Uruguay 3 - South Africa 0
Spain 0 - Switzerland 1
With apologies to Chile and Honduras, the World Cup is famous for days like today.
The World Cup is commonly thought of as a month-long tournament for the 32 teams involved. In reality, the seeds for each tournament are planted long before, often before the final ball is kicked at the previous tournament.
Qualification begins years in advance involving (nearly) every team in the world. For 31 teams to join the host country, the dreams of dozens of nations have to first be crushed long before the finals can even begin.
And of course before the month is out 31 teams will have to fall by the wayside before a champion is crowned. Yet after years of preparation, years of struggle, and years of qualification, watching a team fail here, in the group stages, often feels more bitter for all the promise that comes from being involved in the proceedings.
That's where the paths of South Africa and Spain now meet, both losers on the day. While both countries will be upset that they lost on the day, of course, these are two teams with remarkably different expectations placed upon them.
South Africa are trying to avoid the relative embarrassment of being the first host nation to not advance out of the group stages while Spain, the prohibitive favorites in a largely unpredictable tournament format, look to avoid the kind of slow start that has doomed the chances of equally promising sides in the past.
After their promising opening point against Mexico, South Africa's destiny is now clearly laid in front of them: defeat a struggling but incredibly talented French side or consent to spend the rest of the month watching your guest nations continue to battle for the World Cup.
In truth, knocking off France may still not be enough as, in losing by three goals to Uruguay yesterday, they'd realistically have to hope that Mexico lose or draw with Uruguay for an upset of France to mean anything more than pride.
That's really what this World Cup has always been about for South Africa, as the pride of being the host nation is greatly magnified by performing well in the tournament, especially for those host countries that are not among the world's elite.
Most of the host countries in the past have performed so well because they are among the world's elite, though FIFA's recent desire to bring the tournament to new, smaller nations has put that record to the test. Even if South Africa accomplish what seems impossible on paper, it won't be long before another host finds themselves on the outside looking in when the knockout stages begin.
Certainly performing well enough to send Mexico and France home early might not be the act of a gracious host, though I doubt anyone would begrudge South Africa for trying.
At the very least, South Africa will look to give France a game that will be remembered, if more for the effort than the result.
Spain, conversely, do not yet have an obvious path before them, but their opening day loss to Switzerland will do no favors for those looking to silence the critics of the country's past performances at international tournaments, Euro 2008 aside.
Four points from three games is usually enough to secure a place in the knockout stages, but three of those points have to come at the expense of Chile or else Spain will face a group stage exit alongside South Africa--though I doubt the reaction of the Spanish fans will be that of pride at the end result.
This is the beauty of the World Cup, as even after most of the world has been eliminated from competition, there is still generally such a disparity in the quality of sides left as to produce such differing reactions to similar fates.
We won't know how Spain respond to the idea of going out early until they take on Honduras four days from now, but South Africa have surely entertained the thought since the day the names of their groupmates were pulled out of the pot.
No matter if South Africa are able to play themselves into the knockout stages or not, their effort is to be applauded at this World Cup. Not merely for being the host nation or for taking on countries with more advanced soccer pedigree than their own, but for the positive way in which they've played.
Even when they conceded the first goal against Uruguay, they remained positive in their play, driving forward looking to create goals rather than hold firm and stop the bleeding. They could have played a cynical, smothering style against Mexico and Uruguay, bunkering in and hoping to catch their opponents on the break and steal a 1-0 victory.
Instead they've pushed forward when on the ball and, while technically one could criticize their performances on a technical level for not involving their best player Steven Pienaar or holding possession better, their effort is largely beyond reproach.
They'll likely wake today feeling a little less optimistic about their showing in this tournament, but five days is a long time to get over a defeat, even with France looming large in what will likely be their final game.
Given the way they've responded to the challenge of hosting the tournament and their placement in a difficult group, I expect the South Africans to be celebrating after their next match, whether it's their final one in this world tournament or not.
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