With every team having showcased its talent at the World Cup stage, its time to look at the highlights of the first round of matches and look into what may be in store for us in the upcoming weeks as the greatest tournament (no offense to the UEFA Champions League) culminates.

How a plastic trumpet, which only adds to the noise pollution and incites opportunistic entrepreneurs to sell earplugs, can overshadow what is the greatest spectacle on earth, beats me. Despite numerous column inches devoted to the topic by the media both for and (mostly) against it, the effectiveness of the Vuvuzela remains questionable, especially in an African context. South Africa has gone out of its way to ensure that all African teams feel united for this world cup with the hugely successful Africa United campaign as testament to this continental solidarity. Some (very few) have branded the Vuvuzela as an inherently African instrument and therefore, it should be celebrated at this grand stage. Fifa seems to draw from this argument too. My contention, which derives from observation as much as it does from on-field exploits of African teams to date, the noise it creates hasn’t helped African teams in their performance. If you’ve had the chance to see the African Cup of Nations or African clubs play, you will not suffer from migraines because of what sounds like a giant swarm of hornets. So, I think the instrument is native to Southern Africa and not Africa as a whole.

Since no action can be taken against those pesky horns, event organisers decided to use their extensive training to evict the hottest Dutch supporters from the stadium at the opening game against Denmark. Apparently their offense was ambushed marketing for a beer company; the women were all dressed in orange mini-skirts with the company logo. People were understandably upset by the evictions. How distasteful of the organisers – with little on-field entertainment in the first week, the tournament could have done with some colour!

Lighting up the tournament is the eccentric legend that is Diego Armando Maradona. Never shy of putting in a controversial word or gesture, his vitriolic jibes at fellow greats Pele and Michel Platini raised a few eyebrows while also eliciting a few chuckles. Since then Platini clarified himself to the Argentinean Coach that made Maradona retract his comments about the Frenchman, but he still maintains, “Pele should go to the museum”. In the absence of the likes of the ebullient Jose Mourinho, Maradona is adding some much-needed spice to this tournament.

Goalkeepers, outfield players and managers have ridiculed the tournament ball dubbed ‘the Jabulani.’ The ball manufacturer, Adidas, has been supported by FIFA in lieu of scathing criticism from the football fraternity. This is an unexpected and indirect boost to the Pakistani football manufacturing industry that used to provide the bulk of the balls to international footballs showpiece event. The likes of England coach Fabio Capello, Spain Goalie Iker Casillas and his counterparts have all derided the manufacturers’ claims that the Jabulani is the roundest ball ever – perhaps previous World Cup tournaments were played with a rhombus.

It is evident that all the off-field drama made up for an admittedly boring start to the World Cup. However, with the matches carrying greater bite as the tournament progresses, we wouldn’t necessarily want the juicy stories to dry up!

Talha Zaheer writes about professional football for goal.com. He has covered the 2009-10 MLS season and was lucky enough to cover Real Madrid on their North American tour of 2009. Zaheer likes to deliver fresh milk in his spare time.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.