Don't cry for me, Argentina

Some says that Argentina can't expect to win all the shootouts. Unfortunately, it turned out to be true today.

Performance on the side, many of these players (from both sides) can do very well in Hollywood as well with the fake falls.

Bend like Beckham

As it was put by Sports Illustrated, this is an ugly 1-0 game otherwise.

It is a completely different case for England's next opponent Portugal, who got 9 yellow and 2 red cards and their star Dego will not be able to play in the quarter finals. The Netherlands and Portugal played an very beautiful, classic (unfortunately, it would be remembered for other reasons), and exciting game.

contrary to the Italy-USA game, the referee really sucked this time. He should have kicked out Portugal's Constinha at least 10 minutes earlier and awarded a penalty for the Netherlands at 42'.

The rest of the game was a mess although both teams still gave us their better performance than some others in this World Cup.

Round of 16 to 8

Here're the group winners and my predictions in ():
Group A: Germany & Ecuador (Poland)
Group B: England & Sweden (Paraguay)
Group C: Argentina & Netherlands
Group D: Portugal & Mexico (Iran)
Group E: Italy & Ghana (Czech Republic)
Group F: Brazil & Australia (Croatia)
Group G: France & Switzerland (Korea)
Group H: Spain & Ukraine (Tunisia)

so, my predication is 9 out of 16, just a little bit better than 50%, which is what a random pick will give you. However, except for Iran, all teams I missed is no. 3 in the group. A little comforting.

Now, my prediction of round of 16 to 8 (bold teams win):
Germany vs. Sweden
Argentina vs. Mexico
Italy vs. Australia
Ukraine vs. Switzerland
England vs. Ecuador
Portugal vs. Netherlands
Brazil vs. Ghana
Spain vs. France

Two of them already turned out right although Mexico really played well today and gave Argentina a hard time.

Follow the same logic, my final rounds predictions at this point are here:
Quarter final:
Germany vs. Argentina
Italy vs. Ukraine
Portugal vs. England
Brazil vs. Spain

Semi-final
Germany vs. Italy
Brazil vs. Portugal

and Germany wins all.

World cup: USA vs. Italy

The USA put up a good fight with the Italians,
but it was a very bloody game.

The worst part of the game is ABC's commentator, who wanes too much about the red card the Americans got and the goal nullified because of an off side player. I can't believe ABC will have some idiot like this for national TV.

May be he had worked in the NHL group too long?

Yes, De Rossi disgraced himself with that ugly elbow. But one should had seen this coming after seeing the first 20 minutes' play by team USA. If the referee Jorge Larrionda from Uruguay had acted more strict earlier, this might be better controlled. Although the two other red cards are more or less correct according to the rules, well, the game went down hill from there.

One more thing on the nullified goal by DaMarcus Beasley. Yes, although McBride didn't touch the ball, he was clearly not only off side but also blocked the view of the keeper and even made the move to confused him. To me, there's no doubt that McBride gained advantage from his off side position on this play.

World cup 2nd day recap

Being busy on Friday, missed both games. Don't care too much about Poland, but Germany is one of my top picks. From post-game TV coverage, they did a good job on the opening match.



Argentina vs. Ivory Coast
Argentina always have problems with Africa teams who usually hold the advantages in flexibility and individual dribbling. They've done well in yesterday's match. So far, they are staying in the game.



England vs. Paraguay
Both played very well. David Beckham was excellent. Although Paraguay is very competitive, England got the stuff for the cup.



Sweden vs. Trinidad-Tobago
The Swedes are disappointing period. Paraguay has a better chance to advance than them.

Dirty Pretty Things

This is a story about illegal immigrants in London trade their kidneys for cash and fake passports. It depicted what will happen to good people when they are desperate.

It changed my stand on the current immigration reform. For our own sake, we should give the millions already in the country a path to legalize their status. May be that means they have to pay a fine and waiting for a long time, but this may be the only way they may actually come out.

Keep them out will not stop illegal immigration.