Random World Cup thoughts while awaiting U.S. – Slovenia

JOHANNESBURG – I'm a little under the weather – anybody know where that phrase came from? – but plan to rally in time for tomorrow's biggie at Ellis Park. Meanwhile, I've cleaned out the notebook a bit ...

African teams have the greatest nicknames: Nigeria’s Super Eagles, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, Ivory Coasts’ Elephants, Ghana’s Black Stars. Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions. That’s about all I have to say about that.

Speaking of lions: I’ve heard from drivers and guides here that if you go to the local wildlife are to see the awesome lions, don’t go on Tuesday or Friday. They get fed on Wednesday or Saturdays. So they get restless. Sometimes they climb on cars. Or chew tires. Or gaze lovingly at your junk. That last one I made up, but it might be true.

Pitiful scoring so far: The team openers produced fewer goals that any tournament since 1974. Yuk. Just 1.56 goals per game. Are we headed to the lowest scoring World Cup ever? More about the numbers here.

Brilliant Twitter post of the day: "Dear Nigeria. You have won the World Cup! To collect your trophy, please kindly submit your bank account number …"

Seattle’s steal: If you watched Switzerland’s stunning upset over Spain – we all knew the Spanish would breath some life into this tournament, but we didn’t expect it would be that way – then you saw Swiss striker Blaise Nfuko. He spent large portions of the match isolated but did have a key role in the goal. In case you don’t follow MLS, you should know that Nfuko will join the Seattle Sounders in July.

U.S. – Slovenia: If you haven’t had your fix of U.S. – Slovenia previewage, check out the SI.com pieces from some dude named Davis here and from Grant Wahl here.

For more World Cup randomness, click on …

Other MLS connections: Meanwhile, New Zealand managed a first-round tie with two dudes on the field who (presumably) can’t make MLS sides. Simon Elliott didn’t catch on with an MLS side this spring, having been released from Fulham. Meanwhile, Jeremy Christie made an appearance for the All Whites. Christie plays forTampa Bay in U.S. Soccer’s second tier. Color me amazed.

Pet peeve in the business: Journalists who ask soccer players questions by making analogies to football or baseball. Look, if you don’t know a lot about soccer, that’s cool. Doesn’t make you a bad person. But don’t drag other sports into it. It seems that they may be feeling a bit insecure, so they make themselves feel better by trying to impress people with their overall fascinating sports intellect.

I’m gonna miss Bafana Bafana: I was a little bummed to see South Africa go down so timidly Wednesday night. I know they are a little light in talent, but there seemed to be a little heart missing, too. Makes me wonder if Carlos Alberto Parreira was the right choice to manage the hosts?  He seemed to want Bafana Bafana to be Brazil, passing the ball around rhythmically. But he certainly didn’t have the talent to do that. In all likelihood, South Africawill be the first host nation not to qualify for the second round, and that’s really a shame.

Look at the way the United States and South Korea went through as hosts: mostly through will, work and want-to.South Africa had the athleticism, but needed to be more direct, less worried about playing nice soccer and more insistent on getting the ball near goal.

Finally, this: the Washington Posts Steven Goff reports that Switzerland’s strategy in defeating Spain was rooted in Bob Bradley’s work. No kidding.