Argentina emerge as genuine contenders but the arrogant French wither away into disgrace

It was time for Diego Maradona’s Argentina side to engage in their second battle of the tournament. Although the South Americans were firm favourites, the game against South Korea was not likely to be an elementary task for Lionel Messi and his team-mates after the likes of Park Ji-Sung impressed in the earlier stages of the tournament.
Argentina invariably threatened to score from the moment the referee puffed on his whistle to signal the start of a potential buffet of world-class goals. With Lionel Messi attempting to firmly put his stamp on this tournament in the manner of Pele in 1970 or his own coach, Diego Maradona in 1986, it was he who forced the opening goal with a spinning free-kick which pitifully parried off of a Korean defender into the back of the net. Typical, admirable persistence from the bullish Carlos Tevez obtained a free-kick for the Argentineans in a dangerous position, link-up play between Messi and Liverpool’s Maxi Rodriguez resulted in a cross meeting the unmarked head of Gonzalo Higuain as he responsively knocked the ball in the goal to double the lead.
As an annihilation was in the reckoning, the game was swung in the opposite direction as the Koreans managed to undeservedly score a goal of their own. However, Argentina went on to seal the game as Higuain completed a hat trick of simple finishes, one being a Messi rebound from the post as ‘the best player in the world’ is struggling to gain firm recognition of his own. Higuain still managed to look unconvincing at times and with Argentina certainly progressing into the latter stages, it’s likely a better side will be able to deal with his threat more easily, perhaps signalling the introduction of Diego Milito, a much better striker in my opinion.
It was now the turn of the other two contenders in what was rapidly becoming ‘Argentina’s group’. With Greece looking extremely lacklustre in their opening fixture and Nigeria some how managing to hinder the threat of the Argentineans, I certainly favoured the Africans to take the three points in this game. Kaulo Uche’s early free-kick from great distance seemed to dance between bodies of defenders and attackers before settling in the goal itself, a very poor and frustrating goal to concede for the Greeks. However, the European side were handed a lifeline when a petulant attack from a Nigerian midfielder on a Greek was spotted by the referee and resulted in a red card. Greece then netted the equaliser on the stroke of half time, notoriously, ‘a great time to score’. Incredibly, being the first ever goal for the previous European champions, Greece finally appeared enthusiastic enough to gain a win, and they did just that when they scored with twenty minutes remaining and managed to hold on to their lead.
In what first appeared a predictable group, group A was quickly becoming an exciting prospect. With a rather dour performance by the French against Uruguay, Raymond Domenech’s men needed to put in a much better performance against a team of focused Mexicans. Mexico always looked the more likely to win as they played with passion, commitment, and most importantly, conviction whilst France arrogantly strolled to defeat. Perhaps Domenech will be regretting the omission of the likes of Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema as his preference for older players, lacking hunger and focus looks to be a huge mistake. Hernandez, who will ply his trade at Manchester United next term opened the scoring and an inconsiderate, careless challenge from Eric Abidal, summing up the attitude of the French, resulted in a penalty expertly converted by veteran, Blanco.
As the whistle blew, Patrice Evra aggressively ripped his captain’s band from his upper arm and smashed it down on the earth whilst Domenech remained casually leaning against the side of his dugout with his arms coolly folded. Clearly the French squad is in disarray with immature rifts within the camp and selfish, ambitionless performances from the likes of William Gallas and Thierry Henry, due to the fact they’ve already won sufficient trophies in their career, is ruining the likes of Patrice Evra’s and Florent Malouda’s chances of ever lifting an international trophy. Whether the international veterans will turn on the style for one more time is unsure, perhaps they will in aid of the fond memories of their own career but it’s unlikely they’ll do it for patriotic reasons as they seem focused solely on themselves and Domenech hardly looks like he has the ability to motivate this side of prime a donnas. Whether Evra can play his part in building up a non-existent team spirit remains to be seen but the sincere arrogance of the withering ‘class of 1998’ is clear as they continue to swim in self-indulgence and patronisingly look on at the younger generation and sneer at their attempts of success. I certainly hope this is the last time the over thirties in that squad play for France and have lost a lot of respect for a number of formerly,great players.
France must be rid of the unpopular Domenech and appoint a young, hungry manager, perhaps Laurent Blanc, or they will continually fail to fulfil their potential and the likes of a potentially new golden generation including Frank Ribery, Karim Benzema and Yohann Gourcuff will go to waste. It’s unlikely Uruguay and Mexico will play out a ‘convenient draw’ which would see both qualify as this would diminish the integrity of the competition but with South Africa certain to be fired up for potentially their last appearance in their own world cup, it’s certainly possible that they will out battle and admirably defeat the disgrace of this year’s French team.

The World Cup begins with a magnificent opener on South Africa's day of pride

The mood-reflecting, sun shone brightly down on ‘Soccer City’ in this illustrious day for the proud nation of South Africa. The delightful opening ceremony’s essence of Africa and celebration was as refreshing as any previous tournament’s attempts and despite the unfortunate absence of the iconic Nelson Mandela due to his great granddaughter’s shocking death, the display still managed to emit the positive message of diversity and prosperity amongst the proud continent of Africa on a colossal scale.
The first game of the tournament which saw the hosts, South Africa take on a Mexico team recently beaten by England was of little disappointment. Conveniently, it was the Africans who took the lead as the rather comically named, Siphiwe Tshabalala blasted an astounding bullet beyond the grasps of the Mexican keeper. The Kaizer Chiefs’ (a South African football team in case you were thinking the team had some kind of rock star) winger will have attracted European interest, which will come as a nightmare to John Motsen, with a performance which made him a constant threat to the opponents as he constantly advanced within Mexican territory with genuine pace and quality. The slightly embarrassing, yet meaningful, patriotic celebration involving a choreographed dance which followed is likely to be a cult image to be carried through generations and a famous picture resembling the moment Africa really, finally put it‘s stamp on the world of football on a global basis.
Moments of quick, quality, fluid football from the, so-called “Bafana Bafanas” will have pleasantly shocked viewers who considered South Africa’s presence in the tournament a mere convenience on a geographical level. However, the emphatic, monotonous drone of the controversial vuvuzelas was unexpectedly drowned out by disappointment when Barcelona defender, Rafael Marquez spoilt the party by equalising for the Mexicans. A late chance for South Africa agonizingly hit the post, but overall it was an encouraging, positive, commendable start to a tournament which has attracted such negative speculation.
France versus Uruguay, on the other hand, was much more of a disappointment. Arguably two giants of world football; despite the Uruguayan’s severe loss of stature in modern times, an exciting strike partnership of Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan threatened to regain the South Americans’ respect and pride in the world of football and act as a catalyst in catapulting the team into an unexpected contender to enter the latter stages. Nothing of the sort. Tipped by many to overturn the French, a rather pathetic couple of shots from Forlan was all Uruguay could muster and France contributed little into making this the spectacle it had the potential to be.
The France manager, Raymond Domenech went some way to proving why he is so unpopular in his native country with a lack of tactical awareness, poor substitutions and a generally negative approach to “the greatest show on earth”. Florent Malouda’s introduction was far too late and after the Frenchman’s superb performances for Chelsea in attack this year, he should have been employed in a more advanced role. The straight swap of Thierry Henry for Nicholas Anelka lacked ambition as last year’s finalists cautiously, unimaginatively decided not to convert to a formation sporting a front two. Henry’s performance was nothing like the magical, majestic displays of his time at Arsenal and this once, world-class act appeared isolated as the lone striker and his physical attributes are slowly, pitifully withering away. His desperation for an impact even forced him to appeal for a handball, an extremely hypocritical and audacious action with regards to his Irish shame. It’s unlikely Henry will agree to David Sullivan’s bold attempts to sign him for West Ham as his legendry status in England would drop further down the drain with poor performances, a financially rewarding transfer to the USA would probably be the most sensible move at this stage of his career. Unless he sincerely believes, in his unquestionable yet rather admirable arrogance, he can still have a crack at the big time.
A late sending-off for an irresponsible, reckless, Uruguayan substitute was the only controversial action of the game, on a day when referees made some fantastic decisions in both matches. The much awaited 11th of June is finally over and the world cup is well and truly underway with the anticipation increasingly growing ahead of England’s game tomorrow evening. Despite a tedious match to finish the night, it would be acceptable to say that South Africa can be very pleased with their soccer introduction to the world.