Ukraine 4 _ Saudi Arabia 0 This is the same Ukraine who got snockered by Spain 4-0. For those of you keeping score at home, Espana is that good and the Saudis are that bad... Spanish fans are still liable to kill their coach win or lose. He didn't start Raul again today and the Spaniards fell behind early against Tunisia 1-0, who immediately pulled all 11 players back on defense and settled in for a siege in an attempt to win the game by that score. It almost worked. It wasn't until the coach substituted in Raul halfway through the second half that the siege was broken. Within minutes of getting in the game, Spain's greatest scorer tied the game with a goal. This forced the Tunisians to play both ends of the field, because they had to win this match. This also opened up the entire Spanish offense with Raul leading the way. The final score was: Spain 3 _ Tunisia 1. It could have been much worse and now the whole world is wondering why Raul isn't starting these games... Tomorrow: Germany vs. Ecuador to determine the #1 in that group.
8) Some questions are now being answered and the answers aren't surprising. Is this year's German team as good as those in the past? Can Jurgen Klinsmann's team play defense? Is this the year that Ecuador breaks through and becomes a South American power like Brazil or Argentina? Final Score: Germany 3 _ Ecuador 0 The game wasn't that close. Miroslav Klose scored early and often and the Germans substituted him out of there to keep him fresh. Meanwhile, Ecuador looks like a nice little team from the top of the Andes that has gone about as far as they can go without being nuked by the big dogs...
8) Some wild games today. Ghana 2 _ USA 1 Don't listen to the whiners. We lost fair and square. In fact, we set the all-time record for the fewest shots taken in a three match round: 4. Since our genius coach employed a hyper-defensive 4-5-1 arrangement...the one is our only striker... I say we should fire the bastard immediately, if not sooner. If you're not trying to score, then you're not trying to win... Brazil 4 _ Japan 1 Ronaldo finally got his two goals and tied Gerd "Der Bomber" Mueller's all-time record of 14 World Cup goals. The Brazilians rested most of the starters from previous matches and even substituted for Ronaldinho, who was brilliant today. There is no bottom to their bench and they're entirely unselfish... Australia 2 _ Croatia 2 Before the game, Irish broadcaster Tommy Smyth predicted that this wouldn't be a soccer match, but a round of demolition derby between the two largest and meanest teams in the tournament. It was worse than that. The Socceroos look like converted rugby players and played like it in a game that saw so many yellow cards flying that the referee lost track. One Croat player named Simunic had THREE yellows and wasn't tossed out until the final minute. He may have been confused with Simic, who also had at least one yellow. There was no confusing Australia's Merton with anyone. He was the worst thug of the World Cup and he was finally ejected in the final minute, when he began to physically attack everyone who got in his way... The Aussies move on, but it was ugly. - Other notes: If the USA had won today, we would have had to play Brazil in the knockout round... Mexico moves into the knockout round against Argentina...heh...heh... .....................JO'Co :twisted: