Group Of Lame

On paper, Group G is the "Group of Death." Besides Brazil, soccer-heavyweight Portugal is included with tournament dark horses Ivory Coast and a virtual unknown in North Korea that could use its defensive-first strategy to frustrate.

But after watching today's group matches, I think we should give it a new title (see above).

After ANOTHER missable draw today, this time a scoreless Ivory Coast-Portugal match, Brazil were kept in-check by lightweights North Korea, ranked 105th in the world. The Selecao pulled away in the second half for a 2-1 victory, but the first half was absolutely dreadful to watch. Give credit to the North Koreans for stymieing the Brazilian attack.

Sitting at my office desk, the thought of plugging away at the day's assignments actually sounded more entertaining than watching Portugal sit back at arms length, seemingly content for a single point. This shouldn't be the case with the World Cup.

What is it with the low-scoring so far in the Cup? After all this talk about the unpredictable match ball, we have seen a few gaffes here and there. But with only one group left to play its first games, we have already had six draws. Maybe it could be chalked up to nerves. Maybe it's those damn vuvuzelas.

Whatever the case, we have only seen small glimpses of the talent level present in South Africa.

And today, I just had to vent. The big boys in Group G left a tremendous amount to be desired. Let's hope the second wave of matches is accompanied by an increase in the level of play.