Group A RSA-MEX as it happens

The fluff and nonsense has gone away and with it Sepp Blatter (thank God!). The first disappointment (and let's face it there had to be one), was the almost muted announcement that David Basheer and Kevin Muscat would be commentating. Is Foz being saved for the knockout games? In any case, where is Monsignor Tyler?

Mexico have certainly come to ruffle the hosts with a promising 433 set up with Perreira's boys in a 4411 counterattacking formation. The only thing at 27" between Mexico and a 2-0 scoreline is keeper Chune. The hosts are slowly getting frustrated with some agricultural tackles and Perreira must be keen to apply the cold spoon at half time. And Aguirre the branding iron for not finishing the hosts off.

Love the attacking role of the 2 Mexican full backs. Love also the simple graphic showing the offside decisions. Tempted to drag out the laptop and stream the Spanish SBS commentary if the Basheer-Muscat team is to be persisted with. Honestly I'd rather hear HG & Roy, or for that matter Sigfried & Roy. At least the vuvuzelas drown out Muscat somewhat.

Well butter me on both sides if Mexico don't run away with this one. Almost arf time and the hosts almost grab one against the proverbial. Mexican keeper Perez looks as comfortable as Todd McKinney at Barry Halls's bucks night as he flaps at 3-4 South African crosses.

As the break approaches, I shudder at the thought of the inane ads being offered up. Ronaldo plugging Castrol oil, Rooney doing the Nike thing and the now ubiquitous Socceroos ads for Sony, Weetbix, QANTAS and Optus and the offer of pre-purchasing the DVD before a game is over. Nice. And now a new ad with Ronaldo kicking a ball through Homer's front door. Yeah even that will get stale after game 4....

GP