The better team won.

I'm done. I'm slightly excited about the fact that I don't have to anymore. I'm not a journalist, obviously. Cheers...

Step 1. Ghana Step 2. Uruguay/S.Korea Step 3. Semifinals...

The dust has settled and though the couch still slants forward with its broken leg, we're all upright with that win. More later.

The Third Goal: Offsides or Roman/Greco wrestling?

First of all, it has to be said: What. A. Comeback. Donovan - who hits the underside, the ceiling of the netting? Nice. Boy Bradley - way not to think about it. Hit the ball anyway you can at the goal. Thank you.

So we got some moxie - to go along with their bad luck. More on that in a minute.

At the beginning of the game I applauded the young Torres' inclusion in the squad. He had played well up until today, when he appeared in just a little over his head. It didn't help having Onyewu playing soft in the back giving the Slovenians room to square up with Timmy. (See first goal.) Then again I can't put it all on Guch. During the first half the entire U.S. squad looked uninspired, slow, and about as bad as the qualifiers during the Confederations cup last summer when we embarrassed off the pitch. I applaud Coach for making some key changes in the second half and getting that team running and playing like they wanted it.

Findley's yellow was a joke. The ball hits him in the face clearly and now we don't get him for Algeria. That's the first F U from the ref.

Then there's Maurice Edu's game winning goal that wasn't. Even though Jozy (nice second half, by the way) goes down pretty easy in a very Italian fashion to win us that free kick, I'd still take that goal. I was screaming as much as the next until I realized the score on ESPN hadn't changed yet. Was Bradley so locked in embrace with the defender behind him that the sideline official couldn't see that Bradley was even with not only his marker, but also the leg of the player marking Altidore? Even then, the ball was played to Edu, so - and this is the gray area - Bradley doesn't make a play on the ball, so depending on who you ask, it wouldn't be offsides anyway. Finally, Bradley's glistening, fleshy skull, if an eyebrow offsides he was (I said, IF) then Slovenia's second goal was offsides as well (by the sweat on the striker in green's knee).

Basically, I'm trying to find a reason for the call and I CAN NOT! Bullshit I say! BULL-SHIT!

Oh and there were two other amazing games today as well. The short of it - Klose's second yellow was exactly that, a yellow card infraction, but his first - incidental contact when hustling back after a missed opportunity - was NOT a penalty. I'll say Algeria's goal was nice (the right winger with the bleached hair was man of the match for me) but it's impossible to separate Klose's sending off and the goal a few minutes later. Tough break for the Germans, and now our group has a lot to think about since 1st place might have to play the Germans in the next round.

Okay, my Three Lions - man I hate those guys right now. Both hands are sore from slamming the granite bar top at Thirsty Lion this morning. Wayne Rooney where the fuck are you?! Stevie G - why don't you shoot the ball when you're dribbling up to goal?!?! Did you forget how to do that?!?! Huh?!?

Still, there loss helps us, these self-destructive United States of America. And if I recall, we finished up okay last summer - even if we did blow a massive lead to those samba-stylin' Brazilians in the final.

Essentially, it's not over. And I lost my voice for the second time this Cup. Cheers.

Stupid state of Oregon won't serve me booze for another 3 hours...

Actually the coffee's hitting the spot, sweetened nicely with a great match-up between the sharp German squad and Dejan Stankovic's Serbian team, who already with one loss, have to win. The anthems...

Match Day 8 and a few surprises, though it's definitely not finished. What they are, my brain isn't awake enough for the moment to elaborate.

No blogging during gameplay!

Is the ball really a bitch?

I say yes!! Too many good players are sending the ball sailing. Louis Fabiano, with the ball at his feet facing goal 18 yards away DOES NOT send that ball high and outside.... I'm not saying all the atrocious shots are the fault of an Adidas ball too light and flighty BUT definitely some. If you recall, in 2006 the ball favored the strikers, 'moving too much in the air' a constant refrain by the keepers. So this shit really does happen!

And Poobah, No, I think Howard deserves a Top 5 ranking. Give me five others. I can think of four. Turtle boy Petr Cech is scared now that he lost part of his skull. He is not on my list. Good point about Buffon, though I think he still plays the rest of this tourney.

Just sayin...

miscellany...

World Peace? By the number of ties, I'd say it's doable...

Then there's all the gift wins too - even if Ghana deserved theirs. It's all a bit a bit cautious with a few exceptions.

Germany - With the side viewed as somewhat overconfident heading into the cup, their clinical dismantling of the Aussie Socceroos belies a justly confident squad. It is the new German generation of Mueller, Schweinsteiger, Cacau and others. Oh yeah, then there's the Poles - Klose and Podolski. Yeah they contribute a little bit too. I see little stopping the Germans from rolling through the group - something I wasn't too sure about with Ballack out before. Mistake Chimpo.

South Korea - Did you know they've never lost their first game of the World Cup Finals before? Damn. Apparently, if I heard the announcer right, neither has the Dutch. (And the Oranje's record goes back to the 1930's, while Korea's... maybe not quite as far.) Still, S. Korea and the boys in red hit the ground running and are probably still running in place as they wait for their next game against... Argentina.

So, was Lio Messi just being nice to not score all over the face of Nigeria the other day? Did you notice the blur of his legs as split defenders left and right? I think he had a ball with him. Still, to not hit the back 'of the ol onion bag' (as Andy Gray and Tommy Smythe always talk about during Champions League) is huge for the young master. He had a total of eight shots - all on target and he couldn't finish. Let's not take away anything from the Nigerian keeper who was HUGE in there, but Messi needs to score, as he hasn't for his national side, La Albiceleste, in the passed 8 games that he's played for them. Think I got that right...

Couple of notes:

My cousin, watching the U.S. game in Bismark, North Dakota (it's a small province on the Siberian peninsula), asked my opinion of Tim Howard's ranking in the world of goalkeeping. Before the game, I said, slightly overrated, makes some mistakes, Top 10. Timmy, I stand corrected - Top 5. (Buffon, Cassillas, couple of others that I'm too lazy to think of right now.)

And this Green character from England - yeah way to fucking blow it. But he didn't blow it on Altidore's near post blast that would have given the U.S. a full 3 points and England none. THAT was quite a save.

Despite the tie, I think Italy looks sharp, just without too much creativity. This will change with the return of Andrea Pirlo for the last game of the group stage. They're trouble, no doubt.

And finally, Japan. Not bad... Not bad at all. Now what the fuck are you doing E'To'o?

Gotta go to work. poor Cristiano... only the woodwork...

I've been lagging. Maybe it was the ten hours at the bar on Saturday followed by the rounds through sunny (for the first time in a while) Portland that left this supporter a little flat-footed covering the rest of the games.