HOSTS BOW OUT WITH ADMIRABLE VICTORY

South Africa's World Cup dream is over despite a spirited performance and a 2-1 win over France in their final group match.

South Africa are the first host nation ever in the history of the World Cup not to make it beyond the first round.

France's debacle of a tournament ended with defeat and bottom place in the group, with just one goal scored.

Uruguay beat Mexico 1-0 in the other game and both teams progress to the knock-out stages. They await for the results of tonight's final games in Group B to see who they will play.

WORLD CUP-LATEST PREDICTIONS FOR TUESDAY 22 JUNE

WORLD CUP PREDICTIONS FOR TODAY'S GAMES:

Mexico 1-0 Uruguay

Mexico have been highly impressive so far and are gaining confidence. Winning Group A will in all likelihood mean avoiding Argentina in the last sixteen. A big incentive.

France 1-2 South Africa

The hosts will finish with a win against the team whose spirit has broken irreparably, but it won't be enough to stop them being the first host nation not to qualify from their group.

Nigeria 2-2 South Korea

Nigeria are in that unusual situation of having lost two games but still being in with a chance of getting through. South Korea are in pole position to reach the second round though - a win for them would guarantee progress.

Greece 1-3 Argentina

Maradona's men will finish their group with three wins, opening the door for the winners of the other game to progress.

SOUTH AFRICA ON BORROWED TIME AFTER URUGUAY DEFEAT

South Africa are facing the very real possibility of an early exit from the World Cup Finals after a dismal display against Uruguay on Wednesday night.

The South Americans were the better team for much of the game, restricting the hosts to nothing more than hopeful long shots.

Diego Forlan gave his side a one-nil half time lead with a dipping effort that took the slightest of deflections off of a South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena.

Forlan doubled the lead with a penalty in the second half as Bafana Bafana 'keeper Itumeleng Khune was sent off for a foul on Luis Suarez before Alvaro Pereira wrapped up the win with a third goal deep into injury time.

The hosts now face the daunting prospect of needing a win against former World Champions France in their final group game to stand any chance of progress. The hosts will be hoping for a draw in France and Mexico's second group game tomorrow knowing that that gives them the most likely route to progress. In that event the Mexicans would have to beat Group leaders Uruguay in their final game to secure a place in the knockout stages while France would also have to chase victory against South Africa.

If South Africa do fail to progress they will be the first host nation ever to fail to get through the group stages of the tournament. It may also adversely effect the rest of the tournament with the party atmosphere sure to dampen should the hosts head home early.

The noise levels inside the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria fell dramatically with each Uruguay goal and fans were streaming for the exits as their side fell two goals behind. A chorus of 'boos' replaced the seemingly unstoppable choir of Vuvuzelas as Khune received his marching orders from the referee, but the fans will now have to get behind their team for them to stand any chance of beating France next Tuesday.

For Uruguay however the first task is almost complete. A draw against Mexico in their final game will be enough for them to advance to the round of sixteen but Diego Forlan and his team will undoubtedly want to go through as group winners and show the world they are a force to be reckoned with.

BIG NAMES FLATTER TO DECIEVE AS FIRST ROUND OF FIXTURES DRAWS TO A CLOSE

So with just twenty minutes or so left until South Africa play their second game of the tournament we have little time left to reflect on the opening round of fixtures, although maybe we shouldn't look back for too long.

It's not much to look at after all, most of the talk has been about the lack of action and excitement. With just two games containing more than two goals and Germany the only team to bag more than a brace, the competition has been somewhat bereft of world class football.

Some blame the ball, some blame the altitude, most blame the Vuvuzelas. But as far as I can see it's been a case of the big boys not playing well and the underdogs giving all they've got. The biggest surprise undoubtedly came in the final match of the first round of fixtures as Gelson Fernandes converted the ugliest goal in World Cup history to help his Swiss friends secure a shock victory over bookies favourites Spain.

Previously France, England, Portugal and Italy had all failed to win their opening games while Brazil and Argentina had looked unimpressive in victory. It was the unfancied Germans who stole the show with their four-nil demolition of Australia.

However the series of results has provided one of the most open World Cups in recent history with nobody written off as possible qualifiers for the last sixteen. In fact underdogs such as South Korea, Slovenia and Japan could secure qualification for the knockout stages with victory in their second games. While lowly New Zealand and North Korea put up spirited performances against Slovakia and Brazil respectively to prove there are no easy games at the World Cup.

Perhaps there's one thing that we always fail to remember about football; It's totally unpredictable. But we'll never stop trying to predict it.

WORLD CUP-LATEST PREDICTIONS WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE

WORLD CUP PREDICTIONS FOR TODAY'S GAMES:

Honduras 2-2 Chile

We've had a glut of drawers and I see another one here. Honduras will be a tougher proposition than many suppose.

Spain 3-0 Switzerland

I can't see the Swiss containing Spain at all. An early goal will set the World Cup favourites on course for a routine win.

South Africa 0-0 Uruguay

Both teams will keep their hopes alive with a point in what is going to prove a very tight group.

HOSTS HELD TO DRAW IN OPENING GAME

Hosts South Africa secured a 1-1 draw with Mexico as the 2010 World Cup got underway.

Simphiwe Tshabalala latched on to a perfectly weighted throughball to fire home a glorious strike right into the top corner of the goal.

Mexico pegged the hosts back in the 79th minute when Rafael Marquez caught the South African's defence sleeping, and despite an unconvincing finish the game was level.

Both sides had their chances to win and whilst the game was far from a classic it was an encouraging performance for the underdog hosts.

OPENING MATCH PREDICTION

World Cup latest blog prediction for the opening match of South Africa 2010:

South Africa 1-1 Mexico

I see this one ending in a draw. I think the hosts may take a first half lead but get pegged back. Mexico are a tough proposition, but if South Africa can draw on the incredible energy from the crowd and let it inspire them they could set the tone for a successful campaign. The atmosphere over there is absolutely electric. Here we go.

DO INCREDIBLE COINCIDENCES POINT TO ENGLISH GLORY?

The Sun Newspaper recently ran an article listing a number of coincidences which they claim point to it being England's turn to lift the World Cup this summer.

Now I'm not one for superstitions, other than the regulation pre-match toilet stop, but the lengthy list of comparisons between the last (and only) time England tasted glory in 1966 and this year certainly caught my attention.

Here's just a selection of the spooky occurrences:

• 1966 was a General Election year. So is 2010.

• The victory year saw a new Dr Who on TV, as Patrick Troughton took over from William Hartnell. In 2010, Matt Smith replaced David Tennant.
  
• North Korea have only qualified twice - in 1966 and 2010.
  
• In 1966, Spain were the European champions. In 2010 the reigning European champs are... Spain.
  
• Only twice have England, North Korea, Uruguay, Mexico, France, Argentina, Portugal and Germany all appeared in the same World Cup Finals - in 1966 and 2010.
  
• The English World Cup-winning captain, Bobby Moore, began his career at West Ham - just like 2010 captain Rio Ferdinand.
  
• England's opponents in their 1966 opening match, Uruguay, featured a father and son combination - coach Ondino Viera and his boy Milton. England start their 2010 campaign against the USA, managed by Bob Bradley and with his son Michael in the squad.
  
• The opening of Parliament was first televised in 1966. Thursday night saw the first TV debate between prime ministerial candidates.

• (This one's my personal favourite) In their winning year, France, Mexico and Uruguay were drawn in the same World Cup group as hosts England. This year France, Mexico and Uruguay are in a group with hosts South Africa.
  

This is a dead cert, I'm getting down the bookies.

SPAIN TOP RANKINGS AS ENGLAND CLIMB AGAIN

The announcement of the latest FIFA/Coca Cola World Rankings has seen European Champions Spain retain top spot ahead of Brazil and the Netherlands.

The top three remain unchanged for the fifth successive month, since November 2009, but the rest of the top ten saw some considerable action this month.

Former World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo has seen his Portugal side move up two places to fourth at the expense of defending World Champions Italy and three-time winners Germany who both drop a place to fifth and sixth respectively.

Meanwhile Fabio Capello's England climbed the rankings for the second successive month as they jumped one place to seventh with France dropping down to eighth.

Croatia re-entered the top ten just behind Argentina who are unmoved in ninth, while Australia have now broken into the top twenty after moving up four places to 19th.

This summer's hosts South Africa, have fallen seven places to 88th.

This month's biggest gainers were Senegal who climbed an impressive 22 places to 72nd whilst the biggest losers were Guam who fell 14 places to 196.

Full FIFA World Rankings here.

TICKETS FOR SOUTH AFRICA NOT SELLING

Reports from ESPN today revealed that a mammoth 650,000 tickets for this summer's World Cup in South Africa are still unsold.

FIFA are refusing to panic and planning to make a final push for sales in the remaining weeks leading up to the tournament. However the figures make for stark reading, especially in comparison to the previous World Cup.

The 2006 tournament, which was held in Germany, received an incredible 15 million applications for the 3.4 million tickets they had available but South Africa is having to work much harder to attract the fans.

Even the English fans, infamous for travelling in their numbers, have not snapped up tickets as expected with the FA sending back over 1,000 of their allocated 29,000 tickets to FIFA.

The safety of the host nation has been questioned on countless occasions since FIFA announced that the tournament would be held in South Africa and it appears to be proving a real decision maker for fans.

The lack of sales has been attributed to safety fears, heavy costs of flights and accommodation and the logistical problems of getting around a vast country with a limited infrastructure. Fans cannot simply base themselves in one city as their teams are likely to be playing in varying destinations, meaning additional travel costs will incur as they travel across the country.

FIFA issued a statement in which they confirmed tickets would now be more readily available saying, "Ticketing centres in host cities will now be open for sales until July 11, the day of the final, plus the call centre. There will also be mobile sales units."

Despite the large number of unsold tickets some 2.3 million tickets have so far been sold so far with sales figures late last year showing South African's had bought more tickets than the rest of the world combined. The host fans had bought over 340,000 tickets with American fans leading the way for foreigners, buying almost 83,000 tickets. British fans rounded off the top three with 48,000 tickets bought.