Day 3...

Day 3 and a chance to England's other opposition in action. Algeria - Slovenia was the early kick off at 12:30 in Polokwane. The game was an edgy encounter with chances few and far between. Slovenia, playing in only their second World Cup finals were probably the weaker off the two sides in the first half. The scores stayed at 0-0 come half time with neither side able to create much and with either goalkeeper not being kept particularly busy. It wasn't the best of matches to watch and you began to wonder whether anyone would score anytime soon. However, the arrival of the Algerian substitute, Ghezzal soon spiced up proceedings. He was brought on with half an hour remaining, and subsequently left after just 15 minutes on the field, getting two yellow cards - one for shirt pulling and one for an inexplicable handball. The referee really had no choice but to award him the second yellow - it was a clear and quite frankly, needless handball. This sending off actually had the adverse effect of providing Algeria with one of their best chances to win the game but their failure to put the ball away came at a price. Slovenia managed to get the ball away at the other end and Robert Koren was able to create some space on the edge of the box and get his shot away. To be fair, it wasn't the greatest of strikes, but somehow it managed to evade the Algerian keeper and land in the far right hand corner of the net. Further replays showed that Green was not the only keeper to have let in a silly goal. The ball was actually coming straight at the Algerian keeper, Chaouchi who somehow misjudged it, and instead of a simple parry, he allowed it to come off his shoulder and into the net. It didn't matter either way to the Slovenians who got their first ever goal in a world cup finals match and went straight to the top of Group C. The Algerians had played on a par with the Slovenians, if not slightly better, so will feel hard done by. England, on the other hand, will be feeling much more optimistic after this poor showing. Neither side appear to be a great threat (fateful last words haha) and Robert Green can take heart in the fact that, other keepers are giving him a run for his money in the blunder department.

The day's second game between Serbia and Ghana got under way in Pretoria as they tried to vie for top spot in Group D. No African team has ever won the World Cup, and without their talismanic midfielder, Michael Essien, Ghana have a tough job to break this African duck. But where better to do so than on African soil? The Ghanaian supporters brought a splash of colour to proceedings as they cheered on their team...managed by a Serb. Milovan Rajevac made the surprise decision to omit the former Pompey player, Sulley Muntari and chose to play Kevin Prince-Boateng who had actually begun his youth international career with Germany (the side his brother George chose to play with). This game was played at a much higher pace than the one before and at first, both teams started off well going forward, but as the game wore on, Ghana developed into a good rhythm and were able to dominate large parts of the game, particularly from the midfield. Although Serbia had a few chances, they were lacking sharpness in the final third and were unable to make any good of the chances they got. Ghana also had a few chances in the first half but the closest came in the second from Asamoah Gyan who was unable to direct his header goalwards. Serbia's attempt to pull of an unexpected victory was made all the more harder, by the sending off of Lukovic who got the day's second red card, after receiving another yellow, this time for shirt pulling. However, for some reason, the sending off resulted in Serbia's best spell of the game. They got forward better, created some chances and nearly scored. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of bad luck and good goalkeeping the scores were kept at 0-0. Any chance of snatching a point was also thrown out the window, when for some strange reason, Kuzmanovic decided to clear a ball in his own box with his hand rather than his head. A clear handball resulted in the first penalty of the tournament. Up stepped Rennes forward Gyan who coolly dispatched the spotkick after sending the keeper the wrong way. It was a powerfully taken penalty which nestled into the left hand side of the net and with just over 5 minutes left of the game, gave Ghana the goal they deserved and more importantly, 3 points. It was a dogged display from the Black Stars but a disappointing start for Serbia, who have been tipped to do well at this year's tournament. Serbia will now look to their next two matches, particularly the one against Australia, to try and qualify for the knock-outs. For Ghana though, a huge win that leaves them in a good position in the group, with Germany and Australia still left to come.