http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2010/06/07/parker-bernard0906028getty.jpgSouth African forward Bernard Parker, left, will have to pick up the scoring slack for the Bafana Bafana in Benni McCarthy's absence. (Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images)

Day 1, Match 1

South Africa vs. Mexico, Group A
Date and Location

June 11, Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/news/story/2010/05/15/spf-joburg.html)
Broadcast details

Live on CBC and CBCSports.ca (9:30 am ET). Consult CBC's full broadcast schedule (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/broadcast.html).
What's at stake

The first match of the World Cup is crucial for both South Africa and Mexico since Group A is considered one of the tournament's toughest groups. A loss for either nation would be catastrophic to its hopes of qualification for the round of 16, and a draw might be equally injurious.
Injuries and suspensions

Mexican defender Rafael Marquez strained a muscle in his right leg during Mexico's 2-1 win over Italy in a friendly on June 3. Mexico is confident that the FC Barcelona star will be recovered in time for the game against South Africa. Striker Guillermo Franco recently returned to training after suffering a muscle sprain in a recent friendly against England.
Player to watch for South Africa

Bernard Parker — Short but quick, Parker takes the place of South African all-time leading goalscorer Benni McCarthy. Although the 24-year-old Parker does not have nearly as many accolades as McCarthy, the FC Twente forward impressed at last year's Confederations Cup and is being lauded as the present and the future of South African soccer.
Player to watch for Mexico

Cuauhtemoc Blanco — Even at 37 years old, Blanco still has the fire to burn opposing defences. He has never been a quick attacker, but his strength and aggression are hard to douse and he could wreak havoc upon South Africa's notoriously disorganized defence.
Key matchup

Steven Pienaar vs. Rafael Marquez — One provides the flair in South Africa's offence, the other provides the steel in Mexico's defence. Although they may not clash directly, Pienaar and Marquez will wage an on-field chess match — the defensive marshal of Mexico will try to keep South Africa at bay, allowing Mexico's aggressive offence to throw some tough punches.
South African perspective

"Our main hurdle is the first game. I believe if we can get a good result there, the nerves will subside and the people will really get behind us." — defender Matthew Booth
Mexican perspective

"We've got no excuses. We're used to playing at altitude and even though we'll have [most of] the fans against us, it's not the first time we've played away from home. We'll just have to focus on what's happening on the pitch, that'll be the best way to win the match." — forward Carlos Vela
World Cup head-to-head

The 2010 World Cup opener will be the first time these two countries will face off in FIFA's showpiece.
All-time head-to-head



Games played: 2
Mexico: 2 wins, 1 loss, 0 draws
South Africa: 1 win, 2 losses, 0 draws
Goals: Mexico 9, South Africa 4
Last match: Mexico beat South Africa 4-2 on June 7, 2000 in Dallas, Texas


Links;
http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=77086&part=sports
http://www.rojadirecta.com/

I'll probably do a live-report of the game, match over about 2 hours

Well, the opening ceremonies are looking pretty good so far. I'm loving the energy levels and the cultural diversity so far. I think this is going to be a wicked world cup. :)

-Mandela wont be there cause a grand child of his died yesterday in a car crash, may she rest in peace and I wish the family strength, sad thing just before the openings.

-I do hope the vuvuzela's dont mess up the tournament, the confederations cup was unwatchable bc of them, the ball might also fuck things up, but its gonna start and Im excited, lets get this thing started.

-Lets get the show on the road.

South-Africa: Itumeleng Khune, Siboniso Gaxa, Aaron Makoena, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Katlego Mphela, Steven Pienaar, Teko Modise, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Lucas Thwala, Bongani Khumalo.

Mexico:
Oscar Perez, Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido, Rafael Marquez, Ricardo Osorio, Gerardo Torrado, Guillermo Franco, Carlos Vela, Paul Aguilar, Efrain Juarez, Giovanni Dos Santos

-Almost a goal by dos santos, corner dangerous too, RSA getting prssured hard. Mexico is a really offensive team anyway, this aint gonna be goal-less draw

-Live report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/11/world-cup-2010-south-africa-mexico-live

-Mexico really playing like there is only 5 minutes left to play, good pressure, SA struggling need to get some passing game in.

-I might not watch all the matches afterall, this vuvuzel crap is ok to a certain level, but after hours on end it will be impossible to watch a game.

-Sa getting their game back a bit, should be a good game to watch, both teams that like to attack.

-Mexico's wingbacks very far placed acting as extra offensive players, something they did in their earlier matches too.

I missed all the ceremonies before hand. I was working on preparing the pool spreadsheet. I was up till 4am and slept for only 3 1/2 hours. But I'm fresh now. :D
Boring game so far.

Corner headed over, another strong point for mexico their corners and indirect set pieces.

Free-kick for SA, good placement, pienaar over.

SA is defending with 10 men. If mexico scores a goal it is going to be a nice game.

Juarez yellow after hand ball.

Pj they arent just defending now, mexico better though.

The keeper is good at long kicks and throws and is known for that, could be helpfull on the brake since mexicos winbacks also get forward, sa should use their wings more.

Mexico very vulnerable on the break/counter, SA not taking proper advantage of it yet though

Yellow Dikcagoi

It must be said the quality of both teams isnt that great, it was a good first 5 minutes though :D

Good save by Khune after franco's effort.

Dos Santos looks like this girl in my class.

Dos santos looks 12.

Goal from Corner, but offside.

Well spotted, but the keeper was doing some weird $hit.

Free kick, franco headed over.

Nice attack SA but bad final cross, SA good at the short passing game.

Free kick, franco headed over.
That shoulda went in.

Wow big chance SA, just missed the cross, a little more pressure comming from SA.

Damn Mexico's keeper is short.

Damn Mexico's keeper is short.

commentators keep making fun of him.

=LOL, well I would have expected Ochoa but apperently he performed shaky ata couple of games.

=First halve over, not that great a game, but bc Mexico keeps missing both teams have chances.

=Damn man so much technical capabilities these days and they cant freaking put a demper on the sound from the vuvuzela's or something, hella annoying.

Do I still have time to change my prediction for this game? :D

:D I went for the 2-2 daw bit overdone i see, but a draw will get me 3 points so Im good with a draw, after the first matches predicting will be easier.

=Gooal South Africa, TSABALELA, COunter it up 1-0

=Very good finishing by tsabalela and like I said Mexico very vulnerable in the counter

=Agualar out, Guardado in.

=Freaking vuvuzela makes it impossibl to hear people chearing after a goal, one of the beauties that go along with football.

=Brilliant shot Giovani, better save Khune.

=Wow modise should have made the second goal.

=SA playing more freely, mexico with very weak passing.

=Blanco in Vela out.

= Sa another big chance, guy went down to easy IMO, Penalty would have been harsh.

=Mexico really aint that menacing. Franco out Hernandez in, good sub.

=SA should really finish this up with the chances they get, mexico should tie the game to give me some points in the pool

=LOL mexico scores they listened. Marquez scores

Left back twala is getting replaced by matselela, the guy was strugling, didnt stay wide enough.

Do I still have time to change my prediction for this game? :D

looooooool

-ROFL Mexico's keeper is freaking hilarious.

-Blanco is like our daei 06, he cant run for shit, he is more skilled than daei was in wc 2006 though, but the guy is already sweating his ass off and plays in the mexican 2nd devision, used to be good though.

-Hernandes, future manu player, with the chance but nice block SA defendr.

-Mexico's keeper looks a bit like maz jabrani the comedian. Blanco atleast is good on the ball couldnt be said about daei06

-SA hit the post, unlucky, should have scored.

-Game over, difficult to say Mexico first halve, Sa second, I wouldnt have minded SA winning, but 3 points in the bag for the pool :)

-Now what is left is my boy Suarez killing france for me. I'm afraid the french can pull some annoying stuff and that I looked to much at their bad form, hope they keep sucking though, dont deserve to be at the tournament.

Well, the games are definitely off to a good start. That was one of the better opening matches in recent world cups and the S. African fans were absolutely amazing.

Perez is really shaky in goal and I think he will cost Mexico a 2nd round trip. The S. Africans had some real moments of brilliance and they're a pretty speedy team. Little unlucky not to have won 2-1 with that post hit.

Aguirre (the Mexican coach) made a tactical mistake in hald time by giving Dos Santos more of an attacking role, whereas in the first half he was making a lot of lateral runs and was much more effective IMHO. It was good to see Blanco play again, but he's really heavy! Perreira's only mistake was not to counter the fresh Mexican subs with a couple of his own right away. The Buffana Buffanas definitely looked a little deflated after Mexico's subs came in.

Well, the games are definitely off to a good start. That was one of the better opening matches in recent world cups and the S. African fans were absolutely amazing.

Perez is really shaky in goal and I think he will cost Mexico a 2nd round trip. The S. Africans had some real moments of brilliance and they're a pretty speedy team. Little unlucky not to have won 2-1 with that post hit.

Aguirre (the Mexican coach) made a tactical mistake in hald time by giving Dos Santos more of an attacking role, whereas in the first half he was making a lot of lateral runs and was much more effective IMHO. It was good to see Blanco play again, but he's really heavy! Perreira's only mistake was not to counter the fresh Mexican subs with a couple of his own right away. The Buffana Buffanas definitely looked a little deflated after Mexico's subs came in.
Well its only untill last wc that the hosting country starts and normally the first match isnt that great anyway, not a bad match but both teams miss quality at certain terms.

Aguirre should be wise enough to start ochoa again but from what I heard he also made an shaky apreance in earlier matches, aguirre thought he'd fall back on the more experienced Perez, but he respembles the duracell bunny, too hyper and short :Bunny:. I knew Ochoa as a great talent, but I dont follow the mexican league so I dont know he has been recently.

I think the Mexican dominance on the right side had more to do with the SA left backs weakness and bad positioning than Giovani's strength, so perreira's sub of the left back was a good move. You are right he might have brought in flesh blood earlier though.

The Buffana Buffanas definitely looked a little deflated after Mexico's subs came in.

btw a little background info about bafana bafana, In south african zulu they make plurals of words by repeating the word, so Bafana is boy and Bafana bafana means boys or the boys, so the bafana bafanas would be a plural of a plural :Notooth2:

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2010/06/07/suarez-luis090909getty.jpgUruguay's Luis Suarez, right, is one player France will have to try to stop. (Miguel Rojo/AFP/Getty Images)Day 1, Match 2

Uruguay vs. France, Group A
Date and Location

June 11, Green Point Stadium, Cape Town (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/features/story/2010/05/20/spf-cape-town.html)
Broadcast details

Live on CBC and CBCSports.ca (2:15 p.m. ET). Consult CBC's full broadcast schedule (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/broadcast.html).
What's at stake

Much like South Africa's tournament opener against Mexico, the result of this match will elevate or condemn the hopes of both teams. For France, it is the opportunity to prove it has hit the ground running, on course for a second straight final. For Uruguay, it is the chance to prove to the world that the country's national team has emerged from decades of underachievement to take their place among the world's best.

Injuries and suspensions

Uruguay's star striker Diego Forlan collided with teammate Walter Gargano and appeared to injure his left foot during a recent practice. Forlan is expected to start for Uruguay against France.
Player to watch for France

Patrice Evra — One of the world's best left-backs, Evra has skill to impress and speed to burn: one moment he will snuff out an attack with a clean tackle and the next moment he is in the opponent's end dribbling past his opposite number.
Player to watch for Uruguay

Luis Suarez — The 23-year-old scored over a goal a game for Ajax this past season and will tear through opposing defences — with his feet and his elbows — to get to the ball and provide a picturesque finish.
Key matchup

Walter Gargano vs. Yoann Gourcuff: Uruguay obstinacy versus French elegance — this promises to be an enthralling matchup: Gargano, a prototypical rough and tough Uruguayan holding midfielder against Gourcuff, the man proclaimed to be as good if not better than Zinedine Zidane.
French perspective

"They're an aggressive team, hard in the tackle and durable. They play with lots of intensity and have two forwards (Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez) who have talent and good movement." — midfielder Yoann Gourcuff
Uruguayan perspective

"Our conscience is clear. We have done everything possible to arrive at this game in the best possible condition." — defender Diego Lugano
World Cup head-to-head

France has never beaten Uruguay in the World Cup: La Celeste Olímpica beat Les Bleus 2-1 in the group stages of England 1966. France's impotent run during the 2002 World Cup continued against Uruguay with a 0-0 draw.


Series: Uruguay leads 1-0-1
Games played: 2
Uruguay: 1 win, 0 losses, 1 draw
France: 0 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw
Goals: Uruguay 2, France 1
Last match: Both nations tied 0-0 in the group stage of the 2002 World Cup at the Asaid Main Stadium in Busan, Korea.

All-time head-to-head



Series: Tied 1-2-1
Games played: 4
France: 1 win, 1 loss, 2 draws
Uruguay: 1 win, 1 loss, 2 draws
Goals: France 3, Uruguay 2
Last match: France and Uruguay tied 0-0 on Nov. 19, 2008, in Saint-Denis

http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/8904103/uruguay-canelones-football/uruguay-canelones-football.jpg?size=380&imageId=8904103<script type="text/javascript" src="http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.js"></script><script language="javascript" src="http://edge.quantserve.com/quant.js"></script>

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez has named his side to face France in their World Cup Group A match on Friday.
There are two changes to the side that defeated Israel 4-1 in the team’s only World Cup warm-up match on 26 May.
Mauricio Victorino replaces Colo Colo’s Andres Scotti in defence and midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios of Penarol is in for Napoli’s Walter Gargano.
“The system we have chosen can adapt to the different things we could face against France,” said Tabarez.
This means that star strikers Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, who scored 53 goals between them for Atletico Madrid and Ajax respectively, are paired together up front.
Forlan has enjoyed yet another superb season and has been tipped for a move to a big Premier League club after the tournament.
The former Manchester United man suffered a scare in training on Sunday when a collision with Walter Gargano left him with an injured foot – but he should still be fit to face France.
Suarez is one of the most promising players in Europe, having bagged upwards of 30 goals in the past two seasons.
Both Chelsea and Manchester United have been linked with moves for the 23-year-old and France will need to make sure they focus on him, as well as forward partner Forlan, if they are to avoid defeat.
Raymond Domenech’s France side head into their opening match with notable cracks beginning to appear in their squad.
Les Bleus, who won the tournament on home soil back in 1998, only just secured qualification to South Africa after a play-off victory against the Republic of Ireland that included the infamous Thierry Henry handball incident.
The Barcelona striker handled the ball twice in the build-up to the decisive extra-time goal from William Gallas that led to France going through instead of the Republic.
To make matters worse, France lost their last warm-up game to China and several key players have conceded the team is not playing well, with Chelsea forward Florent Malouda claiming France have “a lot of problems to fix”.
Defender Eric Abidal has also rocked the boat by revealing publically that he and Gallas have not yet struck up an effective understanding at centre-back.
Few have tipped them for success in South Africa but with players of the calibre of Franck Ribery in their squad, opponents would be foolish to write them off. (BBC Sport)
Everyone is expecting France to fail miserably in South Africa and perhaps that is when they are at their most dangerous? Some have even gone as far as to put money on Domenech’s men repeating their feat of 2002 and not collecting a single goal, but that seems a tad unlikely given their fairly average group.
Uruguay may well offer stiff opposition though. With Diego Forlan leading the line the South American side offers a very real attacking threat and they are pretty solid at the back and have a very able keeper in Fernando Muslera between the sticks. Could be a tasty tie indeed.
Here are some highlights of warm up matches the two teams have taken part in prior to their big kick off.
France 0-1 China
<embed src="http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/play?file=http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/yVw4TUlAT9STo4IAmMn1/mov/1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="358">
Uruguay 4-1 Israel
<embed src="http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/play?file=http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/sqrFglShLvOcjMOSPs6w/mov/1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="357">

Links
http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=77116&part=sports
http://www.rojadirecta.com/

Game started.

Uruguay: Muslera; Godin, Lugano, Victorino, M. Pereira; A. Pereira, Gonzalez, Rios, Perez; Forlán, Suarez

France: Lloris; Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra; Gourcuff, Diaby, Toulalan; Govou, Anelka, Ribéry

A slow and uneasy start from both sides.

Ribery with the action,and luck and govou misses a good chnce.

TOulalan really looks incrdibly old for his age.

France better n the opening minutes.

Forlan shot on goal, keeper saves.

Brilliant free kick Gourcouf, taken directly, one of my favorite players.

French are playing better than their form would say

If only suarez would have been in form, he still aint bad but not in his best form.

not alot happening, france better but not alot of chances created.

borefest.

he should sub anelka, altough its not like anyone has played that good.

Dont the uruguayans have any good subs, they need them, I know cavani could get subbed in but then Suarez willl probably go out.

Ok another ajax players in

Lodeiro in, gonzales out.

Suarez acting again.

Suarez feelling better with his friend lodeiro in the pitch.

Bit of a fight, toulalan gets yellow

Henry in, Anelka out.

Biggest chance, shouldhave been a goal, really big chance.

Suarez out, Abreu in

Gourcouf out, Malouda in.

Lodeiro second yellow, red. Ref initially didnt know that lodeiro had a yellow, but it is worth one. Got the first for talking.

gignac in govou out.

The ref was correct , no penalty, the player tried not to touch the ball with his hand, so not deliberate.

Free kick france good position.

Game over 0-0, I basicly fell asleep, expected it from France, Uruguay dissapoints me. Forlan should have scored. Everyone in group A 1 point.

LOL. Touche commander. The Boys's ;) were definitely weak on the crosses. I actually forgot to mention that, LB, RB and centre backs. They have a lot of work to do on those if they want to have a decent match against France. I haven't watched the 2nd game yet. I shall do that later tonight...

I wouldnt watch the game behro, game sucked, really boring, unless you want to get a good idea of group strength for future predictions or bets.

I got this one right it seems. :D I was really impressed with Khune. I don't remember seeing a keeper distrabute the ball so well. He literally started like 3 counter attacks for them. Mexico looks a shadow of their 2006 side.

FUCK you Domenech. What an asshole. What horrible subs. What a boring game. The ref blowing his whistle every two seconds didn't really help either.

BTW how was Mexico's first goal offside. There was an SA player on the line.

I didn't watch the match as it was during work hours but from the highlights last night it looked neither side was very impressive. It was probably expected since it was the opening match which is expected to be nervy. The SA goal was good though.

I looked forward to this match all day and it turned out to be the worst match I have ever seen in my life.

Domenech is clueless. Taking Anelka off for Henry!!!! I mean, anyone could see that the problem was not personnel, the problem was the system. Making a direct swap doesn't change the system.

I think it was offside. If I remember correctly, Kasra had posted a puzzle like this in his refereeing questions thread, but I am not sure. I thought the ESPN commentator should have known this. Here is the rule:

A player is in an offside position if he is in his opponents' half of the field and is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the next to last opponent.
The 2005 edition of the Laws of the Game included a new International Football Association Board decision that stated being "nearer to an opponent's goal line" meant that "any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (the last opponent typically being the goalkeeper). The arms are not included in this definition."[1] This is taken to mean that any part of the attacking player named in this decision has to be past the part of the second-last defender closest to his goal line (excluding the arms) and past the part of the ball closest to the defenders' goal line.
It is not necessary that the goalkeeper be one of the last two opponents. It should be noted that any attacker that is even with or behind the ball is not in an offside position and may never be sanctioned for an offside offense. Regardless of position, there is no offside offense if a player receives the ball directly from a goal kick, corner kick, or throw-in.

Yes Pedram, bc the keeper was past the player and so making the defender on the goal line the last defender he was offside, there needs to be 2 players for one to be onside, wich normally is atleast the goalkeeper but in this case isnt.

I wanted to do more of the refereeing thread but there wasnt that much interest so I let it go.

Yes Pedram, bc the keeper was past the player and so making the defender on the goal line the last defender he was offside, there needs to be 2 players for one to be onside, wich normally is atleast the goalkeeper but in this case isnt.

I wanted to do more of the refereeing thread but there wasnt that much interest so I let it go.

Yes. I remember reading that and as soon as it happened I said to myself this is the correct call. But I was surprised the ESPN commentator didn't know about this. He kept saying he was onside and the goal should have been allowed. I would expect that the Soccer experts they put on TV know the rules of the game and not create confusion for the viewers.

yeah after thinking about it for a second i realized that it was offside. it just seemed counterintuitive for a second because normally there isn't a situations where the keep is the second to last defender.

Preview;

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2010/06/16/south-africa-vs-uruguay-world-cup-2010-highlights-preview-and-team-news/
------------------------
http://www.wsn.com/blog/2010/06/14/south-africa-vs-uruguay-world-cup-2010-preview-and-prediction/
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http://www.insidefutbol.com/2010/06/15/world-cup-south-africa-vs-uruguay-match-preview/24965/
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Links
http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=77117&part=sports
http://www.rojadirecta.com/
----------
S.Africa: Itumeleng Khune; Siboniso Gaxa, Tsepo Masilela, Bongani Khumalo, Aaron Mokoena; Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Steven Pienaar, Teko Modise, Siphiwe Tshabalala; Katlego Mphela.

Uruguay: Fernando Muslera; Diego Lugano, Diego Godin, Jorge Fucile, Maximiliano Pereira, Diego Perez, Egidio Arevalo, Edinson Cavani, Alvaro Pereira, Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan.

Pienaar already has a yelow and is being somewhat of an ass, he needs to watch it.

Forlan goal, shot got deflected, didnt see the deflection at first goal looked more awesome than it was for me initially.

Ok if it stays like this and forlan gets a yelow, I'll be making a bit of cash :D Forlan get ah yellow please.

The bet is going to be somewhat difficult, Forlan isnt the type to get a yellow or red, not impossible though.

WTF very bad ref, strange since its one of the first with an known name, Gives the goaly a red, it was a penalty bbut yellow at most.

This also fucked things up for me, Suarez why did go down so overly dramatic. fucked up my whole betting schedule. OK, no subs anymore and a yellow for Forlan.

Forlan scores 2-0, fucking ref, the tournaments reffing was pretty good and then this smuck comes along, fucking hell.

Damn another 2 subs, there goes all my money atleast I betted small, but I could have won big, I would have gotten the 3 subs I need if they hadnt need to sub their damn keeper and that guy didnt get injured.

Very disappointing game from S. Africa. I don't know if it was the altitude or they were tired from the first game, but they performed very poorly, lost nearly 95% of aerial challanges and were dispossessed countless times.

I share your frustration Commander. That Suarez guy should be a diver not a football player. He should have got a yellow earlier in the match for diving in the penalty box. That ball was defleted and offside to beging with, Suarez clearly made very little contact and dived and to red card the goalie on top of not making the first two calls. I have a feeling that ref's going to get a good beating by the S. African fans. A travesty I tell you!

When they got the goal against it was clear that they were gonna struggle, Uruguay have a strong defence and the south africans dont have that strong offensive capabilities to score against a Uruguay, 2 goals would have been very unlikely. Mexico was a team that is very easy to counter against bc they played with 2 or 3 defenders at back most of the times, Uruguay lets the strikers take care of attack.

Well the penalty could have been given, he was hit, there was contact, but Suarez always overacts, He's an Ajax player and Im an Ajax fan and follow their games, I know Suarez. It isnt always faking but he as good as always overreacts. He had a good game despite his bad form, he was brilliant first half of the season but had a bad 2nd half, he scored 35 competition goals in 34 matches and 50 goals in all competitions, he is a good player but always overreacts and that costs him alot of yellow and at times even actual penalties just cause the refs know his rep and bc he overreacts refs think its nothing when it actually may be a penalty.

Dont know about the offside, I didnt think it was offside initially but he did cut it close and there is a good chance that it was an offside, a red card it wasnt though, hit or not hit, that is not a red. He could and possibly should have given dikgacoi his second yellow earlier but this wasnt a red card and thats sad cause this is a really good keeper and he might have played his last wc match bc of the refs mistake, hope they look at it and reverse the red or something, but they wont.

I don't think the ref ruined the game. SA simply were very poor. They were clueless. Passion and fans alone don't get you far at this level. The penalty was a pen but perhaps a yellow would have sufficed. The red card didn't change anything as far as the result is concerned. SA couldn't score even if they have 13 players and Uruguay 10.

I'll merge the former game threads into this one like behrooz suggested.

Group A

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group A (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A)
<table> <tbody><tr> <td> <table class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; font-size: 90%;"> <tbody><tr> <th width="165"> Team v (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A) • d (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A) • e (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A&action=edit)

</th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Played">Pld</abbr></th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Won">W</abbr></th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Draw">D</abbr></th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Lost">L</abbr></th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Goals For">GF</abbr></th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Goals Against">GA</abbr></th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Goal Difference">GD</abbr></th> <th width="25"><abbr title="Points">Pts</abbr></th> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: left;">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Flag_of_Uruguay.svg/22px-Flag_of_Uruguay.svg.png Uruguay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay_national_football_team)</td> <td>2</td> <td>1</td> <td>1</td> <td>0</td> <td>3</td> <td>0</td> <td>+3</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr style="border-bottom: 3px solid green;"> <td style="text-align: left;">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Flag_of_Mexico.svg/22px-Flag_of_Mexico.svg.png Mexico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_national_football_team)</td> <td>1</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>1</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: left;">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/22px-Flag_of_France.svg.png France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_national_football_team)</td> <td>1</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align: left;">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Flag_of_South_Africa.svg/22px-Flag_of_South_Africa.svg.png South Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_national_football_team)</td> <td>2</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>1</td> <td>1</td> <td>4</td> <td>−3</td> <td>1</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td>
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

<table style="width: 100%;" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr> <th width="25%">
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</th> </tr> <tr> <td>11 June 2010</td> </tr> <tr style="font-size: 90%;"> <td align="right">South Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_national_football_team) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Flag_of_South_Africa.svg/22px-Flag_of_South_Africa.svg.png</td> <td align="center">1–1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A#South_Africa_vs_Mexico)</td> <td>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Flag_of_Mexico.svg/22px-Flag_of_Mexico.svg.png Mexico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_national_football_team)</td> <td>Soccer City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_City), Johannesburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg)</td> </tr> <tr style="font-size: 90%;"> <td align="right">Uruguay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay_national_football_team) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Flag_of_Uruguay.svg/22px-Flag_of_Uruguay.svg.png</td> <td align="center">0–0 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A#Uruguay_vs_France)</td> <td>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/22px-Flag_of_France.svg.png France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_national_football_team)</td> <td>Cape Town Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_Stadium), Cape Town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>16 June 2010</td> </tr> <tr style="font-size: 90%;"> <td align="right">South Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_national_football_team) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Flag_of_South_Africa.svg/22px-Flag_of_South_Africa.svg.png</td> <td align="center">0–3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A#South_Africa_vs_Uruguay)</td> <td>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Flag_of_Uruguay.svg/22px-Flag_of_Uruguay.svg.png Uruguay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay_national_football_team)</td> <td>Loftus Versfeld Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loftus_Versfeld_Stadium), Pretoria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretoria)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>17 June 2010</td> </tr> <tr style="font-size: 90%;"> <td align="right">France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_national_football_team) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/22px-Flag_of_France.svg.png</td> <td align="center">Match 20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A#France_vs_Mexico)</td> <td>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Flag_of_Mexico.svg/22px-Flag_of_Mexico.svg.png Mexico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_national_football_team)</td> <td>Peter Mokaba Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mokaba_Stadium), Polokwane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polokwane)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>22 June 2010</td> </tr> <tr style="font-size: 90%;"> <td align="right">Mexico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_national_football_team) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Flag_of_Mexico.svg/22px-Flag_of_Mexico.svg.png</td> <td align="center">Match 33 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A#Mexico_vs_Uruguay)</td> <td>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Flag_of_Uruguay.svg/22px-Flag_of_Uruguay.svg.png Uruguay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay_national_football_team)</td> <td>Royal Bafokeng Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Bafokeng_Stadium), Rustenburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustenburg,_North_West)</td> </tr> <tr style="font-size: 90%;"> <td align="right">France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_national_football_team) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/22px-Flag_of_France.svg.png</td> <td align="center">Match 34 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_A#France_vs_South_Africa)</td> <td>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Flag_of_South_Africa.svg/22px-Flag_of_South_Africa.svg.png South Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_national_football_team)</td> <td>Free State Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_Stadium), Bloemfontein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloemfontein)</td></tr></tbody></table>

Domenech is a moron. He's confirmed it tonight!

By the way, thanks Kasrae for making these group threads. Just one request, can you put the teams in the title too? Cheers

I am watching on the BBC iPlayer. Kasrae and Behrou, as you are outside UK and online right now, can you go to the link below and let me know if the iplayer works for you?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/matches/match_20

I also thought it was offside on the replay and it was not even a yellow card. There was minimal contact and it was not on purpose. Penalty, yes, but no card.

Sure I'll put the teams in the title behrooz, atleast if it looks semi decent. Can you give a direct link to the Iplayer then Behrooz or tell me where to look? I can get it on the tele though as they show the matches on dutch television, also get the bbc anyway.

Mexico scores, leading 0-1 Mexico, Hernandez scores.

The new Manchester United boy scores :)
Good for Mexico. I want Domenech to pack his bags.

Kasra jan, the iplayer is on that link i posted. If you can't see it then it means it doesn't work outside UK.

I like this goal. Now either France scores one and I get to my 1-1 score, or France and their dumb coach are gone for good.

Mexico Penalty, abidal foul, Blanco scores

Domnech's subs have sucked.
Meanwhile, Henry is on the bench!

The ref isn't very good either.

Au revoir France. Ba bye!!

...and good riddance :)

France are out, though not mathematically yet. I am sure Mexico and uruguay will play for a draw and both go through.

The ref is a ref from Saudi arabia or some other arab country, they get driven to the ball with a golf cart in those leagues, whole different game.

I won some money with the win, but had another bad day in the IC toto, lost my 2nd place.

The Ref sucked, the linesman sucked, France sucked... this game just sucked!!!

Mexico & Uruguay are practically through to the next round even if they don't tie. The only way one of them can go out at this point is if they lose by a 2 goal margin (or more) and the France-S. Africa game has a winner with a 2 goal + margin. The catch is that Mexico's in 2nd place and will face Argentina, so are they going to come out and play for the win and risk getting scored on or are they going to play conservative and face elimination in the next round at the hands of Diego's boys. Frankly, if I were the coach, the choice would be a no-brainer for me and I'd come out to win. Remember, they've never made it past the 2nd round despite all their appearances other than when the WC has been in Mexico.

Other piece of history in the making, S. Africa looks like its going to be the 1st host country in the whole history of the WC not making it to the 2nd round! :(

The Ref sucked, the linesman sucked, France sucked... this game just sucked!!!

Mexico & Uruguay are practically through to the next round even if they don't tie. The only way one of them can go out at this point is if they lose by a 2 goal margin (or more) and the France-S. Africa game has a winner with a 2 goal + margin. The catch is that Mexico's in 2nd place and will face Argentina, so are they going to come out and play for the win and risk getting scored on or are they going to play conservative and face elimination in the next round at the hands of Diego's boys. Frankly, if I were the coach, the choice would be a no-brainer for me and I'd come out to win. Remember, they've never made it past the 2nd round despite all their appearances other than when the WC has been in Mexico.

Other piece of history in the making, S. Africa looks like its going to be the 1st host country in the whole history of the WC not making it to the 2nd round! :(

Behrou jan, you seem to be cross between group A and B. There is no Argentine in this group.

He means if they go through their group Pedram ;) Atleast I think thats what he means.

I see. My bad. :D

You cant be sharp all the time, but its a dangerous game you play Pedram jan, Rasoul is itching to catch you on a slip up and take considerate action, be carefull :D

LOOL. It is not a matter of sharpness. The problem is my fast reading skills. I would be happy if Rasoul takes some action. Az ghadim goftand: har che az doost miresad nikoost. :D

LOOL. It is not a matter of sharpness. The problem is my fast reading skills. I would be happy if Rasoul takes some action. Az ghadim goftand: har che az doost miresad nikoost. :D

LOL mentioning a problem and naming a strength as a cause, you'v got skills alright :D

" I think football is way too difficult a sport for me, I mean I like it but the problem is that I keep thinking a couple of steps ahead of everyone else wich makes it difficult to get along with the level of the others " :D

" I cant get a girlfriend, I just have too many options and I am not good at making choices" :D

LOL mentioning a problem and naming a strength as a cause, you'v got skills alright :D

" I think football is way too difficult a sport for me, I mean I like it but the problem is that I keep thinking a couple of steps ahead of everyone else wich makes it difficult to get along with the level of the others " :D

" I cant get a girlfriend, I just have too many options and I am not good at making choices" :D

I guess my fast typing is also a problem. :D
Obviously, I meant my bad fast reading skills. :looti:

Mexico & Uruguay are practically through to the next round even if they don't tie. The only way one of them can go out at this point is if they lose by a 2 goal margin (or more) and the France-S. Africa game has a winner with a 2 goal + margin. The catch is that Mexico's in 2nd place and will face Argentina, so are they going to come out and play for the win and risk getting scored on or are they going to play conservative and face elimination in the next round at the hands of Diego's boys. Frankly, if I were the coach, the choice would be a no-brainer for me and I'd come out to win. Remember, they've never made it past the 2nd round despite all their appearances other than when the WC has been in Mexico.
:(

Well Mexico have a bone to pick with Argentina after the last world cup and elimination by Argies in the last 16. Chance of revenge doesn't come too often.

Anelka has been sent home by the FFF after he had a big argument with domenech in half time against mexico and alledgedly called Domeche a Whore son, wich was the reason why he was subbed out for Gignac. Anelka denied saying he's a whore son bt admitted at having a altercation with him in half time.

The french federation said that insulting Domech is one thing, but his mother had nothing to do with it :D Another possibility is that Anelka lied about his sign and in a mad mood told domech he's a scorpio and thats when Domenech lost it :)

LOL at the scorpio thing!!!

The french team refused to train after their captain Evra decided not to himself and the rest of the selections sided with their captain, after Evra had a confrontation with a condition coach probably bc he is the one who leaked the info about the Anelka-Domech thing, Evra already said earlier that he didnt think Anelka was the problem but the traitor who told the press. Its not sure wether they will train tomorrow or not.

If only the Irish were given their shot, you know its bad juju, and juju plays a big part in africa. Also the Irish leprecauns might have had something to do with it.

I bet the Irish are laughing their guts and rightly so too.

Holy crap, what a turn of events and what a final day in this group.
S. Africa leading France 2-0 and Uruguay leading Mexico 1-0. France are down to 10 men and Mexico two goals away from elimination (in either game). Who would have thought!!!

Mexico and Uruguay both started the game very offencively and it looked like they were both going for the win. The game later settled to battles in the midfield before Mexico hit the cross bar from 25-30 yards out. It was pretty much that way until the end of the 1st half when the Uruguayans scored a header off a nice cross. Mexico currently with a +1 goal difference. They need to maintain at least that to take 2nd position in the group.

In the other game, S. Africa started much better against France than they did against Uruguay. The S. Africans scored in the 20th minute with a header off a corner. Minutes later, France had a player sent out with a red for elbowing and rightly so. After that, it has been ALL S. Africa and they have had some great chances in the 1st half. The s. Africans currently with a -1 goal diference and they need 2 more goals - either they can score them or Uruguay can score against Mexico or any combination. The way things are going in the game against France, two 2nd half goals are not out of the realm of possibilities. Perreira playing a 4-4-2 instead of the 4-5-1 against Uruguay.

Don't forget no host nation in the whole history of the WC has failed to make it into the 2nd round and so the Gods of stats are with the S. Africans! :)

Great chance for the S. Africans at the beginning of the 2nd half and the ball hit a little too hard instead of a simple chip hits the post. Now, France has scored through Belouda and S. African chances slipping away. :(

I don't have anything against the mexicans and I think they deserve it more than the host nation, but if RSA can complete this feat it would be something.

Na, it's all over for the Bafana Bafanas - not the kind of history making they were looking for, but they have been great hosts. Uruguay proved to be a great team this WC and deserving of their 1st rounf 16 appearance in 20 years. They have an arguably easy game against the runners up in Argentina's group and if they win that one, it will be their 1st time in exactly 40 years that they managed that task. Mexico with a much tougher task against Argentina and I think they will stick to their record of never advancing beyond the round of 16 outside Mexico! ;)

The south african didnt realise the chances they actually had, shame they could have made 3 or 4, they played to their capabilities and a bit more, they can walk away with their heads held high.

Expected france to get 1 point before the tournement started and they didnt dissappoint, the coach was nowhere and there was no place for them in this tournement, they have a good league with one of the best youth setups in the world, they can come out stronger and need to build on their next generation. I blame the FFF and the coach more than the players to be honest, altough they didnt lead as exampl either. Freaking embaressement of the coach refused to shake hands with the south african coach after the match and didnt take responsibilty, good to see the spineless guy gone.

Uruguay are a good team, especially defensively, they didnt get a goal against in the 3 games, and offensive capabilties with Cavani, Forlan and Suarez. They could do well given their capabilities and they might have a fortunate oponent in the 2nd place from Group B.

Mexico will have a better team next time around I recon, they have good talents but some of them dont get used since the coach sticks with a couple of veterans and some of the talents still need more experience. I'd like Hernandez/Chicarito to start next game, despite Blanco doing well for his age. They arent fully chanceless against the argentinians but they have their weaknesses, I think their next gen should be better.

And people were upset with Irans performance in 2006. This "performance" by France has probably been one of the most embarrassing WC performance ever. And I don't really blame the players. It's the damn FFF and that red nosed clown. First leaving Nasri out, then making evera captain, then having no gameplan, then starting govou, then making the subs that he did, then reading the players statement, then saying that the Anelka decision was correct, then...................

Apparently Domenech refused to shake hands with Perreira at the end! What's up with him?

http://l.yimg.com/i/i/fr/sp/domen43.jpg

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Domenech refuses to shake Parreira's hand, wags finger

Tue Jun 22 01:56pm EDT
By Brooks Peck
Yahoo Sports

France's 2-1 loss to South Africa sealed an embarrassing end to a shameful World Cup appearance that included everything from Nicolas Anelka being sent home early to the team boycotting a training session and the team's sponsors abandoning them. The gross displays, however, just kept coming. Once the final whistle blew, French manager Raymond Domenech - whose successor, Laurent Blanc, already was named before the tournament even started - began the customary ritual of shaking hands with those around him, but when South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira offered his hand and a smile, Domenech shook his finger at him and tried to walk away.

Parreira grabbed him by the jacket and tried to talk to him, but Domenech - a man who called his own team "unspeakably stupid" before the match - decided to continue with his uncouth behavior and lecture the Brazilian with an abundance of finger pointing. Once the press got a hold of Domenech, he didn't offer any answers for his actions. From the AFP:

"I have no intention of replying to this question," he said.
"Is there another question?" he asked after the question was posed to him again by another journalist.
A third tried his luck: "Why are you refusing to answer this question?"
Domenech responded: "Is there another question?"
"If these are all the questions you are going to ask me, I am going to leave you, we are not from the same world," he added later, in response to a question about the crisis in the French team.

Well, that is true. After all of Domenech's astrology-based roster decisions, post-match marriage proposals, and complete inability to maintain order in his team, I'll agree that he's probably not from the same world.

Parreira, meanwhile, at least tried to explain the rudeness he was subjected to: "I believe it was because I had criticised his team after they qualified [when they controversially beat Ireland in the playoffs], but I really don't remember. "This is what his assistants told me." So in the end, it all goes back to Ireland and that Thierry Henry handball. Of course. And while the French keep finding new ways to embarrass themselves, their own fans even abandoning them to root for South Africa, the Irish are eating their free pizza and laughing. Laughing and laughing and laughing.

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Astrology based squad? Refusing to shake hands? This guy was a TOTAL idiot. If we think the IFF was bad in picking coaches, I think the FFF will be really hard to top off in this category for years to come. :chair:

I was wondering what that was all about. Thanks for the post. What an idiot. He should have been fired long time ago. Glad he is gone finally, but at the cost of so much embarrassment to the French. Good riddance.

Well all the French connections in this WC were an embaressment - their team, their coach, their federation and Algeria with most of their players playing in France. Were there any other French coaches in the WC?

I suspect we'll have the same turn of events sooner or later for the Italians - their team and their coaches! ;)

The cameroon coach was french, dont remember others at the moment.

Well about Italy, italians are like semi-germans, they dont need to be impressive.

Italians can’t win the game against you, but you can lose the game against the Italians – Johan Cruijf

Well all the French connections in this WC were an embaressment - their team, their coach, their federation and Algeria with most of their players playing in France. Were there any other French coaches in the WC?

I suspect we'll have the same turn of events sooner or later for the Italians - their team and their coaches! ;)

To add to your list "their qualification"!