Although the Italians are traditionally excellent defensively, weak positioning at a free kick allowed Paraguay's Antolin Alcaraz to give the South Americans a shock lead. The pouring rain didn't help the quality of the game, and Italy had to rely on a missed cross by Paraguay keeper Justo Villar for their equaliser.

If Italy want to retain their world title, they will need to play a lot better than they did in this first game. Japanese fans will be much happier with their team, however, after they got their first World Cup win in a foreign country.

Japan had only ever won matches in the 2002 tournament on home soil, so their 1-0 win over Cameroon was a bit of a surprise. Cameroon's star man, Inter's Samuel Eto'o, didn't really make his mark, so it was down to goalscorer Keisuke Honda to be the hero of the day.

We quite fancy the Netherlands to do well at this tournament, although on the basis of their first match we may have to change our minds. They managed to beat Denmark 2-0, but their usual excellent passing game was nowhere to be seen. After a bizarre own goal to start with, the Dutch wrapped the game up when a splendid pass from the quiet Wesley Sneijder unlocked the Danish defence. Dirk Kuyt had a simple tap-in to finish the move when Eljero Elia's shot came back off the post after a fine save by Thomas Sorensen.

If you get to watch TV tonight, second favourites Brazil play North Korea at 7.30pm, which could end in an absolute pasting for the Koreans.

Results from day four:

Netherlands 2-0 Denmark

Japan 1-0 Cameroon

Italy 1-1 Paraguay