Live The Pitch

With fair play always at the forefront of any FIFA competition, today’s Group A games were played simultaneously. We had Mexico and Uruguay on one channel and France and South Africa on another.For those of us who want to take in every minute of World Cup action as possible it’s a hectic time. Just as the teams on the field I am constantly trying to get updates from each game to see how group play will end up.

A goal from Luis Suarez allowed Uruguay to win Group A and they will play the runner-up of Group B when the knockout stage games begin June 26. In the other game South Africa Beat a disgruntled French squad 2-1. Both South Africa and Mexico were tied with four points, but Mexico advanced on goal differential to play the winner of Group B.

For the French they stayed true to form by getting a red card in the 25th minute and playing the rest of the game down a man. Then when the match was over French coach Raymond Domenech continued to give South African coach Carlos Parreira a tongue lashing, further embarrassing his country. Just get on the first flight back France and shut the hell up! I for one have heard enough out of this joke of a national soccer team.

In the first match of the day Chile defeated Honduras 1-0.  Chile  found the back of the net in the 34th minute when Jean Beausejour deflected the ball into the goal. Mauricio Isla served a driven ball into the box from the right flank that Beausejour fought to get in.  Chile were by far the better squad and earned the victory.

The first monumental upset of the FIFA World Cup occurred in the second match of the day.  Current FIFA #1 Spain, were defeated by Switzerland 1-0 in their group opener.

In the 52nd minute Eren Derdiyok found himself through to goal when he collided with Spanish defender Gerard Pique and goalkeeper Iker Casillas causing the ball to bounce around the penalty area. After deflecting off several people Gelson Fernandes found the ball and put it into a wide open net.

Spain dominated the match in all aspects, but were unable to break through the strong Swiss back line.  Switzerland plays with a very defensive strategy as they did not concede a goal in group play at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.  This is only the second defeat in the past 48 matches for Spain.  No team has ever won the FIFA World Cup after losing their opening match of the tournament.

In the final match of the day Diego Forlan had a great  performance scoring two goals in Uruguay’s 3-0 romp of hosts South Africa.  Forlan found the net first in the 24th minute when his strike deflected of a defender and dipped under the crossbar beating goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.

South Africa’s World Cup dreams may have all been crushed in the 80th minute when Khune was red carded for tripping Luis Suarez inside his penalty box.  Forlan stepped up and crushed home a perfectly placed penalty into the upper left corner.  Uruguay added icing on the cake in extra time when Alvaro Pereira  found himself wide open on the back post to tap in the cross from the right side.

Here is a great video of the goals from today by David Matthews with some great music over at Deadspin.com-Your Culturally Insensitive World Cup Goal Roundup For June 16th

In the opening match of the 2010 World Cup the South Africans were lucky to get out of the first half in a scoreless tie against Mexico. The host nation could have easily been down 2-0 if not for some solid South African goal tending and several blundered chances by the Mexicans.

The Mexican squad started the game with a lot of pressure and in the 2nd minute Dos Santos missed an opportunity to go ahead when his shot was deflected over the end line. Unfortunately, this was the theme for the first half for the Mexican squad as they just could not find the back of the net.

The second half began with both teams searching for that crucial first goal. South Africa would strike first after some terrific one touch passing in the midfield and a great ball slotted to the left-wing. After receiving the ball in space, Siphiwe Tshabalala sent a left-footed rocket to the right upper 90 in the 54th minute.

In the 60th minute Dos Santos for Mexico responded with a left-footed rocket of his own to the upper 90 but South African keeper Itumeleng Khune was up to the challenge and preserved the lead as well as the momentum in the match.

After a few subs Mexico seemed to get their composure back in the 75th minute. Then in the 80th minute Mexico’s Marques scored on a helpless Khune as the South African defense was nonexistent due to a failed off-side trap.

In the 90th minute Katlego Mphela of South Africa missed the chance of a life time to win the match when his shot was sent off the near post. Khune set an amazing ball 80 yards down the field as was the case several times during the contest, but the home team couldn’t capitalize.

Overall Mexico totally dominated the possession of the ball but South Africa would not just lie down on their home turf. Both teams could have walked away with the victory in this match so a draw and a point for each team seems fair.

In the final match of opening day, France and Uruguay would play to a 0-0 draw.  France definitely were the better team throughout the match but could not break through the Uruguay back line.

The Uruguayan defense led by Diego Godin and Mauricio Victorino were rock solid all match and earned the tie for their country.  The match never opened up and there was rarely space in the opponents half of the pitch for both teams.

Uruguay lost Nicolas Lodeiro to a red card in the 81st minute but France couldn’t capitalize with the advantage.  Overall chances were sparse, but the match still had a decent flow to it.   

Both teams seemed to not take many chances going forward with neither wanting to concede a goal.

France supporters will not be happy with the teams performance and there have to be question marks with the starting 11.  Flourent Malouda was a huge surprise to not be in the starting 11.  Malouda has been one of the best players in the world this year for Chelsea.

With all four teams still in the mix after day one this should turn out to be an excellent group with drama coming down to the last match.

FIFA has just released more accommodations for the World Cup this summer in South Africa.  FIFA’s travel agent for the world cup Match, is struggling to fill up rooms.  The company just released another 300,000 rooms for the tournament.  It is becoming extremely difficult for foreigners to travel to this prestigious event.  With the economy still down  the general public is not able to spend the amount of money to make the trip.  Also, there are some major crime concerns with South Africa that are contributing to the lack of ticket sales.