And Now For TV Replays!

Once again, sorry for the weekend delay :-)

You know, I didn't think this World Cup could get any better, but my word, it HAS! I've got Saturday and Sunday's games to catch up and there was one real ingredient that was missing from the World Cup that we now, finally have. Controversy!

OK. There were a few points in the group stages with some wrong decisions, unnecessary dismissals and other little talking points, but Sunday saw 2 talking points that will really evoke changes within FIFA and Sepp Blatter's camp for sure.

Firstly, just quickly, Saturday saw the elimination of South Korea and the United States at the hands of Uruguay and Ghana respectively. The latter two will now meet in the first Quarter Final on Friday.

Both games were highly competitive and both the Koreans and Americans will be bitterly disappointed with the way they went out.

The South Koreans were left with their hearts in tatters as hopes were genuinely high here. They had the majority of possession too but the truth was, when it counted, Uruguay showed the kind of quality that the Koreans lacked when it mattered most with two great strikes by young striker Suarez.

On Sunday, in the first game of the day, England took on Germany in a fantastic encounter. It pained me to watch England's rivals play such great football but I firmly believe this will give England the kind of kick-up-the-backside they need to move on.

Germany thrashed England 4-1. There's no two ways about it either. They were outclassed and outgunned by a young, vibrant side, full of endeavor, strength and invention and I'll be the first to hold my hands up and say they fully deserved their result.

All the talking points came in a thrilling first half with 45 minutes flashing by in an instant. Personally, I actually thought England played better than they had in the previous 3 games but were still being taken apart by the young Germans anyway.

The goal didn't take long and as a route one goal kick was punted up field, schoolboy positioning errors by the humiliated Terry and Upson let Miroslav Klose nip in and the striker showed Wayne Rooney what a real striker does. Persist, fight and get to the ball first instead of moan, whinge and whine when decisions don't go your way.

Germany started running the show and Klose should have made the Brits pay again but fortunately, James was on hand to block his shot.

But there was little he could have done 10 minutes later as, once again, England's back line got their pants pulled down and comprehensively spanked. Some lovely, simple interchanges from Klose and Muller left the latter to sprint away from Terry like he wasn't even there.

With that, Johnson had to come over to cover the huge gap left at the back (Upson was somewhere near the touch-line at this point, for some god-forsaken reason) and Lukas Podolski was left free on the back post. The Polish-born striker composed himself and smacked it under the helpless David James. 2-0 Germany.

5 minutes later, Upson got a goal for England! Strange, I know. A short corner knocked to Gerrard who crossed for the tall defender to knock one in and boring, boring England suddenly thought they might get something from this.

Then came a moment that the English will talk about forever. Shades of '66 is all I can say and it has to be said that the ref's made a right old howler over this one. Defoe looked good as he spun away to run on goal but the defender got a touch on it.

The ball fell to Lampard who lobbed a wonderful volley over the super-tall German keeper Manuel Neuer. It came off the underside of the bar and clearly fell in the goal before bouncing back out again. Goal? No! It wasn't given and the Germans must have been laughing their heads off, feeling finally vindicated for a possible injustice that occurred 40-odd years earlier.



About that final in '66, many English supporters say, "Well, we scored another goal afterwards so it doesn't matter anyway". Well, guess what? Germany then scored another 2 against us on Sunday so why don't we just put both these arguments behind us now, shall we?

"But the game would have been different"... right? Again, the argument now goes both ways.

Please don't get me wrong here. I love England, through and through and, as one of our fiercest rivals, I've never liked Germany, but I didn't cry on Sunday. I didn't weep and I didn't feel in the least bit sorry for English football.

The truth is, we've got an ageing side and this sudden "Golden Generation" label - one I've never heard of till this world cup - is utter rubbish. If the press want to use it, then here goes:

I for one am more than happy to see the back of this Golden Generation. Let's pick it up and flush it down the toilet! Starting with Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard and the two Coles. Please, please, PLEASE do a Paul Scholes and retire from international football NOW!!!

If you don't, then England will not have any chance of bringing new faces through and we'll get stuffed in Brazil in 4 years time. We might do a little bit of damage at the Euro's with this team in 2012, but our hopes for world domination will have to wait another eight years at least!

Capello should also go. I don't care what kind of experience he's got and what kind of reputation and trophies he's famous for. The fact is, he hardly speaks English! How could a man, who needs a translator to sit beside him during press conferences, pick up a team that's 2-1 down and spur them on to win a match against Germany in the last 16 of a World Cup?

Terry came out and said that he fully supports Capello. Well, no wonder. I don't blame Capello. It's just that he's come into the fray with England, when this "Golden Generation" are there. The selection picked itself and Capello had no choice but to go with the golden oldies.

Had he not, he would have been to blame for not taking any experience to the World Cup. So actually, I feel a little sorry for him. He was the wrong man and the wrong time, taking the squad to what should have been the right place.

Out with them all!

The other game saw Argentina defeat Mexico 3-1 in, what also turned out to be a highly controversial match. Carlos Tevez scored a goal when he was clearly offside but the linesman and referee didn't see it.

But then, somebody decided to show the replay on the big screens in the stadium and suddenly there was pandemonium!!! And rightly so! If I was a Mexican player, I'd have been furious. The referee's made a mistake and they were shown it on the big screen so suddenly, the referee's were in big trouble.

What should they do? Disallow the goal or let it go? FIFA are gonna have their hands full after this one.

The big argument now is for video evidence to be put in place. But what about the pace of the game? I'm not all that sure right now. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Day 14 & 15 - There's too much happening!

It's official. This is by far the best World Cup that I can remember!!! There's just too much going on and I'm loving it all :)

I have 2 days to catch up on so I'll have to do it briefly but first of all, I just wanna say that I've just calculated that this is my 7th World Cup! I can remember my first one back in 86. Mexico! I was 10 and I can clearly recall being utterly dumbfounded when Maradona's "hand of god" effectively knocked England out.

I think I was still in shock when, minutes later, Maradona (again!) picked up the ball inside his own half and under pressure, taught Zidane how to do his own "Zizou 360 move" before taking it past another 4 playes and scoring the most memorable goal in footballing history.

I'm gonna say that because, when you look at "moments in footballing history" there are very, very few that compare with that one. Technically, there are many, many great goals. Fantastic volleys, bicycle kicks, goals from the half way line, free kicks, bla, bla, bla.

But, put everything together, including the importance of the goal and in my opinion, this one beats all of them. They even put up a statue in dedication of the goal outside the stadium. Anyway, let’s leave that debate for another time and maybe another blog ;)

Maybe this is one of those "age" things. A kind of "Do-you-remember-where-you-were-when..." thing. I mentioned it to my class the other day and one of my students said "Oh 86! That's when I was born!" I then asked him if he remembered it but after a few moments of contemplation, the answer was negative.

He did, however, have a moment of clarity and feigned a punching action, similar to that of the Diego man himself, when he realized the year! (Funny what people remember though. Instead of the magnificent goal, here's a South Korean, born in the same year, knowing about the match for the infamous hand of god instead.)

If the USA think they've been unjustly treated this tournament then just turn the page back 20 odd years, look at that quarter final and think about how we felt and still feel now.

Anyway, back to World Cups. Since then, we've had Italia 90 and the mysterious Salvatore Schillaci. Disciplinarily, one of the worse world cups ever with 16 red cards dished out, including the first ever in a final. USA '94 (not happy cus England weren't in it!), France 98 and the Beckham-sending-off saga. 2002 with the Ronaldinho lob and 2006 with the Zizou head butt.

But I really can't remember one as exciting as the one unfolding in South Africa right now. I can understand people's frustrations when we look at goals and winners and losers in matches, but the truth is, you need that so that you can put great footballing moments into real perspective.

So, a quick re-cap then, the final 16 is decided and it kicking off later today in Port Elizabeth where South Korea will take on Uruguay.

The biggest surprise is the omission of both of last World Cup's finalists, France and, somewhat amazingly, Italy. The Italians were - and probably still are - in utter shock as they made a super-dramatic exit, losing to Slovakia in their final game 3-2. Unbelievable stuff!

For the first time, I actually feel a little bit sorry for them... but in football, you learn that actually, there is no such thing as pity for your opponents. So actually, deep down, I'm quite happy hehe (sry to all Italians out there).

Last night there were no real surprises, Brazil and Portugal made it through with a very boring 0-0 draw (luckily I got drunk so actually I don't really remember it! - in fact, to tell the truth, I'm still a bit drunk now!) and Spain also scrapped in with an ill-tempered match against Chile. In the end, Switzerland couldn't score against Honduras so the South American's are through as well.

The night before that was the one with the Italian's scandalous departure, Paraguay and Slovakia making it through there and in Group E, Japan put in an impressive performance to fend off the Danes, with the Netherlands already through, beating Cameroons 2-1.

So, here we go! The last 16! Great games to come with Spain playing Portugal and England taking on the Germans. The winners will face either Argentina or Mexico in the quarters.

Other games see Brazil vs Chile, Paraguay and Japan, Netherlands against Slovakia and later today USA vs Ghana to add to the South Korean game.

If, like me, you thought it was exciting till now... just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait ;)

Day 13 - 4 More Through

4 more teams made it through to the last 16 last night. 4 more teams and a lot more drama! It's all becoming almost too much for some with grown men weeping in the crowds (I didn't see any by the way but I can just imagine it ^^).

Firstly, Group D saw Ghana and Germany battle it out for top spot, while Serbia and Australia were hoping for results to go their way a little.

Both Germany and Ghana looked impressive. The Germans, ever industrious, ever strong and forever (annoyingly) successful! The manager Joachim Löw made a few changes from the one that lost 1-0 to Serbia in their last game.

Out went the suspended Klose and Holger Badstuber and in came Cacau and Jérôme Boateng. For the Ghanaians, Jonathan Mensah came in for Lee Addy in defense.

Both teams went out to win it and both showed some calm, confident football and in the end, they were in fact so evenly matched, it took a wonderful strike from new German sensation Mesut Özil to separate the two teams.

The Germans took it 1-0 but the Ghanaians could so easily have had a few of their own too, were it not for a combination of wasteful chances and heroics at the back for the Krauts(!), including a wonderful block by stand-in captain, young Philipp Lahm. I'm not sure where he's from but that name sounds awfully French to me ;)

Still, the result meant that either Serbia had to draw or Australia had to win by a margin of 4 goals and in a pulsating match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, both results actually looked like they may have come through (!).

After a goaless first half, the Australians came out strong and scored twice in quick succession through Cahill and new hero Brett Holman but the Serbs broke Ozzie hearts and hopes when a tricky shot came in, Mark Schwarzer spilt it and Pantelić was on hand to swing it back in Serbia's favour with a toe poke from close in.

So, in the end, German and Ghana through, 1st and 2nd respectively.

In group C, The Americans were in a good position to go through, by they needed to beat the Algerians and for most of the game, they really seemed like doing it. But they were given a stern warning after just 4 minutes when Algeria came close by smashing the bar.

But that was as close as they'd get as the U.S. picked up the game and started to probe forward. They must have thought things were totally against them too as they had another goal disallowed, this time for offside. Replays show the decision was probably just about correct, but it was very close.

In the end though, they got their just rewards 2 minutes into injury time, when Donovan pounced on to a parried shot to slot the ball home, with the Americans celebrating like there was no tomorrow. Luckily for them, there is a tomorrow, and in fact, there is Sunday and a place in the last 16 too.

That meant that England needed a victory over Slovenia by 2 goals or more in their game against Algeria to top the group and avoid a clash with the Germans in the last 16.

Right from the beginning, it was obvious there was a little more urgency in Fabio Capello's team than in the two previous games. Recently, the trials and tribulations surrounding the England camp bore the marks of the kind of rapidly sinking ship that the French got on before they sailed out here.

John Terry was the focal point, stating that the manager needs to play Joe Cole if he's to have someone on the pitch that can 'unlock' the opposition's defense (which I agree with actually). That, and a statement indicating that there was unrest among the players, was not seen by the Italian in a nice light.

Still, everything rectified, and Terry himself put in a would-be-captain's performance to help England get through. The much awaited goal of comfort, came from Jermaine Defoe, who finally started up front with Wayne Rooney.

James Milner, also a change from the last game, replacing Aaron Lennon, whipped in a wonderful cross from the right and Defoe got in front of his marker to put the ball in the back of the net. It looked like it came off the inside of his calf, to be honest, but he won't mind and neither will England.

Frankly speaking though (!!!), personally, I was really rather disappointed with the performance. In truth, I didn't believe they really looked like a side capable of going too far. They were miles behind the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Germany themselves and even Spain, who haven't played that well but still look better.

I was a little in shock when the next morning, the press seemed to be bathing Capello's tactical nuances in sweet champagne, praising the teams dedication and also the brilliant way in which they got their victory. To be fair to John Terry at least, the guy almost dislocated his blimmin arm when heroically throwing himself at a Slovenian shot when he was practically on the ground already!

But still, playing a mediocre team, I wanted GOALS! Once again, maybe I was watching a different game to the one the newspapers were watching. I dunno. To me they still looked very slow, languid and short of quality.

Rooney had an abysmal first half apart from a nice little knock back to Gerrard who, to his credit, tried to place it into the bottom corner but the shot lacked power.

Apart from that, I thought Rooney lost too much possession and in the second half, he had a great opportunity to score, breaking the offside trap, but seriously lacked composure by scuffing his shot. The keeper got minimal finger tips to it and it went off the post but all in all, I really didn't rate him at all. Maybe he hasn't quite got over his outburst on the telly after the Algeria game. I don't know.

Sooooo, this result means a clash with Germany on Sunday. A team that look like they're up and ready to kick anyone out of this world cup. A team to genuinley fear. Just one more goal and we'd be in the top half of the table. Now we have to face the Germans and - if we get through - the Argentineans, and then - if we get through - the Spanish / Portuguese, and then... Well, I'll be singing a different song if we get that far!

So, ummm... Why were we so pleased again?

Day 12 - The Last 16 Is Open For Business

In a way, the knockout stages began last night. At least, it's the knockout stages of the first phase of the... you know what I mean ;)

We've gone full circle twice and last night, 8 teams from both Groups A and B, fought it out for the right to progress through to the next round. In Group A, Uruguay and Mexico faced each other knowing that a draw would automatically guarantee them qualification.

The only way one of them couldn't, would have been for one of them to suffer and defeat and for there to be a 5 or 6 goal swing, in favour of one of the teams from the other game which pitted the hosts, South Africa and the French together.

Now, this is also the annoying stage where, because of the scandal of the "Shame of Gijón" back in '82 - when West Germany and Austria played out 80 minutes (after the Germans scored in the 10th) of mutually beneficial, non-attacking football so that both teams could progress - all the last games of the group stages are played at the same time.

This means that usually, you have to decide on one game or another (unless you're in a bar/pub that has both matches on simultaneously which then usually results in you getting a sore neck from turning to face different tellies every couple of minutes) and because of Lauren (my good friend and work colleague) is from South Africa, we decided to watch the Bafana Bafana vs Froggies game.

The game was good, although understandably super tense for Lauren, with both sides showing a little more gusto than in previous matches, but in the end, I must say that I was rather surprised (though maybe I shouldn't have been) to see the sorry demise of a French side resembling a cart, full of top-notch fruit in it... but with nobody there to push it to the market.

It's kind of what their team is really. Loads of talent but no cohesion and riddled in scandal, they’ve had a appalling World Cup. After drawing in a tepid match against Uruguay back on the 11th of June and getting well beaten by the Mexican's, there was to be no bizarre/miraculous revival as they succumbed to the hosts 2-1.

The faster they forget this World Cup, the better I think. I watched a CNN report this morning that showed crowds of French people by the Eiffel Tower - watching the game on big screens - actually cheering when the South African's scored their first goal!!!!! Ahhh... you gotta love the French sometimes ;)

So thanks to a grand final game by Bafana Bafana, the French are going home. And look! South Africa even gave them a plane to go back on ;) Isn't that nice :o



In the other game, apparently (cus again, I couldn't watch it), the Mexican's were terrible but because they only lost 1-0, they went through with Uruguay who topped the table in a total shock to World Cup Group A. My pre-tournament prediction turned out to be an exact mirror image of what actually happened!

France 1st, South Africa 2nd, Mexico 3rd and finally Uruguay in 4th. What do I know about football, eh? I'm just happy I've never been a gambling man ;)

To Group B! Here in Seoul, for some reason, nobody was watching Argentina vs Greece ;) What? Messi is on the other channel and no-one is watching it???

That's right, because here, at 3.30am, everyone was out on the streets or in bars, restaurants or at river side parks with millions of others, cheering on and expectantly hoping that South Korea beat Nigeria and made it through, past the group stages for the first time ever off of home soil.

It was a nail biting game though as Nigeria, who might also have progressed if they won and if The Argies beat the Greeks, started the brighter of the two and scored early on through Kalu Uche in the 12th minute.

The Red Devils - playing in white this time round - got one back though through Lee Jung Soo who found himself on the end of a free kick crossed in the from the left. The defender kinda scooped down to head the ball and actually missed it but somehow, luckily it hit his leg (somewhere!) and it went in! And the streets here went crazy!

If the scores stayed like this, South Korea were through!

Into the second half and in the 49th minute, South Korea got a free kick on the edge of the box. AS Monaco striker, Park Chu Young lined up what looked like a cross but instead he expertly curled it in to the bottom left corner, leaving keeper Enyeama totally helpless! Delirium as people everywhere jumped up in the air, tipping chairs and beers all over the place!

So now they just needed to hold on but to their credit (and maybe some peoples dismay) they kept it lively, going for a third and the game started to see end-to-end action all round. As the match wore on though, it was the Nigerians in the ascendancy as the Koreans started to get understandably nervous, trying to hold on to the result when they didn’t score the comfort goal.

Still, you had to think it was their night though as on around 65 minutes, Yakubu missed a chance to level the score from less than 4 yards out and with an open goal. How did it happen? You need to ask him. Amazingly, a cross came in low and beet the keeper, only for the Everton striker to knock it back between Jung Sung-Ryong, the post and out for a goal kick.

It wasn't the miss of the tournament; it was the miss of ALL tournaments!

But 4 minutes later, Nigeria were awarded a penalty and Yakubu, with balls of steel or something, stepped up to redeem himself and put Nigeria back on level terms. In the other game, the Argies finally scored after 77 minutes of trying, which suddenly meant that if Nigeria could score another, THEY would go through!

The final 10 minutes was frantic with the South Korean's doing everything they could to run down the clock, keeping the ball as much as possible or hoofing the ball up field. Each time, the latter was greeted with screams of ecstatic delight from the locals here!

It was heart-in-mouths time but South Korea held on for the draw and with the other game ending 2-0 to Argentina, they automatically qualified in 2nd.

So, the first part of the draw is complete! Uruguay will play South Korea and Argentina will play the Mexicans!

And tonight... it's England! A win and their through. Simple. A draw and they'll be looking over at other results with the USA likely to pip them for 2nd place. That would be interesting.

Also, in Group D, Ghana could become the first (and probably only) African team to go through if they win or draw against Germany. If they lose, they still go through unless the Serbs win.

There is also a small chance Australia could do it if they beat Serbia and make up the 5 goal difference on Ghana ooooor if Ghana straight up beat the Germans and the Ozzies win their game, then Ghana and Australia would go through!

Go Ghana and Australia!!!!

It’s hotting up I tell ya!

Day 11 - Iberian & Brazilian teams finding their feet

The 4 matches to catch up on from Sunday and Monday are from Groups G and H and bring to a close the second phase of the first stage of the... well, again, you know what I mean ;)

Starting with Group H and Spain came out against a Honduran side knowing that victory was imperative for their chances of progressing through to the next round. It didn't take long for David Villa - who was unfortunate to only hit the crossbar with a wonderfully struck shot moments earlier - to score with a stunning solo effort.

The striker picked up the ball way out on the left flank, jinked past 2 players and then nipped inside a third before lashing home a glorious shot into the top left corner.

The Honduran side put up little resistance and Villa added another in the second half to make it 2-0. The striker then had a chance to get this year's second hat-trick from the spot but fluffed it wide and the score stayed as it was.

The other game saw a highly entertaining match between Chile and Switzerland. Highly entertaining for two reasons. Firstly, the Chileans put on a pretty good showing with some nice touches and I was impressed with their all round play. But secondly - The Ref! LOL!

In truth, I can’t see Saudi Arabian referee, Khalil Al Ghamdi, being selected to go through to the next round after a really rather laughable performance in which he showed a total of 10 cards. One of which was a very questionable straight red.

I was watching it outside the GS25 (our little local supermarket) and me and my mate Kellen where having a field day! Into the second half, every time a player did something weird or sometimes even touched the ball, we'd be shouting "BOOK HIM"! BOOK HIM! Hehehe!

The first yellow came after less that 60 seconds of play and went to Humberto Suazo for a high tackle that really didn't seem that bad at all. One Swiss guy then tripped and fell on a Chilean dude and got booked for that too. Others seemed to calmly ask the referee a question and got booked for that as well! Incredible stuff! We loved it ;)

Anyway, the game finished 1-0 to Chile, giving them 6 points and an out-right lead in the group. Good job!

And then...*drum roll please*... Group G! Rah!

Group G saw Portugal get their first win and goal(s)(!!!) of the 2010 World Cup. No fewer than 7 in fact! A strange old game saw North Korea rattle the Portuguese a little in the first half, coming close through Cha Jong Hyok and Hong Yong Jo.

They played some industrious football and nearly took the lead but in the 29th minute, Porto's robust midfielder Raul Meireles burst through the North Korean defense and was exquisitely found by man-of-the-match (in my view anyway) Tiago. He took the ball in his stride and smashed it under the advancing keeper.

The first half ended 1-0 with both teams still in it but after the break, the Portuguese took control. First, Simão Sabrosa on 53 and then Hugo Almeida on 56 put the game beyond North Korea's reach.

4 minutes later, Tiago capped a wonderful Portuguese move by scoring the 4th and suddenly the rout was on. "A Selecção das Quinas" then wasted a whole host of chances including a superb Ronaldo shot that smashed the cross bar, before substitute Liedson got their 5th on 81 minutes.

Ronaldo then finally got what he'd been looking for with a bizarre goal. Liedson intercepted a ball off the North Korean defense and the two of them were through on goal. Ronaldo got there first but only just managed to poke the ball in the keeper’s direction.

The ball then somehow rose up into the air before seemingly resting on Ronaldo's back who was stumbling forward after jumping over the keeper! Weird, I know! (See the video if you want, just here to the right ~>)

Somewhat fortuitously, it then rolled down his right side and he was left with a simple tap in to get Portugal's sixth.

Unbelievably, it wasn't over yet and in the dying minutes, Tiago added another and his second to make it seventh heaven for Portugal.

The mood here was not the best. It may seem strange to some (including myself a little), but to many (South) Koreans, Korea is still one people and regardless of the problems between the two Nations in recent times, watching their "brothers" let 7 past them was not a nice thing at all.

Finally, the other game in the group was Brazil vs Ivory Coast and the Brazilians took it 3-1. The game had two major talking points. Firstly Luis Fabiano's 2nd goal definitely looked like he handled the ball on his way through to scoring. Put that aside for a moment and it was actually a wonderfully worked goal from the striker.

But pictures show the referee actually asking the player afterwards if he had handled it! Fabiano said "no", of course... but I wonder what would have happened had he said "yes"??? Hmm... interesting. Would the ref have pulled it all back and disallowed it? That certainly would have been a first.

The second big talking point was Kaka's second yellow and subsequent red card, with shades of the Rivaldo 2002 incident, seemingly coming back to haunt them.

It looked like the squeeky clean, golden boy of Brazilian football, really didn't do much to Abdelkader Keita as the two innocuously came together but the Ivory Coast winger went down in dramatic fashion, clutching his face and rolling around like he was being stung by a billion bees or something.

After a big kafuffle involving players and staff from both sides, Kaka was sent off and will now miss the game against Portugal (phew! hehe) and, depending on how FIFA see it, may even miss the one after that too.

But the win guarantees Brazil's participation in the last 16 and the game against Portugal next Friday will be one to be watched. The winner and loser almost certainly deciding who will top the group and subsequently, who will face Spain (probably) in the next round!

I can't wait!!!!

Days 9 & 10 - Into The Final Stages!

Firstly, sorry about the delay on the blog. Weekends seem to be busier than week days recently ;) So just quickly, I'll recap on 5 games. A lot has happened! We're into the final stages of the group matches and much has been decided!

Firstly, in Group D, after Serbia's surprise victory had blown the group wide open with a great win over the Germans the previous night, Australia and Ghana both knew that this was a great chance to get some valuable points up on the board.

Playing without Tim Cahill due to suspension, Australia took the lead through stand-in Brett Holman. The goal, somewhat surprising, marked the first ever time Australia had scored first in a World Cup Finals game. But the lead was shorlived as Ghana came back into it as Harry Kewell was sent off for a deliberate handball in the box. Kewell complained like nothing but the stiker can have nothing to complain about after replays clearly showed he handled it on the line and stopped them scoring. Silly sausage!



Ghana scored from the penalty spot and the game then flowed, more Ghana's way but with the Ozzies counting on the counters, there were chances at both ends and either side could have snatched it in a frantic finale to the game. Still, it wasn't to be and both had to settle for a 1-1 draw, so everything is still to be decided.

In Group E, Cameroon - many people's tip to go furthest out of all African teams (including mine) - was the first to fall out. In a game strewn with mistakes, the The Indomitable Lions got the "In" taken out of them by the Dominating Danes (sorry about that one ^^).

Samuel Eto'o, unlike in the previous game, was played up front and it seemed to have worked when he put the Cameroonian side ahead but Denmark fought back valiantly with two good goals from Bendtner in the 33rd and another from Rommedahl in the 61st minute.



In the other game, Wesley Sneijder’s powerful shot gave the Dutch all 3 points in their match, with a Japanese side that showed good fighting spirit but were in effect, ineffectual.

The result meant that The Netherlands were the first team to guarantee qualification through to the next round and leaves Morton Olsen's men to battle it out with the Samurai Blues for the right to go through with them. Should be a good one that.

In Group F, the game between Italy and New Zealand produced the real shock of the past few days with the All Whites claiming an historic draw over the current World Champions.

Shane Smeltz gave the Kiwi's a surprising 7th minute lead and although the Italians clawed one back via a highly debatable Iaquinta penalty, they failed the break down a resilient New Zealand side that held on for what was certainly their proudest ever result. Crazy stuff!

Finally, Paraguay eased past a poor Slovakian side in a relatively dull match, with goals from Vera and Riveros. This means that everything is out in the open for the last match next week. Paraguay are in pole position with 4 points, Italy and New Zealand follow with 2 and Slovakia brings up the rear with 1.

Next Blog is a special one so stay tuned ;) hehehe

Day 8 - Big Egos...

England had to play against Algeria today, but over here in Seoul, the game started at 3.30 a.m. So I decided to put my alarm on for 3.20 so that I could get up for it. But something strange happened... my alarm didn't go off!

When the daylight streamed into the room, I rolled over to check the time and saw that it was 6 a.m. "Damn!", I thought, "I've probably missed the revival and stunning victory that Rooney himself predicted would be easy, for even an under-strength England side! Dammit!"

Moments later, and after checking the scores on the BBC website, I felt simultaneously pissed off and ecstatic. Pissed off cus Wayne Rooney obviously lied to everyone and super-happy cus I didn't waste 2 hours of valuable sleeping time over it.

England had drawn to Algeria 0-0, in a lackluster, drab and extremely dull encounter. Boy was I happy / angry! So, what does this result mean? Well, basically, it means that England are crap! Sorry for the language but, seriously, this is a terrible result.

In terms of qualification, what it means is that there's still no need to panic. This seems to be the general message being voiced from the England camp. Don't panic, don't panic. We just need to win our next game and we're through!

I don't know. Maybe I'm becoming cynical in my old age but hell, from the highlights I saw, England were exactly all those things; lackluster, drab and extremely dull. And to top it all, as Wayne Rooney was walking off the pitch, he turned to the camera and said: "Nice to hear your own fans booing you, that's loyal supporters".





Well, I think I'm not alone when saying that if I was one of those supporters, I'd be pretty annoyed too. Maybe £1000-odd is not that much money for Wayne, but I'm sure it's quite a big dent on the wallets of many of those England supporters who traveled out there, and I think they've got every right to boo the team off the pitch.

Maybe this is also what the team needs too. A kick up the backside and someone to tell them we're not happy with all this. But isn't that Capello's job? Anyway, I guess we've got nothing else but hope... so lets stick to that. Thanks England! I was kinda hoping for some good football instead of hoping or depending on hope itself.

Anyway, on to Germany! Yay! The Germans are in a bit of an interesting position too. At least it wasn't only us that had a stinker. Playing against Serbia at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and after having thrashed the Ozzies 4-0 in their previous encounter, the Germans were seriously caught out with their over confidence.

Before the match, The German newspaper Bild had stated: "We're going to blow you all away"! Well, they certainly blew something away! At least, unlike ours, the game was exciting though. The Germans were having most of the chances until 2 stupid tackles by Miroslav Klose earned him 2 yellow cards and an early bath.

To be fair, he probably didn't deserve the first one, but after receiving it, he really should have been a little more careful. 90 seconds later, the Serbs got their goal through Milan Jovanovic and then held on to take a shock victory 1-0. Lukas Podolski wasted the best of the Germans' chances, including a penalty, easily saved by Vladimir Stojkovic after Nemanja Vidic had inexplicably handballed in the box.

The other match saw a riveting contest between Slovenia and the USA. The Slovenians took a shock 2-0 lead into the break before being pegged back in the 2nd with goals from Landon Donovon and Michael Bradley and they should have won it with a last-ditch goal that was unfairly ruled out for a mysterious tug in the box.

Donovon hit a good free kick into the box and for a moment, it seemed the Americans had done the unthinkable and snatch it at the end when Maurice Edu hit a great volley into the back of Handanovic's net, but the celebrations were cut short as referee Koman Coulibaly, officiating in his first ever world cup, disallowed the goal for a pull on one of the Slovenian defenders.

It was an unfair finale to the game and one the Americans will rightly be furious about but they'll have to pick themselves up and (like the English, and everyone else in the group) win their last game if they're to have any chance of making it through to the next round.

All in all, it was a day of big ego's getting smashed (maybe not so much for the Americans but certainly for the English and Germans). Will this serve as a message to be learned from? I guess we'll only know next week.