Italy make slow start, Dutch tame Danes

JOHANNESBURG – Defending champions Italy made an unconvincing start to the World Cup with a drab 1-1 draw against Paraguay on Monday after Holland joined fellow giants Argentina and Germany as first-match winners.

Japan celebrated their first World Cup victory outside Japan when they edged past Cameroon 1-0 in the day’s other match. Four-time champions Italy had to come from a goal down at a rainy and chilly Green Point Stadium in Cape Town to salvage a point, with Daniele De Rossi cancelling out Antolin Alcaraz’s first-half header.
Italy are notoriously slow starters in major tournaments, but even by their standards they were sluggish until De Rossi profited when goalkeeper Justo Villar completely misjudged a corner.
Italy’s coach Marcello Lippi, who masterminded the victory in Berlin four years ago, insisted his team had made a satisfactory start to their title defence.
‘Italy is right here. We’re here tactically, physically, with our hearts, we’re here full stop.
‘I just regret that we did not get the points we deserved, but sometimes that’s what happens, you get less than you deserve,’ Lippi said.
Holland, bidding to win the World Cup for the first time, overcame a resilient Denmark at Soccer City in Johannesburg with a 2-0 win thanks to a comical own goal from Danish defender Daniel Agger and a Dirk Kuyt tap-in. The freak own goal came moments after half-time as Simon Poulsen attempted to head clear a Robin van Persie cross only to see the ball hit Agger on the back and fly past Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.
The goal for Agger’s Liverpool teammate Kuyt was more straightforward as he had the simplest of tasks, rolling the ball into an open net after Eljero Elia’s shot struck a post. Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk warned his talented squad that their biggest enemy was arrogance.
‘I have been saying this since I became head coach two years ago, we know what it means to be a favourite, we play good football and are very creative,’ he said.
Meanwhile, FIFA and the tournament organisers insisted that the vuvuzelas which are loved and loathed in equal measure at this World Cup are here to stay. FIFA chief Sepp Blatter dismissed any suggestion that the trumpets could be banned, after players from many European teams complained they were driving them to distraction.
‘I don’t see banning the music traditions of fans in their own country. Would you want to see a ban on the fan traditions in your country?’ Blatter wrote on an Internet forum.
‘I have always said that Africa has a different rhythm, a different sound.’ – Nampa-AFP