed other than to take away another critique from the game's detractors in these parts. Who cares about the critics that don't watch the game? They are not going to come on side of soccer-the-good no matter how many concessions are made. Let them have their self-importance and three-down ball with 11 seconds of action for every four minutes of broadcast (not a documented statistic, but I bet I'm close).

Even in a country as isolated in international sports as Canada, slowly going are the days of hockey in the fall, Super Bowl in the winter and baseball in the spring. Broadcasters and journalists that set their calendars to this ancient North American ritual know that they are on a path to obscurity. They still strike out “soccer sucks” every chance they get like a bad PC salesman would at sleek Apple products in 2003 to make his seem more relevant to the customer.

Soccer runs virtually all year long in club and international play and its attractiveness to the general public due to increased exposure is undeniable. Men and women alike clamour for it due to reasons ranging from loyalty to sex appeal. The game’s growth is entwined in its imperfection.  Blemishes are accepted by most of its closest followers and they know what goes around comes around. It certainly did for France. Football doesn't need to thrive in a culture of instant gratification, the type in our society so dire that it recently led to a near-total destruction of global finance.

Football is not meant to work as a well run justice system, but rather like the unpredictability of romance.

Let it be.  

Day 19 - 5:00 p.m.

Spain 1-0 Portugal

Slowly but surely, this is becoming David Villa's World Cup. The now-Barcelona star once again fired Spain to victory, this time a 63rd minute goal was enough to see the Spanish past Portugal 1-0 in an Iberian derby. 

David Villa is mobbed by teammates Andres Iniesta (#6) and Pepe Reina (in his warmup suit) after firing Spain ahead against Portugal. (Getty)

Villa's fourth goal of the World Cup came as a result of a nice buildup through his soon-to-be Barcelona teammates. Andres Iniesta played the ball down the middle to Xavi. A backheel from the influential playmaker set Villa on course to goal. His initial shot was stopped by Eduardo but he was unable to deny Villa on the rebound as it hit the underside of the crossbar and fell in for the decisive goal.

The match could have seen more goals by either side in the first half. Spain started stronger, forcing Eduardo to save from Fernando Torres and Villa inside the opening 10 minutes.

Portugal responded quickly, nearly catching Iker Casillas off his line at the 22nd minute via Tiago. The save produced a juicy rebound spinning toward the Spanish goal, which Casillas pushed to safety before Hugo Almeida could head it in to goal.

Casillas was again bothered at the 29th minute from a 35 yard Ronaldo free kick. The Adidas Jabulani ball had severe movement after it was struck by the superstar. Casillas blocked it like a wicket keeper in cricket and his defenders did him the favour of clearing the rebound.

At the restart Spain was by far the dominant side, holding possession nearly by a 2:1 ratio and creating most of the chances.  Fernando Llorente nearly chipped one in with his head a few minutes before Villa's goal, but Eduardo was alert.

A potential equalizer from Portugal was thwarted when Spanish defender Joan Capdevila got his body in front of a drive from Danny at the edge of Spain's 18-yard box.

Spain outshot Portugal 19-9 in the match and held a 61%-39% advantage in possession with their silky passing at midfield and slicing runs into the Portuguese third. The overwhelming Spanish ball possession relegated Portugal's Ronaldo to virtually a tourist role in the second half.

Spain will now face Paraguay in the quarterfinals - the South Americans beat Japan on penalties earlier in Day 19.

Goals

Spain: D. Villa 63'
Portugal: None.

Discipline

Spain: Alonso 74' (caution)
Portugal: Tiago 80' (caution), Costa 89' (ejection)

Lineups

Spain: Casillas, Pique, Puyol, S. Ramos, Capdevila, Busquets, Alonso (Marchena 93'), A. Iniesta, Xavi, Torres (Llorente 58'), D. Villa (Pedro 88')

Portugal: Eduardo, B. Alves, R. Carvalho, R. Costa, F. Coentrao, Pepe (Mendes 72'), R. Meireles, Tiago, H. Almeida (Danny 58'), Simao (Liedson 72'), Ronaldo


Day 19 - 1:00 p.m.

Paraguay (5-3PK) 0-0 Japan

Penalties decided a 2010 World Cup match for the first time as Paraguay triumphed over Japan 5-3 after the teams played to 120 minutes of scoreless football.

Paraguay players race to celebrate with Oscar Cardozo after his penalty put the South Americans into the quarterfinals. (Getty)

Yuichi Komano was the villain for the Japanese. He hit the crossbar on Japan's third attempt, while Paraguay buried all five of their takes with Oscar Cardozo hitting the winner.

The South Americans enjoyed a stronger start to the match. Only a half-hour into the game Paraguay had a 65%-35% advantage in possession and chances from Lucas Barrios at the 20th minute and Roque Santa Cruz nine minutes later could have put them ahead going into half.

Japan had two to three good opportunities, one created out of nothing from Daisuke Matsui at the 22nd minute that hit the crossbar. As the first half wore on the Japanese pressed harder but couldn't find a breakthrough despite Tulio Tanaka and the always electric Keisuke Honda threatening Justo Villar's Paraguay goal.

The second half had a lot of tension as neither team wanted to make a mistake. Paraguay started to open up the Japanese a little bit, but Edgar Benitez was blocked by Yuji Nakazawa at the 53rd minute.

Tulio tried to sneak in a goal as a target man on a pair of set-pieces for Japan. But he headed the ball wide of target at the 63rd and in the dying moments of regulation, the outstretched defender in the Paraguay end just missed taking a shot while falling. 

The first great chance to score in extra time fell for Nelson Valdez was put through by Claudio Morel. An off-balance shot from Valdez failed to go through Eiji Kawashima as Japan withstood a seried of threats at the 97th minute.

Japan went back at the other end and almost nicked one when Honda rolled a free kick in through the area but the designed set-piece didn't get the redirection desired.

The teams then settled down for the second frame of extra time with penalties on the horizon.

Paraguay becomes the fourth South American team in the quarterfinals and moves on to play the winner of Spain-Portugal taking place later on Day 19.

Goals

Paraguay: None
Japan: None

Penalty Kicks

Paraguay: Barreto (goal), Lucas (goal), Riveros (goal), Valdez (goal), Cardozo (goal)
Japan: Endo (goal), Hasebe (goal), Komano (miss-crossbar), Honda (goal)

Discipline

Paraguay: Riveros 118'ET (caution)
Japan: Matsui 58' (caution), Nagatomo 72' (caution), Honda 90'+3' (caution), Endo 113'ET (caution)

Lineups

Paraguay: Villar, Morel, Alcaraz, Da Silva, Bonet, Ortigoza (Barreto 75'), Vera, Riveros, Benitez (Valdez 60'), Santa Cruz (Cardozo 94'ET), Lucas

Japan: Kawashima, Komano, Tulio, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Abe (Nakamura 81'), Endo, Matsui (Okazaki 65'), Hasebe, Honda, Okubo (Tamada 106'ET)

Day 18 - 5:00 p.m. EST

Brazil 3-0 Chile

One day after an Argentina-Germany quarterfinal was set, Netherlands and Brazil are poised for another dream match-up in the next round. Eariler in the day Holland beat Slovakia 2-1 and in the later match, Brazil earned a comfortable 3-0 win over South American rival Chile to make it all possible.

Juan (#4) was a menace on both sides of the pitch for Brazil in their 3-0 win over Chile on Monday. (Getty)

The opening Brazil goal came from a corner at the 35th minute. The delivery from Maicon toward a cluster of yellow shirts found an unmarked Juan leaping to meet the ball. A powerful header from the centre back beat Claudio Bravo convincingly at the 35th minute.

It took just three minutes for Brazil to double that advantage. Robinho played a ball from the left side to Kaka. The former FIFA World Player of the Year made a first-time pass to Luis Fabiano who had already split the Chilean defenders. Replay showed he was perfectly onside and the Sevilla striker rounded Bravo and buried his third of the World Cup.

Robinho scored the third for Brazil after a strong run from Ramires through the middle of the park at the 59th minute. At the top of the Chilean area, the ball got away from the Benfica midfielder, but Robinho was present to curl it in past Bravo.

Chile had started brightly but after withstanding early pressure, Brazil's was vicious on the counter. They were quick to attack and exploited any open space without compromising their organized formation.

To their credit, the Chileans pressed through the entire match for a breakthrough, but an inability to finish and a destructive defensive presence provided by the conditioned and athletic frame of Juan, disappointed Chile's approach time and again.

There have only been two losses suffered by South American teams in this tournament, and they've both come from Chile (their 2-1 Group H loss to Spain being the other).

Brazil will now play Holland in the quarterfinals on Friday, July 2 in what will be one of the most anticipated matches of the 2010 World Cup.

Goals

Brazil: Juan 35' Luis Fabiano 38' Robinho 59'
Chile: None

Discipline

Brazil: Kaka 30' (caution), Ramires 72' (caution)
Chile: Vidal 47' (caution), Fuentes 68' (caution), Millar 80' (caution)

Lineups

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Juan, D. Alves, M. Bastos, G. Silva, Ramires, Kaka (Kleberson 81'), Robinho (Gilberto 85'), L. Fabiano (Nilmar 76')

Chile: Bravo, Fuentes, Isla (Millar 62'), Jara, Contreras (Tello 46'), Carmona, Vidal, M. Gonzalez (Valdivia 46'), Sanchez, Suazo, Beausejour


Day 18 - 12:30 p.m. EST

Netherlands 2-1 Slovakia

Netherlands is through to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup after beating Slovakia 2-1 on Monday morning. 

Arjen Robben was ecstatic to score the opener for Netherlands on way to a 2-1 Round of 16 victory over Slovakia. (Getty)

Arjen Robben scored a goal in typical fashion for him over the past season. The Bayern Munich player cut inside from the right after running down a long pass from Wesley Sneijder at the 18th minute. With the defenders parting, Robben rocketed a 20 yard drive to the bottom left corner of Jan Mucha's goal.

The teams then exchanged chances, particularly in the second half. Slovakia might have equalized at the 67th minute as Miroslav Stoch cut inside and lanced a hard shot at the target, but Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg tipped the ball over the bar.

A better chance to level fell for Robert Vittek shortly thereafter. A through-ball sent him in on goal but he had to take a quick shot as the Dutch defenders closed. Stekelenburg however, pawed away Vittek's effort from less than 10 yards to protect the Dutch lead. 

Netherlands put the match away at the 84th minute when Sneijder was free in front of goal following a quick free kick found Dirk Kuyt wide open behind a Slovak defence that was in disarray.

The Liverpool winger drew Mucha out of his goal and delivered the pass for Sneijder to tap in to the open net for a 2-0 Holland lead.

The lone Slovak goal came late inside injury time after Stekelenburg brought Vittek down in the area. The striker dusted off and just as the referee was about to blow the final whistle, Vittek placed the penalty in the Dutch goal for his fourth successful strike of the tournament.

The 2-1 win for the Netherlands sets up a possible meeting with Brazil in the quarterfinals, if that country should get past Chile in a South American derby later today.

Goals

Netherlands: Robben 18' Sneijder 84'
Slovakia: Vittek 90'+4'

Discipline

Netherlands: Robben 31' (caution), Stekelenburg 90'+3' (caution)
Slovakia: Kucka 40' (caution), Kuyt 72' (caution)

Lineups

Netherlands: Stekelenburg, v.d. Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, v. Bronckhorst, v. Bommel, de Jong, Sneijder (Affellay 90'+2'), Kuyt, Robben (Elia 71'), v. Persie (Huntelaar 80')

Slovakia: Mucha, Pekarik, Skrtel, Zabavnik (Jakubko 88'), Durica, Stoch, Kucka, Weiss, Hamsik (Sapara 87'), Vittek, Jendrisek (Kopunek 71')

Day 17 - 5:30 p.m. EST

Argentina 3-1 Mexico

There will be another Argentina-Germany quarterfinal at this World Cup due to La Albiceleste beating Mexico 3-1 today in the Round of 16.

Argentina coach Diego Maradona entertains the crowd - and likely himself - as he juggled the ball during pregame warmups. (Getty)

A brace from Carlos Tevez and a tournament leader fourth goal from Gonzalo Higuain was more than enough to counter the lone late strike from Mexico's Javier Hernandez.

The opening goal from Tevez came under suspicion as he had drifted momentarily into an offside position after being beaten to the initial goal scoring chance by Mexican keeper Oscar Perez. Lionel Messi followed up on the rebound and floated the ball toward goal, where Tevez headed in while two defenders tried to close down the space.

The Mexicans didn't realize that Tevez may have been offside on this 26th minute strike until the video screen at the Soccer city Stadium in Johannesburg replayed the goal - something that FIFA doesn't allow over controversial plays - causing the Mexicans to realize Tevez' guilt.

The second goal arrived just seven minutes later when Mexican defender Ricardo Osorio gave the ball away to Higuain. The Real Madrid star took the gift, rounded Perez and placed the ball in goal to make it 2-0 for Argentina.

The third goal, the second from Tevez, was of a spectacular variety at the 52nd minute as the Manchester City forward unleashed a volley from 25 yards that rocketed into the top corner of the Mexican goal as Perez dived helplessly to his left.

Hernandez scored with 19 minutes remaining to give Mexico a consolation following a nice turn away from Martin Demichelis before beating Sergio Romero with some ease.

When Argentina met Germany in the last World Cup the Europeans took the match 4-2 on penalties after the teams were even at a goal apiece.

Goals

Argentina: Tevez 26' 52'
Mexico: Hernandez 71'

Discipline

Argentina: None
Mexico: Marquez 28' (caution)

Lineups

Argentina: Romero, Demichelis, Burdisso, Heinze, Otamendi, Mascherano, Di Maria (Jonas 79'), Maxi (Pastore 87'), Messi, Tevez (Veron 69'), Higuain

Mexico: Perez, Rodriguez, Salcido, Osorio, Juarez, Marquez, Torrado, Guardado (Franco 61'), dos Santos, Bautista (Barrera 46'), Hernandez

Day 17 - 12:30 p.m. EST

Germany 4-1 England

England has been sent packing from the World Cup by a rapacious German team that beat them 4-1. 

Wayne Rooney and England have slumbered out of yet another international tournament. (Getty)

Germany took a 2-0 lead inside 32 minutes but the English mounted a fightback.

Matthew Upson drove in a Steven Gerrard cross with his head to make it 2-1.

Minutes later controversy erupted as Frank Lampard seemed to have drawn England level. The ball hit the underside of the bar and had clearly crossed the goal line on review. However, it wasn't seen by the referee's linesman, sending the English to the dressing room trailing by a goal.

In the second half Germany put the match away within a matter of three minutes from a pair of Thomas Muller strikes at the 67th and 70th that made it 4-1 for the Germans.

Miroslav Klose opened the scoring at the 20th and Lukas Podolski followed up 12 minutes later to give the Germans the early momentum.

There will be much discussion about the implementation of video or goal line technology due to Lampard's disallowed goal, but that doesn't explain England's inability to force themselves on Germany in the second half knowing clearly what their objectives were.

Some Germans will say the disallowed Lampard goal was karmic due to a similar thing that happened to them against England in the 1966 World Cup Final. On that day Sir Geoff Hurst scored a disputed goal (that later showed not to have crossed the line) on way to a hat-trick and a 4-2 English triumph.

Germany moves on to the quarterfinals where it will face the winner of Argentina-Mexico.

Goals

Germany: Klose 20' Podolski 32' Muller 67' 70'
England: Upson 37'

Discipline

Germany: Friedrich 47' (caution)
England: Johnson 81' (caution)

Lineups

Germany: Neuer, Friedrich, Mertesacker, Boateng, Lahm, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Ozil (Kiessling 83'), Muller (Trochowski 72'), Podolski, Klose (Gomez 72')

England: James, Johnson (Wright-Phillips 87'), Terry, Upson, A. Cole, Barry, Lampard, Milner (J. Cole 64'), Gerrard, Defoe (Heskey 71'), Rooney

Is Cacau, seen here with Stuttgart, the man to fill the German void left by Michael Ballack?. (Getty)

There is also news today that England captain Rio Ferdinand will likely be a tourist at the World Cup due to a knee injury.

Some of the game’s top stars are hobbling with serious ailments. But football being of the magnitude that it is and the euphoria and anticipation for the World Cup so great, it really doesn’t matter who isn’t going to be there. 

My friend Soraya Soemadiredja once said to me of football, “I would pay to watch 22 random guys kick a ball around in an alleyway.” 

This is the great thing about this game. No individual star will ever be bigger than football and these missing superstars will in no way take the spotlight from this event.

There isn't a single North American sport can make that claim, particularly basketball with their off season free agent summit of superstars deciding which cities will be graced by their ego, er, presence next season.

Back on topic. 

What these injuries have done for the respective countries is offer a new path forward.  While that silver lining may not be good enough for some, this is particularly the case for Germany.

Yesterday the Germans beat Bosnia – a country that came within a playoff match of making it to the World Cup – 3-1 in a friendly. In the second half they were a revelation, scoring three times to erase Bosnia’s first half lead and in the process a new star may have arrived on the world scene.

At 29, Brazilian-born Cacau is not exactly new to European football, but he did become German citizen only recently.

Not a moment too soon for Deutschland either.  Entering as a second half substitute, Cacau led the attack brilliantly and was a consistent and lively presence as Germany threatened the Bosnian goal repeatedly. His addition perked up strikers Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller.

The 33-year old Ballack, the man Cacau is expected to replace on attack, has been the centrepiece of a deceptively deep German squad for the last two World Cups. They were finalists in 2002, and collected the third place medal at home four years ago. 

Ballack wasn’t a lone contributor to German success. Miroslav Klose, who looked awful against Bosnia, has 10 World Cup goals to his credit. He may not get a chance to score another one. (UPDATE: Klose has put me in my place).

Germany has been forced to move beyond Ballack and now probably will close the book on Klose as a regular. It’s a brave new world under fullback and new captain Philipp Lahm, whose age at 26 betrays the fact that this is already his fourth major international tournament (Euro 2004 and 2008, World Cup 2006). 

Lahm scored the equalizer against Bosnia before a pair of Bastian Schweinsteiger penalties created from the work of 21-year old Marko Marin and Bayern Munich's 20-year old striker Muller, pushed the Germans past the finish line comfortably ahead at 90 minutes.

One has to be gutted for the chances of African nations Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire as they will endure without Essien and Drogba respectively.

The setback for England on the Ferdinand front in addition to the earlier Beckham woe will test their depth, and cynics already believe this foreshadows yet another infamously heartbreaking English exit.

Germany without Ballack however, is entering new territory with a group of 20-something wunderkinds who seem prepared to take the world by storm.

Day 16 - 5:30 p.m. EST

USA 1-2 (AET) Ghana

Ghana has emerged as the African hope for success on the continent's soil following their 2-1 win over the United States.

Landon Donovan and the United States' World Cup has come to an end in the Round of 16. (Getty)

The Black Stars took an early lead, but the Americans equalized in the second half. The first match of the 2010 World Cup that went to extra time, had a breakthrough just three minutes into the first added frame when Asamoah Gyan powered past a pair of U.S. defenders and struck the winner.

Kevin Prince Boateng, who goes by the moniker "Prince" opened the scoring at the fifth minute. From the left side of the Ghanaian attack, the forward picked out his goal slotting the ball on the inside of U.S. keeper Tim Howard and it was 1-0 for the Black Stars.

Ghana continued to press but a second goal wasn't forthcoming as Prince, Gyan and Kwadwo Asamoah made their presence felt going forward.

The U.S. came close at the 35th minute when Robbie Findley had a chance to send the Yanks level, however, Richard Kingson made a foot save as he has many times in this World Cup.

The equalizer did arrive in the second half when the Americans kept knocking at Ghana's gate.

Clint Dempsey nutmegged John Mensah, and was throw on goal. Mensah's namesake Jonathan attempted to cut Dempsey off on his path, but only managed to hack down the Fulham forward, causing referee Viktor Kassai of Hungary to call a penalty.

Landon Donovan is always the man to take these if he is on the pitch for the Americans. The Los Angeles man from Major League Soccer calmly fired the ball off the inside post and in with Kingson going the other way. The score was then 1-1 after 62 minutes.
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Ghana looked to tire as the match progressed and the Americans were on the front foot. But once regulation time ended, Ghana searched out a second wind in extra time and Gyan capitalized. Andre Ayew sent a long ball over an unsuspecting American backline for Gyan. The Rennes striker muscled past Jay Demerit with his fellow defender Carlos Bocanegra also in the area and struck a left foot volley past Tim Howard. The 93rd minute goal meant 2-1 for the Black Stars.

The remaining 27 minutes of extra time was sloppy from both sides. The Americans seemed to have hit their emotional peak earlier this week when they defeated Algeria to reach the Round of 16.

Ghana will now carry the dreams of a continent into the quarterfinals. They will face Uruguay

Goals

United States: Donovan 62'PK
Ghana: Prince 5' Gyan 93'ET

Discipline

United States: Clark 7' (caution), Cherundolo 18' (caution), Bocanegra 68' (caution)
Ghana: Jonathan 61' (caution), A. Ayew 90'+2' (caution)

Lineups

United States: Howard, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Demerit, Bornstein, Clark (Edu 31'), Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, Findley (Feilhaber 46'), Altidore (Gomez 91'ET)

Ghana: Kingson, Sarpei (Addy 73'), Pantsil, Mensah, Jonathan, Inkoom (Muntari 113'ET), Annan, A. Ayew, K. Asamoah, Prince (S. Appiah 78'), Gyan

Day 16 - 12:30 p.m. EST

Uruguay 2-1 South Korea

A Luis Suarez brace - including a cracking curler off the back post at the 80th minute - sent Uruguay into the quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over South Korea at the World Cup.

South Korean keeper Jung Sung-Ryong watches in mid-air as Luis Suarez' second goal curls into the net. (Getty)

Suarez opened the scoring at the eighth minute when Diego Forlan's harmless cross into the area was horribly mishandled by a momentarily unfocused Jung Sung Ryong in the Korean goal. The ball slipped by him and onto the foot of Suarez who fired into an open net for a 1-0 Uruguay lead.

The Koreans showed they are capable of competing with one of South America's most stylish teams in this match - despite never having beaten an opponent from that continent. Three minutes before conceding Park Chu-Young hit the post from a free kick and just past the half hour mark, the Monaco striker lashed a 25-yard shot just wide of target.

The Asians took the match to the Uruguayans in the second half while the South Americans seemed happy to soak up the pressure as rain fell on the already chewed-up Port Elizabeth Stadium pitch in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The pressure materialized into an equalizer at the 68th minute. A free kick from the left side by Ki Sung-Yeung was headed upward by Mauricio Victorino. Neither Diego Lugano nor Jorge Fucile could track the ricochet and goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was hesitant. As the Uruguay keeper finally charged, Lee Chung-Yong got a head to it and pushed it in past Muslera. It was 1-1 with just over 20 minutes to go.

Uruguay awakened once more after the equalizer. As they pressed forward, the winner arrived with just 10 minutes remaining.

Forlan's corner found its way to Suarez at the far edge of the box. The 23-year old Ajax superstar slid the ball out to space and fired on Jung's goal, forcing a curling delivery to hit the inside of the upright and fall in for the 2-1 lead.

This set-up for a frantic finish as Koreans fought for their World Cup lives. They should have gone level a second time at the 87th minute when Lee Dong-Gook was played onside from a through-ball. The substitute striker squared his body to goal and fired the heavy rain-beaten ball low to the underside of Muslera. The ball hit the keeper and started trickling toward goal, however, a combination of the deflection and pitch condition slowed down its progress as La Celeste defenders cleared the chance.

The brace for Suarez gives him three goals for the tournament, putting him in a tie for the Golden Boot lead.  Uruguay will wait the winner of USA v. Ghana to be played later today to find out who their quarterfinal opponent will be.   

Goals

Uruguay: Suarez 8' 80'
South Korea: Park Chung-Yong 68'

Discipline

Uruguay: None
South Korea: Kim Jung Woo 38' (caution), Cha Du-Ri 69' (caution), Cho Yong-Hyung 83' (caution)

Lineups

Uruguay: Muslera, Lugano, Godin (Victorino 46') Fucile, M. Pereira, A. Pereira (Lodeiro 74'), Perez, Arevalo Rios, Cavani, Forlan, Suarez (A. Fernandez 84')

South Korea: Jung Sung-Ryong, Cho Yong-Hyung, Cha Du-Ri, Lee Young-Pyo, Lee Jung-Soo, Kim Jung-Woo, Lee Chung-Yong, Kim Jae-Sung (Lee Dong-Gook), Ki Sung-Yueng (Yeum Ki-Hun 85'), Park Ji-Sung, Park Chu-Young

Day 15 - Summary

David Villa scored his third goal of the tournament today and is in rich form heading into the knockout stage encounter against Portugal. (Getty)

Spain put their stumbling start to the 2010 World Cup behind them and won Group H after a 2-1 win over Chile. This sets up a tantalizing Iberian matchup in the Round of 16 between the Spaniards and Portugal, who finished second in Group G.

Portugal drew Brazil in a largely uneventful scoreless draw as both teams were virtually guaranteed a place in the next round.

For winning Group G, Brazil will get to play Chile next in a South American derby. 

The loss to Spain made Chile the first CONMEBOL loser in the tournament. Prior to their loss to Spain, South American countries had racked up a string of 14 unbeaten performances (10 wins, 4 draws). Chile is also the only country from their continent to not win its group.

In other matches Cote d'Ivoire finished its World Cup tournament with a 3-0 win over North Korea in Group G. Both teams have been eliminated. Also gone are Switzerland and Honduras, who played to a scoreless draw. The ouster blighted a great start to the campaign for the Swiss who shocked the world by beating Spain 1-0 in their Group H opener.

The group stage is now over and the Round of 16 starts Saturday with Uruguay v. South Korea and United Stats v. Ghana as first up.

All recaps from Day 15 are below.

Day 15 - 7:00 p.m. EST

Chile 1-2 Spain

First half goals from David Villa and Andres Iniesta were enough to lead Spain past Chile 2-1 on the last day of group matches. The win, combined with a Switzerland draw against North Korea means both Spain and Chile move on to the Round of 16 from Group H. The Europeans finish first on the strength of a superior goal difference and play Portugal next; Chile booked a date with Brazil.

Fernando Torres is still struggling to find match fitness for Spain. (Getty)

The opening goal arrived at the 24th minute. Xabi Alonso sent Fernando Torres down the left side just as he would have once done at Anfield. The out-of-form Spanish striker caused enough concern for Chilean keeper Claudio Bravo to charge out of his net. A sliding Bravo cleared the danger, but only momentarily as the ball fell to the foot of David Villa. The new Barcelona striker took a one-time 40 yard shot from the left channel. The ball curled in the air and bounced into the empty net to make it 1-0 Spain.

At the 37th minute the lead was doubled by Andres Iniesta. Villa took a pass from Alonso that had him sneaking behind the Chilean defence. He quickly drew the attention of their backline, leaving other attackers without cover. From the left side of the area, he found Iniesta waiting at the top of the box. Iniesta delivered a perfect low strike to the far corner of Bravo's goal and it was 2-0 to Spain.

As that play developed, Marco Estrada picked up a second yellow for clipping Fernando Torres, which reduced Chile to 10 players.

With a man down and the danger of Switzerland nicking a goal to get ahead of them in Group H standings, the South Americans fought back in the second half. Substitute Rodrigo Millar pulled back a goal just two minutes after his introduction, when his 20-yard shot was deflected into the net from a Gerard Pique mistimed block. Spain's lead was cut in half with a 2-1 score line.

That goal made low-scoring Switzerland's requirements more difficult and as the Chile-Spain match progressed, it became clear that the Swiss weren't going to deliver. Chile and Spain were content to wind down the final minutes as they were both through to the Round of 16.

Goals

Chile: Millar 47
Spain: Villa 24' Iniesta 37'

Discipline

Chile: Medel 15' (caution), Ponce 19' (caution), Estrada 21' (caution) 37' (caution + ejection)
Spain: None

Lineups

Chile: Bravo, Ponce, Isla, Medel, Jara, Vidal, Valdivia (Paredes 46'), Gonzalez (Millar 46'), Estrada, Sanchez (Orellana 65'), Beausejour

Spain: Casillas, Pique, Puyol, Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Busquets, Iniesta, Alonso (Martinez 73'), Xavi, Torres (Fabregas 55'), David Villa

Switzerland 0-0 Honduras

After their promising start to the World Cup - a 1-0 win over Spain in the Group H opener - Switzerland failed to impress further and left the tournament finishing third and out of knockout contention. In their final group match, the Swiss drew HOnduras 0-0. Had they won 2-0, they would have gone through in place of Chile.

Switzerland's Benjamin Huggel (#6) and David Suazo of Honduras head home with their respective countries. (Getty)

They missed a great chance to turn up the pressure on Chile when Major League Soccer-bound striker Blaise Nkufo failed to score two minutes to halftime taking a good pass from Eren Derdiyok.

Honduras had a good chance at the 53rd and then again at the 71st minute, both times Edgar Alvarez and David Suazo were involved. Suazo failed to hit the target from a header on the initial opportunity after Alvarez served it to him. Suazo returned the favour on the second chance, but Alvarez was tipped over by Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio.

Hakan Yakin's introduction added some zest to the Swiss attack and Derdiyok had a chance to score at the 63rd minute for Switzerland but could only apply a weak shot on target. Further half-chances from Alexander Frei and Stephan Lichtsteiner also went awry for the Swiss as they bowed out of the tournament with four points.

The draw was the only point that Honduras could muster in South Africa and is the only CONCACAF representative to return home with Mexico and the United States moving on to the Round of 16.

Goals

Switzerland: None
Honduras: None

Discipline

Switzerland: Fernandes 34' (caution)
Honduras: Thomas 4' (caution), Suazo 58' (caution), Chavez 64' (caution), W. Palacios 89' (caution)

Lineups

Switzerland: Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, von Bergen, Ziegler, Grichting, Huggel (Shaqiri 78'), Barnetta, Inler, Fernandes (Yakin 46'), Nkufo (Frei 69'), Derdiyok

Honduras: Valladares, Chavez, Figueroa, Bernardez, Sabillon, J.N. Palacios (Welcome 78'), Thomas, Nunez (Martinez 67'), W. Palacios, Alvarez, Suazo (Turcios 87')
 

Portugal 0-0 Brazil

Portugal and Brazil played to a largely unexciting scoreless draw in their Group G finale - as would have been expected of two teams that were virtually through to the next round.

Brazil's Maicon (#2) and Coentrao battle for a ball in a game that featured few chances. (Getty)

With a win, Portugal could have finished ahead of Brazil but a loss and a massive Ivory Coast win could have knocked the Portuguese out of the World Cup. In the end neither happened and the South Americans and Europeans finished one-two respectively in the group.

Nilmar had the best scoring chance at the 30 minute mark for Brazil. But his shot was tipped on to the bar by Eduardo in the Portugal goal. Luis Fabiano then headed wide by inches for Brazil at the 39th minute, sending the countries to the break without any goals.

Ronaldo looked to thrill the Portuguese fans at the 50th minute, but his strong run was thwarted by Brazilian back Lucio.

The Brazilian defender again made a good tackle on Ronaldo at the hour mark, but the ball rolled to Raul Meireles, whose shot was saved by Julio Cesar, refusing to concede for Brazil.

The group win for Brazil sets up an all-South American meeting against Chile. In an all Iberian encounter for Portugal, they'll have a showdown with neighbouring football power Spain in the next round.

Goals

Portugal: None
Brazil: None

Discipline

Portugal: Ronaldo 15' (caution), Duda 25' (caution), Tiago 31' (caution), Pepe 40' (caution), Coentrao 45' (caution)
Brazil: Juan 25' (caution), Felipe Melo 43' (caution)

Lineups

Portugal: Eduardo, Alves, Duda (Simao 54'), Carvalho, Danny, Pepe (P. Mendes 64'), Meireles (Veloso 84'), Tiago, R. Costa, Ronaldo, Coentrao

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Juan, Felipe Melo (Josue 44'), M. Bastos, G. Silva, Fabiano (Grafite 85'), D. Alves, Baptista (Ramires 82'), Nilmar
 

North Korea 0-3 Cote d'Ivoire

Ivory Coast needed to make up a massive goal difference and hope for a Portugal loss to make it through. They didn't get the result they sought from the other match, but did manage to get three goals against North Korea in a 3-0 win. Both teams are out of the World Cup with the Ivorians on four points and North Korea with nothing to show from Group G.

It's the end of the line for North Korea's Ji Yun Nam (#8) and fellow World Cup participant Aruna Dindane. (Getty)

The Elephants started their scoring early. At the 14th minute Yaya Toure popped one in from the edge of the area to make it 1-0 for Cote d'Ivoire.

Their second goal arrived six minutes later. An individual effort from Didier Drogba rocked the underside of the bar. The rebound was slotted home by Romaric who was close by to open a 2-0 margin.

Asia-zone countries have shown their skill on set-pieces in this edition of the tournament and another one nearly did so at the 25th minute. Hong Yong-Jo hit one that would have certainly beaten the frozen Ivory Coast keeper Boubacar Barry had it been on target.

Ivorians responded to that scare with gut-busting offense and the next closes chance they had in the first half was courtesy of Gervinho who blasted a low shot against the post at the 38th minute.

Drogba had come close to scoring at the restart, but it was his Chelsea teammate Salomon Kalou that achieved a breakthrough in the second half. Arthur Boka's cross found Kalou ready for the strike and his volley was smashed past North Korean keeper Ri Myong Guk at the 82nd minute for the third and final goal.

Ivory Coast was the final African team still technically alive in the World Cup but their exit means Ghana is the only representative of the host continent in the knockout round.

North Korea was one of two teams to leave the tournament on zero points along with Cameroon. But their minus-11 goal difference is by far the worst at the World Cup - much of it came in a 7-0 drubbing agianst Portugal.

Goals

North Korea: None
Cote d'Ivoire: Yaya Toure 14' Romaric 20' Kalou 82'

Discipline

North Korea: None
Cote d'Ivoire: None

Lineups

North Korea: Ri Myong-Guk, Cha Jong-Hyok, Ri Jun-Il, Pak Nam-Chol, Ri Kwang-Chon, Ji Yun-Nam, Pak Chol-Jin, Mun In-Guk (Choe Kum-Chol 67'), An Yong-Hak, Hong Yong-Jo, Jong Tae-Se

Cote d'Ivoire: Barry, Boka, Kolo Toure, Zokora, Tiote, Gervinho (Dindane 64'), Romaric (Doumbia 79'), Keita (Kalou 64'), Yaya Toure, Eboue, Drogba

Day 14 - Summary

Robert Vittek was the two-goal hero for Slovakia in the Italy ouster. (Getty)

This day witnessed Italy's unceremonious exit from the 2010 World Cup. The holders were dumped out by Slovakia 3-2. The first time World Cup participants played as they did when beating Russia in the European playoffs before qualifying. Italy made a late charge but weren't able to overcome their defensive lapses.

Paraguay drew New Zealand 0-0 in the other Group F match, allowing the South Americans to win it outright and Slovakia to finish second.

Later in the day Group E action featured Netherlands beating Cameroon 2-1 while Japan was victorious over Denmark 3-1. The Dutch finished first in the group and the Samurais took second.

These results setup Netherlands to play Slovakia on June 28 while the next day Paraguay takes on Japan on the other side of the knockout bracket.

Day 14 - 5:15 p.m.

Cameroon 1-2 Netherlands

Group E was decided on Thursday and to unsurprisingly the Netherlands was able to hang on to take top spot with a maximum nine points from three matches. As group winner, they face Slovakia in the Round of 16 on June 28.

Robin van Persie scored at the 36th minute for Holland when some one-two passing between him and Rafael van der Vaart sent the Arsenal man through on goal, where he placed his shot between the legs of Cameroon keeper Hamidou Souleymanou and it was 1-0 for the Dutch.

Cameroon was already ousted from World Cup contention by the conclusion of its second match. The Indomitable Lions were looking for a consolation victory and it seemed something was in the works in the second half when van der Vaart handled in the Dutch area.

Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o waves goodbye to the 2010 World Cup. (Getty)

Samuel Eto'o took the penalty for Cameroon and made the score 1-1 with a finish high and to Maarten Stekelenburg's right. It was the second and final goal in this World Cup for Eto'o. A disappointing return from the Inter Milan striker who was unsettled even before a single ball was kicked in this competition due to - he says - pressure from the media and great Cameroonians of previous World Cups.

A single point would have given Cameroon something from this tournament, but Arjen Robben - making his South Africa debut - helped put an end to that possibility with a tremendous strike from outside the box that ringed off the upright. The ball bounced out to a wide open Klaas Jan Huntelaar who made no mistake in making it 2-1 Holland at the 83rd minute.

Netherlands joins Argentina as the only two teams to have won all their group matches. Brazil and Chile are the only other teams that could join that exclusive club if they manage victories on Friday.

Goals

Cameroon: Eto'o 65'PK
Netherlands: v. Persie 36' Huntelaar 83'

Discipline

Cameroon: Nkoulou 25' (caution), Mbia 81' (caution)
Netherlands: van der Vaart 65' (caution), Kuyt 17' (caution), v. Bronckhorst 70' (caution)

Lineups

Cameroon: Souleymanou, Assou-Ekotto, Nkoulou (Song 73'), Bong (Aboubakar 56'), Chedjou, Geremi, Nguemo, Makoun, Mbia, Choupo-Moting (Idrissou 72'), Eto'o

Netherlands: Stekelenburg, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Boulahrouz, v. Bronckhorst, v. Bommel, de Jong, Sneijder, van der Vaart (Robben 73'), Kuyt (Elia 66'), van Persie (Huntelaar 59')


Denmark 1-3 Japan

A pair of direct free kicks in the first half helped Japan to a 3-1 win over Denmark in earning a place in the Round of 16. This was realistically a match for second place in Group E as Netherlands seemed destined to finish atop the group. Both teams entered the match with three points, but with the Japan grabbed the second place berth and will play against Paraguay in the first knockout stage on June 29. 

Japan's Keisuke Honda is emerging as a star of the 2010 World Cup. (Getty)

The first Japanese goal came from Keisuke Honda at the 17th minute. From 30 yards to Thomas Sorensen's left, the CSKA Moscow player let it fly as the Danish keeper seemed committed to going the other way. By the time Sorensen recovered his footing, the ball was well on its way to the back of the net for 1-0 to Japan.

Only 13 minutes later Japan earned another free kick from a dangerous position staring almost straight at the Danish goal. Sorensen directed his wall to guard the left side while the keeper took a central position. Japanese midfielder Yasuhito Endo made his observations, then curled a beautiful dead ball around the Danish wall as it went up and down and inside the left post - it was 2-0 Japan at the half hour.

Makoto Hasebe's defending handed Denmark a lifeline at the 80th minute as referee Jerome Damon judged him to have fouled Daniel Agger inside the box. The penalty was missed by Jon Dahl Tomasson but he followed up on the rebound after Eiji Kawashima stopped him on the initial attempt. The Japanese lead was cut at the 81st minute, and at 2-1 Denmark still needed a pair to advance as Japan held the tiebreak advantage. 

The Samurais sealed it six minutes later though as clever footwork from Honda allowed the attacker to penetrate the box. From there he found Shinji Okazaki in position to convert for the 3-1 final.

This marks the first time Japan moves into the Round of 16 since co-hosting the tournament with South Korea in 2002. This is their fourth consecutive World Cup finals.

Goals

Denmark: Tomasson 81'
Japan: Honda 17' Endo 30' Okazaki 87'

Discipline

Denmark: Kroldrup 29' (caution), C. Poulsen 48' (caution), Bendtner 66' (caution)
Japan: Endo 12' (caution) Nagatomo 26' (caution)

Lineups

Denmark: Sorensen, C. Poulsen, Agger, Jacobsen, Kroldrup (Larsen 56'), S. Poulsen, Kahlenberg (Eriksen 63'), Jorgensen (J. Poulsen 34'), Rommedahl, Tomasson, Bendtner

Japan: Kawashima, Tulio, Komano, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Endo (Inamoto 91'), Abe, Matsui (Okazaki 74'), Hasebe, Honda, Okubo (Konno 88')


Day 14 - 12:15 p.m.

Slovakia 3-2 Italy

Slovakia dumped World Cup holders Italy out of the tournament with a 3-2 win that provided one of the best second half displays in recent memory at this stage of the tournament.

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro stalks off the pitch in sharp contrast from four years ago. (Getty)

With the win, Slovakia moves to second place in Group F behind Paraguay, and advances to the knockout stage. The loss for Italy means last place in the group and a humiliating early exit after their 2006 World Cup triumph in Germany.

Slovakia's first goal came at the 25th minute from Robert Vittek. A weak giveaway by Daniele De Rossi led to a quick Slovak breakout that saw Vittek take a pass at the top of the 18 yard box, and hit the ball past Federico Marchetti's outstretched right arm to make it 1-0 Slovakia.

In truth they should have had that lead even earlier, but Marek Hamsik's underwhelming World Cup campaign continued when he missed the target from inside the area unchallanged at the sixth minute.

Marchetti then came to Italy's rescue at the 35th minute when he got his fingertips to Zdeno Strba's long-range drive to push it wide. He survived another scare in first half injury time when Juraj Kucka also tried a thumping shot from distance, but the ball diverted just wide and smashed the side netting.

Italy's most likely chance to score in the first half in fact, came from a Slovak own goal threat when Martin Skrtel headed over for a corner while defending a cross.

Marcello Lippi made positive substitutions to start the second half. He introduced wingback Christian Maggio to provide some pace on the right flank and a third striker, Fabio Quagliarella, was employed alongside Vincenzo Iaquinta and Antonio Di Natale to increase the forward presence.  Andrea Pirlo was also brought on later to add some veteran ingenuity to the midfield.

Quagliarella made an impact in the second half and nearly equalized at the 67th minute but for Skrtel clearing him off the line after Slovak keeper Jan Mucha was clearly beaten.

At the 73rd minute, Slovakia went up 2-0, which kicked off a series of late goals that had Johannesburg - and much of the world - bouncing in excitement. 

Hamsik's corner had a boomerang effect as the ball found its way back to the Slovakia captain who makes his living in the Italian Serie A for Napoli. The 22-year old slid a pass back inside the area and Vittek got a foot to it ahead of Giorgio Chiellini. The redirection surprised Marchetti in goal as he watched it sneak in on his inside post for Vittek's brace and a two-goal Slovakia lead.

When it seemed all was over for Italy, they clawed one back. Quagliarella played a one-two into the box with Iaquinta and got his shot away. Mucha made the stop on the Napoli forward, but Di Natale was on hand to pop in the rebound and cutting the Slovak lead to 2-1.

It was then surely all over for the champions when the Italian defence lost focus and allowed Kamil Kopunek to run on to the end of a throw, then lobbing over Marchetti to make it 3-1 for Slovakia.

Somehow the Italians still had one more goal in reserve to make it interesting to the final whistle. De Rossi worked hard to win a ball at the top of the 18 yard box. It fell back to Quagliarella. He recognized Mucha was off his line, so the Italian chipped the ball from 25 yards over the Slovak keeper and astonishingly, pulled Italy back within a goal at 3-2.

A flurry of activity in the Slovak box nearly gifted Simone Pepe the equalizer at the 95th minute, but the midfielder could only manage to strike his shot wide from Mucha's right.

Slovakia will now likely play the Netherlands in the next round as that country is widely expected to win Group E unless there is a surprise.

Italy joins France as the two finalists from the 2006 World Cup in Germany bow out early. 

Goals

Slovakia: Vittek 25' 73' Kopunek 89'
Italy: Di Natale 81' Quagliarella 92'

Discipline

Slovakia: Strba 16' (caution), Vittek 40' (caution), Pekarik 50' (caution), Mucha 82' (caution)
Italy: Cannavaro 31' (caution), Chiellini 67' (caution), Pepe 76' (caution), Quagliarella 83' (caution)

Lineups

Slovakia: Mucha, Pekarik, Skrtel, Zabavnik, Durica, Strba (Kopunek 87'), Stoch, Kucka, Hamsik, Jendrisek (Petras 94'), Vittek (sestak 92')

Italy: Marchetti, Criscito (Maggio 46'), Chiellini, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Pepe, Gattuso (Quagliarella 46'), Montolivo (Pirlo 56'), De Rossi, Di Natale, Iaquinta


Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand

New Zealand captain Ryan Nelsen (right) exchanges postgame pleasantries with Paraguay's Roque Santa Cruz as the Kiwis exit South Africa. (Getty)

Paraguay is through to the Round of 16 following an uneventful scoreless draw against New Zealand. The win gives the South Americans five points and top spot in Group F. They will discover who the second place team in Group E - their next round opponent - will be later today.

New Zealand could have moved on with a win but they finish the tournament undefeated with three draws, falling a point short of reaching the knockout stage.

Denis Caniza tried for a goal from distance at the 29th minute for Paraguay, but the ball went over the bar after a promising approach.

New Zealand's first truly positive action came at the 48th minute when Tony Lochhead made a cross from the left side for Simon Elliott, but the midfielder could only manage to put his effort slightly off target.

Paraguay wanted to leave nothing to chance and came looking for a goal after the hour mark. Kiwi keeper Mark Paston however, was equal to the challenge.

Paston made a series of stops in the final half hour to keep the match 0-0. He saved from a Cristian Riveos header at the 62nd minute, turned away Edgar Benitez at the 76th and frustrated Lucas Barrios and Roque Santa Cruz as they searched for a winner.

New Zealand will go home with their heads held high, scoring twice and earning three points at the World Cup - the same as France and Italy combined.

Paraguay were worthy winners of Group F, having played attractive, organized football. They've also extended South America's unbeaten streak at the 2010 World Cup to 13 games - 10 wins and three draws - with Brazil and Chile still left to feature in group matches on Friday.

Goals

Paraguay: None
New Zealand: None

Discipline

Paraguay: V. Caceres 10' (caution), Santa Cruz 41' (caution)
New Zealand: Nelsen 56' (caution)

Lineups

Paraguay: Villar, Morel, Caniza, J. Caceres, Da Silva, Vera, V. Caceres, Riveros, Valdez (Benitez 67'), Cardozo (Lucas 67'), Santa Cruz

New Zealand: Paston, Lochhead, Reid, Vicelich, Nelsen, Smith, Elliott, Bertos, Fallon (Wood 69'), Killen (Brockie 79'), Smeltz
 

Steven Gerrard (#4) will want to relive the famous 5-1 English win over Germany from September 1, 2001 in the next round. Above, Gerrard, a goal scorer in that match, fights for a ball against Sebastian Deisler. (Getty)

Groups C and D both provided drama to the very end, making the outcome of the respective table uncertain until the final whistle. When it did finish, the favourites in each group - England, USA in Group C and Germany, Ghan from 'D' emerged.

In Group C the United States and England advanced in that order. They were both 1-0 winners, with the U.S. beating Algeria at the death thanks to a Landon Donoan goal in injury time. England got on thanks to Jermain Defoe's strike against Slovenia but a superior goal difference puts the Americans on top. Slovenia finished third and Algeria exits the World Cup with the East European team.

Group D - for me the true 'Group of Death' in this tournament - wrapped up on Wednesday with the front runners Ghana and Germany swapping positions into the next round. A 1-0 win by Germany over Ghana put them on top, which means they'll play England in the Round of 16. Ghana's next opponent will be the United States, while Australia and Serbia are sent home early.  Group D is the only one so far where all four teams have won at least one match.

Recap of all four matches from Day 13 below.

Day 13 - 5:00 p.m. EST

Ghana 0-1 Germany

Germany and Ghana are both through to the Round of 16 following a 1-0 win for the Germans and the result from Australia-Serbia in the final matches of Group D.

In a result reminiscent of the Group A finale Tuesday, the Germans won the highly competitive Group D with a one-goal win in their last match. They finished with six points, two ahead of Ghana.

Both teams showed attack from the outset, with Germany coming close twice inside the first 11 minutes. 

Mesut Ozil (#8) leads Germany into the Round of 16. (Getty)

Ghana keeper Richard Kingson stopped Thomas Muller at the 7th minute, and then a Ghanaian deflection from Jonathan Mensah was saved by the keeper four minutes later which would have surely been an own goal otherwise.

Kingson had to be immense once more at the 26th minute when Mesut Ozil was through on goal. The young German star was unable to negotiate past the Ghana keeper on his breakaway.

Kwadwo Asamoah had a similar chance to Ozil's at the 52nd minute to put Ghana ahead, but he clattered his shot against the legs of German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

At the hour mark the deadlock was broken when Muller squared to Ozil from the right side. The 21-year old Werder Bremen winger who will definitely be in demand across Europe, fired with the left foot from 20 yards, beating Kingson and putting Germany ahead 1-0.

Ghana kept pressing for the equalizer, unsure of what was to expect in the Australia-Serbia match. A loss would make them vulnerable to exiting the tournament if Serbia managed to get a result.

Asamoah Gyan has scored both of Ghana's goals from the penalty spot in the group stage. He tried to create one from open play with a backheel for Andre Ayew that the midfielder fired high just minutes after Ozil's goal.

Germany settled down the Ghanaian attack after that, relegating the Black Stars to just half-chances and not much more than that. It was soon realized that Australia beat Serbia 2-1, allowing Ghana to advance regardless of the loss.

As a result of winning Group D, Germany will play England on June 27. Ghana faces the United States on June 26.

Goals

Ghana: None
Germany: Ozil 60'

Discipline

Ghana: A. Ayew 40' (caution)
Germany: Muller 43' (caution)

Lineups

Ghana: Kingson, Sarpei, Pantsil, John Mensah, Jonathan Mensah, Annan, Tagoe (Muntari 64'), A. Ayew (Adiyiah 92'), K. Asamoah, Prince, Gyan (Amoah 82')

Germany: Neuer, Friedrich, Mertesacker, Boateng (Jansen 73'), Lahm, Khedira, Schweinsteiger (Kroos 81'), Ozil, Muller (Trochowski 67'), Cacau, Podolski


Australia 2-1 Serbia

Only a decisive Australian win, combined with a Ghana loss could have sent the Aussies into the knockout stage. Germany came through by beating Ghana in Johannesburg, but the Socceroos could only manage a marginal 2-1 victory over Serbia in Nelspruit, picking up their first win on the 2010 tournament and finishing third in Group D.

Jason Cullina of Australia (left) and Serbian captain Dejan Stankovic see their World Cup dreams crash to an early end. (Getty)

The first half finished scoreless despite lots of action at both ends, particularly in the Australian third as Serbia knew that a win would put them through to the next phase.

It became a contest between Serbia midfielder Milos Krasic and Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer in the first 12 minutes. Krasic put one on target at the sixth minute but Schwarzer was up to the challenge. Six minutes later the Serb was through on goal but couldn't find the angle to squeeze the ball in past the Socceroo keeper.

Further Serbian chances in the first half were missed by Branislav Ivanovic and Nikola Zigic before Krasic had a goal called back for offside.

Australia regrouped at halftime and took the lead at the 69th minute via Tim Cahill. The forward missed the Socceroos last match due to a red card he received in the opener, but made good for his absence with a strong header giving Australia a 1-0 lead.

Just four minutes later Brett Holman doubled the Australian lead. The second half substitute hit the ball from distance and the ball skipped in quickly beyond the reach of Serbian keeper Vladimir Stojkovic, making it 2-0 for Australia.

Another two goals combined with the German result would have put Australia through but Serbia knocked the Socceroos back a peg when Marko Pantelic made it 2-1 with an 84th minute goal. A shot from Zoran Tosic wasn't handled fully by Schwarzer and Pantelic punished Australia by banging in from the door step.

Suddenly it was Serbia that was a single goal away from qualifying for the Round of 16. A point earned would have put them through ahead of a losing Ghana on the weight of more goals. But Serbia was unable to threaten Schwarzer further in the final six minutes and extra time, allowing Ghana to advance and a proud Australian side to finish third in the group.

Group D is the only one so far where every team earned at least one win. Germany tops it with six points and plays England on June 27. Ghana and Australia both finished with four points, but Australia's 4-0 loss to Germany in the opening match cost them dearly as the Africans move on to play the United States on June 26. Serbia finishes last in the group but will be remembered for beating Germany and ending with three points. It was a disappointing finish for the East Europeans who were expected to be a dark horse in this tournament.

Goals

Australia: Cahill 69' Holman 73'
Serbia: Pantelic 84'

Discipline

Australia: Beauchamp 49' (caution), Wilkshire 50' (caution), Emerton 67' (caution)
Serbia: Lukovic 18' (caution), Ninkovic 59' (caution)

Lineups

Australia: Schwarzer, Neill, Beauchamp, Wilkshire (Garcia 82'), Carney, Culina, Emerton, Valeri (Holman 66'), Bresciano (Chipperfield 66'), Kennedy, Cahill

Serbia: Stojkovic, Vidic, Ivanovic, Lukovic, Obradovic, Jovanovic, Krasic (Tosic 62'), Ninkovic, Kuzmanovic (Lazovic 77'), Stankovic, Zigic (Pantelic 67')


Day 13 - 1:00 p.m. EST

USA 1-0 Algeria

Landon Donovan's sensational 91st minute strike put the United States atop Group C on way to the Round of 16 for the first time since the 2002 World Cup.

The goal came just as the other match in the group finished with England beating Slovenia. The U.S. still had to get maximum points or lose a qualifying position to Slovenia. The win put the Americans on five points - a tie with England - but a superior goal scoring record in the tournament sees them go top.

Landon Donovan pots the 91st minute winner as out of position Algerians look on helplessly. (Getty)

A lively first half from both sides generated a total of 23 shots taken (12 for the Americans) but a crossbar, a disallowed goal and some fine goalkeeping from Rais M'Bolhi of Algeria kept the match scoreless at half.

At the sixth minute Rafik Djebbour was discovered by a long ball well inside the American area. The Algerian striker swung his right leg around the ball, and had American keeper Tim Howard beaten but was foiled by the crossbar. A two-goal win for Algeria combined with an England victory would have secured Round of 16 passage for the North Africans.

The United States had a goal disallowed at the 21st minute. Herculez Gomez had a shot stopped by M'Bolhi, but the rebound was sent to Clint Dempsey standing at the goal mouth. He tapped the ball in but it was called back due to offside.

More scoring chances for the U.S. arrived thereafter. Dempsey looked for a legitimate strike at the 35th minute, but M'Bolhi came to Algeria's rescue. Two minutes later Jozy Altidore missed a sure-strike from close range when he hit a juicy ball over the bar.

The match continued to be wide open in the second half with the Americans looking more likely to score, but not before Hassan Yebda headed over the bar for Algeria at the 52nd minute.

Five minutes later U.S. midfielder Clint Dempsey hit the post and second half substitute Edson Buddle's header was gathered by M'Bolhi at the 68th minute. The Algerian keeper then stopped Michael Bradley's 79th minute free kick before Buddle ruined a chance two minutes from regulation.

All of this led up to the climax for American soccer at this tournament. A hurried Altidore squared the ball into the area as the match entered injury time. M'Bolhi was alert enough to punch it away but his defenders were in disarray, allowing Donovan to run in on the loose ball and tap it into an open net as shouts of American euphoria rung around the stadium in Pretoria.

Algeria exits the tournament with a single point - a 0-0 draw against England - but a pair of 1-0 losses to Slovenia and the United States ends their World Cup goalless. As the very uncertain Group D unfolds later this afternoon, Americans will take on the second place team to emerge from it in the next stage. 

Goals

USA: Donovan 91'
Algeria: None

Discipline

USA: Altidore 62' (caution), Beasley 90' (caution)
Algeria: Yebda 12' (caution), Yahia 76' (caution) 93' (caution + ejection), Lacen 83' (caution)

Lineups

USA: Howard, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Demerit, Bornstein (Beasley 80'), Edu (Buddle 64'), Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, Gomez (Feilhaber 46'), Altidore

Algeria: M'Bolhi, Bougherra, Belhadj, Yahia, Halliche, Lacen, Matmour (Saifi 85'), Ziani (Guedioura 69'), Yebda, Kadir, Djebbour (Ghezzal 65')


Slovenia 0-1 England

A tense finish at Nelson Mandela Bay watched England gain passage to the Round of 16. They were in first place in Group C once the final whistle blew in their 1-0 win over Slovenia. However, an American win in Pretoria means the English finish second and go into the more difficult side of the knockout bracket.

Wayne Rooney sulks by coach Fabio Capello after being substituted without scoring a goal. (Getty)

England's goal came at the 23rd minute. James Milner had looked ineffective early on in trying to create space for himself on the right side. Finally, he was able to swing a ball into the box, where Jermain Defoe marked his first World Cup start in South Africa with a redirection past Samir Handanovic. The Slovenian keeper got his hands to the ball, but the momentum from Defoe's connection carried it into goal for 1-0 England.

A second English goal nearly arrived at the half hour mark when Defoe was stopped by Handanovic. The rebound was headed by Steven Gerrard to Wayne Rooney. The Manchester United forward played it back to the Liverpool and England skipper, but Gerrard's low, hard shot was saved by Handanovic.

At the start of the second half, England watched another good chance sail away in the stadium situated on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Quick thinking from Rooney on a corner found Defoe wide open at the front of goal. The first half hero failed to continue his rich form when he redirected the delivery wide of the post. 

Rooney's frustrations at this tournament continued in the second half when he was denied by the post at the 58th minute. He played his best game to date in England's third and final group contest, but was unahappy to be substituted without putting his name on the score sheet once more. 

Confidence was mostly one-way in this match for England, although the Slovenian attack wasn't without chances.  At the 68th minute Milivoje Novakovic and Zlatko Dedic looked to threaten. But courageous blocks from John Terry and Glen Johnson likely kept the English from conceding.  Tim Matavz also could have equalized for Slovenia at the end of regulation time but Terry's centre back partner Matthew Upson was there to make the challenge. 

The American win over Algeria means the English can only claim second place in Group C as they've scored fewer goals, which is the second tiebreaking rule after goal difference. And like the United States, England will wait to find out who their Round of 16 opponent will be (Group D winner) on a side of the knockout bracket that already features Argentina and Mexico.

Slovenia will feel unlucky not to advance past the group stage. They beat Algeria, but blowing a two-goal lead against the United States ending in a 2-2 draw likely sealed their fate in South Africa.

Goals

Slovenia: None
England: Defoe 23'

Discipline

Slovenia: Jokic 40' (caution), Birsa 79' (caution), Dedic 81' (caution)
England: Johnson 48' (caution)

Lineups

Slovenia: S. Handanovic, Cesar, Brecko, Suler, Jokic, Koren, Kirm (Matavz 79'), Radosavljevic, Novakovic, Ljubijankic (Dedic 62'), Birsa

England: James, Johnson, A. Cole, Terry, Upson, Barry, Lampard, Milner, Gerrard, Defoe (Heskey 86'), Rooney (J. Cole 72')

Day 12 - Summary

Diego Maradona has much to shout about as Argentina wins Group B, faces Mexico next. (Getty)

Uruguay and Argentina continued the strong showing from South Americans in the group stage of the World Cup on Tuesday. Uruguay won Group A with seven points following a 1-0 victory over Mexico. Argentina finished atop Group B with nine points after beating Greece 2-0. 

Despite the loss, Mexico goes through to the Round of 16 on the strength of four points and a favourable goal difference over host South Africa. As Group A runner-up, they'll play Argentina in the next stage. South Korea emerged as the second place team in Group B also on four points. Their reward is to face Uruguay next as the knockout rounds get underway.

France joined South Africa in bidding adieu to the World Cup from Group A, while Greece and Nigeria join them in exiting the tournament from Group B.

South American teams have now won 10 of their 12 matches in the World Cup - the other two were draws.

Recap of all four matches from Day 12 below.

Day 12 - 5:00 p.m. EST

Greece 0-2 Argentina

Argentina will go through to the Round of 16 with a perfect record from Group B following their 2-0 win over Greece.

La Albiceleste was far and away the superior side in this contest, out of which Greece needed a result to advance past the group stage.

Lionel Messi has yet to score, but has been Argentina's best player regardless. (Getty)

Lionel Messi was his magical self, this time captaining his side for the first time as head coach Diego Maradona rested seven regulars. As early as the 10th minute Messi caused problems for the Greeks as he dribbled past a couple of players before being brought down. In fact, the man who brought him down - Greek defender Sokratis - committed several fouls on Messi to keep him contained in the first half as the Argentine made several darting runs.

The first half was incredibly one-sided with Argentina holding 65% possession and firing eight shots toward Alexandros Tzorvas' goal. The Greeks were virtually silent on attack.

The first noteworthy chance for the Greeks deserved a better finish from Georgios Samaras. At the 60th minute he broke past a pair of Argentine defenders and with Sergio Romero showing acres of space on his inside, the Greece forward chose to shoot for the far post but the ball was hit just wide of target.

Nine minutes later Messi decided to go for goal on a 35-yard free kick. The low-hit shot had plenty of venom, but Alexandros Tzorvas dived to his left to touch the ball away to safety.

The opening goal arrived at the 77th minute when Angel Di Maria's corner was headed on but blocked by Diego Milito. Martin Demichelis however, was quick to pounce on the ricochet as he drove it to the roof of the net to make it 1-0 Argentina.

Messi hasn't scored yet in this tournament but that doesn't take anything away from his hard work and the many chances that he has created in Argentina's continued success. After being denied by the post at the 86th minute on another tremendous individual effort, his work ethic led to Argentina's second a minute later. 

The Barcelona superstar ran across the top of the box and unleashed a cannon from his left foot. Tzorvas stopped him despite the wild movement Messi put on the ball, but the rebound spilled to a waiting Martin Palermo to the right of goal. From there the Boca Juniors legend had to simply tap in for a 2-0 final. 

Aregentina will now face Group A runner-up Mexico on June 27 in the Round of 16.

Goals

Greece: None
Argentina: Demichelis 77' Palermo 89'

Discipline

Greece: Katsouranis 30' (caution)
Argentina: Bolatti 76' (caution)

Lineups

Greece: Tzorvas, Kyrgiakos, Vyntra, Moras, Papadopoulos, Torosidis (Patsa 55'), Sokratis, Tziolis, Katsouranis (Ninis 54'), Karagounis (Spyropoulos 46'), Samaras

Argentina: Romero, Demichelis, C. Rodriguez, Otamendi, Burdisso, Bolatti, Veron, Maxi Rodriguez (Di Maria 63'), Messi, Aguero (Pastore 77'), D. Milito (Palermo 80')


Nigeria 2-2 South Korea

South Korea became the first Asian team to qualify for the knockout stage in this World Cup with a 2-2 draw against Nigeria. The Asians took a 2-1 lead after trailing early. But hung on toward the end when Nigeria equalized and pressed for a winner that would have put them through to the next round.

Park Chu Young and South Korea live to fight another day. (Getty)

It looked difficult for the Asians early when Kalu Uche knocked Nigeria ahead by getting his foot to a cross from Chidi Odiah. The Nigerian defender made a good run before sending a low cross to put the Africans ahead 1-0.

Korea showed characteristic determination to put the match back level. After earning a free kick in the Nigeria third, Ki Sung Yeung's delivery fell to Lee Jung Soo. The defender crashed it in from the backpost area to make the score 1-1 and putting Korea back in contention for the next stage.

Another free kick four minutes after the intermission put Korea ahead. Park Chu Young took the kick from Nigerian keeper Vincent Enyeama's right. The ball swerved past the Nigerian wall, snuck inside the post and low to the keeper's left for a 2-1 South Korean lead.

Enyeama had been a star for Nigeria for the better part of their two group matches and garnered global attention, particularly for his performance against Argentina. But in this match he put on a pedestrian display, caught initially moving to his right as Chu Young struck the free kick.

Nigeria could have easily been level at the 67th minute but Ayegbeni Yakubu suffered a horrible miss with an empty net from eight yards. Yussuf Ayila cut in on the left side and sent a perfect pass to Yakubu that left Korean keeper Jung Sung Ryong stranded. Yakubu somehow managed to miss the target completely as the ball trickled past the goalpost after being struck by the side of his right foot.

Defensive midfielder Kim Nam Il was brought in by Korea to shore up the lead. But he made an error shortly after the Yakubu miss when he brought down Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi in the area, causing referee Olegario Benquerenca to issue a penalty. 

Yakubu made amends for his early miss with a 69th minute penalty kick. He sent the keeper the wrong way and made it 2-2. 

Given what was transpiring in the Greece-Argentina match, Nigeria could have gone through to the next round had they managed to score another goal. The winner however, was beyond them as a skillful and quick Korean side continued to stymie Nigerian advances and threatened the Africans' goal in turn.

South Korea finished on four points for second place in Group B, one more than Greece and three more than Nigeria. They'll play Uruguay on June 26. The Group A winner has yet to concede a goal.

Goals

Nigeria: Uche 12' Yakubu 69'PK
South Korea: Lee Jung Soo 38' Park Chu Young 49'

Discipline

Nigeria: Enyeama 31' (caution), Obasi 37' (caution), Ayila 42' (caution)
South Korea: Nam Il 68' (caution)

Lineups

Nigeria: Enyeama, Yobo (Echiejile 46'), Shittu, Odiah, Afolabi, Uche, Ayila, Etuhu, Kanu (Martins 57'), Yakubu (Obinna 70'), Obasi

South Korea: Jung Sung Ryong, Cho Yong Hyung, Lee Young Pyo, Cha Du Ri, Lee Jung Soo, Ki Sung Yeung (Kim Jae Sung 87'), Park Ji Sung, Kim Jung Woo, Lee Chung Yong (Kim Dong Jin 93'), Yeom Ki Hun (Kim Nam Il 64'), Park Chu Young


Day 12 - 12:00 p.m. EST

Mexico 0-1 Uruguay

Uruguay and Mexico are both through to the knockout stage of the 2010 World Cup despite the South Americans beating the CONCACAF side 1-0 in Rustenberg on Tuesday.

Luis Suarez scored the winner that put Uruguay on course to first place in Group A. (Getty)

A defensive lapse by Mexico's Hector Moreno allowed Luis Suarez in on goal at the sixth minute. The Uruguayan forward failed to get his shot on target as Mexican keeper Oscar Perez rushed out to challenge.

Mexico was aggressive and playing for maximum points. They nearly went ahead when Andres Guardado sent a 30-yard screamer toward the Uruguayan goal. Fernando Muslera was well beaten but the ball hit the crossbar, fell outside of the goal line and skipped away.

In the first of his two goal saving tackles for Uruguay, defender Jorge Fucile took the ball cleanly from Mexico's Gio dos Santos at the 31st minute when the Tottenham player looked certain to cause the South Americans harm.

Fucile's fine play at the defensive end was complemented by Suarez going the other way at the 43rd minute. Two-goal hero of the last Uruguay match, Diego Forlan, sent a ball for Edinson Cavani down the right side. The forward sent a great early cross across goal where Suarez met the offer and put his country ahead 1-0.

Realizing at halftime that South Africa was hot on their heels in Group A standings with their exploits in Bloemfontein, Mexico showed even more urgency in the second half.

Pablo Barrera and Cuauhtemoc Blanco played a lovely one-two at the 52nd minute but Uruguay was quicker to deny the Mexicans required space.

Barrera again advanced forward with some skill at the 72nd minute however, couldn't find an outlet for his pass once past a pair of Uruguayan players.

Francisco Rodriguez then saw an effort go off target three minutes later once dos Santos played a cross to the advanced Mexican defender. The chance developed following more solid passing from Barrera.

In between all of that Perez kept Mexico's flickering candle burning with a tremendous save against Diego Lugano's header from a Forlan set-piece.

The loss will disappoint Mexico, but South Africa's inability to finish off France with what's required of the hosts allows the central Americans to join Uruguay into the next phase of the World Cup. Mexico will likely play Argentina, while Uruguay's opponent will be finalized Tuesday afternoon.

Goals

Mexico: None
Uruguay: Suarez 43'

Discipline

Mexico: Hernandez 77' (caution), Castro 86' (caution)
Uruguay: Fucile 68' (caution)

Lineups

Mexico: Perez, Rodriguez, Salcido, Marquez, Osorio, Moreno (Castro 57'), Torrado, Blanco (Hernandez 63'), Guardado (Barrera 46'), dos Santos, Franco

Uruguay: Muslera, Lugano, Fucile, Victorino, M. Pereira, A. Pereira (Scotti 77'), Perez, Arevalo Rios, Forlan, Cavani, Suarez (A. Fernandez 85')


France 1-2 South Africa

An ideal opening 45 minutes for South Africa was undone in the second half as the host country conceded but hung on to win 2-1 over 10-man France in Bloemfontein. But despite winning, the hosts failed to score enough goals to advance past the opening stage in Group A.  This marks the first time that a host nation has not made it past the initial stage in World Cup history.

Kaizer Chiefs FC midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala has made a name for himself at the 2010 World Cup. (Getty)

Bongani Khumalo gave the South Africans something to celebrate at the 22nd minute. The rising figure of the defender on an attacking set-piece met Siphiwe Tshabalala's corner near the back post of a seemingly out of sorts Hugo Lloris in the French goal. It was 1-0 for South Africa.

South Africa's chances of a miracle comeback to advance past Group A was elevated at the 25th minute when France midfielder Yoann Gourcuff was sent off for an elbow on MacBeth Sibaya. The French also had a small chance to move beyond Group A at the beginning of this match, but it took a double blow with the sending off while in a deficit position on the score sheet.

Katlego Mphela has been threatening to figure in on the scoring at home since the opening match and it finally happened against the undermanned French at the 37th minute. Tshabalala again made the cross, this time from open play. The French defence seemed surprised by the sudden arrival of the ball in the area, but Mphela knew just what to do when he slotted it into an open net at the far side of Lloris to make it 2-0.

All seemed to be going well for the hosts upon learning of Mexico's first half demise in Rustenberg. However, France refused to make it easy for the hosts and pulled back a goal in the second half.

Florent Malouda came in as a second half substitute replacing the underwhelming Andre Pierre Gignac. It was the Chelsea winger that cut the French deficit by one with a 70th minute strike from a ball played to him for a sitter by Franck Ribery.

That put South Africa in a position to require three goals in 20 minutes, a difficult task for most teams at in World Cup finals. Although it must be said that they could have well been hunting for a fourth goal at this point (that would have put them through), if Mphela had completed his hat-trick when he was played on-side on a beautiful pass by Tshabalala at the 51st minute.  Had South Africa scored at the outset of the second half, the complexion of Group A might have changed.

In the end, South Africa was made to rue a lost opportunity. It may be that 79th minute Rafael Marquez equalizer in the opening match to Mexico (a 1-1 draw), that will haunt the South Africans in the 2010 World Cup and have the country wondering what could have been. 

Goals

France: Malouda 70'
South Africa: Khumalo 20' Mphela 37'

Discipline

France: Gourcuff 25' (ejection), Diaby 71' (caution)
South Africa: None

Lineups

France: Lloris, Sagna, Gallas, Squillaci, Clichy, A. Diarra (Govou 82'), Diaby, Gourcuff, Ribery, Cisse (Henry 55'), Gignac (Malouda 46')

South Africa: Josephs, Masilela Khumalo, Ngcongca (Gaxa 55'), Mokoena, Sibaya, Khuboni (Modise 78'), Tshabalala, Pienaar, Parker (Nomvethe 68'), Mphela

Fernando Torres comforts David Villa (#7) after he missed a penalty. (Getty)

The Spanish were as convincing in their possession and passing as they were in their 1-0 Group H opening loss to Switzerland. However, today they also found their finish as David Villa notched a brace.

Spain must've wondered if they were cursed when Fernando Torres failed to connect from a cross at the sixth minute, and then Villa hit the crossbar moments later. 

An end to their frustrations arrived at the 17th minute when Villa took the ball at the left side of the box and snapped a diagonal shot past Noel Valladares to the top corner of his far post. Villa was visibly relieved and Spain was good value for a 1-0 lead having dominated the proceedings early.

A little after the half hour, Villa's strike partner Fernando Torres missed two good chances when he headed over the bar at the 33rd minute and again sent a shot rising from 15 yards.

Villa's second came at the 51st minute. A counter attack allowed Xavi to run up the pitch with the ball. He passed for Jesus Navas, who cut back to the top of the 18 yard box where Villa was screaming for a pass. The striker received the ball from Navas and fired toward goal, where it rested behind Valladares giving Spain a 2-0 lead. The ball did take a deflection off Osman Chavez, making it that much more difficult for Valladares to make a stop.

Navas was again involved at the 61st minute when Motagua defender Emilio Izaguirre tripped him up inside the Honduras penalty area. Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura didn't hesitate to award Spain the penalty.

Villa had a chance to complete his hat-trick but the new Barcelona signing scuffed his shot inches wide of goal with Valladares already committed in the opposite direction.

The win was enough to vault Spain to second in Group H standings by virtue of a single goal difference. Their final match will come against Chile, who were winners over Switzerland earlier in the day. Honduras is still technically alive in this World Cup, but will face a Swiss side eager to make up the goal difference when all four teams go into final group stage action on June 25.

Goals

Spain: David Villa 17' 51'
Honduras: None

Discipline

Spain: None
Honduras: Turcios 8' (caution), Izaguirre 38' (caution)

Lineups

Spain: Casillas, Pique, Sergio Ramos (Arbeloa 77'), Puyol, Capdevilla, Busquets, Xavi (Fabregas 66'), Alonso, Navas, Torres (Mata 70'), David Villa

Honduras: Valladares, Chavez, Figueroa, Mendoza, Izaguirre, W. Palacios, Danilo Turcios (Nunez 63'), Guevara, Espinoza (Welcome 46'), Martinez, Suazo (J.N. Palacios 84')


Day 11 - 1:00 p.m. EST

Chile 1-0 Switzerland

South American triumph at this World Cup continued in to Day 11 as Chile beat 10-man Switzerland 1-0 to lead Group H, now with six points. CONMEBOL nations have now won eight and drawn two from all their group matches.

Mark Gonzalez powers down the Chilean winner using his head. (Getty)

Even at full strength, the Swiss seemed on the backfoot against an impressive Chilean attack. At the 10th minute Diego Benaglio had to be sharp as Arturo Vidal and Carlos Carmona took turns in a series to thump 20 to 25 yard shots, respectively, at the Swiss keeper. Benaglio parried both of the thunderous volleys away to keep the match scoreless.

Three yellow cards were handed out in the first half hour but tensions came to a boil at the 31st minute when Valon Behrami was sent off by Saudi Arabian referee Khalil al-Ghamdi. He was judged to have elbowed Vidal from open play.

Behrami was inserted into the Swiss lineup by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld after recovering from injury, but the coach was made to question that decision very early. He also might have questioned the addition of captain Alexander Frei, who is also returning to fitness but had to be substituted at the 42nd minute.

Switzerland set a record of 551 minutes of World Cup football without conceding at the 69th minute, bettering the mark previously held by Italy. But the new record was only extended by another six minutes when Mark Gonzalez gave Chile a 1-0 lead.

Esteban Paredes was sent through to the right edge of the Swiss area with a long pass from midfield. The second half striker was able to get past Benaglio, taking the ball to the touchline. From there he was able to square a cross for Gonzalez. The CSKA Moscow winger leapt to meet the delivery and bounced the ball into the net with Benaglio stranded and his defenders exposed. Chile enjoyed the upper hand with 15 minutes left to play.

Chile had other chances to put this match out of reach, but the Europeans were also guilty of wastefulness when they should have equalized at the death. Eren Derdiyok missed what should have been the leveler after a good buildup by the Swiss, including a brilliant back heel pass inside the box by Albert Bunjaku. As the ball reached Derdiyok, he fired wide from less than 10 yards.

Chile will play Spain in their final group match while Switzerland takes on Honduras. The Spain-Honduras match to be played later on Monday will help to determine the consequences of the final day of Group H games on June 25.

Goals:

Chile: M. Gonzalez 75'
Switzerland: None

Discipline:

Chile: Carmona 22' (caution), Ponce 25' (caution), Fernandez 60' (caution), Medel 61' (caution)
Switzerland: Nkufo 18' (caution), Behrami 31' (ejection), Barnetta 48' (caution), Inler 60' (caution)

Lineups:

Chile: Bravo, Ponce, Medel, Jara, Isla, Carmona, Sanchez, Fernandez (Paredes 65'), Vidal (M. Gonzalez 46'), Suazo (Valdivia 46'), Beausejour

Switzerland: Benaglio, Lictsteiner, von Bergen, Huggel, Inler, Frei (Barnetta 42'), Grichting, Behrami, Fernandes (Bunjaku 77'), Ziegler, Nkufo (Derdiyok 68')


Day 11 - 9:30 a.m. EST

Portugal 7-0 North Korea

Countries moving on from Group G is all but decided after an array of impressive passing and clinical finishing earned Portugal a 7-0 win over North Korea. They will almost certainly join Brazil in the next round, taking on one of two that will emerge out of Group H.

Celebration is on for Portugal as passage to the next phase is nearly secure. (Getty)

The Portuguese party began at the 29th minute when Raul Meireles was played through by Tiago on a defence splitting pass that was weighted perfectly. Meireles ran on to the offer and quickly placed the ball past Korea DPR goalkeeper Ri Myong Guk to make it 1-0 Portugal.

That was the only goal of the opening half. As the play opened up even more at the restart when the Koreans went up field in search for an equalizer, the floodgates opened at the back.

The second goal came from Simao after Hugo Almeida and Meireles played him through on goal before a scintillating finish. 

Almeida helped himself to the third just three minutes later from a header to make it 3-0 and the rout was one.

The only player to grab a brace in the match made it 4-0 at the hour mark. Tiago later grabbed his second at the 89th minute.

It became 5-0 when substitute Liedson jumped on a misplay from Korean defender Ri Kwang Chon to blast the ball high and into the net. 

Portugal superstar Ronaldo rattled the post earlier in the match. But he finally broke his two-year goal scoring drought in meaningful matches for his country with an 87th minute strike that made it 6-0. It wasn't a sitter for the Real Madrid player either. He had to control the ball off his back, moving it to his head and playing it to his foot for the finish.

Tiago rounded out the scoring with a header. The 7-0 result gives Portugal a massive advantage over its Group G rivals as goal difference is the first tie-breaker should teams be level on points after final matches.

The final day of matches for this group is on June 25 when Portugal plays Brazil, while North Korea takes on Cote d'Ivoire. A draw for Brazil would secure them a top finish in Group G, while allowing Portugal to advance to the knockout stage as the second place team.

Goals

Portugal: Meireles 29' Simao 53' Almeida 56' Tiago 60' 89' Liedson 81' Ronaldo 87'
North Korea: None

Discipline

Portugal: Mendes 38' (caution), Almeida 70' (caution)
North Korea: P. Chol-Jin 32' (caution), H. Yong Jo 47' (caution)

Lineups

Portugal: Eduardo, Alves, Carvalho, Coentrao, Miguel, Simao (Duda 74'), Meireles (Veloso 70'), Mendes, Tiago, Almeida (Liedson 77'), Ronaldo

North Korea: Ri Myong-Guk, Cha Jong-Hyok (N. Song Chol 75'), Ri Jun-Il, Ri Kwang-Chon, Ji Yun-Nam, Pak Nam-Chol (K. Kum-Il 58'), Pak Chol-Jin, Mun In-Guk (K. Yong-Jun 58'), An Yong-Hak, Hong Yong-Jo, Jong Tae-Se

Kaka became a victim of Kader Keita's play acting at the 88th minute. (Getty)

Luis Fabiano raced Brazil out to a 1-0 lead at the 25th minute after some very typical Brazilian passing in the opposition territory. Robinho played a ball to the eventual goal scorer and the Sevilla forward made a nice back heel pass to Kaka. The Real Madrid man played through to Fabiano who was then past the Ivorian backline. Kolo Toure tried to break it up but he was too late on the challenge as Fabiano applied the finishing touch for the first Brazilian goal.

Fabiano earned a brace at the 50th minute throwing Cote d'Ivoire's chances of getting anything out of this match in complete doubt. He brought down a high ball that looked to brush his arm, but immediately after, Fabiano put on a show by looping the ball over and around a pair of defenders before lancing a left footed shot past goalkeeper Boubacar Barry to make it 2-0 for Brazil. As for the so-called "handball" that led to the buildup of Fabiano's strike, it wasn't seen by the referees or Ivory Coast players in real time. Only after watching extensive replays and paused video frames could TV analysts claim foul - but it was all for naught.

The Elephants should have responded five minutes later. But Didier Drogba's header failed to curl in as Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar watched the ball run parallel to his goal line and out.

A third goal from Brazil came at the 62nd minute and it was Kaka once more playing provider, this time Elano was the beneficiary of his creativity. Kaka beat his man on the left side of the Brazilian attack and cut the ball across the face of goal to a charging Elano, who scored his second goal of the tournament to make it 3-0 for Brazil.

A long awaited Drogba goal finally arrived at the 79th minute. Second half Ivorian substitute Gervinho made a 60 yard run. As the space around him closed down, he passed the ball off to Yaya Toure. From there Drogba headed home the first Ivorian goal of this World Cup once he was on the receiving end of a fine cross from the younger of the Toure brothers. With 11 minutes to go, Cote d'Ivoire cut the deficit to two.

Even before the Drogba goal, crunching tackles and unsportsmanlike play engulfed from both sides, but with Brazilian coach Dunga raising particular issues from the sidelines about the physical treatment being doled out to Elano (who was substituted due to injury) and Kaka by the Ivorians.

The ugliness devolved further when Kader Keita ran into Kaka - possibly with intent - but feigned injury as the Brazilian nudged him with his forearm. In a moment of absolute play acting reminiscent of Rivaldo against Turkey at the 2002 World Cup, Keita put his hands over his face and fell to the ground. French referee Stephane Lannoy bought the act and flashed a second yellow card at Kaka's direction in the 88th minute, forcing Brazil to run out the remainder of regulation and injury time with 10 men.

Brazil plays Portugal next, who are also in action tomorrow against North Korea. That match will go a long way in determining any possibility that Cote d'Ivoire might have to advance past Group G.

Goals

Brazil: Luis Fabiano 25' 50' Elano 62'
Cote d'Ivoire: Drogba 79'

Discipline

Brazil: Kaka 85' (caution) 88' (caution + ejection)
Cote d'Ivoire: Tiene 31' (caution), Keita 75' (caution), Tiote 86' (caution)

Lineups

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Juan, Michel Bastos, Felipe Melo, Elano (Dani Alves 67'), Gilberto Silva, Kaka, Robinho (Ramires 93'), Luis Fabiano

Cote d'Ivoire: Barry, K. Toure, Demel, Zokora, Eboue (Romaric 72'), Tiene, Tiote, Y. Toure, Dindane (Gervinho 54'), Kalou (Keita 68'), Drogba


Day 10 - 1:00 p.m. EST

Italy 1-1 New Zealand

New Zealand achieved the greatest feat in its football history on Sunday with a 1-1 draw against heavily favoured defending World Cup champion Italy in Group F play from South Africa.

Mark Paston was immense in goal for New Zealand in their famous 1-1 draw with Italy on Sunday. (Getty)

With this draw, the Kiwis move to two points from two matches and stay alive into the final round of group games when they take on Paraguay on June 24.

It was a shocking start for the All-Whites at the seventh minute. Shane Smeltz was through to goal behind Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro. As a free kick was floated into the area, it seemed to take a slight touch off opening match hero Winston Reid's head. As a result Smeltz could have been ruled offside, but the linesman's flag stayed down as the ball bounced off Cannavaro and onto the path of Smeltz, who buried it by Italy keeper Frederico Marchetti to make it 1-0 for New Zealand.

The Italians pressed for an equalizer but chances from defenders Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluca Zambrotta came to nothing as the Italians moved forward as a team. Riccardo Montolivo was even closer, sending a harmless looking shot from midfield that got past everyone before coming off the upright.

Their pressure did materialize in earning a penalty, however, at the 28th minute when Guatemalan referee Carlos Batres found New Zealand defender Tommy Smith to be guilty of shirt-pulling to hold back Daniele De Rossi, as the Italian went down in the area.

Vincenzo Iaquinta stepped into the spotlight for the penalty. The 30-year old Juventus forward didn't waste the opportunity to bring his country level. The penalty was well struck, sending Kiwis' keeper Mark Paston to his right as the ball was slammed home into the left side of goal to make it 1-1.

In the second half Paston became a more pivotal figure for New Zealand as the Oceania side looked to earn a memorable draw. He stopped Antonio Di Natale at the 50th minute, ranged to his right to deny a powerful shot from Montolivo at the 70th, and pushed away a last gasp potential winner from Italian spark-plug Mauro Camoranesi at the 89th to keep his side level.

It wasn't only Paston holding the New Zealand line. The defenders ahead of him were well organized and prepared to block any Italian advance by sacrificing their bodies. Ryan Nelsen had one such moment at the 75th minute when he slid in to clear an Itialian cross.

A win for New Zealand would have been unbelievable at this stage, but it almost became a reality when Chris Wood slipped past the Italian defence at the 83rd minute, only for his shot to trickle just wide of Marchetti's far post.

Italy and New Zealand both have two points now in Group F. Paraguay leads with four and Slovakia is at the bottom on a single. All four teams are still able to advance on the final day of group matches on June 24 when Italy plays Slovakia and New Zealand takes on group leader Paraguay - who beat the Slovaks 2-0 earlier on Sunday.

Goals

Italy: Smeltz 7'
New Zealand: Iaquinta 29'

Discipline

Italy: None.
New Zealand: Fallon 14' (caution), Smith 28' (caution), Nelsen 87' (caution)

Lineups

Italy: Marchetti, Criscito, Chiellini, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Pepe (Camoranesi 46'), De Rossi, Marchisio (Pazzini 61'), Montolivo, Gilardino (Di Natale 46'), Iaquinta

New Zealand: Paston, Lochhead, Reid, Nelsen, Smith, Vicelich (Christie 81'), Elliott, Bertos, Fallon (Wood 63'), Killen (Barron 93'), Smeltz


Day 10 - 9:30 a.m. EST

Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay

Paraguay took a big step toward the next stage of the World Cup with a 2-0 win over Slovakia in Group F action on Sunday. 

Injury-prone Paraguay forward Roque Santa Cruz (red & white) played a full 90 minutes for his country in this match. (Getty)

The South American team started much stronger than its European counterpart and it remained that way through the majority of the 90 minutes.

Slovakia was flashed a warning of what's to come at the 19th minute when Cristian Riveros had a shot stopped by keeper Jan Mucha.

At the 27th minute Mucha was soundly beaten by Enrique Vera for the opening goal of the match. The midfielder latched on to a ball played by Lucas Barrios that went through the legs of Slovak defender Kornel Salata. Falling on his way to goal, Vera managed to get the velocity required with the outside of his right foot to place the ball past Mucha, making it 1-0 for Paraguay.

Paraguay's dominance was telling on the pitch and in the stats column. They outshot Slovakia 8-1 in the opening period.

Slovakian captain and most influential player, midfielder Marek Hamsik, was unable to have any lasting influence on the day as the organization and quickness of Paraguay closed down virtually all passing lanes between him and forwards Stanislav Sestak and Robert Vittek.

Vera was close to getting a second goal at the 72nd minute when Roque Santa Cruz flew into the area and crossed to the middle for the first half goal scorer to convert. Vera headed the ball down and toward goal, but it fell just wide of Mucha's net, the keeper was surely beaten if on target.

The second goal arrived at the 86th minute. A free kick into the Slovakian box took a couple of deflections. The European defenders looked uncommitted, allowing Paraguay centre back Paulo da Silva to find his Sunderland teammate Riveros to fire a bullet past Mucha for a convincing 2-0 Paraguay lead.

The win puts Paraguay on four points and places them atop Group F. Italy and New Zealand are next to play from the quadrant later today, and on June 25 all four teams are in action simultaneously.

The win also notched a remarkable sixth victory versus two draws in eight matches for the five South American clubs represented at the 2010 World Cup.

Goals

Slovakia: None
Paraguay: Vera 27' Riveros 86'

Discipline

Slovakia: Durica 42' Sestak 47' Weiss 84'
Paraguay: Vera 45'

Lineups

Slovakia: Mucha, Skrtel, Durica, Salata (Stoch 83'), Pekarik, Strba, Kozak, Weiss, Hamsik, Sestak (Holosko 70'), Vittek

Paraguay: Villar, Morel, da Silva, Alcaraz, V. Caceres, Bonet, Vera (Barreto 88'), Riveros, Valdez (Torres 68'), Barrios (Cardozo 82'), Santa Cruz

Day 9 - Summary

Cameroon was officially eliminated from the 2010 World Cup on account of a 2-1 defeat to Denmark. With just one group match left, the African team will not be able to earn enough points to qualify for the knockout stage.

Earlier in the day Australia kept their Group D hopes alive with a 1-1 draw against Ghana, while the Netherlands are on the verge of winning Group E following a 1-0 triumph over Japan.

Recap of all three matches from Day 9 below.

Day 9: 6:00 p.m. EST

Cameroon 1-2 Denmark

Denmark has sent Cameroon crashing out of the 2010 World Cup while helping their own cause for advancement with a 2-1 win on Saturday.

Dennis Rommedahl's winning strike heads to the back of the Cameroon goal past Hamidou Souleymanou. (Getty)

Earlier in the day the Netherlands jumped ahead in Group E with a 1-0 win over Japan taking them to six points. Denmark's win brings them even with the Asian team with three points each and all to play for on June 24 when the Scandinavian side must produce a second successive victory.

Cameroon got off to the better start in this match when Samuel Eto'o received a pass from Achille Emana and quickly fired past Thomas Sorensen to make it 1-0 at the 10th minute. Emana had intercepted a weak pass from Christian Poulsen - one of dozens of giveaways by the Danes in this match - and found the Cameroon talisman who was expected to carry the weight of his country, and possibly Africa, in this trounament. On this occasion Eto'o delivered.

Although several comical defensive blunders nearly cost both sides more goals, Denmark was able to sort out its problems long enough to score an equalizer at the 33rd minute.

A 45 yard pass was played by Simon Kjaer to Dennis Rommedahl on the right side of the Danish attack. Finding some space to operate, Rommedahl took on defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto and sent a perfect cross in to the box, where the ball was met by Nicklas Bendtner. The forward slid in courgeously to hit the leveler past Cameroon keeper Hamidou Souleymanou making it 1-1.

In the final minutes of the first half furious action took place first in the Cameroon third where Denmark's Jon Dahl Tomasson had a goal denied due to a block by defender Sebastien Bassong. Soon after at the other end Eto'o hit the post and Emana's follow up lacked placement, falling into the arms of Sorensen for the save.

Denmark's go-ahead goal that stood up as the winner came at the 61st minute from Rommedahl. The Danes sprinted ahead on a break after Cameroon's Pierre Webo missed an opportunity to score. Rommedahl attacked his marker - Jean Makoun - cut inside on his left foot and sent a curling shot just out of Souleymanou's reach and inside the back post. It was one of the nicest individual efforts of this World Cup and it put Denmark ahead 2-1.

There were plenty of missed chances for both teams after the Rommedahl stunner. Tomasson failed to provide the Danes with a cushion at the 72nd minute when his shot couldn't negotiate past the hands of Souleymanou. Meanwhile Emana at the other end was saved from scoring by Sorensen on a 78th minute shot that looked a great chance for goal.

Prior to the match there were reports that Cameroon players were unhappy with head coach Paul Le Guen and made demands of the lineup and tactics that were more to their liking. One of these issues was the role of Eto'o in the lineup. He was used primarily on the right wing in Cameroon's first game against Japan - a 1-0 loss - and wished to be used in his natural role as a centre forward. Regardless of whether it's the coach or players that are to blame for Cameroon's elimination from the competition after just two matches, there will be many questions raised over the next few days about the state of the national team.

Denmark's win puts them on even terms with Japan on points, but an inferior goal difference means they must beat the Asians on June 24 when Group E clubs all meet next. Cameroon will have a run out against Holland, who simply need a draw to win the group having already secured a path to the knockout phase due to this Danish win.
  
Goals

Cameroon: Eto'o 10'
Denmark: Bendtner 33' Rommedahl 61'

Discipline

Cameroon: Bassong 49' (caution), Mbia 75' (caution)
Denmark: Sorensen 86' (caution), Kjaer 87' (caution)

Lineups

Cameroon: Souleymanou, Assou-Ekotto, Bassong (Idrissou 72'), Nkoulou, Mbia, Geremi, A. Song, Eyong (Makoun 46'), Webo (Aboubakar 78'), Emana, Eto'o

Denmark: Sorensen, Kjaer, Agger, L. Jacobsen, S. Poulsen, C. Poulsen, Gronkjaer (Kahlenberg 67'), Jorgensen (Jensen 46'), Rommedahl, Bendtner, Tomasson (J. Poulsen)

Day 9: 1:00 p.m. EST

Ghana 1-1 Australia

Group D became even more interesting today following a 1-1 draw between Ghana and Australia.

Yesterday, Serbia beat ten-man Germany 1-0 to go even with that country and Ghana on three points. By earning a single from today's tilt, Australia ensures that they are still relevant when the final set of group matches involving the four sides are played on June 23. 

Luke Wilkshire bemoans what could have been after his 72nd minute missed chance. (Getty)

Australia got off to a sparkling start at the 11th minute when an unfocused Richard Kingston gifted Brett Holman a goal. It came following a 30 yard free kick from the foot of Marco Bresciano as Kingston went to play the ball off a bounce. It carromed off the keeper and fell to Holman to drive home for 1-0 to Australia.

As Ghana upped the pressure to equalize, Australia's strong start dissipated when Harry Kewell was sent off for a hand ball on the goal line by Italian referee Roberto Rosetti.

The best known Socceroo on the planet saw his return to World Cup action come to an end after 24 minutes, while Ghana was awarded a penalty.

Just as he did in the opening match for the Black Stars, Asamoah Gyan converted, this time against Mark Schwarzer. The keeper went the wrong way and it was the right result for Ghana as the match was even at one apiece after 25 minutes.

Gyan's second goal could have come at the 50th minute but for Schwarzer diving to his right to get a paw on the effort, touching the ball to safety with one of the nicest saves of this tournament. The 15 minutes observed a great deal of attack from Ghana without a finish.

Australia was on with ten men, but you wouldn't know it by their approach to the game. They were the exact opposite of Nigeria under similar circumstances two days ago when the Eagles succumbed to Greece 2-1. Sensing that only a win could truly help them in the group stage, the Socceroos charged and could have been ahead just as easily as Ghana could have gained a second goal.

At the 66th minute Scott Chipperfield should have put the Aussies ahead with a running header, but he put it over the bar.

Socceroos' best goal scoring chance of the second half was wasted at the 72nd minute when Luke Wilkshire slammed a shot right at Kingston after being put through on goal. The rebound came to Joshua Kennedy, but his bounced effort was grabbed by an equally sprung Kingston.

There were two more chances for Ghana to pull off the victory. Their number eight, Jonathan Mensah (not to be confused with #5 John Mensah) couldn't find the target at the 90th minute, before Schwarzer punched away a Quincy Owusu-Abeyie volley at the 92nd minute to earn the draw for ten-man Australia.

Only a three-goal win over newly confident Serbia on June 23 can help Australia's chances to advance past Group D, currently sitting at the bottom with a single point. Ghana goes to the top of the group with four, they'll play Germany on the same day in what should be an exciting match that could determine first place or elimination for either side. 
 
Goals

Ghana: Gyan 25'PK
Australia: Holman 11'

Discipline

Ghana: Addy 40' (caution), Jonathan 79' (caution), Annan 84' (caution)
Australia: Kewell 24' (ejection), Moore 85' (caution)

Lineups

Ghana: Kingston, Sarpei, Jonathan, Pantsil, Ayew, Addy, Annan, Asamoah (Muntari 77'), Tagoe (Owusu-Abeyie 56'), Gyan, Prince (Amoah 87')

Australia: Schwarzer, Neill, Moore, Wilkshire (Rukavytsya 84'), Emerton, Culina, Carney, Valeri, Bresciano (Chipperfield 66'), Holman (Kennedy 68'), Kewell


Day 9: 9:30 a.m. EST

Netherlands 1-0 Japan

The Netherlands are closer to reaching the next phase of the 2010 World Cup with a 1-0 Group E victory over Japan on Saturday morning.

Eiji Kawashima watches the ball go by in shock and horror. (Getty)

The first half witnessed better than 70% possession from Holland. But Japan more than held its own using a tight defensive formation that forced the Dutch to the outside, from where they were largely ineffective in breaking down the Asian side's defence.

One of the most exciting moments of the opening frame came at the 11th minute when Dirk Kuyt had an overhead-kick blocked following some good passing from the Dutch. This foreshadowed what was to come for the remainder of the half as each Holland approach was rejected by stout Japanese defending. 

A breakthrough arrived at the 53rd minute via Wesley Sneijder. The midfielder lashed a shot on goal after the ball came off Robin van Persie at the top of the Japanese penalty area. The Jabulani ball seemed to swerve just as Japanese keeper Eiji Kawashima was ready to meet it straight on. It took a deflection off his left hand and zipped into the goal to put the Dutch ahead 1-0. Upon further review, it was likely more a goalkeeping error than anything to do with the unpredictability of the new Adidas ball that led to Sneijder's strike.

That goal shattered the Japanese plan to earn a point through defending and forced them to go forward on a consistent basis for the first time in this match.

Five minutes after conceding, Japanese forward Yoshito Okubo took a shot from 20 yards but the ball went over the bar.

At the 63rd minute Okubo released Keisuke Honda down the right but his cross was cleared by Dutch defender Gregory van der Wiel - who broke up another Japanese chance only seven minutes later.

As the match opened up, the Dutch had a couple of counter-attacking opportunities due to a stretched Japanese midfield. But a second goal wasn't in the cards on the day as chances were wasted at the 75th and 86th minutes.

The win puts Holland at six points from two matches and virtually secures their passage to the next round. The Cameroon-Denmark match taking place later on Saturday will round out the second set of matches in Group E.
 
Goals

Netherlands: Sneijder 53'
Japan: None

Discipline

Netherlands: van der Wiel 36'
Japan: None

Lineups

Netherlands: Stekelenburg, van der wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, van Bronckhorst, van Bommel, de Jong, Sneijder (Afellay 83'), van der Vaart (Elia 72'), Kuyt, van Persie (Huntelaar 88')

Japan: Kawashima, Komano, Tulio, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Abe, Endo, Matsui (Nakamura 64'), Hasebe (Okazaki 77'), Honda, Okubo (Tamada 77')

Fabio Capello's birthday was ruined by the England draw with Algeria. (Getty)

But England, some would say almost typically, spurned a great chance to take the reigns of Group C and disappointed in slumping to a scoreless draw against Algeria.

That's not to take anything away from the North African side. They knew that anything less than a point would mean the end of their World Cup dreams and so they started four defenders and six midfielders in order to slow the English attack. This team, that defeated African Champions Egypt on way to South Africa, was fully prepared to repel England - though the opposition was kind enough to provide little firepower.

At the seventh minute Ashley Cole nearly broke into the opposition box, but for Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra tackling to prevent the English fullback of a goal scoring chance.

Six minutes later Bougherra's forward charge nearly caused England to breakdown at its own end, but for Robert Green's replacement, David James in the English goal punching away the fullback's cross.

At the half-hour mark John Terry collided with Bougherra, nearly causing the England centre back to call for a substitution. But the former captain recovered and returned to action.

Wayne Rooney's most noticeable involvement in the match came two minutes from halftime when the England forward bounced a shot toward the Algerian goal. The keeper, Rais M'Bolhi however, was up to the task of stopping the Manchester United striker's approach.

Steven Gerrard also struggled for England. One example of his mistimed contribution arrived at the 56th minute when he was free to the right side, but a cross to the middle was cleared with ease by the Algerian defence.

At the 65th minute England was almost made to pay for a short back-pass from Terry. James managed to get to the ball in time to avoid a calamitous result.

Englnad had further attempts at goal in the final 25 minutes from Emile Heskey, Rooney and substitutes Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch also made an effort to get involved. However, it was all for naught as the Alegerians more than held it together denying the English time and again.

Algeria in fact, had a slightly better measure of possession (52%-48%) but England held a 15-11 edge on shots.

The English now must win over Slovenia, while Algeria will require a victory over the United States and some out-of-town intervention in order to advance into the knockout phase. All four clubs in Group C are back in action on June 23.
 
Goals

England: None
Algeria: None

Discipline

England: Carragher 58' (caution)
Algeria: Lacen 85' (caution)

Lineups

England: James, Johnson, A. Cole, Terry, Carragher, Gerrard, Lampard, Lennon (Wright-Phillips 63'), Barry (Crouch 84'), Heskey (Defoe 74'), Rooney

Algeria: M'Bolhi, Bougherra, Belhadj, Yahia, Halliche, Boudebouz (Abdoun 74'), Lacen, Matmour, Ziani (Guedioura 81'), Yebda (Mesbah 88'), Kadir

Day 8 - 12:30 p.m. EST

Slovenia 2-2 United States

The U.S. had a pacy start to the match with Robbie Findley winning a corner at the fifth minute following a feed from Michael Bradley. But nothing came from the set-piece on Landon Donovan's delivery.

Referee Koman Coulibaly was the second referee to become a story on Day 8. (Getty)

Slovenia quickly shocked the U.S. at the 13th minute, when Valter Birsa blasted a 30-yarder that swerved its way to net, giving the small European nation a 1-0 lead. Tim Howard was off his line and could only watch helplessly as the ball fell in for a goal to his left.

The best American chance for an equalizer came at the 41st minute when Clint Dempsey charged into the area from the right and provided a ball for Donovan. It was certain to be a goal but for Miso Brecko clearing at the last second.

A minute later the U.S. were down by two. A couple of neat passes between strikers Milivoje Novakovic and Zlatan Ljubijankic sent the latter through to goal on Howard's right. Ljubijankic maintained his composure and placed it coolly under Howard's left arm making it 2-0 Slovenia at the 42nd minute.

Slovenia conceded only four goals in ten matches during the European zone of World Cup qualifying prior to the preliminary round against Russia, so the Americans had a real uphill to climb.

But the comeback was on however, when Donovan broke in on the right side past defender Bostjan Cesar, who misplayed a clearance, allowing the American in to space.

Donovan looked for options, seeing none, blasted over Samir Handanovic and into the roof of the net to cut Slovenia's lead to 2-1.

The Americans kept pressing to level and unbelievably, they equalized at the 82nd minute when Michael Bradley slid in to make the score 2-2.

Jozy Altidore was strong throughout the match and it was his presence that allowed Bradley to prosper. The striker leapt up to head the ball down for the midfielder he popped in the goal.

Similar to the Germany-Serbia match earlier, the referee took centre stage in this one at the 86th minute when a goal from Maurice Edu that would have put the U.S. ahead was disallowed by referee Koman Coulibaly.

Puzzled expressions from neutral observers accompanied the anger felt by U.S. supporters at Ellis Park as the match ended 2-2, leaving the Americans felling cheated, and the Slovenians to salvage a point from a match they had well in hand at half time.

The U.S. will now need a win over Algeria on June 23 to advance into the knockout stage. Slovenia will play England on the same day and will need to hold off a desperate English side.

Goals

Slovenia: Birsa 13' Ljubijankic 42'
United States: Donovan 48' Bradly 82'

Discipline

Slovenia: Cesar 35' (caution), Suler 69' (caution), Kirm 72' (caution), Jokic 75' (caution)
United States: Findley 40' (caution)

Lineups

Slovenia: S. Handanovic, Brecko, Suler, Cesar, Koren, Novakovic, Jokic, Kirm, Radosavljevic, Ljubijankic (Pecnik 74' Komac 94'), Birsa (Dedic 87')

United States: Howard, Bocanegra, Onyewu (80'), Cherundolo, Demerit, Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, Torres (Edu 46'), Altidore, Findley (Feilhaber 46')


Day 8 - 9:30 a.m. EST

Germany 0-1 Serbia

A pulsating affair at the Port Elizabeth Stadium in Nelson Mandela Bay saw Serbia hand 10-man Germany a 1-0 Group D defeat.

Referee Alberto Urdiano (front) will be featured in headlines across Europe tomorrow. (Getty)

Spanish referee Alberto Undiano was card-happy to say the least, dishing out six yellow cards - including two to Germany's Miroslav Klose equaling a sending off - in the first half. 

Still in shock over Klose's dismissal a minute earlier, Germany lost focus and allowed Milan Jovanovic to slide in for a goal at the 38th minute.

Milos Krasic sent in the original ball from the right that was headed down by Nikola Zigic to the middle of the German box. Jovanovic was on the spot for a side footer past Olivier Neuer, making it 1-0 Serbia.

Despite being down a man, Germany pressed for the equalizer in first half injury time, but Sami Khedira was denied by the crossbar after Serbian keeper Vladimir Stojkovic was caught far off his line when defending a corner.

At the hour mark Germany had an even better chance to go level. A ball swung in from the left channel was handled by an outstretched Nemanja Vidic inside the Serbian area. Referee Undiano pointed to the penalty spot and Lukas Podolski stepped in to take his chance.

Germans are expected to score from penalties given their history in the World Cup, but Podolski took a very un-German shot that was low and to Stojkovic's left. The ball was meant for the corner, but failed to find any daylight between the keeper and the post, as the Serbian goalie blocked it before the rebound went begging.

Serbians went forward to finish Germany off but Zigic hit the post at the 74th minute.

In all, nine yellow cards and a red were issued in this match. The Klose dismissal took the fluidity and creativity out of the German attack and although they had a chance from a penalty, from open play it was too easy for the Serbians to crowd and frustrate the likes of Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller who always seemed to lack that extra passing option going forward.

Both teams will now wait for the Ghana v. Australia match on June 21 to gain greater clarity on the outlook of Group D. All four teams will be in action on June 24.

Goals

Germany: None
Serbia: Jovanovic 38'

Discipline

Germany: Klose 12' (caution) 37' (caution + ejection), Khedira 22' (caution), Lahm 32' (caution), Schweinsteiger 73' (caution)
Serbia: Ivanovic 18' (caution), 19' Kolarov 19' (caution), Subotic 57' (caution), Vidic 59' (caution)

Lineups

Germany: Neuer, Friedrich, Badstuber (Gomez 77'), Mertesacker, Lahm, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Muller (Marin 70'), Ozil (Cacau 70'), Podolski, Klose

Serbia: Stojkovic, Kolarov, Vidic, Ivanovic, Subotic, Krasic, Ninkovic (Kacar 70'), Stankovic, Jovanovic (Lazovic 79'), Kuzmanovic (Petrovic 75'), Zigic

Javier Hernandez rounds Hugo Lloris on way to goal. (Getty)

Carlos Vela had a chance at the eighth minute. The flag stayed down as the Mexican was through on goal but he sliced his shot high and wide with his favoured left foot.

Four minutes later Guillermo Franco turned a French defender inside the box but his right footer on a sure-goal opportunity went off target as he failed to keep it down.

Outside of intermittent forward thrusts from the French, Mexicans were clearly the side with sustained pressure in the opening minutes. Carlos Salcido provided a bit of danger to the French at the 18th minute but his shot was lashed just wide as a grateful Hugo Lloris protecting the French goal
stretched to cover.

Salcido continued to worry the French at the 27th minute when he nutmegged William Gallas and got a shot away that caught Lloris by surprise, but the keeper was able to knock it away.

Lloris then punched another chance away at the 33rd minute when Pablo Barrera was lurking in the area. The Frenchman pushed the ball against the Mexican attacker and away to clear.

Barrera again threatened in the second half, this time at the 55th minute when a cross from Giovanni dos Santos found him in the area, but he wan't able to finish.

But the opening goal was to arrive soon and it did via second half substitute Javier Hernandez. The Manchester United youngster latched on to the end of a long ball played through by Rafael Marquez. He looked offside, but the flag stayed down. Hernandez rounded past Lloris and tapped the ball into an open net to make it 1-0 Mexico.

Barrera then figured in once more on attack, this time providing Mexico with a penalty as Eric Abdial was judged to have taken him down inside the area by referee Khalil Al-Ghamdi of Saudi Arabia. To be fair to Abidal, Barrera had already decided to go down and all was missing was the contact, to which the French defender obliged.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco stepped up to take the penalty and the former Chicago Fire player with a long run-up, drilled the ball low and under Lloris' arms to score for the third time at a World Cup (1998, 2002).

The 2-0 win for Mexico takes them to four points in Group A, which ties them with Uruguay. The South Americans however lead with a greater goal difference. France is virtually eliminated, with many saying manager Raymond Domenech may be axed before the end of the tournament. They'll require a massive win over South Africa and hope for help in the Uruguay-Mexico match when the two sets of matches take place on June 22.
 
Goals

France: None
Mexico: Hernandez 64' (caution), Abidal 78' (caution)

Discipline

France: Toulalan 46' (caution), Abidal 78' (caution)
Mexico: Franco 4' (caution), Juarez 48' (caution), Moreno 49' (caution), Rodriguez 82' (caution)

Lineups

France: Lloris, Sagna, Abidal, Gallas, Evra, Ribery, Toulalan, Diaby, Malouda, Govou (Valbuena 69'), Anelka (Gignac 46')

Mexico: O. Perez, F. Rodriguez, Salcido, Marquez, Osorio, Moreno, Juarez (Hernandez 55'), Torrado, Franco (Blanco 62'), Vela (Barrera 31'), dos Santos


Day 7 - 12:30 p.m. EST

Greece 2-1 Nigeria

Following Argentina's Group B demolition of South Korea earlier in the day, Nigeria must've felt grabbing the final spot for the knockout stage was theirs for the taking at Greece's expense.  But a confident African side suddenly found themselves on the backfoot following a deserved dismissal. Greece capitalized, winning 2-1 and making it possible for the Europeans to join Argentina in emerging out of Group B.

Vassilis Torosidis slams home the winner for Greece. (Getty)

The Africans certainly started well with a goal at the 16th minute. Midfielder Kalu Uche became the first to score from a direct free kick in this World Cup when his shot from nearly 40 yards evaded the gathering in front of Greek keeper Alexandros Tzorvas, and fell inside the back post. Tzorvas had anticipated a deflection to his right, but the ball remained on course and bounced in to make it 1-0 Nigeria.

Despite the strong start, the bottom fell out of Nigerian ambition when Sani Kaita was sent off at the 33rd minute by Colombian referee Oscar Ruiz for kicking out at Vassilis Torosidis. It was a terrible decision by the Nigerian midfielder and Ruiz was left with little choice but send Nigeria down to ten men.

Greece coach Otto Rehhagel made a positive substitution introducing Georgios Samaras into the match at the 37th minute to make the most of the situation.

The new look paid off a minute from halftime when Greece took advantage of Nigeria's woes. Dimitrios Salpingidis fired from 20 yards, his well hit shot took a deflection on way to the far corner of the net, leveling the score 1-1 and giving Greece all the momentum heading into halftime.

It was the first goal for Greece in the World Cup in its second appearance.

At the restart the Greeks enjoyed most of the pressure and looked more likely to get the go-ahead goal despite the heroics of Nigerian keeper Vincent Enyeama.

At the 56th minute Enyeama made a save on Sortirios Kyrgiakos from a header, denying the defender at the far post.

An incredible sequence three minutes later saw Enyeama turn Theofanis Gekas away at point blank range from six yards after Joseph Yobo headed the ball right to the enemy. Enyeama's tremendous stop led to a counter attack for the Nigerians. They should have scored but Tzorvas got his left hand on a shot from Yakubu Ayegbeni, and unbelievably Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi missed an open net chance on the rebound.

Enyeama again rescued Nigeria at the 68th minute when a Samaras header seemed sure to end up in the net, but somehow the keeper ranged to his left and pawed away the chance in making possibly the best save of the tournament to date.

Just as it seemed the Nigerian keeper was destined to earn his country a point, he spilled a shot from Alexandros Tziolis and on the doorstep Torosidis popped in the rebound to make it 2-1 Greece as they finally solved Enyeama in the second half.

That goal stood to be the winner as Nigeria hobbled with an injury to substitute Uwa Echiejile, taking them down to nine men for a short period. Greece looked likey to get a third but for Enyeama continuing to keep a glimmer of hope alive with his strong positioning and athletic ability.

The 2-1 result marked the first win for Greece at a World Cup tournament and took them even with South Korea on three points as the two nations fight for a spot in the next round. All four countries play on June 22, with Greece needing a result from Argentina to advance. Meanwhile, Nigeria will be desperate to bag a large amount of goals and three points over South Korea, while requiring a Greek loss in order to have hope of advancing.
 
Goals

Greece: Salpingidis 44' Torosidis 71'
Nigeria: Uche 16'

Discipline

Greece: Sokratis 15' (caution), Tziolis 59' (caution), Samaras 88' (caution)
Nigeria: Kaita 33' (ejection)

Lineups

Greece: Tzorvas, Papadopoulos, Vyntra, Torosidis, Kyrgiakos, Sokratis (Samaras 37'), Tziolis, Katsouranis, Karagounis, Gekas (Ninis 79'), Salpingidis

Nigeria: Enyeama, Yobo, Taiwo (Echiejile 55' Afolabi 77'), Shittu, Uche, Kaita, Haruna, Odiah, Etuhu, Yakubu, Odemwingie (Obasi 46')


Day 7 - 9:30 a.m. EST

Argentina 4-1 South Korea

A hat-trick from Gonzalo Higuain helped Argentina to a 4-1 win over South Korea, handing them six points from two matches, and making them the first team to book a passage through to the knockout phase of the 2010 World Cup.

Diego Maradona enjoying several "I told you so" moments thus far in South Africa. (Getty)

The opening goal arrived at the 17th minute when South Korea's Park Chu Young deflected a Martin Demichelis flick from a corner into his own net to make it 1-0 for Argentina.

Higuain made it 2-0 at the 33rd minute when Lionel Messi played the ball to Maxi Rodriguez. The cross from the Liverpool winger was deflected toward Gonzalo Higuain, who patiently waited at the far post before heading past Korean keeper Jung Sung Ryong.

Demichelis helped create the Korean own goal, but he returned the favour to the Asian team with a terrible touch in front of goal that allowed Lee Chung Yong to steal the ball and bury it past Sergio Romero in first half added time. South Korea suddenly cut the deficit to 2-1 out of thin air.

While South Korea looked to get a result, it wasn't to be as a pair of late goals thanks to more Messi magic - as was on display throughout the match - led to Higuain completing his hat-trick.

At the 76th minute Messi maneuvered past two challenges around the box and fired on Jung Sung Ryong with a low, hard shot. The Korean keeper stopped him but the rebound was placed by Messi off the inside post, skipping out to Higuain to bury the sitter for a 3-1 Argentina score.

It became 4-1 four minutes later when Messi delivered a delicious diagonal flick to Sergio Aguero, who crossed for Higuain again standing at the back post to nod in the final tally.

The win puts Argentina atop Group B with six points and guarantees the Diego Maradona managed side a passage to the knockout round, where one of South Korea, Nigeria or Greece will also emerge from the quadrant. 

Argentina's finale comes against Greece on June 22. Simultaneously, South Korea will take on Nigeria that day.

Goals

Argentina: Park Chu Young 17'OG, Higuain 33' 76' 80'
South Korea: Lee Chung Yong 46'

Discipline

Argentina: Jonas 54' (caution), Mascherano 55' (caution), Heinze 74' (caution)
South Korea: Yeom Ki Hun 10' (caution), Lee Chung Yong 34'

Lineups

Argentina: Romero, Demichelis, Samuel (Burdisso 23'), Heinze, Jonas, Mascherano, Di Maria, Maxi, Messi, Tevez (Aguero 75'), Higuain (Bolatti 82')

South Korea: Sung Ryong, Beom Seok, Yong Hyung, Ji Sung, Jung Woo, Chu Young (Dong Gook 81'), Young Pyo, Jung Soo, Sung Yueng (Nam Il 46'), Chung Yong, Ki Hun
 

Day 5 - Recap

The day started with a dramatic comeback from New Zealand to shock and draw Slovakia 1-1. It nearly finished the same way but for Brazil breaking down North Korea for a 2-1 win after the Asian side put up a strong resistance for the better part of an hour. In between, Côte d'Ivoire and Portugal played to only the second scoreless draw of World Cup 2010. It was a match that fizzled despite the anticipation leading to the Group G opener.

Day 5 - 5:15 p.m. EST

Brazil 2-1 North Korea
Earlier: Côte d'Ivoire 0-0 Portugal
Earlier: New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia

Brazil began its search for an unprecedented sixth World Cup title by playing their Group G opener against North Korea. Brazilians were frustrated in the first half but were able to break down a North Korean resistance in the second half, scoring twice before conceding in a 2-1 win. 

Robinho was the most active Brazilian at the start, showing some of his famous footwork in the opening five minutes and then hitting a right footed shot wide after some quick passing had split the North Korean defence.

Elano celebrates the second goal for Brazil. (Getty)

Korean keeper Ri Myong Guk made a couple of stops early, one of these came at the 21st minute when Luis Fabiano turned and fired a less than convincing shot from eight yards.

Seven minutes later Maicon swerved a ball toward the Korean goal with some pace. But Ri Myong was able to bring it down without an issue.

The little-known North Koreans weren't without chances themselves. They countered the Brazilians with speed and organization. At the 33rd minute Ri Kwang Chon hit a shot from the edge of the box that trickled wide, to the gratefulness of Julio Cesar who looked out of position in the Brazilian goal.

Brazil dominated possession in the first half to the tune of a 65%-35% advantage. But they were kept from creating too many clear chances. The Koreans defended as a team, closed down space and blocked virtually everything that the Samba Stars threw into the danger area.

In the opening five minutes of the restart it was more of the same when Elano had a pair of long distance bullets blocked by the Korean defenders, as was Robinho from the edge of the box.

With dead ball specialist Dani Alves starting on the bench, Michel Bastos took a 51st minute free kick from 25 yards. The ball flew just inces past Ri Myong's right post.

But Brazil soon began to get the breaks their way and it led to the opening goal.

North Korean players were pushed up the pitch for a 54th minute corner and as a result, had to scramble back as the Brazilians pressed. A lapse in concentration on the left side of the backline allowed Elano to slide a pass along the right edge of the box for a streaking Maicon. The fullback somehow not only reached the ball before it rolled to touch, but managed to place a tight-angle shot to the inside of Ri Myong for the goal.

The Korean keeper was resolute throughout the match, but provided Maicon with 20 inches of daylight on his inside, and that's all the space the Brazilian needed to make it 1-0 at the 55th minute.

South Americans continued to press in hopes of unlocking the Asian side further and the second goal arrived at the 72nd night.

It was one of the most well taken goals of the tournament from start to finish as Robinho slid  the ball diagonally into the box for Elano, who showed expert timing as he received offer before putting it behind a diving goalkeeper's net to make it 2-0 for Brazil.

The match seemed out of hand but the Koreans made it interesting near the end. Jong Tae Se was instrumental on the Korean attack throughout the match whenever he had a chance to go forward. A block from Juan at the 87th minute preventing Jong from going in alone on the keeper but his hard work paid off two minutes later when he set up North Korea's opening goal of the tournament.

A ball played into the box was headed down by Jong for Ji yun Nam. The advanced defender blew by two Brazilians and averted the approach from another before finishing past Julia Cesar, cutting the defict to one goal with a minute left in regulation time.

The Koreans tried to go forward in the remaining moments (just two minutes of added time) but were unable to raid the Brazilian third with any success.

The 2-1 win for Brazil places them atop Group G  on three points due to Portugal and Côte d'Ivoire drawaing earlier. Brazil's next opponent is the African team on June 20 while North Korea faces Portugal the following day.

Goals

Brazil: Maicon 55' Elano 72'
Korea DPR: Ji 89'

Discipline

Brazil: Ramires 88'
Korea DPR: None

Lineups

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Juan, Felipe Melo (Ramires 84'), Michel Bastos, Elano (Dani Alves 73'), Gilberto Silva, Luis Fabiano, Kaka (Nilmar 78'), Robinho

Korea DPR: Ri Myong, Cha, Ri Jun, Pak Nam, Ri Kwang, Ji, Jong, Hong, Mun (Kim Kum 80'), Pak Chol, An Yong


Day 5 - 12:30 p.m. EST

Côte d'Ivoire 0-0 Portugal
Earlier: New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia

The Group G - for many the true 'Group of Death' (I prefer Group D) - opener between Côte d'Ivoire and Portugal ended in a scoreless draw, the second such result in the 2010 World Cup to date. 

Honours-even for Drogba (#11) and Ronaldo (#7) in Group G draw. (Getty)

There were key questions plaguing both clubs. Would Didier Drogba, approved to play with a soft cast over his broken arm, see the pitch for Côte d'Ivoire? And for Portugal, would Cristiano Ronaldo finally score an international goal and break his two-year drought?

While the first question was answered with a 66th minute intrduction of Drogba, neither the Chelsea star nor his European rival at Real Madrid could scratch the score sheet in a tightly contested match. 

The match began with some hard challenges from both sides but Didier Zokora was singled out for a caution at the seventh minute for a foul on Cristiano Ronaldo by Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda.

Four minutes later Ronaldo found himself with some space and hammered a shot from 25 yards toward the Ivorian goal. He had keeper Boubacar Barry well beaten but only to have the ball thump off the goalpost.

Ronaldo found himself in the referee's bad books at the 21st minute when he and Ivorian defender Guy Demel were simultaneously cautioned after taking a run at one another.

Les Éléphants looked more threatening after the intermission as Salomon Kalou tested Portuguese keeper Eduardo at the 54th minute with a shot from 20 yards, only to see it saved.

Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz introduced Simão to add width to the Selecção attack. His introduction seemed to spark the offence as Portugal turned the tide a little at the 58th minute when Liedson got his head on a ball, only for Barry to deny him with a good stop.

Drogba's introduction at the 66th minute was the most anticipated of any player in the tournament so far but Portugal was on the ascendency.

They forced a couple of corners in the next six minutes but nothing came of it, before Simão blasted a 25 yard shot at the 78th minute that wasn't too far off.

An 80th minute Ronaldo free kick went over the bar, as the set-piece specialist too feel victim to the new Adidas Jabulani ball. Placement has lacked all tournament from dead ball chances.

Drogba's sparse involvement since introduction nearly provided an explosive ending at the 91st minute. Through on goal and past his marker, the Chelsea superstar stretched his leg for a low and angled shot from the right side of Eduardo's goal as the keeper approached. Drogba's connection left much to be desired as the ball scampered wide and the match ended without another incident.

A guarded scoreless draw greeted the Group G opener. Brazil and North Korea play later in the day. The Brazilians will also provide Côte d'Ivoire's next challenge on June 20. Portugal will take on the group's Asian representative one day later.

Goals

Cote d'Ivoire: None
Portugal: None

Discipline

Cote d'Ivoire: Zokora 7' (caution), Demel 21' (caution)
Portugal: Ronaldo 21' (caution)

Lineups

Cote d'Ivoire: Barry, K. Toure, Eboue (Romaric 89'), Zokora, Demel, Tiene, Y. Toure, Tiote, Kalou (Drogba 66'), Gervinho (Keita 82'), Dindane

Portugal: Eduardo, B. Alves. P. Ferreira, R. Carvalho, F. Coentrao, P. Mendes, Deco (Tiago 62'), R. Meireles (Ruben Amorim 85'), Danny (Simão 55'), Liedson, Ronaldo


Day 5 - 9:30 a.m. EST

New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia

A dramatic story of redemption starts Day 5 of the World Cup. New Zealand defender Winston Reid may have been at fault for a dubious Slovakian goal but he made up for it by heading in the equalizer as both teams earned their first ever World Cup point.

Vittek's go-ahead goal at the 50th minute was erased at the death. (Getty)

Those in Canada that decided to sleep-in this morning thinking this match would be a snoozefest, were partially correct, but only until Slovakian attackers got going for their country in the first ever World Cup finals match for the Central European republic.

New Zealand is on its second trip to the finals (Spain 1982 the other). Slovakia - having enjoyed a terrific qualifying campaign - were favoured to succeed in the second match of Group F.

But the Kiwis started stronger, showing an offensive formation with three attackers, they witnessed a Chris Killen effort go over the bar at the third minute. Their 3-4-3 formation seemed to stifle the creativity of Slovakian stars Marek Hamsik and Stanislav Sestak until the Kiwis began to make mistakes after the half hour mark.  

A miskick from New Zealand keeper Mark Paston at the 33rd minute nearly gifted Robert Vittek a chance to create the opening goal but the forward was unable to cut the ball back to Sestak.

A couple of minutes later Vittek blasted a shot form distance that went just wide of goal with Paston sprawled out to cover.

New Zealand tried to reload and striker Shane Smeltz got behind the Slovak defence at the 38th minute, but the angle was not in his favour and the forward could only hit the side netting.

Paston made amends for his earlier error at the 43rd minute when a set-piece layoff for Hamsik was strongly hit toward goal by the Serie A star. The Kiwi keeper managed to push the dipping shot over the bar.

Slovakia looked to be on course for the opener as New Zealand defenders were starting to come unglued in the final minutes of the opening half. The deadlock was broken in the initial stages of the second period when Vittek scored the first ever goal for the Slovaks in a World Cup tournament.

A cross from Sestak floated in behind New Zealand's Reid at the 50th minute, where Vittek ran on to the offering and drove a header past Paston to the inside of the keeper's right post to make it 1-0. Replay showed Vittek may have been half a step offside, but there wasn't a call from the linesman and New Zealand didn't register a complaint with the referee.

Looking for a second goal to settle the contest, Slovakia was disappointed when some excellent hold-up play by Sestak was wasted by Hamsik when he failed to complement his striker and hit the ball high and over.

Reid came to New Zealand's rescue at the 69th minute when an impressive series of passes strung together by the Slovaks - which they did several times in this match - led to Vittek having a chance from six yards in front of goal. As the goal scorer looked sure to grab a brace, Reid stuck out a leg and forced the corner.

Against the run of play New Zealand nearly got the equalizer but it wasn't to be for Smeltz as he headed wide at the 88th minute. 

Unable to score, Smeltz turned provider at the 93rd minute and incredibly, Reid was there to put the ball past Jan Mucha to level the score at one apiece.

The defender who allowed Vittek to get behind him for the opening goal, redeemed himself by jumping forward on attack in the dying seconds and earning New Zealand its first World Cup point.

It was a dramatic ending and as a result all four teams are at one point in Group F. A shocked and disappointed Slovakia will take on Paraguay on June 20. Italy will not want to let New Zealand hang around when they meet later on the same day.

Goals

New Zealand: Reid 93'
Slovakia: Vittek 50'

Discipline

New Zealand: Lochhead 42'
Slovakia: Strba 55'

Lineups

New Zealand: Paston, Lochhead, Reid, Vicelich (Christie 78'), Smith, Nelsen, Elliott, Bertos, Fallon, Smeltz, killen (Wood 72')

Slovakia: Mucha, Skrtel, Cech, Durica, Zabavnik, Strba, Weiss, Hamsik, Jendrisek, Vittek (Stoch 84'), Sestak (Holosko 81')

Diego Forlan (#10) beats an ice-cold Moneeb Josephs for his second goal. (Getty

South Africa looked to have the early momentum when they earned a corner at the fourth minute. But nothing came of it as Teko Modise's delivery was quickly cleared by the Uruguayans.

World Cup opener hero for the Bafana Bafana, Siphiwe Tshabalala tried to keep the magic going from 25 yards this time, but his shot cleared the bar at the 14th minute.

From that point on Uruguay seemed to find a new gear while the South Africans shrunk.

Uruguay forward Luis Suarez turned his man and fired from distance at the 23rd minute but the ball was taken down by keeper Itumeleng Khune.

Nothing Khune could do a minute later, however. Diego Forlan was given more than enough space that he needed to get a shot away from 30 yards. The ball took an unfortunate touch off the back of Bafana Bafana defender Aaron Mokoena, sailed high and dipped just under the cross bar and behind Khune's goal. Uruguay went up 1-0 at the 24th minute. 

The next 15 minutes belonged to Uruguay but South Africa got a chance at the 40th minute from Katlego Mphela, but his header was off targer after Modise had provided the cross.

Uruguay was the more positive side to start the second half and narrowly missed getting a second goal via Edinson Cavani when Tsepo Masilela made a desperate tackle to keep South Africa from falling further behind.

The Africans escaped another disaster at the 55th minute when Diego Lugano failed to time a header from a Forlan free kick.

The host country did start to finally push forward past the hour mark once Surprise Moriri entered the match.

At the 67th minute Mphela missed redirecting a Siboniso Gaxa cross by mere inches as Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera did enough to break up the link.

Three minutes later Modise tried a shot from distance, which Muslera took to with ease. That marked the first time the South Africans put a ball on target.

Just as it looked like the South Africans were inching toward an equalizer with sustained pressure, disaster struck at the 76th minute when Khune was sent off for a foul on Suarez. The Uruguayan forward looked offside as he was marching on goal, but the linesman's flag stayed down and the South African keeper clipped Suarez on his path to goal.
 
Moneeb Josephs was the new keeper in to face Forlan on the penalty. Josephs guessed correctly to his right, but Forlan blasted his shot into the roof of the net, well out of the keeper's reach to collect his brace and put Uruguay 2-0 ahead.

They added a third against 10-man South Africa at the 95th minute when Alvaro Pereira headed in from close range against a heart broken Bafana Bafana.

Forlan was fantastic throughout the match and displayed possibly the most dominant one-man performance in the tournament thus far, at least since Mesut Ozil's opening match for Germany. 

The win puts Uruguay on four points from two matches, atop Group A ahead of dormant France and Mexico - two teams that play each other tomorrow. South Africa's chances to advance into the knockout round looks unlikely. They'll play France in the final group match while Uruguay and Mexico will also tussle on June 22.
 
Goals

South Africa:
Uruguay: Forlan 24' 80'PK, A. Pereira 95'

Discipline

South Africa: Pienaar 6' (caution), Dikgacoi 42' (caution), Khune 76' (ejection)
Uruguay: None.

Lineups

South Africa: Khune, Gaxa, Masilela, Mokoena, Khumalo, Tshabalala, Pienaar (Josephs 79'), Modise, Letsholonyane (Moriri 57'), Dikgacoi, Mphela

Uruguay: Muslera, Lugano, Godin, Fucile (A. Fernandez 71'), M. Pereira, Cavani (S. Fernandez), A. Peteira, Perez (Gargano), Arevalo Rios, Suarez, Forlan

Day 6 - 1:00 p.m. EST

Spain 0-1 Switzerland

The final two teams yet to play a match in the 2010 World Cup produced a surprising result on Wednesday as Switzerland beat Spain 1-0 in the Group H opening match for the two sides. The loss marks the first time the reigning European champions have lost to a team from its continent since 2006.

Spain's Iker Casillas hangs his head after conceding to Switzerland. (Getty)

Spain, as expected, started livelier and at the 10th minute David Villa and David Silva linked up nicely on the left side of attack but Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio closed in quickly.

Sergio Ramos fired wide for Spain at the 17th minute as a collapsing Swiss defence left him short of options.

The best chance for the Spanish came at the 24th minute when Gerard Pique was put through by Andres Iniesta. Benaglio however maintained his composure and denied the Barcelona player a clear cut opportunity.

A minute from intermission David Villa should have done better after storming into the penalty area and burning his marker. However, met by Benaglio next, he was of two minds between a pass for Iniesta and a shot, and ended up chipping wide.

Spain enjoyed nearly 70% possession in the first half but were kept mostly to the perimeter.

Their urgency soon increased in the second half but for the wrong reason as against the run of play, Switzerland jumped ahead to a 1-0 lead at the 52nd minute.

A ball through to Swiss forward Eren Derdiyok put him in on goal. Spanish keeper Iker Casillas came out to challenge, making contact with the ball and the man. While Derdiyok tumbled hard to the ground, Gelson Fernandes was on the chase, beating Pique and Casillas to the loose ball, then depositing it in for a shocking Swiss lead. 

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque adjusted the Spanish attack by introducing Jesus Navas in place of Silva, looking for greater productivity on the wings. He also brought in Fernando Torres to partner David Villa. 

The new look nearly paid off at the 63rd minute, as Torres found Iniesta at the top of the box, but his first-touch effort was fired just wide of goal with Benaglio stranded.

The Swiss keeper was once more fortunate at the 70th minute when a short corner was fed back to the midfielder for a blistering shot. The Real Madrid man hammered the ball off the crossbar, giving Switzerland another escape.

As the Spanish pressed, they were vulnerable to counter attacks and nearly conceded a second. Derdiyok was once more the danger man for the Swiss dribbling up the pitch at the 74th minute, he cut past a couple of Spanish defenders and then used the outside of his right foot to poke a shot by Casillas. Luckily for Spain, the ball hit the upright and a follow up shot was blocked.

The substitution of Navas proved ineffective as the 24-year old Sevilla winger continued to thump short crosses against Swiss defenders, who were lined up in a row of eight or nine at a time inside the box. As the Swiss held their defensive line, Navas and later Pedro tried in vain to find one of Torres or David Villa without much success.

Torres in particular showed signs of rust, as he raced to find match fitness in time for this tournament following knee surgery in late-April.

Coming into this match Spain had won 27 of their last 28 international matches (losing to the United States in the Confederations Cup last year). They were also on a 37-match unbeaten streak against European opposition, according to fifa.com, not having lost since 2006 to Romania.

Like Romania four years ago, Switzerland can now boast that they have tamed the mighty Spain. Swiss share the summit of Group H now with Chile. The two leaders will meet on June 21, while Spain will look to resume winning service against Honduras that day.
 
Goals

Spain: None
Switzerland: Fernandes 52'

Discipline

Spain: None
Switzerland: Grichting 30' (caution), Ziegler 73' (caution), Benaglio 91' (caution), Yakin 94' (caution)

Lineups

Spain: Casillas, Pique, Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Capdevila, Busquets (Torres 61'), Alonso, Xavi, Silva (Navas 62'), Iniesta (Pedro 77'), David Villa

Switzerland: Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, Grichting, Senderos (von Bergen), Ziegler, Huggel, Barnetta (Eggimann 92'), Inler, Fernandes, Derdiyok (Yakin 79'), Nkufo

Day 6 - 10:00 a.m. EST

Honduras 0-1 Chile

Group H opened Wednesday with a 1-0 win for Chile over Honduras. The marginal victory however, hides the fact that Chile was far more dominant of the two sides and should have been two or three goals to the good in this contest.

Chile's Rodrigo Millar (#10) evades Osman Chavez. (Getty)

Chilean midfielder Matias Fernandez sounded the first warning to the Honduras goal when he whizzed a free kick just over the bar at the 5th minute. It was probably the best free kick with the new Jabulani ball in the 2010 World Cup, as players get closer to solving the placement issues they've experienced on set-pieces.

Jorge Valdivia had a chance at the 21st minute for Chile, but his shot was deflected over the bar after a block. The buildup saw Alexis Sanchez make a cross from the left before receiving a return header from Waldo Ponce prior to setting up Valdivia for the opportunity.

The South American buildup continued and Honduras was finally made to pay at the 34th minute. Valdivia's header found Mauricio Isla behind the defence. He cut back for Jean Beausejour and the forward finished his chance to make it 1-0 for Chile.

To Honduras' credit, they did go forward a bit at the start, but Chile dominated much of the first 45 minutes and were good value for the lead at halftime.

Three minutes into the restart, former Toronto FC midfielder Amado Guevara saw his shot blocked as the Honduran captain tried to get his side more involved.

It seemed to inspire Roger Espinoza, who broke past a pair of Chilean defenders with some nice dribbling at the 57th minute, but an unforced error caused him to turn the ball over.

Honduran keeper Noel Valladares pulled off one of the best saves of the tournament at the 64th minute when Ponce looked certain to give Chile a second goal. Valladares was lightning quick in saving the header to keep Honduran hopes alive.

Chile looked unwilling to rest on its laurels despite the lead as defenders Isla and Ponce continued to venture into attacking areas to keep the fluid momentum going. More silky passing led to more half-chances, but desperate Hondurans blocked many Chilean advances.

Unlike the cautious football practiced by most teams in their opening match, the Chileans looked fearless in attempting 20 shots on goal while holding a 56%-44% advantage in possession. 

It was a deserved Group H opening victory for Chile and their next opponent will be Switzerland on June 21. On the same day the Honduras will take on European champion Spain - who plays Switzerland in the second match today.

Goals

Honduras: None
Chile: Beausejour 34'

Discipline

Honduras: W. Palacios 33' (caution)
Chile: Carmona 4' (caution), Fernandez 19' (caution)

Lineups

Honduras: Valladares, Chavez, Figueroa, Izaguirre, Mendoza, Nunez (Martinez 78'), W. Palacios, Alvarez, Guevara (Thomas 66'), Espinoza, Pavon (Welcome 60')

Chile: Bravo, Ponce, Isla, Medel, Carmona, Vidal (Contreras 81'), Valdivia (M. Gonzalez 88'), Fernandez, Millar (Jara 52'), Sanchez, Beausejour

Day 4 - Summary

Opening round matches for Group E and one half of Group F concluded on Day 4. In an all-European clash the Netherlands beat Denmark 2-0 while Japan shocked Cameroon earning a 1-0 victory - the first World Cup triumph on foreign soil for the Asian side.

Defending champion Italy marked the start of its campaign, drawing with Paraguay 1-1.

Recap of all three matches from Day 3 below. 

Day 4 - 5:00 p.m. EST

Italy 1-1 Paraguay

The aftermath of Daniele De Rossi's equalizer for Italy. (Getty)

Italy's defence of the World Cup started with a 1-1 draw against Paraguay in the Group F opener Monday. Paraguay started strongly, having dominated much of the opening hour which included taking a lead into halftime. But in the final half hour the South Americans were lucky to hang on as the Italians gained the equalizer and pressed for more.

The first 20 minutes of this match saw a few hard tackles exchanged as the upstart Paraguayans, picked by many to upset Italy, got a few questionable tackles in. Nelson Valdez and Antonlin Alcaraz were singled out for attention by Mexican referee Benito Archundia.

The first shot on goal came at the 22nd minute when Italian midfielder Riccardo Montolivo got past the Paraguay backline and fashioned a shot from distance with one defender to beat. It was a weak effort after gaining some good momentum and Justo Villar made a routine stop.

Paraguay fullback Aureliano Torres threatened a few seconds later seeing a clear path to goal at the other end. But nothing came from his left footed volley.

Six minutes later an Italian chance materialized from Claudio Marchisio swinging in a corner. Before the ball could meet an expectant Vincenzo Iaquinta, Alcaraz cleared the ball over his own net with an outstretched leg, making sure that he put enough power on it to not concede an own goal.

The 27-year old Alcaraz, set to make his English Premier League debut for Wigan Athletic next season, became a star at the other end at the 39th minute when he scored the opening goal of the match.

Giorgio Chiellini's foul on Valdez gave Paraguay a set-piece opportunity. Torres delivered one of the best passes from a dead ball situation in the 2010 World Cup so far (in the pouring rain, nonetheless) and Alcaraz outleaped Fabio Cannavaro to head in the opener and it 1-0 for the South Americans.

In a battle of centre backs, Alcaraz outmuscled the Italy's famous captain and 2006 World Cup hero, giving Paraguay the lead at halftime.

Italy was in danger of being down by two within 10 minutes of the restart but Enrique Vera's 55th minute shot went wide after the ball had ricocheted to him out in the open once Italian defenders failed to clear.

That was the first frightening moment for new keeper Federico Marchetti, who replaced Gianluigi Buffon at the start of the second frame as the Juventus star succumbed to a hamstring injury.

Italy slowly started to build confidence from Mauro Camoranesi's substitution at the 59th minute and the equalizer arrived shortly after another 2006 World Cup staple, Gianluca Zambrotta saw his shot get blocked but out for a corner. 

Simone Pepe, who was involved on chances at the 52nd and 59th minutes, took the corner which dived at the goal mouth for a lunging Daniele De Rossi to pop in for the leveler at the 63rd. 

Suddenly, all the momentum the Paraguayans held for the first hour was a distant memory and the Italians began to press for a winner.

Paraguay were fortunate not to concede at the 71st minute when Pepe found Alberto Gilardino inside the box but the striker's off-balance shot was blocked and cleared by Paolo Da Silva.

Pepe and Montolivo then took turns to drive from distance at the 80th and 83rd minutes respectively, both of which were handled by Villar.

A strong run from Iaquinta at the 87th minute down the right side opened up the Paraguayan defence, but his cutting pass back to the middle of the box failed to find Antonio Di Natale to finish off the play.

The other two teams in Group F, New Zealand and Slovakia will square off on Tuesday morning. All four teams will be in action again on June 20, with Slovakia playing Paraguay and Italy taking on New Zealand.

Goals

Italy: De Rossi 63'
Paraguay: Alcaraz 39'

Discipline

Italy: Camoranesi 70'
Paraguay: Caceres 62' (caution)

Lineups

Italy: Buffon (Marchetti 46'), Criscito, Chiellini, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Montolivo, Pepe, De Rossi, Marchisio (Camoranesi 59'), Iaquinta, Gilardino (Di Natale)

Paraguay: Villar, Bonet, Da Silva, Morel, Vera, Caceres, Torres (Santana 60'), Riveros, Valdez (Santa Cruz 68'), Alcaraz, Barrios (Cardozo 76')


Day 4 - 12:00 p.m. EST

Japan 1-0 Cameroon

Japan had won two and drew one against Cameroon the three times the countries met. However, all those matches took place in Japan. With the tournament on African soil, and with Japan never having won a World Cup match outside of home, Cameroon fancied its chances.

Honda drives in the winner as Eto'o looks on. (Getty)

The African nation had the first clear chances of the match starting at the eighth minute, but Eric Choupo-Moting was unable to control a pass from Pierre Webo.

Three minutes later a free kick caused consternation in the Japanese box for goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, but a foul called on the attacking Cameroonians averted danger for Japan.

There wasn't much in it for either team for the next several minutes. Neither side able to string passes together for sustained possession. 

But Japan still managed to break the deadlock at the 39th minute. A cross from Daisuke Matsui on the right somehow made it to the backpost for Keisuke Honda. The midfielder hurriedly potted the goal from close range, with Cameroon keeper Hamidou Souleymanou sliding across but unable to cover in time.

Cameroon superstar Samuel Eto'o came to life at the 49th minute when he split through a trio of Japanese defenders - one of them tugging at his shirt quite blatantly - and played a ball to Choupo-Moting, whose swerving shot curled away from the far corner and out. It was the best piece of football generated by Eto'o or Cameroon in the match to that point and Choupo-Moting should have finished better.

The danger increased from Cameroon after the hour mark as Benoit Assou-Ekotto floated in a free kick, but a Japanese deflection kept the ball from reaching the intended target.

The pressure from Cameroon was often broken up in the second half not just by Japan's Brazil-born defender Tulio and his centre back partner Yuji Nakazawa, but by the Cameroonians themselves as poor passing from open play and set-pieces was pandemic.

Another problem that plagued the Cameroonian attack was placing inappropriate weight on the ball from open play. One example of this came at the 75th minute when substitute Mohamadou Idrissou could have been through on goal but played the ball too far ahead of him allowing the Japanese defender to close the allotted space. Then at the 79th minute a pass for Geremi down the right flank was too far for the 31-year old to reach, alleviating the danger for Japan.

Frustrated, and with time running out, Cameroon began to shoot from distance. Stephane Mbia unleashed a rocket at the 86th minute that hit the crossbar from 30 yards. The rebound fell for Achille Emana, who followed with a low shot that Kawashima handled to Japan's relief.

One final chance for Cameroon was saved off the line by Kawashima at the 93rd minute as Pierre Webo redirected an early cross from six yards with the side of his right foot. The Japanese keeper followed the play perfectly and made the save of the tournament to date by springing to his right to block a sure equalizer.

With the win Japan goes level with the Netherlands on points, but trails Group E on goal difference. The two leaders play in Durban on June 19.

Cameroon, on this display may find it difficult to stay alive in this tournament as they'll take on Denmark next on the same day their winning Group E rivals meet.

Goals

Japan: Honda 39'
Cameroon: None

Discipline

Japan: Abe 91' (caution)
Cameroon: Nkoulou 72' (caution)

Lineups

Japan: Kawashima, Komano, Tulio, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Endo, Abe, Matsui (Okazaki 69'), Hasebe (Inamoto 88'), Honda, Okubo (Yano 82')

Cameroon: Souleymanou, Assou-Ekotto, Nkoulou, Bassong, Mbia, Matip (Emana 63'), Makoun (Geremi 75'), Eyong, Eto'o, Choupo-Moting (Idrissou 75'), Webo


Day 4 - 9:30 a.m. EST

Netherlands 2-0 Denmark

Denmark hadn’t beaten the Netherlands since 1967 and that drought will continue through this World Cup (unless both teams escape Group E and meet again in later rounds), as Holland secured a 2-0 win in their opening match - something they have always done since 1938.

It was an attacking start for both clubs. The Dutch earned a free kick at the fifth minute but Wesley Sneijder hit the 30 yard shot wide. A minute later the Danes had their chance from a distant set-piece, but Thomas Enevoldsen's strike suffered a similar fate as Sneijder's effort.  This has been the case throughout the early days of the tournament on free kicks. Players are still unable to negotiate the new Adidas Jabulani ball.

Dirk Kuyt (#7) is mobbed by teammates after his 85th minute goal. (Getty)

The lightness of the new ball was at play again, this time troubling a keeper. Dirk Kuyt's 10th minute shot was momentarily fumbled by Tomas Sorensen, but the man protecting the Danish goal recovered.

The Dutch attack picked up greater pace around the 20 minute mark with a pair of shots from Rafael Van der Vaart going wide of the target following some exceptional passing between Netherlands' midfielders.

The Danish attack is counting on Niklas Bendtner to be less wasteful than he often is with his club Arsenal, but he showed some rust at the 28th minute when Dennis Rommedahl's perfect cross found the forward heading wide from six yards with the Dutch keeper clearly vulnerable.

Once receiving another scare at their end - a deflection slicing wide of their goal - Rommedahl brought the Danes forward again at the 34th minute, this time taking the shot himself but seeing Stekelenburg holding on.

Stekelenburg made another stop at the 37th minute, this time pushing Thomas Kahlenberg's angled shot from the left side away to touch.

After a withstanding the Danish pressure, Holland regrouped, leading to a chance for Robin van Persie. The striker tried to turn his marker inside out, but could only manage to hit the ball wide of Thomas Sorensen's goal.

A strong first half behind them, disaster struck for the Danes at the 46th minute. Simon Poulsen tried to head clear a van Persie cross meant for Kuyt. But before the ball could reach the Liverpool winger, the Danish fullback who plays his club football at Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, nodded it in to his own goal. To be fair to Poulsen, the ball brushed off his countryman Daniel Agger before going in. Regardless of who was at fault, it marked the first own goal of the tournament and gave the Netherlands a 1-0 lead.

Depite Holland being laden with international stars, that was their first goal in 289 minutes of World Cup action dating back to 2006.

The Dutch nearly went up by two at the 60th minute, but for Sorensen making a diving save by ranging to his left from a van der Vaart flick.

Danish coach Morten Olsen brought in forward Jesper Gronkjaer to replace midfielder Enevoldsen in hopes of increasing pressure on the Dutch defence.

But it was a Holland substitute, Eljero Elia who dazzled Soccer City Stadium by turning Lars Jacobsen and providing van Persie with a goal scoring chance that was blocked at the 69th minute. Elia did it once more three minutes later but his 72nd minute creation led to missed chances for van Persie and Mark van Bommel, as the former was blocked by Simon Kjaer and the latter saw his effort saved by Sorensen. 

Despite Denmark needing the equalizer, it's Holland that looked likely to get a second. At the 81st minute Wesley Sneijder came close to getting it when a deflected shot bounced off the crossbar behind Sorensen. The second goal finally did arrive from Kuyt when he opportunistically capitalized after Elia hit the upright at the 85th minute and that made it 2-0 for Holland.

The Danes looked more convincing going forward when the score was level than when they were desperate. It won't get much easier for the Scandinavians when they meet African power Cameroon on June 19.

The Netherlands, like Germany the day before, looked comfortable when leading and showed unveiled the danger of a pacy winger off the bench in Elia. They'll return to action on June 19, against Japan.

Goals

Netherlands: S. Poulsen 46'OG, Kuyt 85'
Denmark:

Discipline

Netherlands: de Jong 44' (caution), van Persie 49' (caution)
Denmark: Kjaer 63' (caution)

Lineups

Netherlands: Stekelenburg, van der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, van Bronckhorst, van Bommel, de Jong (de Zeeuw), van der Vaart (Elia 67'), Sneijder, Kuyt, van Persie (Afellay 77')
 
Denmark: Sorensen, Kjaer, Agger, L. Jacobsen, S. Poulsen, C. Poulsen, Jorgensen, Kahlenberg (Eriksen 73'), Enevoldsen (Gronkjaer 56'), Rommedahl, Bendtner (Beckman 62')

Day 3 - Summary

The third day brought three decisive victories and a similar number of player ejections over as many matches as Slovenia, Ghana and Germany all left the pitch with maximum points.

In their Group C opener, Slovenia didn't look convincing but did enough to squeak past Algeria 1-0.  In Group D, Ghana made Serbia look ordinary but needed a penalty to grab the lone goal and all the points. But the best was saved for last as Germany thoroughly routed Australia 4-0 to blow the doors wide open in the reputed 'Group of Death.'

Recap of all three matches from Day 3 below. 

Day 3 - 4:45 p.m. EST

Germany 4-0 Australia

Germany proved to be the class of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after three days thanks to a powerful 4-0 Group D mauling of Australia. Whatever chances the Australians had early in the opening moments of both halves, were soon drowned out by not just the much-discussed vuvuzelas, but also a plethora of German goals and chances.

Miroslav Klose rises to give Germany a 2-0 lead inside 26 minutes. (Getty)

Australia served a notice of intent to Manuel Neuer's goal as early as the fourth minute when Tim Cahill climbed the air to deflect a corner on target. It was blocked and Richard Garcia was turned away on the rebound from German captain Philipp Lahm's block.

Germany didn't allow the early Socceroos' chance to unsettle them one bit. They went on attack and Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer was quickly under siege.

First at the seventh minute 10-goal World Cup veteran Miroslav Klose came close to getting another when he breached the Australian defence, only to be stopped by Schwarzer.

The keeper was out of magic though a minute later when Mesut Ozil played Thomas Muller onside and quickly behind the Aussie backline. Muller cut the ball across the box where Lukas Podolski was found ready to bury the ball past Schwarzer. The keeper did get a hand to it, but the shot was too powerful to stop, putting Germany ahead 1-0.

One of the stories of this World Cup for Germany has been the form of Klose. He had a poor season domestically and was questionable for a start. But coach Joachim Loew trusted his experience and Klose repaid him at the 26th minute when Lahm sent a cross in to the box from the right side. It was an aerial battle between Klose and Schwarzer and World Cup history indicates there can only one winner in these situations, and so it was, Klose, grabbing his 11th World Cup goal and putting the Germans ahead 2-0.

It could have been three before halftime but Ozil was cleared off the line by Lucas Neill at the 31st minute and later the 21-year old German of Turkish descent failed to catch up to the rolling ball after rounding past Schwarzer on a breakaway.

Australians thought they caught a break shortly after the restart. A redirected header seemed to touch the hand of German defender Per Mertesacker inside the box, but referee Marco Rodriguez disagreed. Socceroos did get a corner out of the play, from which Cahill headed over. 

At the 51st minute Australia again threatened, this time through Brett Holman as he fired wide with a left foot after the Germans had allowed him some space outside the box.

Germany seemingly in cruise control, re-engaged on attack. At the 54th minute Muller should have done better when a ball made it through to him after Ozil performed a smart step-over. But the German shot wide.

Two minutes later Australia was down to ten men when Cahill saw a straight red from the Mexican referee for a challenge at midfield on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Now up a man, Germany swarmed the Aussie third of the pitch. At the 59th minute Ozil was stopped by Schwarzer and then Klose was also denied before Sami Khedira missed a chance to get a deflection on the ball with an open net at his disposal.

But those misses needn't worry the German supporters as they soon scored two more goals to put this match well beyond doubt.

Muller took his first career international goal at the 68th minute by turning inside the Aussie box and firing with the right foot. The ball skipped past Schwarzer and rattled in after hitting the inside of the post to make it 3-0.

Brazilian-born Cacau made his World Cup debut for Germany and promptly netted the fourth two minutes after arriving on the scene. The speedy Ozil got behind the Australian backline once more and slid the pass over for Cacau, who only had to tap in the sitter past a charging but helpless Schwarzer.

At 4-0 and with a man advantage, Germany was only happy to jog out the remaining 20 minutes and injury time. It was a tremendous World Cup debut for the 20-year old Muller and Ozil, just a year his senior. Klose put paid to his doubters (myself included) and Cacau showed just what kind of depth is available on the German bench should they be in need of an auxiliary.

Germany goes atop Group D on virtue of goal difference, tied on points with fellow Day 3 winner Ghana. Today's losers Serbia and Australia could both be eliminated by the weekend. Germany takes on Serbia on June 18, an aging and slow Australian defence must contend with Ghana's speed and athleticism a day later.

Goals

Germany: Podolski 8' Klose 26' Muller 68' Cacau 70'
Australia: None

Discipline

Germany: Ozil 12' (caution), Cacau 92' (caution)
Australia: Moore 24' (caution), Neill 46' (caution), Cahill 56' (ejection), Valeri 58' (caution)

Lineups

Germany: Neuer, Friedrich, Badstuber, Lahm, Mertesacker, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Ozil (Gomez 74'), Podolski (Marin 81'), Klose (Cacau 68'), Muller
 
Australia: Schwarzer, Neill, Moore, Wilkshire, Chipperfield, Culina, Emerton (Jedinak 74'), Grella (Holman 46'), Valeri, Garcia (Rukavytsya 64'), Cahill


Day 3 - 12:00 p.m. EST

Serbia 0-1 Ghana

In just their second World Cup, Ghana became the first African team to secure three points in the 2010 version of the tournament by beating Serbia from an Asamoah Gyan penalty at the 85th minute.  The Serbs were already down to 10 players when conceding, and so with this result and discipline issues have severely harmed their chances of emerging from Group D. 

Asamoah Gyan celebrates his 1-0 winner for Ghana over Serbia. (Getty)

This match got off to a lively start. Marko Pantelic and Anthony Annan exchanged shots off target inside first two minutes before Ghana earned a free kick from 25 yards to the Serbian goal at the fourth. Gyan took the shot for the Black Stars, but he failed to keep it down, sending it over the bar. 

Ghana played aggressive attacking football from the start, and a good chance fell to the foot of Kwadwo Asamoah at the 15th minute when a neat back heel from Gyan in the area set him up for shot that was eventually blocked.

Another set-piece at the 20th minute for Ghana saw captain Jonathan Mensah come close to the opening goal. He had a clean header despite the melee in the Serbian box, but he couldn't put the ball on target. 

A minute later Gyan threatened once more, however he failed to get a head to Kevin Prince Boateng's cross from the left. 

Serbia's first truly good chance came at the 27th minute. Pantelic broke past Ghana's defensive wall undetected on a designed set-piece but failed to bring down the ball with any measure of control, much to Ghanaian keeper Richard Kingston's relief.

Often influential Serbian playmaker Dejan Stankovic had sparse involvement in the first half. He wasn't able to engineer any of the dead ball situations to his liking and saw a 39th minute shot from open play easily taken by Kingston.

In the second half Serbia started better of the two. Milan Jovanovic got around a group of defenders at the 49th minute following a deflection from a free kick. The attacking midfielder's shot though was disappointingly off target from an angled but close range.

The Serbian defence showed a few cracks after the 50th minute. Centre back Nemanja Vidic nearly lost control in front of goal and goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic later collided with the defender when defending a corner. Then at the 56th minute Andre Ayewu threatened before Gyan headed a ball off the upright four minutes later.

A break arrived for Ghana at the 74th minute when Aleksandar Lukovic was sent off for picking up a second caution by Argentine referee Hector Baldassi. 

Serbia responded by substituting defender Neven Subotic in to replace Jovanovic to hold off the expected Ghanaian onslaught in the final quarter hour.

But it was Ghana under pressure at the 79th minute, Kingston having to be sharp on a close shot from Milos Krasic that he parried away. From the resulting corner Vidic got his head to the ball but off target.

The Kuzmanovic substitution proved disastrous for the Serbians at the 83rd minute when he was spotted for a handball. The referee called the penalty after consulting with the linesman, replay showing the ball coming into contact with the defender's outstretched arm.

Gyan stepped in to take the penalty kick and with Stojkovic committed to his left, the shot was fired to the keeper's right, high and into the back of the net to give Ghana a 1-0 lead at the 85th minute.
 
Serbia had been defensive for much of the game but the Gyan strike forced them to venture out despite having subbed off attackers Zigic and Jovanovic earlier. It wasn't to be their night and Gyan nearly grabbed a second at the 91st minute but for the woodwork denying him with Stojkovic once more beaten.

Gyan looked a bit delicate in the first half, often looking to the referee for calls whenever pounded by very physical Serbian defenders. But in the second half he showed renewed focus and could have had a hat-trick if not for the ball landing few inches to the profitable side of the post. 

Ghana's Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac will celebrate with the Black Stars, but his home country will be fearing the worst as Germany will be their next opponent on June 18.

The next day Ghana will take on Australia in the second round of Group D matches.

Goals

Serbia: None
Ghana: Gyan 85' PK

Discipline

Serbia: Zigic 19' (caution), Lukovic 54' (caution), 74' (ejection), Kuzmanovic 83'
Ghana: Vorsah 26' (caution), Tagoe 89' (caution)

Lineups

Serbia: Stojkovic, Kolarov, Vidic, Ivanovic, Pantelic, Stankovic, Milijas (Kuzmanovic 62'), Lukovic, Jovanovic (Subotic 76'), Zigic (Lazovic 69'), Krasic

Ghana: Kingston, Sarpei, A. Gyan (Owusu-Abeyie 93'), Pantsil, Mensah, Annan, Tagoe, A. Ayew, Vorsah, K. Asamoah (S. Appiah), Prince (Addy 91')


Day 3 - 9:30 a.m. EST

Algeria 0-1 Slovenia

Slovenia picked up a historic first win in their second World Cup with a 1-0 win over Algeria Sunday morning. The three points puts them atop Group C ahead of England and the United States who drew 1-1 a day earlier. 

Nadir Belhadj nearly scored a sensational third minute goal from a free kick. The left fullback took it well but Samir Handanovic met the rising volley and tipped the ball to safety.

The shot from Robert Koren that put the Slovenians on top. (Getty)

Slovenia started to press thereafter. Algerian goalkeeper Faouzl Chaouchi had to be alert, particularly at the 22nd minute when Valter Birsa's free kick troubled him inside a crowded box. Despite being pressured by Slovenian defender Bostjan Cesar, Chaouchi was able to keep the Balkan side from scoring. 
 
The north African team began to put a string of passes together at the opposition half around the 30th minute. They soon earned a corner from their efforts and nearly scored from it at the 36th minute, when Rafik Halliche headed the ball just wide of the targeted far post.

At the 43rd minute Birsa once more reminded the Algerians of the lurking Slovenian danger when he forced a stop from Chaouchi with a swerving hit from 20 yards. Chaouchi's deflection was reminiscent of the Handanovic save at the third minute.

After intermission the two sides exchanged forays. The first clear chance came to Slovenia at the 60th minute when Chaouchi once again had to be on guard as Andraz Kirm was played through on the left and got a shot away. The Algerian keeper had the angle covered.

Four minutes later the Europeans were again on the prowl, but forward Milivoje Novakovic was closed down quickly by Madjid Bougherra in the box. The Algerian right fullback was composed the back throughout the match.

Algerian substitute Abdelkader Ghezzal threatened the Slovenian goal at the 70th minute when he tried to redirect Karim Ziani's cross from 10 yards. The near-perfect cross deserved a better finish as the forward headed it wide.

Ghezzal, already on a yellow card since coming on to the pitch, made a silly error at the 73rd minute, reaching out to grab a long ball with his arm. It was a deliberate handball and therefore referee Carlos Batres was left with no choice but to show him a second yellow and issue the forward his marching orders.

Despite the man advantage, Slovenia nearly conceded when Handanovic made a weak pass to one of his defenders. As an Algerian attacker tried to track down the loose ball, the Slovenian keeper recovered and pounced on it before any damage was done.

With that bit of panic behind them, Slovenia went on the attack and it paid off through a goal from captain Robert Koren.

He received a pass at the edge of the penalty area, then hit it on the turn. It seemed to go right through a diving Chaouchi in the Algerian net. The keeper seemed to have the space covered but the ball dived just in front of him and bounced into goal, giving Slovenia a 1-0 lead at the 79th minute.

Chaouchi's mistake was uncharacteristic of his play in the previous 78 minutes but it seemed Algerians were unsettled from the moment Ghezzal was ejected. The goal and man deficit was too much for the desert foxes to overcome in the final 11 minutes and added time.

Slovenia takes on the U.S. on June 18 while Algeria will have to keep the English at bay on the same afternoon should they expect to get anything from this World Cup.
 
Goals

Algeria: None
Slovenia: Koren 79'

Discipline

Algeria: Ghezzal 59' (caution) 73' (ejection), Yebda 95' (caution)
Slovenia: Radosavljevic 35' (caution), Komac 93'

Lineups

Algeria: Chaouchi, Bougherra, Belhadj, Yahia, Halliche, Lacen, Djebbour (Ghezzal 58'), Matmour (Saifi 81'), Ziani, Yebda, Kadir (Guedioura 82')

Slovenia: S. Handanovic, Breko, Suler, Cesar, Koren, Birsa (Pecnik 84'), Novakovic, Jokic, Dedic (Ljubijankic 53'), Kirm, Radosavljevic (Komac 87')

Day 2 - Summary

The second day of 2010 World Cup will be remembered for goalkeepers experiencing diverse fortunes.

Vincent Enyeama of Nigeria became a star on the world's stage in a losing cause to Argentina. But England's Robert Green will be vilified at home and by English supporters worldwide, for letting three points slip through his fingers in a Group C opening match against the United States. To make matters worse for Green, his American counterpart Tim Howard was outstanding.

South Korea was the most convincing side in Day 2, beating Greece decisively by a 2-0 margin in Group B. They used their speed well, showed excellent skill and teamwork in the match. 

Recap of all three matches from Day 2 below. 

Day 2 - 4:30 p.m. EST

England 1-1 United States

The much-anticipated Group C opener between England and United States will be remembered for a mistake by the English keeper leading to a 1-1 draw.

England got just the start they wanted not just to this match, but the World Cup tournament itself. From a throw-in, Steven Gerrard got in position to receive a quick pass from Emile Heskey. Running onto the inviting ball, the England captain jabbed it past Tim Howard to open his World Cup account.