New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia
Winston Reid headed a dramatic injury-time equaliser against Slovakia to earn New Zealand their first ever World Cup point.
Slovakia were on course for a perfect start in their debut World Cup as an independent nation after Robert Vittek's 50th-minute header.
But Vladimir Weiss's side paid for sitting back on their lead when, in the third minute of injury time, Reid rose to head home Shane Smeltz's left-wing cross.
The result in Rustenburg leaves all four teams in Group F on a point each after Italy's draw with Paraguay on Monday.
Perhaps more importantly for the Kiwis, though, it breaks their World Cup duck.
New Zealand's only other appearance in a World Cup finals was in 1982 when they lost to Scotland (5-2), Soviet Union (3-0) and Brazil (4-0).
Their warm-up matches were hardly encouraging either, with a 1-0 win over Serbia the highlight among defeats by Slovenia, Australia and Mexico.
However, skipper Ryan Nelsen promised his team would "make every New Zealander proud" and they were true to the Blackburn defender's word at a far-from-full Bafokeng Stadium.
Middlesbrough striker Chris Killen threatened twice within the first five minutes, first with a long-range effort which flew well over and then with a header, which goalkeeper Jan Mucha gathered at the second attempt.
Slovakia's main threat in the first half, such as it was, was provided by 20-year-old Manchester City winger Vladimir Weiss, as the much-vaunted Napoli playmaker Marek Hamsik struggled to impose himself.
Weiss's trickery on the left set up chances for Hamsik, who bent an ambitious shot wide, and Stanislav Sestak, who fired narrowly wide.
Slovakia's best chance of a breakthrough, though, came through New Zealand's nervy keeper Mark Paston.
The Wellington Phoenix player embarrassingly miscued a clearance, gifting Vittek a difficult chance, and was fortunate to see one of his defenders clear when he failed to collect a header across the box.
Paston partly redeemed himself with a smart tip-over from Hamsik's long-range effort shortly before half-time, but within five minutes of the restart, he was beaten.
Slovakia finally found a good delivery from Sestak on the right, the Bochum winger whipping a cross in from deep for Vittek to plant a perfect header into the bottom corner.
New Zealand were rocked, but Slovakia, while looking comfortable in defence, did not seem desperate to press home their superiority.
Their attitude was summed up when more good work from Sestak gave Vittek a chance to wrap it up, but the striker appeared to delay too long, allowing Reid to slide in with an excellent tackle.
And it was Reid who was the New Zealand hero at the other end.
The Kiwis had hardly threatened in the second half, but they saved their best two chances for the dying minutes.
Smeltz, the former Mansfield, AFC Wimbledon and Halifax striker, headed wide from a tempting Tony Lockhead cross before he set up an unlikely equaliser, delivering a perfect ball from the left for Reid to head past Mucha.
The FC Midtjylland defender ripped off his shirt and swung it around his head, prompting the inevitable booking from the referee, but that mattered little as he celebrated a historic goal for his country.
A first World Cup win may prove harder to come by: New Zealand face Italy in their next game on Sunday, when Slovakia will look to make amends against Paraguay.
Italy 1-1 Paraguay
World champions Italy had to fight back from a goal down to earn a point against Paraguay as they began the defence of their crown with an unconvincing draw.
Marcello Lippi's side looked like they would be on the wrong end of the first major shock of the 2010 World Cup when they fell behind to Antolin Alcaraz's first-half header but an error from the South American side's goalkeeper Justo Villar gifted Daniele de Rossi an equaliser.
The ageing Azzurri, who featured five of their 2006 winning team in their starting line-up, looked short of ideas going forward and also have a concern over the fitness of legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who was forced off at half-time with an apparent back injury.
Italy did avoid their first defeat in their opening game of a World Cup since losing to the Republic of Ireland in New York in 1994 but this was not a performance to reassure their army of travelling fans that they are in any sort of shape to defend their title.
In the absence of the injured Andrea Pirlo, who is expected to return later in the group stage, it fell on Simone Pepe to try to open up the Paraguayan defence, but it was only in the closing stages of the game that he and his side managed any sustained spells of pressure.
Lippi's men dominated possession but their opponents' disciplined and regimented approach, in some ways reminiscent of many cautious Azzurri sides in the past, held firm.
Italy's best opening of the first half hour actually came on the break when Riccardo Montolivo dispossessed Salvatore Bocchetti on the half-way line but, after running to the edge of the area, his low shot barely tested Villar.
At the other end, Paraguay were growing in confidence and they had already wasted a couple of decent shooting chances when they stunned the world champions by taking the lead after 39 minutes.
Aureliano Torres curled in a wicked free-kick and Alcaraz leapt to beat Fabio Cannavaro and De Rossi and power home his header into the corner of the net.
Things got even worse for Italy at half-time when goalkeeper Buffon, another survivor of 2006 and still the anchor of their side, had to be replaced by Federico Marchetti.
Paraguay continued to look comfortable after the break and Enrique Vera came close to adding a second when he drove a fierce shot over the bar when the ball broke to him in the area.
But Italy were gifted an equaliser by the sort of goalkeeping howler that we have become used to in the opening days of this World Cup.
Villar flapped horribly at Pepe's corner and missed his attempted punch, allowing the onrushing De Rossi to force the ball the home from close range.
Italy looked a lot sharper after equalising and ended the stronger side but they were still finding things frustrating in the final third and had to settle for shots from distance.
Pepe fired wide after cutting in from the right and Montolivo had a low effort turned round the post before the end but the Paraguayans held on for the draw that their performance merited.