First up on Wednesday, it's an exciting match-up for followers of the 17s in South Africa: Honduran flyer Álvarez up against Gary "Pitbull" Medel. In a press conference today, journalists questioned Marcelo Bielsa's decision to select Medel, who measures 1.7m, at centre-back tomorrow. He responded by saying that it was not "mental" because "he is great in the air", adding that they cannot afford to lose the Pitbu17's defensive qualities since he is a player who "loves dispossessing opponents". He will be lining up against another player measuring 1.7m: the "Catrachos" winger Edgard Álvarez, who is lightning quick and will be looking to exploit the perceived aerial weakness of his Chilean counterpart with some good old-fashioned pacy wing play. Should be a good one, this.
Finally, finally, Spain get their tournament under way in the last of the first round games. This will see ex-Spurs full-back Reto Ziegler come up against the attacking might of La Roja. Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has invited locals armed with vuvuzelas to recent training sessions to try and acclimatise his players but Ziegler and co will need to have more than a capacity to ignore the drone of a thousand bees tomorrow. Arbeloa may come on as a sub if Del Bosque wants to shore things up, but it's unlikely that he'll see any action unless Ramos or Capdevila take a knock.
Wednesday's last game is the first of the second round, as Egidio Arévalo's Uruguay and hosts South Africa look to take important points following first round stalemates. After an impressive individual performance in the middle of the park in their opening game, Arévalo will be relishing another midfield battle. It's unsure whether Bernard Parker will start for Bafana Bafana but expect to see him play at some point.
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