Match Preview: Game 1 and 2

So the big day is almost upon us. Tomorrow afternoon a feast of football will begin in Johannesburg and it all kicks off with a tasty match up. Bernard Parker was a certain starter in last year's World Cup warm-up, the Confederations Cup and was South Africa's top scorer. A year later and things are quite different for Parker, he is not expected to start tomorrow, whereas his opponent, Giovani, is widely expected to be one of the three players leading the assault on the South African defence tomorrow. Giovani dos Santos is one of the most exciting young players on the planet and will be looking to make a name for himself on the World's biggest stage. He has had a troubled lead up to the tournament, with reports that he was disgruntled at the exclusion of his brother Jonathan dos Santos from the squad, however he was in a good enough mood to blitz the Italian defence in Mexico's 2-1 win over the holders last week.

In the lead up to the match Parker has been speaking about the pressure on the team and how, in spite of their 12 match unbeaten streak under coach Parreira, it will mean nothing if they lose tomorrow:

Fitness plays a very big part in any footballer’s career. We have to be on top of our game throughout the World Cup. The nerves are coming to us now that we are closer to the first match of the tournament. But all of us are doing our best to ensure that we don’t disappoint. I’m sure that we will deal with the butterflies

The South African press seem to believe that Parker will be sprung upon the Mexicans tomorrow, and Parker is keen to test himself against world class defenders, so I hope that he will be given that opportunity.


Opening matches of World Cup tournaments have been mixed for number 17s in the past. In 2006 Per Mertesacker was in a team that won 4-2 against Costa Rica, but the German defence was criticised after a thrilling match. Costa Rican 17 Gabriel Badilla did not make the field of play. The 2002 tournament saw a memorable first match, and both Emmanuel Petit 17 for France and Ferdinand Coly 17 for Senegal started the match and played a full 90 minutes. 1998's opener saw only a late substitute appearance by Scotland's Billy McKinlay and neither 17 made the field of play in Germany vs Bolivia in 1994. 1990 was another year which saw both 17s start the match - Roberto Sensini for Argentina and Victor Ndip for Cameroon. Neither Mexico 86 or Spain 82 saw any number 17's play the opening game, but Argentina 82 saw Andrzej Szarmach start in Poland's 0-0 draw against West Germany.

The second match of the tournament sees a rather one-sided affair. "What?!" I hear you cry, "France and Uruguay both struggled in qualifying in the two hardest sections of qualifying and this is actually a rather intriguing match up which is hard to call!". But remember - all we care about is the number 17s. Squillaci is unlikely to make the field of play, so we expect Arévalo to start and to easily win the battle of the 17s, both of whom do not really care for the shirt. I hope that I am pleasantly surprised however, and I'm looking forward to seeing Arévalo playing.

Remember - you can check back on our "Introducing..." profiles for any of the players by clicking the links on the right hand side of this blog.

How we are going to assess the performance of 17s this Tournament
As you can see we have now previewed the two match ups in tomorrow's games. For every match in this tournament we will be awarding points to the players who make appearances, in every match there will be a 'Winner' or a 'Loser'. Or it could be a draw. If we decide that a number 17 has outshone his counterpart then we will award the 'win' to him and he will receive 2 points, the 'loser', however will receive 0. If we feel that both players were equally as exciting then they will both receive a single point. In the unfortunate circumstance of both 17s not making even a substitute appearance then both players will receive 0 points, as we do not want players to get credit for not playing.


Further to this we will of course be keeping a top scorers chart and be providing match reports and regular news updates throughout the tournament!