World Cup Log - Day 4

Today saw the start of the Dutch campaign, a side who I fancy strongly to win out this year and have backed accordingly. Their first foray was against a resolute Danish side which included the sparky Bendtner up front. A dull first half saw each side cancel each other out before the Dutch sparked in to life somewhat in the second. It took a scrappy og from Agger to get the Dutch ahead on the scoreboard but it had the effect of jolting them in to life. They added a second from Kuyt after an impressive cameo from sub Elia. It wasn't the type of performance that I expected or one to light the tournament alight, as Germany had done 24 hours earlier.
Japan & Cameroon played out another insipid encounter (there's a theme emerging here!)in the afternoon. Japan won the encounter with a first half goal from Honda. Cameroon were very disappointing and will struggle to emerge from this Group.
The reigning champions Italy played the late game against the South American dark horses Paraguay. An aging Italian side are seen by many to be too leg weary to challenge for honors this time round. It's a cliche to say the Italians are solid defensively but it's been the base of so much of their success. The game was played out in heavy rain which didn't lend to attacking football and indeed this was a largely stale and dour encounter. Paraguay took the lead through Alcaraz before a second half equalizer from De Rossi saw the teams share the spoils. On this evidence and what we saw of Italy in Ireland's qualifying group a quarter final may even be a stretch for them this time round.
Onwards to Day 5...