Antolin Alcaraz shocked the Gemany 2006 champions in the 39th minute to open the scoring, while Italy’s Daniel De Rossi took advantage of some unconvincing goalkeeping by veteran Justo Villar to equalise just after the hour mark. New Zealand and Slovakia play the group’s other opening match tomorrow in Rustenburg. 

The two teams were well-organised in the early stages despite the difficult conditions and neither could fashion a chance of note in the opening of the match. In the 22nd minute, however, the South Americans showed they would be dangerous on the break, finding Aureliano Torres all alone on the edge of the box. But the defender failed to hit his shot cleanly and Gianluigi Buffon let it run wide as Italian supporters held their breath. 

Italy threatened shortly after as young midfielder Claudio Marchisio swung in a nicely flighted corner, but Cristian Riveros was first to it, stretching smartly to clear over his own crossbar with striker Vincenzo Iaquinta lurking. 

Paraguay were again quickest from a dead ball situation six minutes before the break to open the scoring. Torres sent in a lovely free-kick, and defender Alcatraz cut in front of Daniel De Rossi and rose higher than Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro to thump a header past the stranded Buffon. 

At half-time the Squadra Azzurri got more bad news as Buffon retired hurt for Federico Marchetti, who won just his sixth cap between the sticks. But the four-time FIFA World Cup winners began stronger after the restart, and an unmarked Simone Pepe might have scored at the far post from Gianluca Zambrotta’s cross, but he could not connect with an ambitious overhead kick. 

Pepe had another chance in the same spot just minutes later, but Villar caught it just in front of the charging Italian. However, the keeper was keft completely stranded in the 63rd minute when he came out to collect Pepe’s corner, only to miss the ball and watch helplessly as De Rossi flicked it simply into the empty net. 

The momentum swung solidly in Italy’s favour after that, but Villar came up strongly for the South Americans. First, he claimed the ball well in front of Iaquinta from a similar looking corner to the one he missed, and then in the 80th minute, he held Pepe’s low shot in front of the eager Italian attack. And he continued his redemption three minutes later, as he saved to his right to claimRiccardo Montolivo’s long but skipping shot. 

Italy next play New Zealand on Sunday in Nelspruit, while Paraguay take on Slovakia the same day in Mangaung/Bloemfontein. 
 

• A조 (남아공,멕시코,우루과이,프랑스)

• B조 (아르헨티나,나이지리아,대한민국,그리스)

• C조 (잉글랜드,미국,알제리,슬로베니아)

• D조 (독일,호주,세르비아,가나)

• E조 (네덜란드,덴마크,일본,카메룬)

• F조 (이탈리아,파라과이,뉴질랜드,슬로바키아)

• G조 (브라질,북한,코트디부아르,포르투칼)

• H조 (스페인,스위스,온두라스,칠레)

New Zealand defied their underdogs' status in the opening five minutes. First Chris Killen broke free from his marker just inside the Slovakia half, charged forward and unleashed a shot that flew over. Then the same player headed wide from an inviting Leo Bertos cross. That seemed to awaken the Europeans. Vladimir Weiss, son of the Slovakia coach, darted down the right flank before producing a low cross that Mark Paston did well to hold, before Robert Vittek cut inside before blazing a shot high and wide. 
The flair of Weiss was thrilling the crowd and on 22 minutes, the Slovakia No7 found space down the left and threaded the ball through to Marek Hamsik, who curled it wide from inside the area. Weiss then craftily laid on a chance for Stanislav Sestak, who fired into the side-netting. Minutes later the No9 missed another chance, this time from a close-range header following a corner. With ten minutes of the half remaining, Vittek cut inside from the right and fired a fierce 20-yard shot wide. 

New Zealand, who had been spectators for a period, then went close. Following a neat passing move, Smeltz played a give-and-go with Rory Fallon before shooting into the side-netting from a difficult angle. It proved a brief respite, as the Slovaks dominated possession for the remainder of the half, albeit without creating any meaningful opportunities. They did just that five minutes after the restart, though, and this time they took full advantage. Sestak crossed from the right, and Vittek powered his header into the bottom corner. It was just reward for Slovakia's relentless assault on the Kiwis' goal. 

Rather than sit back, the team in blue went in search of a second goal. After 58 minutes Sestak held the ball up well and touched it into the path of Hamsik, who failed to keep his shot down from the edge of the area. Slovakia almost doubled their lead soon after. Zdenko Strba and Sestak exchanged passes, before the latter set up Vittek. However, Paston rushed from his line to make a smart block from the 28-year-old forward. 

It took an alert Tony Lochhead to deny Vittek a clear sight on goal with 15 minutes remaining, before Smeltz headed wide from a rare New Zealand attack with just minutes remaining. It appeared then that their last chance had gone, but deep into injury time Smeltz crossed for Reid to steal in and nod home a dramatic equaliser.