Day 1 -June 11th

South Africa vs Mexico   15:00 BST / 16:00 CET
Uruguay vs France          19:30 BST / 20:30 CET

The host nation has never failed to progress to the second round but that will almost certainly be the fate awaiting South Africa if they lose to Mexico in the curtain raiser. With group favourites Uruguay and France to follow, defeat for either team here would be disastrous.

The opening day of the tournament is always an unpredictable affair. Argentina were beaten as holders of the trophy in both 1982 and 1990 and we needn't look so far back to remember Boupa Diop's goal in the inaugural game of the 2002 World Cup, which saw Senegal sink previous winners France in Seoul. Those were occasions when the reigning world champions opened the competition but now, just as in Germany in 2006, it is the home nation that gets the ball rolling. And this will be the first time that either the hosts or the holders go into the first match as underdogs.

South Africa are unbeaten in ten friendly matches this year but their form since the Confederations Cup has not been too promising, with a 1-0 win over Madagascar proving the only victory in the final eleven matches of 2009. This is Carlos Alberto Parreira's sixth World Cup campaign after runs with Kuwait (1982), UAE (1990), Brazil (1994, 2006) and Saudi Arabia (1998). He won the competition, of course, in the USA in 1994 and his experience will be vital in a group containing three teams ahead of South Africa in the FIFA rankings.

Mexico's coach Javier Aguirre is a relative novice compared to his opening day counterpart but he will not be afraid to spoil the host's party at the Soccer City stadium. He has a young squad at his disposal and it is conceivable that he will start with Manchester United's latest signing Javier Hernandez (22) and Arsenal's Carlos Vela (21) up front, with mercurial Tottenham talent Giovani Dos Santos (21) and Deportivo La Coruna's star man Andres Guardado (23) providing the attacking support down the wings. That would represent the youngest attacking quartet in the competition and their pace and trickery could cause South Africa real problems.

The Bafana Bafana will look to Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar to pull the strings in midfield and create some problems for Mexico but, on paper at least, Parreira's side look technically inferior and will seek inspiration from the majority of the fans inside the 94,700 capacity stadium at Soccer City to roar them on to victory.

Another opening day rarity is that the secondary match is actually the bigger draw from a global perspective. The winner of the France vs Uruguay clash is expected to go on to win the group and I am expecting a very close tie. Group favourites France only just qualified courtesy of a Thierry Henry handball in the play-off against Ireland and a narrow win over Costa Rica, a hard fought draw with Tunisia and a defeat to China in their three warm up games has done little for the nation's confidence. Uruguay, who pose a formidable attacking threat with Diego Forlan and goal machine Luis Suarez (who scored 49 in all competitions for Ajax this season) leading the line, will feel that Raymond Domenech's side are there for the taking.