Of dung beetles and men

France could really have done with the giant dung beetle from the opening ceremony up-front for them after they disappointed in their opening game.

Open sesame

Sadly there was no ‘Diana Ross moment’ (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjCKwBtG0I) at this year’s opening ceremony, but I think it will be best remembered for that giant dung beetle rolling a giant World Cup ball, not least because it showed more skill than Emile Heskey. The colourful opening ceremony was full of African spirit and went down without a problem, and as far as opening ceremonies go it was fairly enjoyable. The only part missing was Nelson Mandela, who sadly couldn’t be there, I’m sure he’ll be there at the final.

Lack of cutting edge

So we had our first glimpse of one of the big-boys in the shape of France and they were not-that-surprisingly disappointing given all their in-fighting. There was no cutting edge and they really didn’t really look too much like scoring, Les Blues could have problems qualifying from their group yet again. Anelka, who looked brilliant when up-front by himself for Chelsea this season (ie when Drogba wasn’t playing) hardly got a sniff and Govu wasn’t any better missing their best chance. Ribery looks like he wants to do everything himself, Malouda is on the bench and Henry is too old, although he did look class when he came on. They need to sort themselves out if they want to have a chance of being back in Soccer City on July 11.

Vuvuzela nation

So I take back what I said about Mexico v South Africa, it was a really exciting game, and oh how agonisingly close were the African team from nicking it right at the end. OK, so Mexico outplayed them in the first half, but Bafana Bafana really came back into it, and what a strike to put them into a lead and to put the continent of Africa in raptures.

I think the whole world was cheering them on and it certainly sounded like the whole world was inside Soccer City yesterday afternoon. South Africa are bidding to not become the first host nation to not qualify from the group stages of a World Cup, and they equipped themselves like it they could escape from Group A. They will need to start better against Uruguay and France, because Mexico should have buried them by the half hour mark, but with those fans, with those vuvuzelas anything could be possible.

One final note, because he deserves praise…how good was the Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura who was in charge of the Uruguay v France game, he has set the bar for refereeing in this tournament, and long may that standard continue.