Italy v Paraguay

Italy v Paraguay World Cup 14/6/2010

Having played well in the first half at Green Point Stadium the 2006 winners were shocked when Wigan-bound defender Antolin Alcaraz rose to head home a 39th-minute free-kick.

But Italy’s blushes were spared as Daniele De Rossi slid in to punish a mistake by Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar after 63 minutes and take a point from the match. As expected, Italy coach Marcello Lippi had left Serie A’s top goalscorer Antonio Di Natale on the bench, instead selecting Alberto Gilardino with Vincenzo Iaquinta out wide.

Japan v Cameroon

Japan v Cameroon World Cup 14/6/2010

Honda’s close-range strike was one of the few highlights of an otherwise forgettable game at the Free State Stadium.

The CSKA Moscow forward’s goal handed a long-awaited victory to Japan coach Takeshi Okada, who had seen his side lose four and draw one of their warm-up matches, scoring only one goal in the process.

While Okada opted for a lone striker in Yoshito Okubo, his Cameroon counterpart Paul Le Guen decided on an adventurous 4-3-3 formation.

Netherlands v Denmark

Netherlands v Denmark World Cup 14/6/2010

Both goals came in the second half after an assured first period of defending by the Scandinavians, who constantly thwarted a Dutch attack which appeared short of ideas without the injured Arjen Robben.

But the resistance was broken less than 60 seconds into the second half, when Robin van Persie’s cross from the left was headed in the wrong direction by Simon Poulsen - he tried to head clear and sent it towards his own goal - and it struck the back of Agger and went in.

Germany 4 - 0 Australia

Germany 4 - 0 Australia June 13, 2010

With a young squad and without injured Michael Ballack, the Germans went on a scoring rampage. Lukas Podolski opened their account in the eighth minute before veteran Miroslav Klose doubled the lead before the half-hour mark.

Cheered by the green and gold fans at the Durban Stadium, the Socceroos showed more determination after the re-start but saw their challenge take a fatal hit when Tim Cahill was shown a straight red card in the 56th minute following a late tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Algeria 0 - 1 Slovenia

Algeria 0 - 1 Slovenia June 13, 2010

Less than 24 hours after England’s Green had let Clint Dempsey’s shot slip from his grasp in the 1-1 draw in the group’s opening, Chaouchi produced a similar howler.

Slovenia captain and former West Brom midfielder Koren’s 25-yard shot was not particularly venomous but the Algeria goalkeeper allowed it to bounce up off his shoulder and into the net.

Only moments before that the Africans had been reduced to ten men when substitute Abdelkader Ghezzal’s needless handball resulted in a second yellow card.

England v United States

England 1 - 1 United States June 12,2010

Steven Gerrard had given the Three Lions’ World Cup campaign a flying start with a fourth-minute opener in Rustenburg.

England were holding that advantage until Green committed the kind of howler David Seaman, Paul Robinson and Scott Carson have all done down the years and allowed Clint Dempsey’s harmless shot to slip through his fingers.

Capello could only watch on in horror and wonder why fate had dealt him such a shocking hand given he had preferred Green to David James and Joe Hart as his first-choice goalkeeper, dismissing the latter man for fear his inexperience would cost England in a similar manner to that the West Ham man actually did.

Argentina vs Nigeria

Argentina  1 - 0 Nigeria June 12, 2010

South Korea 2 - 0 Greece

South Korea 2 - 0 Greece June 12, 2010

South Korea saw off a lacklustre Greece side 2-0 in the Group B opener thanks to goals from Lee Jung-Soo and Park Ji-Sung.

The result, the first victory of the 2010 finals, extended a miserable World Cup record for Greece, who have yet to score a goal or earn a point in the history of the competition.

Huh Jung-moo’s side ultimately ran out comfortable winners in front of an army of their delighted fans among a crowd of 31,513 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

Coach Otto Rehhagel had warned his players in advance to beware South Korea’s panther-like qualities, and by the time he got them back into the dressing room at the break, he will have been relieved they had not been mauled further.

Uruguay v France

Uruguay 0 - 0 France [ World Cup 2010 June 11,2010 ]

Raymond Domenech’s side, who drew their first two group games in 2006 before going on to reach the final, struggled for ideas against a well-drilled South American outfit.

Winger Sidney Govou had by far the clearest chance to score for France in only the seventh minute, side-footing a Franck Ribery cross wide with the goal gaping. Uruguay even played the last nine minutes with ten men after substitute Nicolas Lodeiro’s dismissal.

South Africa v Mexico

After struggling through the first half, the home side came out firing after the break and took the lead through Siphiwe Tshabalala. But after missing plenty of chances to build on their advantage, they saw their lead cancelled out by the Barcelona defender.

Katlego Mphela could have snatched victory at the death, but his strike found the base of the post as both sides had to settle for a share of the spoils.

After an entertaining opening ceremony in Johannesburg, Bafana Bafana failed to make the most of their advantage, much to the disappointment of the 85,000 crowd.