Predictions: Day 8

GROUP D

Germany (1-0-0 W-D-L) vs. Serbia (0-0-1)

At Port Elizabeth, 7:30 a.m.
TV: CBC, TLN (Spanish)
Weather: 15C, sunny
The Game: Regular readers will know we don’t get many of these right, but let’s toot our own vuvu when we do — we warned you about Germany. Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and the rest of the Mannschaft’s kids warned the whole tournament. But that was Oz and this is now. Serbs’ long-ball game was poor in their loss to Ghana on a late penalty that earned Aleksander Lukovic a suspension for this. They need to show better discipline here. Positive for them: They didn’t give up more than one goal in all 12 of their qualifiers, including seven clean sheets.

Prediction: Germany 1, Serbia 0

GROUP C

Slovenia (1-0-0) vs. United States (0-1-0)
At Johannesburg, 10 a.m.
TV: CBC, TLN (Spanish)
Weather: 11C, sunny
The Game: Slovenia (pop. 2 million) can book a ticket in the second round with a win here, but they’ll likely play it as cagey as they did in beating Algeria in their opener. U.S. (pop. 307 million) really needs more than a draw, and will have to be patient against Slovenia’s tight defence.

Prediction: Slovenia 0, United States 1

GROUP C

England (0-1-0) vs. Algeria (0-0-1)
At Cape Town, 2:30 p.m.
TV: CBC, TLN (Spanish)
Weather: 13C, partly cloudy
The Game: England heavy favourites here, despite their problems dealing with the U.S.’s speed in their opener. They’ve got the obvious edge in class and Gareth Barry’s return should free up Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard going forward, but there’s a great deal of pressure for a win. Algeria has goalkeeper worries with Fawzi Chaouchi on the limp.
Prediction: England 2, Algeria 0
Chris Young

Headlines: Drogba, Ferdinand limping, and Saturday's friendly lineup

The blog will start ticking over for real on Wednesday, first full day in South Africa for us. Until then these posts keep it fed and reasonably happy. Here's your headlines to debate and comment on. Website will have more, no doubt, and we'll try and update some later:

This one could cut deep if it's serious: Didier Drogba on the limp, out of today's Ivory Coast-Japan tuner.

In the England camp, creaky Rio Ferdinand is back in sick bay

Spanish sports daily Marca has a couple nifty digital offerings:

First, all 736 World Cup players on a single page

And second, a schedule calendar wheel.

Here's Saturday's friendlies list, the Coles Notes version:

South Africa vs Denmark: Crowds have been building for the Bafana Bafana and they should get a send-off here that'll carry them all the way to Friday's opener.

Switzerland vs Italy (GolTV, 2:40 p.m. eastern): Getaway game for both teams in Geneva. Italy need to show more than that huffing and puffing 2-1 loss to Mexico on Thursday. They'll get a very straightforward and stolid opponent here in Switzerland, in an equally searching mode.

Netherlands vs Hungary: Dutch attack doesn't need much fine-tuning, but the question is who sits. They have that many options, and Dirk Kuyt may well be odd man out.

Australia vs United States. A final Jo-burg runout for two teams with grand aspirations and blue-ribbon opening-game opponents: Aussies facing Germany, USA vs. England. The essential Jozy Altidore is hobbling for the U.S., while Harry Kewell is finally fit for Aussies.

Others:

Algeria vs UAE; Serbia vs Cameroon; Ghana vs Latvia; Slovakia vs Costa Rica; Romania vs Honduras.

Today's friendlies

Getting down to it now, aren't they? Even Brazil are on the field. Today's menu (World Cup finals teams in bold):

Poland vs Serbia: For Serbia, Saturday's 1-0 loss to New Zealand was just a friendly, albeit with some extra juice in the form of a few drunken fans throwing flares and a Jim Beam bottle - Kiwi coach Ricki Herbert called it his team's all-time best result. Serbia has one more tuner after this one so there's no need to panic as they continue their Austrian camp. Look for midfield regulars Stankovic, Krasic and Jovanovic to get a good run after being rested in that first tuner.

Greece vs Paraguay: Paraguay came back with two late goals to draw with Ivory Coast on Sunday, showing how dangerous they can be on the attack and it looks like their Argentine-born Lucas Barrios has found a role with two goals in 110 minutes the last two friendlies. Greece wheeled out a nearly first-string midfield and forward line in drawing 2-2 with North Korea last week. This one in Switzerland is the final tuneup for both teams, and they’ll both want to show better defensively.

Honduras vs Azerbaijan. Honduras finish up with one more in Vienna after this, and expect midfield mainstays Wilson Palacios and former TFCer Amado Guevara to get some decent minutes.

Zimbabwe vs Brazil. Finally Brazil makes an appearance, at Harare, their first exhibition since beating Ireland in March and predictably, they've attracted quite a crowd. They’ll get one more after this, against Tanzania on Monday.

Thursday

Italy vs Mexico (at Brussels)
Spain vs South Korea (at Innsbruck)
Germany vs Bosnia-Herzegovina (at Frankfurt)

Denis Irwin likes Spain, and (surprise) doesn't like France

One of Ireland’s finest is in town, thumping for Manchester United’s July 16 game against Celtic at the sodded-for-the-occasion Rogers Centre. Denis Irwin was a big part of United’s glory days of the 90s and early 00s and was Ireland’s right back at the USA 94 World Cup, including that stirring 1-0 win over Italy in their opening match. I sat down with Denis, now working with Manchester United TV, at the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday, to talk about World Cups come and gone, that moment last November (remarkably, he stays pretty composed) and United’s upcoming visit.

Pick it up after the jump...