Draws, vuvuzelas and an England howler

The 2010 World Cup is the first to be held in Africa.

After the usual spectacular opening ceremony, the host nation South Africa kicked off the tournament with a game against Mexico. Though they were on the back foot for most of the game, the hosts took the lead 10 minutes into the second half after a stunning goal from Siphiwe Tshabalala. The Kaiser Chiefs winger promises to be the first of many players in this World Cup whose name we’ll remember, but struggle to pronounce. Beautiful though Tshabalala’s goal was, it wasn’t quite enough to earn South Africa a famous victory – Mexico equalised with 12 minutes to go. It was hard not to feel sorry for South Africa, but a draw was the least Mexico deserved – they’d been dominant throughout.

There isn’t much to say about the France/Uruguay game other than it finished as a goalless draw, it was incredibly dull to watch, and it confirmed what we already knew – that France are a shadow of their former selves. The French were the dominant side, and had far more chances on goal than Uruguay, but lacked that finishing touch. France were a man up for the final 10 minutes of the game, after Uruguay’s Nicolás Lodeiro was sent off for a second bookable offence, but even then they couldn’t find the net. A better side than Uruguay would have punished France for their wastefulness, and if Raymond Domenech’s side make it through the group stage, a better side probably will punish them. On this evidence, the best France can hope for is a second round/quarter final exit.

With all four teams walking away from their opening game with a point, Group A remains extremely close. Based on their Friday performances, I’d tip Mexico to win the group and France to go through in second place, although it’ll be interesting to see how home advantage affects South Africa in their game against Uruguay on Wednesday. The host nation generally does well in a World Cup, so it’s possible South Africa could stun France or Uruguay and get through the group.

I didn’t catch the South Korea/Greece game, so I can’t really comment on the performance of either side. It seems obvious to me though that Greece have come a long way, in the wrong direction, since winning the European Championship in 2004. South Korea will be hard pressed to match their sensational performance in the 2002 World Cup, which they co-hosted with Japan, but after a 2-0 victory over Greece they’re on course to make it through the group stage.

Nigeria might have something to say about that, but it’s difficult to assess the Nigerians’ chances as they were completely dominated by Argentina. Diego Maradona’s side won 1-0, thanks to a lovely diving header from former Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze, but could and should have scored more. As always, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi was a delight to watch. According to Opta Sports, Messi was directly involved in 14 of Argentina’s shots against Nigeria. I disagree with anyone who thinks Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo are better than Messi; I truly believe the Argentine is in a class of his own.

And then, of course, came the small matter of England’s opener. A delightful goal from captain Steven Gerrard opened the scoring just four minutes in, but the front and back pages of today’s papers were dominated by goalkeeper Robert Green, for the wrong reasons – a mistake from Green gifted the USA an equaliser in a game England had looked sure to win. Fabio Capello’s side pushed for a second goal, but it never came. No doubt a draw against a side that call the beautiful game “soccer” will dishearten England fans, but I personally saw some positives in our performance. The often vilified Emile Heskey played well, whilst the captain’s armband seemed to finally enable Steven Gerrard to play for England at the level we normally only see him reach in a Liverpool shirt. Glen Johnson and Aaron Lennon also seemed to work well together on the right wing.

Unfortunately, the negatives were still there. Green started to redeem himself in the second half after a spectacular near post save to deny Jozy Altidore, but doubts will remain over the West Ham keeper, and there’ll be much debate over whether or not he should start our next game, against Algeria on Friday. Problems remain in central defence, after Ledley King was only able to last 45 minutes and replacement Jamie Carragher struggled to keep up with the pace of international football. Wayne Rooney didn’t have the best of games, providing us with a timely reminder of how dependant we are on Manchester United’s favourite Scouser. Having said that, a draw isn’t the end of the world for England; the game against the United States was always going to be the most difficult in the group stage. It’s worth remembering that England were up against a side who ended Spain’s 35 game unbeaten run in the Confederations Cup last year, and went 2-0 up against Brazil in the final (before losing 3-2). Undoubtedly, better performances are needed against Algeria and Slovenia, but the dream hasn’t died... yet.

The other major talking point of the World Cup has been the vuvuzelas, which have left their mark on all five games. The vuvuzelas are held in high regard by South Africa, and add to the stadium atmosphere during matches – but they aren’t half irritating.

Ben McCluskey will be working with James Southern and Aimee Howarth to provide a daily blog during the 2010 World Cup.

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