Two wildly contrasting states jolted this World Cup to life, with North Korea (totalitarian) roughing up Brazil and Switzerland (laissez-faire meets conservatism) shocking Spain, the European champions, in Durban. With the first upset of the tournament the iconoclastic Swiss may have spoiled the dream final. If the favourites finish second in Group H they are likely to collide with Brazil in the second round.
Switzerland will not want their victory reduced to a nuisance win. As a piece of football it will not be hung in any galleries but it performed a useful service. If you can't have sumptuous play at a World Cup you at least need underdog valour and surprising outcomes to discuss in the pub.
This was the biggest since Senegal ambushed France, the world and European champions, in their first game in 2002. Germany halting an ominously good Argentina side in the quarter-finals and Holland losing to Portugal four years ago were the closest 2006 came to a script-burning result.
Senegal's triumph prefigured France's downfall as the world game's dominant force: a position Spain have yet to attain. Unbeaten for 35 games before they lost to the USA in last summer's Confederations Cup, Vicente del Bosque's team have appeared not only invincible but more attractive than Brazil or Argentina. They are the aesthete's choice: a non-warring blend, at last, of Catalan and Castilian elements, of Barcelona and Real Madrid – the great incompatibles of international team construction.
So Spain carry the torch and it was snuffed out, for a day at least, by a team featuring Philippe Senderos, whose Premier League career has slid inexorably to the point where he trained as an unwanted Arsenal squad member at London Colney to help keep his place with Switzerland, before moving to Everton on loan and now Fulham. Senderos's reputation for haplessness was enhanced when he injured himself against Spain tackling one of his own team-mates.
Spain and Brazil were meant to be on greased rails to the finale in Johannesburg on 11 July but now Del Bosque's side are haunted by the knowledge that no team have lost their first game and gone on to lift the World Cup. That record begs to be broken. It defies reason that a first-game defeat should always point the way to oblivion. Yet the chaos of Spain's attacking play late on in Durban showed none of the self-assurance that ought to come with such a long successful run.
They are the only major contender to have been beaten so early in South Africa. Argentina applied sufficient pressure to defeat Nigeria easily but had to settle for 1-0. It took Brazil most of their game against North Korea to overcome the culture shock of facing a dictatorship in shorts.
Italy, France, England and Portugal all drew their opening games. Holland beat Denmark 2-0 without lighting many lamps. Only Germany, with their 4-0 win over a lumpen Australia, delivered a resounding statement, although there were signs in Brazil's play that their settled system of six defensive players, overlapping full-backs and lethal counter-attacks is going to strike paydirt here in Africa.
Switzerland's win also showed what a difference a top coach makes. They failed to progress beyond the group stage of their own tournament at Euro 2008 but here they have already chopped down Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres, who came on as a replacement. Ottmar Hitzfeld, or Der General, stands with José Mourinho and Ernst Happel as the only manager to win the European Cup with two clubs.
It was too early for pundits and bookmakers to say the "old" underachieving Spain are back, though Chile will be tough opponents as they seek the Group H leadership that will keep them away from Brazil in the last 16. So far this World Cup is too short on star quality for anyone to want Spain to be ejected just so it offers something to giggle about in the pub. © Guardian News and Media 2010
