Saturday June 19th

Group E

Dutch toil past Japan

Netherlands 1 Japan 0 (Durban)
A narrow win over Japan all but secured the Netherlands a place in the next round. The Dutch failed to impress in the first half and Stekelenburg had to get down in the 37th minute to gather a volley from Matsui, but in the 53rd minute a ball was knocked out of the box for Sneijder whose powerful shot swerved past Kawashima in the Japan goal. Affelay came on for the Dutch and was through on goal in the 85th minute, but couldn't get past the keeper and 3 minutes later when he forced the ball past the keeper from a similar position his effort was cleared by the defence. Japan had a chance in the last minute when a ball was headed into the box but Okazaki fired over the bar.

Group D

Ten Aussies match Ghana

Australia 1 Ghana 1 (Rustenburg)

Australia earned a draw playing 65 minutes with ten men against Ghana. Kingson failed to hold onto a Bresciano free-kick in the 11th minute and Brett Holman reacted quickly to give Australia the lead, but in the 24th minute Ayew dribbled along the by-line and pulled the ball back to Mensah whose shot struck Kewell's arm on the goal-line earning the Australian a red card and Ghana a penalty which Gyan converted by sending Schwarzer the wrong way. Five minutes after the break Gyan curled a low shot which Schwarzer dived down to save and in the 66th minute a header from Chipperfield flew over the bar moments after his introduction to the match. The ten men of Australia had another great chance in the 72nd minute when Wilkshire received the ball in the box but had his effort blocked by Kingson. Both teams went for the kill and Owusu-Abeyie had a shot pushed over the bar in stoppage time.

Group E

Danes send Cameroon home

Denmark 2 Cameroon 1 (Pretoria)

Cameroon became the first team to be knocked out of the 2010 World Cup after losing 2-1 to Denmark. Rommedahl on the right sprinted into the box in the 6th minute and fired over the bar, but 4 minutes later Poulsen received the ball from his keeper and gave it away to Webo who passed it for Eto'o to drill home. An exquisite pass by Kjaer from inside his own half in the 33rd minute found Rommedahl who delivered a low cross for Bendtner to slide in and level the score. In the 42nd minute Rommedahl got into the area and slipped but managed to get the ball to Tomasson whose shot was blocked by Song and a minute later Emana got into the box and set Eto'o up but his shot hit the post. Emana got between 2 defenders a minute later but failed to lift the ball over the Sorensen who was called into action a minute into the 2nd half when he got his fingertips to a header from Mbia. Denmark got their winner in the 61st minute when Dennis Rommedahl got into the box from the right and curled the ball into the far corner. Rommedahl timed his run perfectly in the 70th minute to get behind the Cameroon defence and left the ball for Tomasson whose shot was beaten away by Souleymanou in the Cameroon goal, and 7 minutes later Emana ran into the Danish area and fired a low shot destined for the far corner of the net which Sorensen saved brilliantly to deny Cameroon a lifeline. The result sends the Netherlands into the next round.