God save the green

Shiver the timber
During the build-up to the World Cup,a popular commercial worldwide faded to black as Cristiano Ronaldo prepared to take a 30-yard screamer,leaving the rest to the imagination of the viewers. The dots have been filled in for the spectators,and in many cases,the ball has ended up crashing against the woodwork.
In Ronaldo’s case,the Portuguese winger had the Ivory coast keeper beaten all ends up,but the ball ended up cannoning against the cross-bar in the opening minutes of their game against Ivory Coast. Had that gone in,the story would have been very different from the 0-0 final result.
The first strike against the timber was in the opening game of the World Cup,when Katlego Mphela nearly smashed home an injury time winner against Mexico,but the post somehow managed to spoil Bafana Bafana’s dream start.
The Netherland’s Wesley Sneijder almost guided home a great left-footed effort against Denmark,leaving keeper Thomas Sorensen all at sea. But the ball bounced off the top upright,much to the relief of the already trailing Danes.
But the strike of the tournament so far was by Spain’s Xabi Alonso,who literally sent shivers down the timber’s spine. Trailing 1-0 to Switzerland,Alonso’s 25 yard effort exploded off his foot and crashed off the underside of the bar,ending up as the closest one not to go in.

Tear-jerkers
The floodgates might open,or not,but Maicon’s opening strike for Brazil against North Korea certainly let loose a flood of tears. The 28-year-old crunched his life’s struggle of getting into this World Cup side,into those celebratory moments after he’d guided one in through an impossibly thin opening and from an optimistic angle between the Korean goalie and the post. He kissed his wedding ring – “for everything my wife had done for me” – and wept tears of joy,thinking of the missus.
The North Koreans had cried on either side of the 90 minutes,or at least one of them — Jong Tae-Se,whose mighty baby-face heaved as he shed copious tears during the national anthem – “Aegukka” (The Patriotic Song). The reasons why he broke down aren’t exactly clear,though they say he gets regularly goose-bumped and wet-eyed when the tune gets played. Funny this,for a man — born to Korean parents — but has lived all his life in Japan!
The Nigerians though might find it difficult to forget the sight of their inspirational goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama,dejected and teary,after the Greeks handed him the part of a tragic – hero only a few days ago in thwarting all of Messi’s magic,but at the receiving end of the freaky Jabulani which sneaked past him during the 1-2 loss to Greece.

LUCK BY CHANCE
The main reason why USA’s Clint Dempsey may have struck the ball towards goal despite not being in a great position was because he had none of his teammates to pass it to. And even he would have simply turned around after not having made a great connection with the ball. But what he got in return was his team’s equaliser after English goalkeeper Robert Green produced one of the worst howlers in World Cup history—letting the ball roll past his hands.
It was only ironic that the only teammates who greeted him in the dug-out at the half-time interval were reserve goalkeepers David ‘Calamity’ James and Joe Hart — who would have certainly been tempted to exchange a wink at Green’s expense.
On first viewing,Diego Forlan’s 25-yard strike against South Africa might have looked like the perfect wonder-goal. But replays revealed — not like Forlan really cared — that the ball in fact took a clear deflection off a South African defender.

Ref-er-ee!
The 23rd man on the pitch has a notorious reputation for staking his claim on the spotlight. The 2010 World Cup has been no different so far. In 20 completed matches (after the second round of games in Group B),the card-friendly referees have already shown six red cards.
The first card (yellow) of this edition was fished out by Mexico’s Efrain Juarez in the tournament opener against the hosts for a handball,while the first player to see the scarlet wave was Nicolas Lodeiro of Uruguay,also on the opening day,against France. Yuichi Nishimura,the Japanese referee was quick to spot Lodeiro’s terrible challenge on Bacary Sagna in the 80th minute,pepping up the sleep-inducing fixture.
While Nishimura was on the mark for the first one,Oscar Ruiz was way off for the latest one,which occurred in the Greece-Nigeria game. As Sani Kaita was sent-off before half-time for raising his foot towards Vasilis Torosisdis outside the touchline,the world watched in disbelief.
The other notable reds so far have been,Australia’s Tim Cahill for a challenge on Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger (although the German later issued a statement to FIFA in Cahill’s defence) and Bafana Bafana’s inspirational goal-keeper Itumeleng Khune,which cost them a goal,a 3-0 loss and Steven Pienaar,against Uruguay.

THE UNSUNG HERO
Having played an instrumental role in two of his team’s four goals without getting his name onto the scorer’s list,Mesut Ozil would have seemed the perfect candidate for the unsung hero category in Germany’s 4-0 thrashing of Australia. But so impressive was the 21-year-old Werder Bremen midfielder — in partnership with Thomas Mueller who did score — that there was no dearth of experts singing his praises at the end of the day. While the rest of Switzerland rejoiced Gelson Fernandes’s 52nd strike that gave them an almost unimaginable lead against mighty Spain; goalkeeper Diego Benaglio would have been well aware what was in store for him. And as expected,the entire Spanish front-line—consisting of some of the biggest stars in the game—came pounding at him,seeking that elusive equaliser. But though a majority of the second-half was played out in the Swiss half,the 26-year-old Benaglio resiliently thwarted off every single one of the Spanish challenges to hand his team a dramatic victory.

Mr Sitters
The howlers have come thick and fast,and in a tournament which hasn’t even completed the one-third mark,many famous names riddle the list of shame. Here’s taking a look at the worst four so far.
At fourth spot,is Chinedu Ogbuke’s chance in the Nigeria – Greece game. As Nigeria’s Yakubu broke clean through in a counter and drew a save from Greece’s Tzorvas,the ball bounced free for Ogbuke,who had an open goal from eight yards out. The empty goalpost remained just that,empty.
Gonzalo Higuain may have made up for his early gaffes with a hat-trick,but the Argentine striker still managed to make it to the podium of worst misses. Lionel Messi danced through the middle of the Nigeria defence and squared to the unmarked Higuain six yards out. He sidefooted wide,while keeper Enyeama breathed a sigh of relief in the second minute of the game.
Second to worst was Spain’s David Villa. His first chance of the tournament went begging,after he found himself in front of goal,but ended up wasting it with an attempted chipped finish,high over the crossbar.
Sidney Govou takes the number one spot by a distance. The French striker — playing in place of Thierry Henry — was given a perfect pass by Franck Ribery,leaving him one-on-one with the Uruguan keeper to break the deadlock in the fifth minute of their opening encounter. Govou missed what most others wouldn’t have if they tried,from point blank range. The rest as they say is history.

MAGIC MOMENTS
South Africa may be all set to become the first host country to not make it past the first round since the inception of the World Cup,but Siphwie Tshabalala created his own niche in history by scoring the first-ever World Cup goal on African soil with a thunderous left-foot strike in the 54th minute of the opening game against Mexico.
By handing his team the lead,he also ended up infusing hope and confidence for a country trying desperately to prove to the world that they are more than mere gracious hosts. More interestingly,thanks to his seemingly well-rehearsed dance routine — which was specially created for the Bafana Bafana — following the goal,25-year-old Tshabalala also won R11,000 for the Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) charity,which aims to provide water and flushing-toilets to schools in 19 African countries.
Considering that North — or Democratic People’s Republic—Korea were ranked 104 places below their No.1 ranked opponents,in addition to the not so savoury conditions back home; Ji Yun-nam — who earned the sobriquet ‘The People’s Abs’ after showing off his chiseled physique after the game — can be pardoned for celebrating as if he had just won the World Cup for his country after scoring in the 89th minute during the 2-1 loss to Brazil.

Terrace talk
While the big talking (or cursing) points of this World Cup for the players,fans and critics alike have been the vuvuzelas,the state of the pitch and the Jabulani,we prefer to focus on what the fans had to say about the action on the pitch.
“The definition of a goal is the something that does not happen in the 2010 World Cup,” the Portuguese fans lamented,after the much hyped first round encounter against Ivory Coast ended in a tame 0-0 draw.
Robert Green may not be the most fluid goal-keeper in the world,but his gaffe against USA’s Clint Dempsey would soon turn into a legend when the English fans sang “God save the Green,” for the rest of the evening. Divine intervention or not,their point was made.
France and Zinedine Zidane have been on opposite ends of the popularity-meter so far. With Zidane in the stands,the Algerian fans went ballistic during their game against Slovenia,but a French supporter wasn’t too happy. “Who does he think he is,an Algerian?” Another was quick to point out that France haven’t won a single international match since Zizou retired. The trend is yet to be broken,even after the game against Uruguay.