The performance of the big teams at South Africa 2010 has been less than impressive in their group matches. There was a lot of hype in the media about what to expect from them, months before the start of the tournament.

Now that they are all there in South Africa, they are giving a lot of people high blood pressure, due to their mediocre performances. Only three of the big teams (Brazil, Argentina and the Netherlands) have had 100% wins in their first two games so far.

Brazil won their first match against Korea DPR 2-1 and defeated Ivory Coast 3-1 in their second match. Argentina defeated highly rated Nigeria by a lone goal in their opening match, then went ahead to beat South Africa 4-1 in their next match. They completed the group stage matches with a 2-0 win over Greece, to maintain a 100% win rate. The Netherlands defeated highly rated Denmark 2-0 in their first match, and also defeated Japan 1-0 in their next match.

Four-time champions and defending champions, Italy could only manage a 1-1 draw against Paraguay in their opening match, and played out another 1-1 draw against the New Zealand Underdogs. Three-time champions Germany defeated Australia 4-0 in their opening match and then lost 0-1 to unknown Serbia in their second match. 1966 champions England drew 1-1 against the USA in their opening match and another 0-0 draw against Algeria in their next match. However, they were lucky to win by a lone goal over Slovenia in their last game, courtesy of Jermain Defoe. Hosts and winners of the 1998 edition, France, drew 0-0 against two-time winners Uruguay in their opener, but lost their second game 0-2 to North American opponents Mexico in their next match, then lost their last. 1-2 against the host, South Africa.

Highly ranked Nigeria lost 0-1 to two-time champions Argentina in their opener; and shockingly lost their second game 1-2 to second-time entrants Greece, who had never won a world cup match before. They only managed a 2-2 draw against South Korea in their last match. Cameroon, playing alongside three-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o, lost 1-0 to Japan in their first game, and also 2-1 to Denmark in their next game to become the first African country to be eliminated. in the first round of this year’s tournament. Ivory Coast, featuring reigning African Footballer of the Year Didier Drogba, pulled off a 0-0 draw against Portugal in their opening game, but lost 3-1 to favorites Brazil in their next game.

Algeria lost their opening game 0-1 against little-known Slovenia and drew 0-0 against England. It finally crashed after losing 0-1 to the USA in its last game. Portugal drew 0-0 against the Ivory Coast in their first match; they finally tried to redeem their name by beating Korea DPR 7-0 in their next match, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring just once.

So what has happened to the big teams and big names like Miroslav Klose, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda, Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Frank Lampard, Obafemi Martins, Yakubu Aiyegbemi, Osaze Odewingie, Didier Drogba, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Samuel Eto’o, Steven Pienaar, Fabia Canavalro, Camoranesi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, etc.

France, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Greece and Slovenia have lost in the group stage. We hope that the other teams can give a better account of themselves in their quest to qualify for the round of 16. So far, only Argentina, South Korea, Uruguay, Mexico, England and the USA have qualified for the round of 16.