Chile 1 Honduras 0
Jean Beausejour’s lone goal of the match lifted Chile to its first victory in the World Cup since 1962 when it hosted the tournament; Chile defeated Yugoslavia on June 16 of that year.
Prior to this match, Chile had been on a 13-match winless streak, which was the third-longest in World Cup history. Chile had 33 touches in the penalty area and shot the ball nine times from inside the box; Hondurus had just one touch and zero shots.
Chile won the battle of possession 64% to 36%.
Switzerland 1 Spain 0
Only one game in, and already the defending Euro 2008 champs are having trouble in the World Cup. Gelson Fernandes’ lone goal of the game lifted the Swiss to a 1-0 victory over heavily favored Spain, who snapped a 12-game winning streak; it was Spain’s 2nd loss in fifty games (the other was against the United States in last year’s Confederations Cup in South Africa). For Fernandes, it was his second international goal.
“To be fair, I’m not used to scoring goals, so I was a bit surprised,” said Fernandes. “It was a bit of luck.”
Spain fired 25 shots to Switzerland’s 9, but only 5 Spanish shots were on goal; Switzerland mustered just two shots on goal. Spain dominated the time of possession 74% to 26%, but couldn’t penetrate the Swiss defense.
Switzerland has not given up a goal in the World Cup in the last 490 minutes of play. In the 2006 World Cup, they were knocked out in penalty kicks by Ukraine in the Round of 16 despite not giving up even one goal in the tournament.
Uruguay 3 South Africa 0
Diego Forlan scored not once, but twice to lift Uruguay to a 3-0 victory over the host South Africans, who find themselves that much closer to not advancing past group play (no other host nation has ever failed to get out of the first round). Forlan scored his first goal on a deflected 25-yard bomb in the 24th minute and scored his second goal on a penalty kick in the 80th minute.
Alvaro Pereira added the icing on the cake with a goal in stoppage time.
South Africa goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was tossed from the game in the 76th minute after clipping Luis Suarez in the leg.
South Africa midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi was yellow-carded after fouling Suarez in the 42nd minute; because Dikgacoi also received a yellow card in the first game against Mexico, he will be suspended for the game against France.
Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera celebrated his 24th birthday with a shutout.
FACT: Countries from South America are now 3-0-2 after the first game of group play.
