And that damn Gamarra own goal! That's stuffed up my fantasy football already. At least Cole got points for England not conceding, but I'll doubt that will last for long based on that performance.

Wow. I just saw the extended highlights of the Sweden T&T game - how the hell did Sweden not win that with all those shots from Larssen and Ibrahimovic and Albach? Okay, so a huge part of it was Shakar Hislop who was immense - and apparently he wasn't even going to play that game but the first choice keeper got injured in the warm up.

I didn't even know Hislop was from T&T until now

Just been reading about Hilsop. He was born in London but his family moved to Trinadad when he was two. He was on the bench for England in a game against Chile in 95 and if he had come on then he would never been able to play for T&T. He played for England Under 21's.

Anyway we owe him one, awesome performance.

muthafuckin sweden cost me a bet

all they had to do was win

The 2nd half of the Holland/Serbia match was awesome. Robben is a stud for the Dutch. The Serbs are in some serious trouble against Argentina. I think at least four of their starters have a yellow card already. This was a damn agressive game the last twenty minute and both goalkeepers were challenged by some decent shots. The Dutch goalie kept cramping or getting injured, hopefully that doesn't cost them against the Argentines.
It is weird watching them without Dennis Bergkamp or Patrick Kluivert

So far HOlland and Argentina have looked the class of the teams...can't wait to see that matchup...really nice for a first rounder.

Mexico exploded there for a couple late goals. This has been a damn fine game. Portugal and Angola are next. Is Figo still playing?

Me -xi - co

Me - xi - co

This team is going to get stronger each game.

I don't think they have the defense to make it out of the knockout round, but they have the offense and energy to make every game exciting.

Portugal and Angola about to start.
I had no idea that the last time these two play the game was called at the 68th minute due to Angola getting 4 red cards. I believe Portugal was winning 5-1

Portugal scores in under four minutes thanks to Figo's assist. This game is going to be ugly.

I enjoy Tommy Smith

Ronaldo needs to put one away.

Guess that won't be happening.

The Portugal/Angola game ended up being almost as dreadful as the England/Paraguay match. It seemed like the Portuguese were happy enough to be leading the match after a half and cruised the rest of the way. I realize they stunk it up last time, so a win is a win, but they need to be more aggressive if they want to be a force in this Cup.

What's going to happen tomorrow in the Czech/American game?
I'm hoping the US explodes for a couple early goals and holds on for a 2-1 win or a 2-2 draw. My gut feeling is that the Czech's win this one late 1-0. I love the American Goalkeepers, but the lack of offense and possible early jitters might be too much to overcome. If this was played anywhere but in europe, I'd be more confident.

I think the Czechs will be too strong. They've got the disappointment of Euro 04 to make up for and unlike, say Portugal, I get the feeling that they can actually do it, rather than just be perennially crap and disappointing . Still, should be a good game. I plan on watching at least the start of it. Hopefully I'll be excited by the result before...

Which is, of course, Australia! The Japanese have been elevating it to don't-mention-the-war status by going on about us playing a rough game and targeting the ankles to try to influence the refs. Methinks they're just scared they're not going to be able to match up.

Goal to Bresciano, and Viduka to finally get one in for the national team. Grella and Culina to shut down the midfield like nobody's business

Bring it on

GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!

I really have no words other than fuck, that was waaaayyyy too close a call


EDIT - ended 3-1 btw, all 3 were scored after something like the 80th minute

Wow. I thought only the US could self-destruct like that in the final minutes. That was depressing.

I'm glad the Aussies won, although it would have been mildly entertaining to mock you for losing. I couldn't believe the no-call on the lone Japanese goal. Three goals in eight minutes is pretty impressive.

That was such a good match. I thought the aussies had blown it and i really fancied the japs to go on to grab a second. Who had Cahill in the fantasy league team? Oh yeah that was me! Late transfer, this morning. Impressed with Scott Chipperfield.

Hey, I know I set myself up for it if we lost.

Still! We so much of the possession. We should have put that game to bed a lot earlier than that.

And as much as I love Guus and his changes in the second half were vital to us coming back, he had several of our players in completely wrong positions in the first half. That needs to get sorted for the Croatia game

this is the one thing that has bothered me thus far. a big part of what i loved about getting into the EPL and Champions League this past season has been the great commentators. these american commentators suck.

Nice. I would have been in a good position too if Bresciano had put one of his chances away.

Chippers was good. Kewell was a bit anonymous, but hopefully at least playing the 90min will pull him into form. Kennedy who also came on late was surprisingly good. Emerton I have problems with anyway, but he should have been where Wilkshire was. And Cahill should have been on from the start in the centre in place of Wilkshire.

The awesome thing is that it's 1:15am here and there's been cars driving round the uni campus honking their horns and people screaming. I WISH I'd been in at Circular Quay watching it

This is why I am amazed at how popular futbol is in Europe, and not amazed at how popular it isn't here in the states.

Aren't we playing at 1:00?

We are playing at 10:55 CST or 11:55 EST. The game should be starting real soon.

No. Game starts in like 30.