Firstly. even against World Cup first timers (as an independent entity, at least) Slovakia, the unfancied All Whites were expected to succumb to defeat in their first game, followed by another two defeats and an early plane home. But while they will likely be departing Africa around that time, they snatched their first ever WC point at the fourth attempt - a deserved point, too.
Throughout the majority of complaints about the World Cup so far, it hasn't been abundantly clear if its the relative lack of quality or the relative lack of action that offends the most. The former was never going to be found in this tie, but the latter was remedied slightly by an entertainingly bad game.
Don't get me wrong: there's something distinctly watchable about two sides trying to misplace more passes or send ill-advised long shots or crucial final balls woefully out of play more than the other. And it also has to be said that until the slightly offside Robert Vittek put Slovakia ahead, the Kiwis were the better side by a reasonable margin.
It was a cruel twist of fate and, worse still, one that much like with Italy the previous evening galvanised the Slovaks. However, while their midfield showed added bite and the team as a whole grew with confidence, they still lacked that ability to create a game-killing goal.
Highly rated skipper and playmaker Marek Hamsik wasn't the creative force many critics expected he'd be, while Man City youngster and manager's son Vladmir Weiss, for all of his energy and enterprise, made some awful decisions when it came to making the important passes in this writer's opinion.
Equally wasteful, NZ looked unlikely to snatch a dramatic equaliser despite regaining their drive slightly in the closing stages, only for Shane Smeltz to launch a delightfully penetrating cross when it looked like he'd missed his best chance to get a delivery in, and defender Winston Reid guided the ball down past Jan Mucha.
Deserved, dramatic, pleasing - while I'm sure many were quick to put down the many flaws in this low-key fixture, it sure did engross most of us more than more coveted games had so far. And yes, it certainly provided a pleasant surprise.
Group G's curtain-raiser, the Ivory Coast taking on Portugal in a first-time encounter, was a less pleasant shock. In a contest touted by many as the sleeper of the group stages as far back as the draw in December, and one looked at since the weekend as the one to wake the tournament out of its cautious slumber, two exciting attack-minded sides spent at least two thirds of the game parked completely in their own halves.
Everyone's favourite footballing hate figure Cristiano Ronaldo at least tried on several occasions to liven matters up, whether it be with a superb woodwork-rattler from far out or in a petty bout of handbags with Hamburg defender Guy Demel.
Deco fuelled my case for creating a World Cup 2010 Glue Factory XI come July with a sad depiction of himself at 10% speed and energy levels from his mid-decade peak, while Sven-Goran Eriksson's talented players seemed far too reliant on the impending and inevitable arrival of star striker Didier Drogba from the bench.
The one-armed Drog should have won it late on, but was slightly hesitant and allowed a good through pass to roll across him just too far before he was comfortable enough to pull the trigger. Portugal aimed a couple of decent shots just shy goal, too, but after ninety minutes a disappointingly-small live crowd and almost everyone sat in front of a television - myself included - were wondering what happened to their sure thing?
Elsewhere in the official Group of Death of 2010 was surely, surely, a sure thing as the highest-ranked nation of the 32, five-time champions Brazil, faced lowest-ranked nation North Korea - sorry, the People's Republic of Korea... actually, I won't kid myself, they'll be North Korea on here - in the mis-match of the group stages.
Goals would be scored, fans would have their faith in the beautiful game on the grandest stage restored, and the North Korean Government would have a hell of a lot of editing to do before showing their citizens the match highlights, right? Wrong.
It took 55 minutes for the Samba Superstars to take the lead, leaving many wondering before that if there was some sort of curse on the tournament from which nobody was sacred. However, a wonderful goal from Maicon settled the growing Brazillian frustrations before Elano doubled the lead 17 minutes later from Robinho's fine pass.
Now don't get me wrong, there way no way that Maicon meant to shoot there. The body language said it all - he wasn't even looking up until it was too late, and had all eyes on driving the ball onto the feet of an onrushing team-mate.
However, his mis-calculated hit curled inside 'keeper Myong Guk-Ri from a very tight angle, and between the visual beauty and the fine work that lead to the goal, it was nonetheless a typically stylish effort all round from the South American giants.
While many predictions would have had three, four or even five to nothing in favour of Dunga's side, two-nil seemed adequate after a defiant North Korean performance. It didn't end there, though, as much like New Zealand had earlier in the day, the Oriental underdogs dug deep to produce their World Cup moment late on.
Ji Yun-Nam collected a well-weighted pass with fitting grace, fearlessly strode through the best Brazillian defence in years and fired a shot worthy of the tournament's heritage past arguably the best goalkeeper in the world today, Julio Cesar. I don't regard it as exaggerated to say that the consolation goal probably made their inevitable early trip home worthwhile.
Brazil, meanwhile, while caught off-guard by such a close result in the end earned the all-important three points and now have two points on each of their Group of Death rivals who could well now enter a duel for second place based on a) who can perhaps hold Brazil to a draw or b) who can put the most past the Chollima.
A surprising first Kiwi WC point, a surprising North Korean celebration at the end of defeat to Brazil and a very surprising goalless dud when perhaps NZ and Slovakia looked the likely game of the three to skip instead. Can the 'themes' theme survive onto Day Six? And more importantly, will the World Cup continue to gradually grow in high points now that we reach the second round of group games once Spain and co begin their own campaigns?
I'll leave you with a final thought regarding the various excuses going around as to why so many games have fallen below expectations. Can everyone hide behind the tournament ball, the altitude, the vuvuzelas? Of course not. We've seen far too many intentionally-defensive team strategies and repeated poor choices of shot/pass for intangibles to be blamed entirely.
However, for anyone who refuses to believe that the competitors have all needed time to adapt to the surroundings somewhat, answer me this: why have almost all the matches thus far, regardless of the overall quality, opened up more following the interval?
Here's hoping they've all adjusted enough to fly out of the blocks come their second group games.
THE GAMES SO FAR:
- Germany v Austrailia, Group D, June 13 (4-0) - 8
- Brazil v North Korea, Group G, June 15 (2-1) - 7.5
- South Africa v Mexico, Group A, June 11 (1-1) - 7.5
- Argentina v Nigeria, Group B, June 12 (1-0) - 6.5
- New Zealand v Slovakia, Group F, June 15 (1-1) - 6.5
- Ghana v Serbia, Group D, June 13 (1-0) - 6
- England v United States, Group C, June 12 (1-1) - 6
- South Korea v Greece, Group B, June 12 (2-0) - 6
- Japan v Cameroon, Group E, June 14 (1-0) - 6
- Holland v Denmark, Group E, June 14 (2-0) - 6
- Italy v Paraguay, Group F, June 14 (1-1) - 5.5
- Cote d'Ivoire v Portugal, Group G, June 15 (0-0) - 4.5
- France v Uruguay, Group A, June 11 (0-0) - 3
- Algeria v Slovenia, Group C, June 13 (0-1) - 3
THE GOALS SO FAR:
- Tshabalala (South Africa v Mexico, June 11) 9
- Maicon (Brazil v North Korea, June 15) 8.5
- Podolski (Germany v Australia, June 13) 8
- Yun-Nam Ji (North Korea v Brazil, June 15) 8
- Klose (Germany v Australia, June 13) 7.5
- Ji-Sung Park (South Korea v Greece, June 12) 7.5
- Muller (Germany v Australia, June 13) 7.5
- Elano (Brazil v North Korea, June 15) 7.5
- Gerrard (England v United States, June 12) 7.5
- Heinze (Argentina v Nigeria, June 12) 7
- Reid (New Zealand v Slovakia, June 15) 7
- Honda (Japan v Cameroon, June 14) 7
- Cacau (Germany v Australia, June 13) 7
- Alcaraz (Paraguay v Italy, June 14) 7
- Jung-Soo Lee (South Korea v Greece, June 12) 6
- Kuyt (Holland v Denmark, June 14) 6
- Koren (Slovenia v Algeria, June 13) 6
- Marquez (Mexico v South Africa, June 11) 5
- Dempsey (United States v England, June 12) 5
- De Rossi (Italy v Paraguay, June 14) 4.5
- Vittek (Slovakia v New Zealand, June 15) 4
Tomorrow, it's time to wrap up the tournament openers with Group H - it's the battle of the Americas as Honduras battle Chile while Europe is represented by Spain v Switzerland! Plus, the hosts kick off round two of the group stages against Uruguay!
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