Do you have a little something for me?

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S ... hey, where is everyone?

Every game thus far has been a madhouse (at least in the media centre) many hours before kickoff. Morris and I just pulled in to Ellis Park for USA-Slovenia in five hours and it looks like the Blue Jays pressbox in August (heeeey-O!).

Police now completely in charge of security at these venues, and they may be reading their bad press. For the first time in ten days, my credential was checked against my face. Must be said though - the staff here continue to be the most charming I've ever encountered, unbelievably friendly.

The cop at the metal detector asked where we were from.

"Canada," I said.

"Oh, Canada," he smiled. "I'd love to get just one thing to remember Canada."

Everywhere else, this means a pin or a small keepsake. But Morrris and I have become deeply (and probably uselessly) paranoid over the last few days here, so we gave each other that, "Is he asking us for a bribe?" look.

A couple of days ago, we asked our local driver, Fana, how bribing the cops works here. Fana was busy discussing how traffic tickets work, and we wondered, "Can you just pay to get out of a ticket?"

"Of course, you can!" Fana said, happy that we weren't quite as stupid as we look.

So how does that work?

"They will ask you, but not ask you," Fana said. "They will say to you - well, in my language it means, 'Talk to me like a man'."

Talk to me like a man. Is that the same as, 'I'd love to get something to remember you by.' 

No, it's not.

And sadly, we had nothing. The cop just smiled and wished us a pleasant day.

We get in the centre, and there's some flirty guy giving out small Honduras coin pouches. I'm sitting here seething with jealousy.

"Oooooh, Honduras," all the volunteers coo as he hands out his wretched little pouches.

First, they take our CONCACAF spot here. And now this.

C.K.

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

Predictions: Day 3

Algeria vs. Slovenia, 7:30 a.m. ET

A pair of Cinderella sides here, both having made it into the Finals via surprise win in qualifying. Well, the dream will end today for someone. The Algerians lean heavily on an aerial attack, while Slovenia wins games with defence. Watch for Algerian captain Yazid Mansouri - he's the guy scowling on the bench. He's been sidelined with, ahem, a sudden dip in form. That bodes well, doesn't it?

Prediction: Slovenia 1, Algeria 0

Serbia vs. Ghana, 10 a.m. ET

If football is generally a ballet, call this mixed martial arts. Two muscular sides, heavy on attacking vim and both featuring major stars. At this point, Ghana will be glad to stop talking about missing talisman Michael Essien, who's out with an injury. They will have Sulley Muntari back from the trainer's room - he'll lead the attack. On the Serb side, the biggest star is Man United defender Nemanja Vidic. He missed the first match four years ago, and the Netherlands took advantage. Vidic and his teammates will be hoping to start off far better here.

Prediction: Serbia 2, Ghana 1

- C.K.

Germany vs. Australia, 2 p.m. ET

Michael Ballack's World Cup-ending injury a month ago suddenly seems far away - it's given Jogi Low some time to tinker and this Germany is a more flowing, attack-minded and youthful group without him. One thing they might lack with Ballack's absence is snarl. Australia takes a more conservative, defensive approach under Pim Verbeek. Let's see how 21-year-old Mesut Ozil and 23-year-old Sami Khedira fare in the World Cup spotlight - in Germany's last friendly, an impressive 3-1 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, the left-footed playmaker Ozil looked elegant, and Khedira, paired with Bastian Schweinsteiger to replace Ballack at the back of the midfield, was outstanding.

Prediction: Germany 2, Australia 1

- C.Y.

Friday's friendlies

Sure these games don't mean anything. Tell that to Raymond Domenech. (Update: Tell that to the North Koreans trying to sneak in an extra attacker):

France vs China: At Reunion, it's one last friendly and still no idea of the backline plan for France coach Domenech. William Gallas is ailing again and likely not available - not that China will provide much in the way of testing opposition - and then it’s time to start the countdown to a nervous opening night fixture against Uruguay. They really could use something emphatic here for a confidence boost, but don’t expect Thierry Henry to provide a spark. Henry is that far out of sight.

Nigeria vs North Korea:
 Last call for Nigeria, coming in to this Jo’burg encounter off two subpar showings, so expect Swede coach Lars Lagerback to start his preferred XI. Key man John Obi Mikel of Chelsea only started training last week and has yet to see action since his April knee injury - if they can get a good run out of him with no after-effects, they’ll be breathing easier. As for North Korea, nobody knows much. Today's fascinating fact: one of their better players is nicknamed Acorn Head.

Slovenia vs New Zealand: Kiwis come in on a high after beating Serbia, and will leave for South Africa after this one at Maribor. Slovenia doesn’t believe in heavy preparation evidently, this being their first and only friendly scheduled before the World Cup. They haven’t played together since drilling Qatar in March.

Japan vs Ivory Coast: In their last three exhibitions Japan has been outscored 7-1, so forget about getting a result here in Switzerland - they really would like to keep this close, and thus take some smidge of what’s left of their confidence into the World Cup. New Ivory Coast manager Sven-Goran Eriksson wants to clean up some of the late mistakes that cost them in their last exhibition. For both teams, this is their last stop before the finals.