The End of the First Round of the First Round...

...or as I was going to call it "Isn't it a shame Ron Atkinson isn't commentating on Africa's first World Cup".
So a lot of these games I didn't get to see in full so this will be quick.

MON 14th June

Holland 2-0 Denmark (PREDICTION 2-0!)
(Agger OG, Kuyt)

Great start of the day predictions wise for me, I even cheered Poulsen clearing the ball off the line to keep it 2-0, even though goals have been hard to come by so far. Holland looked alright, basically deciding to be like every other team in this World Cup and not look great too early on.

Japan 1-0 Cameroon (PREDICTION 0-1)

(Honda)
Didn't see much of this, from what I did see Cameroon looked awful and Japan looked okay.

Italy 1-1 Paraguay (PREDICTION 1-0)
(de Rossi, Alcaraz)

Can't get over this result, considering Paraguay have normally only managed two shots on goal per game that I've seen them play so to see them take the lead was incredible. Italy missed Pirlo and a striker, but at least stepped their performance up to mediocre when the Argentinian Camoranesi came on, and in fairness Italy were only being true to form of being pure muck in the group stages .

TUES 15th June

New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia (PREDICTION 1-1!)

(Reid, Vittek)

Literally just saw Smeltz miss a header and Reid's goal, so can't really comment.

Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal (PREDICTION 2-2)
What a crap game, good to see Ronaldo getting booked for diving when it actually did look like a foul. Portugal look poor for me, Deco, Mendes, Liedson and Danny don't inspire confidence.

Brazil 2-1 North Korea (PREDICTION 5-0)
(Maicon, Elano, Yun-Nam Ji)
Felt like a friendly, with Brazil shooting from anywhere. The goals were all well worked, Maicon meant it poeple, and it was weird to cheer for North Korea when they scored.

WEDS 16th June
Honduras 0-1 Chile (PREDICTION 1-1)
(Beausejour)

Chile looked really good, but they were playing Honduras, which is a feeder club for Wigan in case you were wondering. Sanchez, a target for Real Madrid apperently, looked lively and to have some skill, but did also dive a bit and handballed in the box trying to set up a goal, so should fit in well. Felt sorry for lad called Ponce who managed not to score with a header from three yards, leading to sports presenters winking when they said his name.

Spain 0-1 Switzerland (PREDICTION 3-0)
(Fernandes)

What a goal! Definitely the best goal of the World Cup, just for comedy value alone. Spain had twenty something attempts on goal with Alonso coming the closest with an amazing strike that smashed off the bar, but with Iniesta looking tentative and eventually taken off, really poor defending and Torres rusty, Spain need a rethink. Mind you after saying all that Senderos going off injured early was the only reason it wasn't 3-0 to Spain...honest.

South Africa 0-3 Uruguay (PREDICTION 1-1)

(Forlan 2, Pereira)
Jaysis, didn't see that coming, I knew South Africa weren't great but man what happened. Never looked like scoring or troubling Uruguay. Suarez for Uruguay was pissing me off, then he lost a tooth apperently and ended up winning the game for them earning the penalty and essentially knocking South Africa out, so had an eventful game, although we'll see what happen with France and Mexico tomorrow.

PREDICTIONS:
THURS 17th JUNE
Argentina 2-1 South Korea
Greece 0-2 Nigeria
France 1-1 Mexico
FRI 18th JUNE
Germany 3-1 Serbia
Slovenia 0-2 United States
England 3-0 Algeria
SAT 19th JUNE
Netherlands 2-0 Japan
Ghana 3-1 Australia
Cameroon 1-1 Denmark
SUN 20th JUNE
Slovakia 0-1 Paraguay
Italy 3-0 New Zealand
Brazil 2-1 Ivory Coast