World champions Italy 1, Paraguay 1... and the reign may soon be over

Italy clawed their way to a point against underdogs Paraguay – but the world champions’ reign looked uncertain in the rain of Cape Town.

The South Americans, ranked 31 in the world, were the stronger side for an hour. After 39 minutes Aureliano Torres swung in a free-kick and Antolin Alacaraz rose above Fabio Cannavaro and Daniele de Rossi to head home beautifully.

With an upset on the cards against the holders, ranked fifth in the world, looked to have no way back until Paraguan goalkeeper Justo Villar produced an error very bit as bad as Robert Green’s in its own way.

He came out to slap at Simone Pepe’s 63^rd minute corner, missed completely, and Daniele De Rossi prodded home the equaliser. For the rest of the game, Italy piled on the pressure – but were unable to produce the first come-from-behind victory of this World Cup.

In Bloemfontein, Japan beat Cameroon 1-0 in Group E with CSKA Moscow’s KeisukeHonda engineering the only goal after 39 minutes.

Cameroon, Africa’s highest-ranked side here at 19, had never lost their opening game and reached the quarter-finals in 1990 – the continent’s best-ever performance.

French coach Paul Le Guen, the former Rangers boss, inexplicably left Arsenal’s Alex Song on the bench and appeared to be playing the great Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o as a right midfielder.

Cameroon were lacklustre throughout, though they awoke in the last five minutes to hit a post in the last minute through Stephane M’Bia. Le Guen lamented: Le Guensaid: "I’m upset that we have lost - our attitude was wrong. We were tense and nervous, especially in the first half. We did not show what we are capable of. We were not at our level and kept losing possession.”

Should have started with Song then, surely? Japan boss Takeshe Okad, who saw his side lose all five of their World Cup warm-up games, said: “I don’t think it was a great success – what’s important is the next game.”

That’s against Holland in Durban on June 19. The Dutch remain favourites to win Group C after a comfortable 2-0 win over Denmark. They didn’t sparkle at Soccer City in the opening game on day four, but an own goal by Danish defender Daniel Agger and a tap-in from Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt proved too much for the not-so-great Danes.

Dutch boss Bert van Marwijk was going orange in the face at time and growled: "I have said 100,000 times that sometimes we are arrogant and that might backfire on us, and I have told my players from day one and we must not fall into that trap."

Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba is awaiting permission from FIFA to play with as cast on his broken arm before their opening clash against Portugal in Port Elizabeth tomorrow.

France 0, Uruguay 0 but at least now we know: There is a footballing god. And he has a delicious sense of irony

FRANCE’S dreadful 0-0 draw against Uruguay proved just one thing. There is a footballing God. And He has an acute sense of irony.

The second game of the World Cup at Green Point in Cape Town – another great stadium, another great surface – did little to warm the heart of the 64,000 fans.

But there was a delicious moment late in the game when Thierry Henry was denied a penalty for handball. Yes, that’s the Hand of Gaul Henry, who used his arm like a basketball player to put the Republic of Ireland out of this World Cup.

As an Arsenal fan, that moment ruined a hero for me, I dubbed it the Hand of Frog which obviously I'd never repeat. It's rude. But as a third-generation Irishman I was furious.

Was it only last November? The party-loving Irish would have brought so much to this tournament but with 17 minutes to go in the second leg of the qualifying play-off, there was Henry, controlling the ball with his arm and playing it across goal for William Gallas to equalise for the home side in Paris.

The arguments, the appeals to FIFA, the demands for a replay, a petition of a million Irishman in a paddy. They even asked at parliamentary level if they could be the 33rd side at South Africa 2010.

But FIFA, as always, refused to do what the public demanded, what justice demanded. France were through after winning at Croke Park. And Henry? He admitted culpability immediately afterwards and apologised... but was never given any kind of punishment.

At the very least, video evidence should have been used to ban him from the first couple of games of this tournament for deliberate hand-ball.

But nothing happened. And here's the wonderful irony. After an interminable 81 minutes, Uruguay substitute Nicolas Lodeiro was sent off. Already booked, his studs-up challenge on Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna left the referee with no choice.

That opened the game up for the French and in the 88^th minute their chance to end this stultifying stale mate appeared to have dawned. Henry picked up the ball on the far post and Mauricio Victorino used his hand to keep the ball and the 32-year-old at bay. But Japanese referee Nishimura saw nothing. Just as Swedish whistler Hanssen saw nothing last November.

And that was it. Henry had a late free-kick but his aura is gone. It bobbled off the wall. The Jabulani ball is doing nobody any favours. Diego Forlan had the best chance for Uruguay but it ballooned wide, just as every free-kick on day one did.

Gavin Hunt, the watching Supersports United manager who has won the last three South African Premier League titles, told me: “We’ve played with the World Cup ball for six months. I told them it was too light, far too light. It bobbles, it swerves. I told them we prefer the heavier Mitre ball, especially at altitude. But by then it was too late, they were in production.”

A balls-up then. And a dull draw in Cape Town after the excitement of the opening 1-1 deadlock between the hosts and Mexico at Soccer City. But Hunt was smiling for once: “This is a good result for South Africa. I can’t see either of those sides presenting any real problems for Carlos Alberto Parreira.”

In summary then, 162,000 fans, mostly vuvuzela-blowing South Africans, witnessed a flawless opening ceremony and two draws. No bloodbaths in evidence, no earthquakes, muggings or deadly snakes. Just a few traffic jams and handbags being thrown in the second half of the Green Point grind. Not a bad opening day for the nation they said could never host a World Cup.

Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter) is in South Africa promoting his book A GAME APART. For more details see www.nealcollins.co.uk. To see video of the World Cup's breathtaking first goal, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEJwrVHR06I

Forlorn Forlan Won't Be Forgotten When Uruguay Take on France in Cape Town tomorrow

ALMOST forgotten amid the once-upon-a-time hysteria surrounding South Africa’s World Cup kick-off tomorrow is a little wizard with golden locks, hoping to complete a 60-year-old fairy tale.

When the jets and – hopefully – Nelson Mandela have departed Soccer City and while the Rainbow Nation are still digesting their opening clash with Mexico, Uruguay will kick off the second Group A game of the day against once-mighty France in Cape Town at 8.30pm (7.30pm in England).

And all eyes will be on former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan. We may have ignored him a little after he left Old Trafford for Spain. But his dad, Pablo, is there to remind us: “If he shows his true form, Uruguay could go far. And I really hope they do.”

Pablo played for Uruguay too, while grand-dad Juan Carlos Corzao played for Independiente in Argentina. Diego, earning rave reviews at Atletico Madrid en route to their Europa League triumph (above) last season, says: “Dad played in two World Cups, 1966 and 1974. I am so proud of him.”

Hopefully, by tomorrow night at around 10pm, the feeling will be mutual. To get past fragile France, Forlan will be relying on the famous Uruguayan fighting spirit: “When people talk about garra charrúa, sometimes they think it means ‘playing hard’. But that’s not really what it is. It means we must focus on winning – nothing else matters.”

Uruguay coach Oscar “The Maestro” Tabarez, who chose to play just one warm-up match, has already named his team. Chile-based defender Mauricio Victorino and Penarol midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios are the surprise choices, the only two changes to the side which beat Israel 4-1. That was on May 26 and we’ve seen little of Uruguay, World Cup winners 60 years ago, since.

Forlan, 31 years, 62 caps, 24 goals, will play next to Ajax’s 35-goal striker Luis Suarez up front after overcoming injury scares. They are considered to be one of the most frightening dynamic duos at this World Cup.

Uruguay missed out on Germany 2006 but Forlan was around for 2002. After his side were forced to see off Costa Rica in a play-off after finishing fifth in the lengthy Latin American qualifying group, he grins: "It doesn’t matter how we got here, what’s important is that we are here now, in South Africa. We can forget about the ghosts of matches past.

“The years have flown by for everyone, but this time it's my turn to be one of the older heads – I’ll approach it with a bit more experience under my belt. We’ve got a great bunch of footballers who all get on very well together.”

France, after drawing with Tunisia and losing to China in their last two warm-ups, are in disarray. There are reported splits in the camp and today we hear coach Raymond Domenech, who will be replaced by Laurent Blanc after the World Cup, has been told by the players he must start veteran Arsenal and Barcelona striker Thierry “Hand of God” Henry. France are ranked 9 in the world, Uruguay 16th.

Forlan shrugs off France’s controversial passage to South Africa in that Parisian play-off against the Republic of Ireland, saying: “How they qualified isn’t significant either – they have good players, and it’s going to be a tough match.

“Uruguayan football has a rich history, marked by great victories, trophies and accomplishments. But it’s 60 years since we won the World Cup. Now it’s our turn to leave an impression."

Manchester City’s Patrick Vieira, left out of the French squad, flew in to commentate yesterday. He knows full well the pressures on the 1999 winners and 2006 finalists. He says, a tad hopefully: "France have always been criticised before big tournaments. It’s nothing new. I really strongly believe that France are good enough to win the World Cup even if they haven't played well in the friendlies."

Those lucky enough to have tickets for the opening game at the fabulous new Green Point Stadium tomorrow will then turn their minds to another French clash – on the rugby field at Newlands, where the Springboks await.

It could be a very galling weekend for the French.

Neal Collins is in South Africa promoting his first novel, A GAME APART, dubbed “the book you must read before the World Cup”. For more information see www.nealcollins.co.uk. See also his furious Fabio video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENNPo6AF1Lo