Each of the 32 nations have now had a chance to open their respective World Cup campaigns in South Africa. Now, it's on to the second round of games, with host nation South Africa taking on Uruguay (2:30pm, ESPN/ESPN3.com) to wrap up today's action.
Group A is wide open, with both matches last Friday settled as ties. South Africa enjoys a slight advantage over Uruguay in the standings, simply because they've managed to score a goal, something the South Americans were unable to do in their opener with France. It's a national holiday in South Africa, and a Bafana Bafana win would send the home country into euphoria.
Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez remain crucial to the Uruguay offensive hope, while South Africa hopes to boost their hopes of making the second round.
If you are watching the game, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the match.
And Forlan leads the scoring charts!
How is that a horrible call?
The keeper was alone with a player and he took him down as the player went around him.
That’s as easy a call as they come.
Bias or no bias ,there is no way that would have been anything but a red card & penalty.
You can’t not call that.
A lot of it is the big defensive stands everyone is playing with, and also, maybe the ball has a little bit to do with it?
I’m not totally sure, but Forlan’s goal dropped mid-air. If something like that happens, it might not hurt to take a shot and see if you can get a rebound.
Wow…horrible call.
So long South Africa, thanks for hosting the party.
Terrible decision by the goal keeper.
Aden, you still think the referee is helping South Africa?
And that’s it for RSA.
I don’t know but I think most teams are playing big time defense, so team are settling for long shots.
I agree as well, but thank god for DVR. Replaying questionable calls is good to figure out what happened.
One more vent for me.
Why do players keep trying to score wonder goals/volleys from 30-35 yards out? I can’t remember a single one, in any game, on net.
I want another Forlan goal for my fantasy team.
South Africa, as the announcer pointed out, is having alot of trouble passing when pressured. That has been there downfall so far this match.
Uruguay look alot more organized this match.
South Africa still has time to get that goal back.
Yeah, it’s a nice release to be able to vent on here.
I’ll tone it down.
Provided they don’t meet Argentina in the next round, I can see Uruguay making a strong run.
Ahhh, come on, that was accidental, and was not a punch. Aden, you have been too quick to point out negativity in all these posts, take a chill pill.
At least that official was then caught for match fixing.
It is nice to know that you are completely correct when you call bollocks on an official.
***1.000
Wouldn’t be surprising. Would have a long way to go to match the help South Korea got in 2002
Uurguay really taking control of this game. If we meet them in the quarterfinals, that would sure be very interesting.
I would bet serious money right now after seeing no yellow for a punch, and a clear cut penalty not called, that this official has been instructed to help South Africa.
AHHH!!!! good word play
A punch in the face is not a yellow card?
I looked on the FIFA Matchcast stats, and Uruguay’s players have run nearly 1,000 meters more than RSA’s, yet completed and attempted less passes.
Anyone else think that shows a weak RSA midfield allowing the long Uruguayan runs? That keeps up in the second and this game gets blown open.
France’s firepower is strong. Ever though Malouda was gone, they couldn’t risk losing points completely against a scrappy RSA and an underrated Mexico.
We can obviously see right now that when they use the extra attacker, they’ll be able to score. Their game against Mexico will be a very interesting one to watch.
I think there’s definitely a hats off owed to the Swiss!!! They played a defensive game, and though Switzerland didn’t really do much, they capitalized on the mistakes, and that’s what you do in your first match.
You have to realie, for the teams like the Swiss, Holland, England, Slovenia, they weren’t necessarily trying to go out there and win. They needed a good performance to not push them to two must win games in their next group stage matches. those results, plus the results of Germany, shouldn’t be disappointing. They’ll pick it up with less difficult matches in the next games.
The outcome is a Forlan conclusion.
They made the mistake of thinking France were actually good 😉
South Africa is making some really risky tackles, I can definitely see at least one more of their players being suspended.
*Cough* Jozy.
Late bloomer 🙂
why did uruguay come out with a 5 man defense against france? They look incredible in their 4-3-3 formation.
Soccer Fun Fact:
It took Diego Forlan, the two time European Golden Boot winner, 8 months (27 games) to score his first EPL goal.
Yup, Only a few goals have been a straight result of good offensive play. But lets not underestimate that alot of goals in league play and qualifying occur in the same manner.
Its just the world cup is under a bigger microscope.
Forlan’s really impressed. Hard to believe this is the same player who was such a dud at Man U early in his career.
Anyone else notice that, for the most part, the only goals being scored are fluke deflections or accidents?
AHHH man, I want South Africa to win!! Forlan got lucky on that shot but the defense should not have let him take that!!!
Woo, another fantasy goal for me 🙂
Mexico better pick up three points against France because Uruguay is going to beat us.
I thought about it.
I classified them according to geographical location.
I thought, also, about combining Asia with Oceania. Record would be 47%.
Any way, they are still send best.
I guess you can do it any way.
australia is in the Asian Football Confed. make asia 50%
Forlan with a rocket of a shot! 1-0!
Possibly the best game we’ve seen. Both teams going for kill.
yo what about the s. american teams?!…argentina is just warming up, chile looked great, paraguay are always tough and looked good against italy, and uruguay are quietly doing their thing. all undeafeted!
I agree. Hopefully, as we enter the second phase, it’s time for business.
First round records for all continents: W-L-T (percentage of points gained)
1- South America: 3-0-2 (73%)
2- Asia: 2-1-0 (67%)
3- Europe: 2-2-5 (41%)
4- Africa: 1-3-2 (27%)
5- North America: 0-1-2 (22%)
6- Oceania: 0-1-1 (17%)
For more, check this:
http://community.foxsports.com/gus-keri/blog/?pref_tab=blog
With one complete round of group stage games completed, the story of the tournament so far has to be the underwhelming performances of the European teams, save for Germany:
France: boring draw, one decent chance on goal
Greece: will finish #32 in the tournament
England: I think we all know
Slovenia: scored a fluke goal against 10 men to win
Germany: only impressive performance from Europe
Serbia: disappointing by their own standards, I’m sure
Italy: had to work hard to come back for a draw against a decided underdog
Slovakia: draw with #873rd-ranked New Zealand
Portugal: yawn, 0-0 draw, although that’s what they
wanted
Holland-Denmark and Spain-Switzerland: two Euro teams against each other, hard to say if any team met expectations more than the opponent underwhelmed, but Holland did what they needed, while Spain…well…
You gotta be rooting for Bafana Bafana in this one!