Games of the day

MEXICO

VS. URUGUAY

When: 10 a.m.

TV: ESPN, UNIVISION

Latin flavor: Two of the many Latin American teams that have prospered in the tournament, a victory for either side wins Group A. If both squads tie, France is sent home. El Tri has done well with an aggressive setup featuring three attackers, but might have a little less kick with the loss of striker Carlos Vela, who has a right leg injury. Uruguay's Diego Forlan is always dangerous. He scored twice against South Africa last week.

FRANCE

VS. SOUTH AFRICA

When: 10 a.m.

TV: ESPN2, TELEFUTURA

French falling apart: France (0-1-1) needs some help to advance to the round of 16, but don't look for these European favorites to rally against the Cup's host team. A players' rebellion left French coach Raymond Domenech to appear alone at a news conference Monday to say some of his players may not want to play in today's Group A finale. Expect plenty of soap opera and diva references during the game's broadcast.

Player to watch

GONZALO HIGUAíN, ARGENTINA, STRIKER

Even the most casual follower of World Cup soccer has heard of his teammate Lionel Messi, but it was Higuain who scored the Cup's first hat trick with three goals in Argentina's 4-1 win Thursday over South Korea. On a team that was supposed to lack scoring punch, Higuain has emerged as a legitimate threat alongside Messi. Argentina takes on Greece at 2:30 p.m. today (ESPN, UNIVISION).

BRIEFS

North Korea watches live as its team loses big

North Korea picked the wrong moment to allow its people to see a bit more of the outside world.

The authoritarian regime was so proud of its soccer team in the World Cup that it allowed an unprecedented live broadcast back home of the match against Portugal - a rarity for the communist nation that normally exerts strict control over the media.

What ensued was a different sort of history: North Koreans, used to seeing only positive news about their reclusive country, watched as their soccer team received the worst drubbing so far in this year's tournament and was prevented from advancing to the next round.

As the 7-0 loss to Portugal concluded, the North Koreans quickly halted Monday's coverage. "The Portuguese won the game and now have four points," the Korean Central Broadcasting commentator said. "We are ending our live broadcast now."

Lampard calms latest rumors of England rift

Frank Lampard sought to calm the latest rumors of discord within the England team Monday, trying to divert everyone's minds to beating Slovenia to stay in the World Cup.

The midfielder said that John Terry's emotional talk of a team meeting with coach Fabio Capello after England's abysmal performance in a 0-0 draw with Algeria was the center back's way of hitting problems "head on."

But Lampard denied it was a heated meeting with Capello, and stressed that all the players were behind the Italian coach.

World Cup on the web

A British perspective

The New Yorker challenges its readers to come up with martini-dry punchlines to its backpage cartoons, while London's Guardian newspaper invites soccer fanatics to display their Photoshop skills to rag on the underachieving English team. Inevitably then, English goalie Robert Green bears an uncanny likeliness to the kind but blind Mr. Magoo in a photo gallery on the newspaper website's soccer page.

www.guardian.co.uk/football

Standings

FIRST ROUND

GROUP A

Wednesday, June 16

Uruguay 3, South Africa 0

Thursday, June 17

Mexico 2, France 0

Today's games

Mexico vs. Uruguay, 10 a.m.

France vs. South Africa, 10 a.m.

GROUP B

Thursday's results

Argentina 4, South Korea 1

Greece 2, Nigeria 1

Tuesday's games

Nigeria vs. South Korea, 2:30

Greece vs. Argentina, 2:30

GROUP C

Friday, June 18

United States 2, Slovenia 2

England 0, Algeria 0

Wednesday's games

Slovenia vs. England, 10 a.m.

United States vs. Algeria, 10 a.m.

GROUP D

Friday, June 18

Serbia 1, Germany 0

Saturday, June 19

Australia 1, Ghana 1

Wednesday's games

Ghana vs. Germany, 2:30

Australia vs. Serbia, 2:30

GROUP E

Saturday, June 19

Netherlands 1, Japan 0

Denmark 2, Cameroon 1

Thursday's games

Denmark vs. Japan, 2:30

Cameroon vs. Netherlands, 2:30

GROUP F

Sunday's results

Paraguay 2, Slovakia 0

Italy 1, New Zealand 1

Thursday's games

Slovakia vs. Italy, 10 a.m.

Paraguay vs. New Zealand, 10 a.m.

GROUP G

Sunday's result

Brazil 3, Ivory Coast 1

Monday's result

Portugal 7, North Korea 0

Friday's games

Portugal vs. Brazil, 10 a.m.

North Korea vs. Ivory Coast, 10 a.m.

GROUP H

Wednesday, June 16

Chile 1, Honduras 0

Switzerland 1, Spain 0

Monday's results

Chile 1, Switzerland 0

Spain 2, Honduras 0

Friday's games

Chile vs. Spain, 2:30

Switzerland vs. Honduras, 2:30

NOTE: x-advanced to round of 16