The USA vs England game went as well as could be expected from the American point of view. If you count both goals as being sort of flukes, it evens out a bit. The US goal was on target and you just can’t expect every one of those to get picked up. Howard for the US was nothing short of amazing during the middle of the second half: especially shaking off a kick to the ribs that left him sprawled on the pitch for a few minutes. Rooney was again shut down by Howard, and I think he should just give up and not play in games that Howard is in. Sensless let me know that England was ranked No 3 right now and I was really shocked– we can trust that as good as England looks on paper, they always choke in the big tournaments. This is their curse for inventing the game.
The other games I saw showed a lot of mediocre play. South Korea ran a clinic on Greece and France, known for squeaking by with sub-optimal play until the tournament portion, just didn’t have what it took to really even make Uruguay sweat as they should have defensively.
As much as I love soccer, I have been absolutely enthralled with this video of beatings called in a game I’d never even heard of: Australian Rules Football.