Matchday 1 game 2

Once again in the opening game the host nation don't lose, a great tradition to keep alive. So from the excitement and deafening noise of Soccer city to the beautiful city of Cape Town to watch France and Uruguay. I was excited going into this game, from the small amount I've seen and read of Uruguay I expected a compact well organised and technically well versed team. they certainly have 2 of the in-form strikers right now in Suarez and Forlan. France certainly not the team they were in 98 as winners or 02 where they failed to score in the group stages despite having 3 golden boot winners from 3 european leagues. In 06 they were the beaten finalists and Zidane head-butted Materazzi in his last ever game.

All in all this should have been a relatively entertaining affair, there have been some interesting stories in the build up for france regarding the coach Raymond Domenech. Unbelievably he left the in-form Florent Malouda on the bench after a falling out 10 days previous. Instead of entertainment it was a squalid, drab affair, Uruguay struggled to put passes together for large sections of the game, and in his 2 shots Forlan could have won the game for the South Americans. France just looked poor with Evra maybe the exception. Gourcuff continues to struggle bringing his domestic form - which has been at times stunning for Bordeaux - to the international arena. Govou had a wonderful chance in the first 5 minutes and after that looked like his game had already finished. Henry, who many felt should be starting for France, didn't look like a man who wanted to come on the pitch and that attitude never changed once he arrived. Few of the French players came out with much credit, Evra was consistent as ever and Diaby had one of his better games and the close control he keeps of the ball can be mesmerizing, he did his reputation no harm, a final ball was all he really lacked.

All in all a dull, dull affair.