Germany 2
Sweden 0
Germany still not particularly impressive, but like Brazil they seem to click into gear more and more as they tournament proceeds. Can they beat Argentina? Not without a major improvement over their play, so far.

Argentina 2
Mexico 1
Yeah, just as expected. Mexico sure where brave, though, weren't they?

England 1
Ecuador 0
What a fantastic goal by Becks! He's still got it. On a free kick too of course - the Becks classic.

Portugal 1
Netherlands 0

Australia 0
Italy 1
Nobody in Australia doubts that Australia was robbed, not even the many Italian-Australians who cheered for Italy's win. Refs, too, can easily be starstruck. The Australian soccer press, always highly informed, even when clearly partisan, is outraged by the string of horrendous reffing that the Socceroos suffered. Italy can hardly be happy with their performance. They may have been unlucky to lose one player to a red card, but they were extremely lucky that the ref pulled their butts out of a fire they created with their own ironically lukewarm play. Now they get an easy pass against Ukraine, and injustice will only be magnified.

Switzerland 0
Ukraine 0
(0-0 after extra time; Ukraine win 3-0 on penalties)
An incredibly unworthy game.

Brazil 3
Ghana 0
Ghana missed easy chances, and was brutalized, as have been so many underdogs, by pathetic refereeing. When even FIFA boss Sepp Blatter says the refs need to pull their socks up, you know it's been a horror tournament, from that standpoint. But FIFA is probably half to blame, for insisting on changes to interpretation, and placing refs under even more pressure than they already certainly would have been.

Spain 1
France 3
France perhaps lucky, but they took whatever opportunities they got, and made hay. Spain... What can you say. Let's perhaps agree that they are either always underperformers or always overrated. They didn't look as good as even their hesitant hype had it.