·        Through the first seven (7) matches of the Festival, the one thing that has been brilliant and spot-on has been the OFFICIATING! There have been some difficult, hard-to-see decisions made out there and they have been catching them all .. .. WELL DONE REFEREES!!

Match 6: ALGERIA v SLOVENIA
Date: SUN 13Jun10
Venue: Polokwane PETER MOKABA STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ Good Morning – It was almost a bit of relief today as there were a few tears yesterday during the National Anthems of my two most-influential countries .. .. And, we also get to see the first WC played on a stadium with hybrid natural + artificial grass!! But, it was an undeserved win for SLOVENIA in a sloppy, bad match .. ..

ZIZZOU-ITIS STRIKES! What is it with these French-Algerians? In the very next WC match where a French-Algerian participates after Zidane’s sending off, ALGERIA’s ABDELKADER GHEZZAL comes on as a sub, gets carded for shirt-pulling immediately and then gets sent off 14 minutes later for a needless handball – IDIOT! And, ZIDANE was in the stands!

Both countries made for good newspaper fodder before the tournament > ALGERIA sent four of their injured players to QATAR for R&R while SLOVENIA is embroiled in a very public spat with their own FA over bonuses for qualifying .. .. You may remember that SLOVENIA had a locker room bust-up following their first match in 2006 that saw their star player on a plane home the following day .. .. 

Both sides were not able to connect, but they showed their European influence as the both tried to get on the flanks and pump in crosses .. .. ALG was quick but could only muster 3 shots early and SLV hacked two long-range shots .. ..

There more sloppy giveaways in the 2^nd half, but none more important than ROBERT KOREN’s lazy drive that FAOUZI CHAOUCHI allowed in – Perhaps it was meant to happen as he was originally suspended for a head-butt in the African Nations Cup!

SLV MoM: ROBERT KOREN

Captain of Slovenia refused to play in friendlies two years ago but was named Captain when Matjaz Kek was named manager .. .. Now plays for West Brom/Albion in England .. ..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Match 7: SERBIA v GHANA
Date: SUN 13Jun10
Venue: Pretoria LOFTUS VERSFELD STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? PANDO!

+ Terrific match compared to today’s opener, both sides played positively and crisply .. .. GHANA showed their own Serbian influence by pumping in 10 crosses in the first half alone .. .. What was stunning was the pace of Liverpool-bound Serbian winger MILAN ‘The Snake’ JOVANOVIC who left his Ghanaian markers for dead all day long .. .. 

Both sides continued on with commitment in the second half but that final, killer ball was lacking all match long and the GHA goal came on another needless hand-ball that resulted in a second YC & RC .. ..

SER MoM: ASAMOAH GYAN

24YO teammate of Carlos Bocanegra @ Stades Rennes-FRA had been hampered by injuries but looks to be back at his best now .. .. He scored on his INT debut in 2003 and scored GHA’s first-ever WC Goal in 2006 .. .. Took his PK chance today well with his R/Foot and slotted it home > U/Left .. ..

GHA MoM: MILAN JOVANOVIC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Match 8: GERMANY v AUSTRALIA
Date: SUN 13Jun10
Venue: Durban DURBAN STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ Nobody could have imagined that GERMANY would be up 2-0 @ the half after everything that has gone on in GER in the lead-up to the WC .. ..

GER Manager JOACHIM LOW, once regarded as the untouchable strategic genius is now under increasing criticism for preferring players from his native southwest and has broken off all future negotiations with the German FA about an extension .. .. The German tabloids then had a field day at their Northern Italian Camp when playmaker THOMAS MULLER was injured during a mountain bike exercise .. .. All that, plus the poor general form of their attacking players, left many with low expectations for the festival .. ..

GER ran unmolested through the AUSTRALIA box in the first half and unleashed all six of their shots in the penalty area while trying to get on the end of their 12 first-half crosses .. ..

LUKAS PODOLSKI started the scoring with his L/Footed bomb and was followed up by JIROSLAV KLOSE’s snap-header in the box which should have been his second of many goals in the match .. ..

The horror worsened in the second-half when TIM CAHILL was sent off for a late challenge and the GER barrage continued with goals from THOMAS MULLER & the newly-nationalized CACAU .. ..

GER was impressive but lets see them against a better side .. ..

GER MoM: LUKAS PODOLSKI

Polish-born lefty was just one of attackers who had a poor year at his club (Cologne) but always blossoms on the world stage .. .. Besides opening the Deutsch account today, the 24YO was quality all match long with his crosses and crisp through-balls into the center for the attackers running on .. ..

AUS MoM: none