World Cup daily: Wednesday 16 June 2010

Published on 16/06/2010 10:40

North Korea gave Brazil a scare yesterday as the tournament sprung into life. All eyes will be on Spain today who will be looking to get their World Cup off to a positive start.

• Picture of the Day: North Korea fans, uniformally dressed in red, cheer on their team with strange-looking clappers.

Today's match schedule

South Africa v Uruguay, 19:30, Pretoria

With France up next, South Africa will need a result here if they are to have realistic chance of making it out of the group stage.

Honduras v Chile, 12:30, Nelspruit

Chile are without a win in their last 13 World Cup finals games, and with Carlos Pavon and Humberto Suazo in their ranks, they'll be looking to break that duck.

Spain v Switzerland, 15:00, Durban

The star-studded Spaniards have never failed to score against Switzerland, but despite this, they have only reached the last four of the World Cup once, in 1950.

Yesterday's 140 character match reports

Brazil 2 - 1 North Korea

Brazil beat N Korea to win tonight. Maicon and Elano getting the Brazil goals, Yun-Nam Ji scoring for Korea.

Full match report

Ivory Coast 0 - 0 Portugal

Despite pre-match hype, Ivory Coast and Portugal fail to entertain, save a Ronaldo strike that hit post

Full match report

New Zealand 1 - 1 Slovakia

Group F is all square after Reid snatches a draw for #NZA with a last minute header. Vittek had put #SVK Slovakia 1-0

Full match report

• Follow us on Twitter for 140 word match reports on the final whistle

From today's Scotsman

• Beardsley says Beckenbauer too quick to slate England

• Spain out to entertain and excite the people of Africa

• Tom English: 'The level of punditry is patronising and insulting'

• Bougherra agrees Jabulani ball is a problem

• Parreira tips hosts to handle growing group pressure

• Chile seek to turn the tide of history against Hondurans

Fact of the Day

The largest ever World Cup attendance occurred in the 1950 final in Brazil when 199,850 fans crammed into Rio's Maracana stadium to see Uruguay defeat Brazil 2 - 1.

Team of the Day

Spain

Spain used to be written off as bottlers when it came to the final stages of the big tournaments, but Euro 2008 changed all that. Now they're hot favourites, with superb goalkeeping options, a strong defence, a magical midfield and two of the world's best strikers in David Villa and Fernando Torres. The only question is whether they can live up to the expectation.

For news, reports and video from South Africa, visit scotsman.com/worldcup2010

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