quick thoughts...on the world cup

first and foremost, can we all agree that this is the greatest spectacle in sports. it is like the olympics without men's gymnastics and synchro-swimming. rarely will you have as much emotional investment in a random games, such as brazil/ghana, without being a fan of either side. an unparalleled spectacle of sport in my opinion. now on to the actual games.

the round of sixteen did not start to well for me, as sweden was the first team eliminated in the second round. putting personal preference aside, germany advancing (convincingly it might add) is good for the tournament and very good for deutschland.

the other highlights over the last 5 days included argentina v mexico, which was a gem of a game and both teams deserved to advance. however it was argentina moving on to play germany after what has to be the goal of the wc so far by ????. portugal v holland has received a lot of press for the number of yellow and red cards given out, but i can say that i watched the game in a local pub and the atmosphere was great. every several minutes there were audible display of happiness, disappointment, even astonishment. i think that england is in for a real tough test from portugal, despite the number of players sitting out on suspension for portugal being high.

the other two highlights of the second round came in the italy v austrailia match up as well as france v spain. very sloppy and untimely defending doomed the socceroos of austrailia while the old men of france disposed of spain's young pups with some scintillating football in the second half last night.

the two day break in the action couldn't come at a better time, as i need to catch my breath and prepare for a made dash for the final in berlin on the 9th of july. ohh, my only wish would be a do-over in that sweden v germany game, with sweden removing their heads from their asses for the first 12 minutes.

(i have been seeing this ref's smile in my nightmares for days!)