2nd Round Preview: Argentina v Mexico 27/6/10

A repeat of the 2nd round match in Germany four years ago, Argentina won 2-1 after extra time thanks to Maxi Rodriguez wonder goal. If Argentina progress they will face Germany in the quarter finals which they did four years ago and lost on penalties after a 1-1 draw. I sense a bit of deja vu as I think Argentina will overcome Mexico again in tightly fought contest again with a 2-1 win.

Mullered: Germany 4-1 England 27/6/10

Germany line-up: Neuer, Lahm (c), Friedrich, Mertesacker, Boateng, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Ozil (Kiessling, 83'), Muller (Gomez, 72') , Klose (Trochowski, 72'), Podolski
England line-up: James, Johnson (Wright-Phillips, 87'), Terry, Upson, A.Cole, Milner (J.Cole, 64'), Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Rooney, Defoe (Heskey, 71')

Another World Cup, another poor showing and a right royal thrashing at the hands of Germany. England weren't good enough and poor in every part of the field and deserved to lose. Germany were on the front foot from the start with Ozil continuously opening up England's defence and both Podolski and Muller had great chances to put them level. England couldn't pass the ball or even defend well in the opening encounters of the first half. This lead to Germany's first goal on twenty minutes; Neuer providing a huge goal kick which found Miroslav Klose, he managed to muscle in behind both Terry and Upson before coolly finishing past James. Barry had the only shot by this time for England and that was hit straight at Neuer and Khedira found Klose at the other end who should have had his second and Germany's second but James managed to save. Just after the half hour mark Germany had doubled their lead with yet another defence splitting pass from Muller into the path of Podolski who looked to have taken too hard a touch but still managed to slot past James and England's exit was looking imminent. However England suddenly found how to play football and began to push Germany back and got one back in the 37th minute; Lampard played a short corner to Gerrard who crossed into the box to find Upson on hand to head past the flailing Neuer, who should have stayed on his line, and suddenly England had a chance of salvaging it. Lampard should have been celebrating an equaliser when his shot rattled the underside of the bar and bounced over the line before bouncing back into play, but the Uruguayan officials somehow managed to claim it wasn't a goal and Germany kept their lead.

With England having the momentum before half-time you would have thought they could have kept that in the second half but apart from Lampard hitting the crossbar early on, England were back to playing their early first half game and were duly punished. With England trying to look for that equaliser they left their already questionable defence rather bare and were caught on the equaliser twice. First Lampard hit a free-kick straight at the wall and Germany cleared to Ozil who could Terry for pace all week long and charged down the wing before squaring to Muller who tapped it into the empty net for game over. Surely after that someone would realise that Ozil was much too fast for the defence and get someone pacy from England to look after him? Well actually no as Germany countered again and Ozil was given the ball own the wing again and this time beat Barry for pace, which isn't difficult, and again he squared to Muller who again tapped it in, spelling a 4-1 defeat, the worst defeat in a World Cup for England and this was our best team since 1966! Hardly.

2nd Round Preview: Germany v England 27/6/10

There is no way England are going to win this one, we're not good enough and haven't been from day one. Germany played fantastic against Australia but slipped up against Serbia and didn't play great against Ghana but Germany are still going to be comfortable winners of this one, I think it will be 2-0.

We're Ghana Play Uruguay: USA 1-2 Ghana AET 26/6/10

USA line-up: Howard, Bocanegra (c), Bradley, Cherundolo, Dempsey, Donovan, Bornstein, Clark (Edu, 31'), DeMerit, Altidore (Gomez, 91'), Findley (Feilhaber, HT)
Ghana line-up: Kingson, Sarpei (Addy, 73'), Gyan, Pantsil, Mensah (c), Annan, Inkoom (Muntari, 113'), Jonathan, Ayew, Asamoah, Boateng (Appiah, 78')

USA crash out with a poor performance against Ghana, Ghana keep flying the flag for Africa as they set up a quarter final tie against Uruguay. But it did need extra time to sort the winner out of this close match which Ghana deserved to win. Ghana set their stall out in the first five minutes as did USA with Clark making a mistake and giving the ball away to the lively Kevin Prince-Boateng who fired the past Howard into the corner to give Ghana the lead. This remained the story of the first half as USA just couldn't keep hold of the ball nor threaten the Ghanaian defence. The only notable attack USA had came from Sunderland's John Mensah's mistake as he lost out to Fulham's Clint Dempsey, who played Findley into a one-on-one situation where he should have scored but Kingson's big left foot kept Ghana ahead.

Bob Bradley has already shown he is quick to change things when they aren't going right and brought Benny Feilhaber into the fray at half-time, this was his second sub as Clark was replaced by Edu in the first half because he just couldn't adapt to the game. USA played a lot better in the second half and were arguably the better team as they searched for an equaliser. Donovan yet again was pulling the strings and linked nicely with Altidore who fed Feilhaber into a similar one-on-one situation to Findley's and the same outcome occurred with Kingson pulling off another vital save. USA were to achieve their deserved equaliser when Dempsey surged into the box only to be brought down by Mensah for a stone wall penalty. USA's talisman Landon Donovan stepped up and guided his kick just off the post and into the back of the net. From here USA began to dominate a little bit and Kingson had to pull off more vital saves to keep Ghana level both Altidore and Bradley failed to beat the Wigan Athletic keeper.

This led to extra time and again Ghana became the better team as USA failed to regain their momentum. Within three minutes of the extra time Ghana were ahead again thanks to Asamoah Gyan who scored his third goal in tournament, his first from open play. USA began to look a tired and weary team and started to play the long ball into the Ghana penalty area but it was the African Black Stars who were going through to the quarter finals.

2nd Round Preview: USA v Ghana 26/6/10

After USA just about managed to sneakily win Group C they face a Ghana team who lack goals unless they're from the spot. So unless USA concede a penalty I can't see Ghana scoring and USA will book their spot against Uruguay for a shot at the Semi-finals with, I'm predicting, a 2-0 win with Donovan and Dempsey pulling the strings.

SuperSuar: Uruguay 2-1 South Korea 26/6/10

Uruguay line-up: Muslera, Lugano (c), Godin (Victorino, HT), Fucile, Cavani, Suarez (Fernandez, 84'), Forlan, A.Pereira (Lodeiro, 74'), Perez, M.Pereira, Arevalo
South Korea line-up: S.R.Jung, Y.H.Cho, J.S.Park (c), J.W.Kim, C.Y.Park, Y.P.Lee, J.S.Kim (D.G.Lee, 61'), J.S.Lee, S.Y.Ki (K.H.Yeom, 85'), D.R.Cha

Uruguay progress to the quarter finals with a great chance of a final four finish thanks to a mixture of poor defending and Luis Suarez brilliance. South Korea started brightly with Park Ji Sung making a typical nuisance of himself, just minutes into the game the Koreans could have been 1-0 ahead after Park Chu-Young fired a curling free-kick against the post. But football is a cruel game and they found themselves 1-0 down just seconds later; Diego Forlan creating room down the wing to fire a low cross around the six yard box, no defenders nor the keeper got to it and an unmarked Luis Suarez came in from the other side and tucked the ball away. Again South Korea's defence failing to answer their critics and they now needed to dig deep to find a way back. The goal however seemed all Uruguay wanted from the match and looked intent on defending for the remainder as they allowed South Korea to attack but they couldn't find a way through the stubborn defence. Both Parks were looking equally dangerous and Cha Du-Ri fired a couple of long range efforts over the bar.

The heavens opened in the second half as the pitched looked to quicken which in theory would suit the Uruguayans more. Suarez nearly made South Korea pay the price for yet more slack defending by intercepting a poor pass, but Suarez could fire a tame shot at Jung. Again both Parks were looking dangerous and forced the Uruguay defence to be anxious with Muslera forced into action on numerous occasions. Their persistence paid off as South Korea found their equaliser just under twenty minutes from time; Ki fired a free-kick into the box and Lugano's attempted clearing header fell to Bolton's Lee Chung-Yong who made no mistake from close range. This fired the Uruguayans back into attacking mode and they looked the most likely to find a second, Suarez had a couple of great chances but failed to grab his and Uruguay's second. Ten minutes from time and it was Suarez to put Uruguay back into the lead as Forlan's corner fell to him on the edge of the box, he turned a defender before curling a beautiful shot onto the inside of the post and into the side of the net for his second goal, one of the best goals of the tournament. Former Middlesbrough striker, substitute Lee Dong-Gook had a glorious opportunity to level the scores once more in the final minutes as he went one-on-one with Muslera, but he scuffed his shot and it hit the inside of Muslera's legs which killed the speed of the ball and allowed Lugano to clear his lines and make sure Uruguay progress to the Quarter Finals.

2nd Round Preview: Uruguay v South Korea 26/6/10

This should be a close start to the knockout rounds, Uruguay haven't really been tested defensively thus far and the work ethic of South Korea should be a good test for Muslera and the back four in front of him. South Korea's problem however is their defence who look very disorganised and Forlan and Suarez should be able to take full advantage. Overall I think Uruguay will edge it with a 2-1 victory over the Koreans who have looked very promising and if they can find a solid defender or two for the future they could be a real threat for the next World Cup.