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World Cup Daily Recap: Japan upsets, Netherlands wins, Italy settles for draw

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photo by ISIphotos.com 

By FRANCO PANIZO

The first upset of this World Cup came on the fourth day of action, and it was at the expense of an African team.

Japan shocked Cameroon, 1-0, in a game that marked the team's first World Cup win away from home soil. The goal came courtesy of Keisuke Honda in the first half, as the midfielder got on the end of a Daisuke Matsui cross before clinically trapping the ball and slotting it to the near post.

Despite winning the possession battle, Cameroon struggled to find an equalizer in the Group E clash. The Indomitable Lions did come close three minutes from time when defender Stephane M'Bia blasted one from distance, only to see the ball smack off the crossbar.

The missed opportunity was a cruel ending for Samuel Eto'o and Cameroon, but it summed up their struggles against Japan's organized defense.

Here are the match highlights, as well as from the rest of Monday's games:

Own goal helps Netherlands defeat Denmark, 2-0

A own goal by Daniel Agger paved the way for the Netherlands to defeat Denmark, 2-0, in the Group E opener.

The Netherlands dominated much of the play, but could not find the back of the net until the 46th minute when Simon Poulsen attempted to head a Robin van Persie cross clear, but instead it bounced off Agger's back and into the Danes' net.

The Dutch would add another five minutes from the final whistle as Dirk Kuyt knocked in a rebound after substitute Eljero Elia had curled a shot into the post.

The win was a fair result for the Netherlands, but the team's defense needs improvement. Constantly throughout the first half, Nicklas Bendtner and Denmark created chances on the counter. Bendtner even missed a golden opportunity to score when his header from close range went wide in the 27th minute.

Here are the match highlights:

De Rossi earns Italy 1-1 draw with Paraguay

Italy began its World Cup title defense with a 1-1 draw against Paraguay, but it needed a botched clearance to do so.

Daniele De Rossi scored off a corner kick in the 63rd minute after Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar failed to punch the ball clear.

The goal was the equalizer for Italy, who had uncharacteristically conceded off a set piece in the first half. Paraguay defender Antolin Alcaraz had temporarily given the South Americans the lead, when he rose above Fabio Cannavaro to head the ball home off service from a free kick.

Italy, who were without injured midfielder Andrea Pirlo, also received a bit of bad news at halftime as goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had to be replaced due to a back injury. No word yet on if Buffon will be able to play against New Zealand on June 20.

Here are the goals:

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What do you think of Monday's matches? Surprised Japan defeated Eto'o and Cameroon? Think the Netherlands will go far? How do you see Denmark faring? Will both Italy and Paraguay make it out of Group F?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Adu should not be mentioned in the same sentence with Elia.

    Elia is probably the best winger on that Holland team. All Robben has over him is experience. Elia will be the next big star for the dutch.

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  2. I completely agree this is likely to be remembered as a bad World Cup, but all it takes is one huge moment in the finals to change it to the _____ World Cup.

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  3. They are giving away tickets. I have seen several shots of what seem to be local boys clubs or school groups in the stands. This is one of the costs of holding a World Cup in a nation without the infrastructure to support an event of this magnitude.

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  4. The countries are also by far the poorest. Practically non-existent middle class, so nobody from Cameroon is hopping on a plane to follow the World Cup.

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  5. you can’t complain about weak teams when we have Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast playing tomorrow and Chile and Spain playing the next day…

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  6. before anyone goes ape-crazy…

    3 reasons why this world cup goes down as one of the worst.

    The Ball – no free kick has even come close to hitting a target and any shot from distance is awful. Keepers are missing the ball because the flight of the ball is completely off.

    The noise – you get no sense of joy from a goal being scored. All you hear are the horns. The only culture FIFA cares about hearing from is South Africa.

    Weak teams – New Zealand against Slovakia tomorrow? The only game that mattered in the group was Italy v Paraguay.

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  7. I love how Cameroon went down today. Raise another glass to the soccer media who said African teams would do so well in this tournament just because it’s in Africa. Mark my words, Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa are not making it out of the group stage.

    Cheers to Japan for running their tails off and the Italy game was good. Somehow these early games are just dull and the bee noise gives me a headache. Too bad FIFA won’t do anything about it.

    I think this World Cup goes down as one of the worst.

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  8. I ran into Asst Coach Mike Sorber on the way to the Netherlands – Denmark game on Monday. It’s now 4 a.m. Joburg time.
    If Ives don’t mind here is a short piece our group did on it.http://famustu.net/worldcup/?p=298

    By the way, every time Elia touched the ball and faced on his marker, the crowd leapt to its feet. he is electric. Made me long for a U.S equivalent. Freddie Adu where are u when we need u?

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  9. italy – paraguay game last 20 minutes was great! best game of the day! netherlands game was booooring – but they get their result

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  10. I read somewhere that traffic is a major issue – people are sitting for hours in jams and not making the games…supposedly something is being done to correct it but for now that is the excuse for the empty seats

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  11. So did MLS, didn’t seem to help the mls players on the US team. You’d have thought if it really made a difference, Landon would have taken a few strikes from distance. Maybe the ball is helping buddle score so much?

    Players are very conservative. They hate change. But c’mon now. These are wealthy, professional atheletes, the ball has been public for almost a year. You think Lionel Messi couldn’t drop into the Barcelona Sports Authority and pick a few up for practice?

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  12. Does anyone know if Shunsuke Nakamura is on the Japanese World Cup roster? I happen to be a big fan of his.

    Great game by Japan. Controlled the midfield in the first half, stayed tight on defense in the second.

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  13. I do have to agree but, not to make excuses, this ball, the jabulani, I believe, is making a huge difference. The ball swerves alot and is much lighter and is constructed differently from other balls, thermally bonded versus sewn and 8 panels instead of 14 from 2006 world cup and I think even some new materials for a soccer ball. All this combined surely has to effect the flight and elasticity of the ball after being kicked or hitting the ground (bouncing higher, travelling faster or swerving more). I think this is the reason we have seen alot of poor crosses, shots, passes and misjudged balls.

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  14. Elia looks like he’ll be a great weapon for the Dutch side as a 2nd half sub for one of the big attacking names. His skill and speed really added a spark to an already exciting offense. I wasn’t sure that the Dutch defense would be able to hold up (and I’m still not, I guess), but now I’m less convinced that it will matter. Spain isn’t rock solid at the back either, but it’s so hard to get the ball off them that it doesn’t matter.

    If Nigel De Jong doesn’t get a red at some point in this tournament I’ll be stunned. He and Camoranesi both deserved about 4 yellows each today.

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  15. And, like it or not, the ball is affecting play. It’s not “bad,” but it’s more lively and takes some getting used to. The Germans used it in the Bundesliga after the winter break, and I don’t think it’s coincidence that they’ve looked the best thus far.

    And as the others have said, we still haven’t seen some of the more technically proficient teams yet.

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  16. Yea, Attendance or ticket sales were at 98% or something like that, right. I think there is something going on, it could be due to the fact that people bought tickets very early and then found out that the airfare was being gouged like crazy. I don’t think that accounts for thousands of seats being empty but some of the early matches are just not that exciting of draws.
    I’m pretty sure if ticket sales are high that it won’t matter much, maybe fans are doing things outside of the stadium or around the stadium.
    I don’t think its that embarrassing for FIFA, this world cup was always going to have alot of question marks with it. In the end the sum of this WC is greater than its parts.

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  17. I didn’t watch the first two games today, but during the Italy-Paraguay game it was raining pretty heavily so that may have made people retreat into the covered areas from their front row seats. But yes, there have been a fair amount of empty seats in many games.

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  18. Perhaps, but I don’t think it is likely because large businesses like FIFA rarely give something away for fear that it would decrease the value; though the empty seats are temporarily embarrassing, clearly the World Cup will survive; still, it is ugly to see on television.

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  19. keep in mind it’s the first week so most teams are playing relatively conservatively. we should see some more inspired play now that certain teams need a win.

    also we have ivory coast, portugal, brazil, spain, and chile yet to play, hopefully they will all be entertaining…

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  20. The play so far in this world cup has been awful. Very few goals, sloppy crossing and shooting, bad goalkeeping. Hopefully it picks up going forward.

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  21. What’s up with the empty seats at theses game? Usa definatly needs to host a world cup 2018 or 2022. Fifa makes a profit and we can sell out 70,000- 80,000 tickect for any country reguardless of who’s play. What the heck the cameroon game should have been a sell out no africa team games should have empty seats. The countries are the closest … imagane angolas game last world cup was sold out in europe. This is really embarrassing to fifa and south africa I hope fifa realizes this and awards us the world cup. If not for the game at least for there pockets

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  22. Sweet, number 1. Anyhow, the games were largely dull. The U.S. created more clear cut chances against England than Italy did against Paraguay.

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