Recording the South Africa-Uruguay game, going to watch it later.

But, at this shift in the tournament, the start of the second game of the group phase, what to make of the opening round. Not a lot. The play has been, overall, poor, with very few goals. No one can shoot on target (or away from the keeper) or make the final cross (the ball, the ball), with those few exceptions. I was flush with disappointment after Spain's loss, but I think my assessment was fair: it's been a poor tournament so far. But, the opening games are always bad. Everyone is trying not to make a mistake, while getting used to their teammates, the atmosphere, the grounds, etc. Lots of good teams do so-so in these first games, and there are always a few outside teams that click, do really well-South Korea, Japan, Chile. So it is to be expected, in some ways.

So: what's next. Game twos can be the best of the tournament. There are teams that have to win this game (US, Spain, England, Ghana, Serbia, Cameroon, Portugal, Ivory Coast). Losing puts you out or close. There is more at stake, more passion, more goals (please!). I think many big names will be through to the next round (or close)--Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina, Germany. Some big names will right the ship--Spain, England, US, Ivory Coast. Elsewhere, things will get more complicated. I hope for goals and not because I need the high scoring games, but I want the pressure to go up, and the level of success. So many great movements or promising passes have gone astray (the ball? Ok, maybe not. But after the Spain game, I switched over to FSC and they had a Middlesborough vs Norwich game from 2005: final score 4-4, Norwich coming back from 4-1 in the last twenty minutes. Each goal sublime (and maybe a bit scrappy), but the completion of a successful movement. Something's different now). It sometimes seems like the players are playing chess on some other field, we can't see. We need more immediacy, more presence on the field, we need movements to connect.

And some goals.