ALahm For England: Germany 1-0 Ghana 23/6/10

Germany line-up: Neuer, Friedrich, Khedira, Schweinsteiger (Kroos, 81'), Ozil, Podolski, Muller (Trochowski, 67''), Lahm (c), Mertesacker, Cacau, Boateng (Jansen, 73')
Ghana line-up: Kingson, Sarpei, Gyan (Amoah, 82'), Pantsil, Mensah (c), Annan, Jonathan, Tagoe (Muntari, 64'), Ayew (Adiyah, 92'), Asamoah, Boateng

This game created history as it was the first international game where two brothers competed against one another. Africa also celebrated long into the night knowing that Ghana will be flying the African flag in the knockout rounds. Germany however win the group and set a date with England which should be a tasty affair. Both started out trying to dominate football and attack, Germany were the most successful at this as they played it along their defensive line before manoeuvring their way up the pitch. Kingson had to be alert and clung onto early crosses and a Cacau shot before Podolski had a shot deflected wide. Germany were nearly ahead when Podolski looked to fire a low driven cross into the box which deflected of Jonathan and needed a smart parry from Kingson to prevent the own goal. Ghana did manage to cut open the German defence at times during the game but goal saving tackles from just about everyone kept Ghana out. Again Germany looked to set to take the lead when Ozil beat the offside trap and was bearing down on goal, Kingson came off his line to look big and Ozil managed to fire straight at him when really he should have scored. Kingson had to produce yet another smart save, this time of Cacau who struck a stinging shot which was palmed away.

Germany still looked for that all important goal in the second half and still looked to dominate the game. However all their possession couldn't muster up any decent chances before Asamoah went up the other en and forced a decent save from Neuer. On the hour mark Germany got their goal; Muller played it inside to Ozil who was about 20 yards form goal and he struck and beautifully weighted, curling shot into the top corner which Kingson could do nothing about. Ghana wouldn't let that effect their performance and they came back fighting and again some last ditch tackling prevented Ghana from scoring. Germany were able to keep possession in the latter stages to just play out time and secure top spot of Group D, Ghana were celebrating thereafter knowing that Serbia couldn't draw against Australia.

Just Don It: USA 1-0 Algeria 23/6/10

USA line-up: Howard, Bocanegra (c), Bradley, Cherundolo, Dempsey, Gomez (Feilhaber, HT), Donovan, Bornstein (Beasley, 80'), DeMerit, Altidore, Edu (Buddle, 64')
Algeria line-up: Mbohli, Bougherra, Belhadj, Yahia (c), Halliche, Lacen, Djebbour (Ghezzal, 65'), Matmour (Saifi, 85'), Ziani (Guedioura, 69'), Yebda, Kadir

USA just about manage to sneak through and win the group and we also saw more Algerian indiscipline. Both teams required a win to give themselves a chance of progression and Algeria started brightest Matmour shot early on and Djebbour hit the crossbar just minutes into the match. He had another chance but spooned his header wide, from this USA retorted and Gomez and Dempsey looked to link up well and looked dangerous for Bob Bradley's team. Although the game started off rather on the Americans started to dominate possession as the half wore on and 21 minutes into the match Dempsey put the ball in the back of the net. After their 'winning' goal against Slovenia was controversially ruled out this goal again seemed touch and go as to whether Dempsey was offside or not, he looked level and USA most definitely thought so. Mbohli provided some clever saves to keep America level as they smelt a breakthrough that just couldn't materialise. Belhadj and Ziani seemed like the main curators for Algeria in the first half but although they looked dangerous they couldn't produce any masterclass stuff.

America again came close to breaking the deadlock early in the second half but Dempsey, who thought it wasn't going to be his night, managed to curl his shot against the post before missing the rebound. Both teams created chances to take the all important lead but neither could find the target and the match was heading to a draw, putting England and Slovenia through. But Landon Donovan changed all that with a goal in the 91st minute; Altidore played a teasing cross into the box where Mbohli parried it to Donovan who tapped it into the empty net, which ultimately put them through as winners of the group and Slovenia slipped out of it. Algeria still had time to prove their ill discipline with Yahia getting a second yellow card in the 93rd minute but that was immaterial.

Defoeant Performance: England 1-0 Slovenia 23/6/10

England line-up: James, Johnson, A.Cole, Gerrard (c), Terry, Lampard, Rooney (J.Cole, 72'), Barry, Upson, Milner, Defoe (Heskey, 86')
Slovenia line-up: Handanovic, Brecko, Suler, Cesar, Koren (c), Ljubijankic (Dedic, 62'), Birsa, Novakovic, Jokic, Kirm (Matavz, 79'), Radosavljevic

England scrape through to the last sixteen by the skin of their teeth, overall it was a much better performance than the other two matches but still not overly convincing. I'm also probably going to be the only Englishman to say it but referee Wolfgang Stark was rather biased in favour of England in the form of yellow cards. England had the first chances but Lampard's free-kick was food and drink to Handanovic and Rooney's shot was deflected wide. Slovenia played rather well and made the defence work hard, Glen Johnson made a poor start to the game giving the ball away and lucky not to have been booked for two mis-timed tackles. England's defence were by no means efficient and gave the ball away quite a few times but due to either poor creativity by Slovenia or decent covering by the defenders, Slovenia couldn't make any danger. England's best player of the game James Milner earned the assist for the England goal after 23 minutes, his beautifully curled cross found Defoe who shinned it from five yards. Handnaovic may have done better as the shot was straight at him and he did get two hands to it, but of course the commentators say it was great contact and a great finish, hooray for bias! The goal did seem to spur England on as they started to dominate possession, but lacked major finishing. The best chance came for Steven Gerrard who, after being teed up by the quiet Rooney, forced two decent saves from Handanovic.

The second half started again with England having good spells of possession and Defoe had the ball in the net again but this he was correctly ruled offside. The referee began to annoy me a bit when he started booking Slovenia players for their first offences which were no worse than Barry's , Johnson's or Joe Cole's however none were cautioned until right at the end in Johnson's case, very much a lack of consistency by the German official, however no other Englishman bar me really cares. Rooney again could have put England two up but his scuffed shot hit the post to round off a poor evening by his standards. Slovenia forced England's defence to produce some very last ditch tackling to keep England ahead and just about managed to do so, leading to England's progress as Slovenia slump out thanks to a late USA winner against Algeria.

Final Group Games: Group D

Everyone thought this group would have been over by the second game, especially for Germany but their defeat to Serbia leaves it all in the balance. The winner between Germany v Ghana is guaranteed progression and I think Germany will win 3-0. Australia have to win to stand any chance of qualifying but I think Serbia will get a draw finishing 1-1.

So if Germany win they go through with six points along with Serbia if they win and the group winner will be decided on goal difference, if Australia win then it go on goal difference between themselves and Ghana, if the game is drawn then Serbia and Ghana face off on goal difference, If Ghana win they're through along with the winner of the other game, if it's drawn then Serbia will progress. If both games are drawn then Ghana will win the group and Germany will go through over Serbia because of their better goal difference. Another group that is all to play for.

Final Group Games: Group C

The good thing for England is that their destiny is still in their own hands, if they win against Slovenia they're through. Before the World Cup I predicted England to win 4-0, but after the diabolical performances so far I can't see this happening. As all four teams can still qualify USA v Algeria will be as contested as England V Slovenia however I predicted USA to win 3-0.

So if England win they're through along with USA if they win or if Algeria win then it will come down to goal difference between themselves and Slovenia. If both games are drawn Slovenia go through and it will down to goals scored between USA and England,if England draw 2-2 and USA draw 0-0 then lots will have to be drawn, which is a ludicrous way of going out in my opinion I think they should have a penalty shoot-out. If Slovenia win then they win the group ahead of the winner of the other game, if that game is drawn then USA will progress and England's expense.

Maximum Points: Greece 0-2 Argentina 22/6/10

Greece line-up: Tzorvas, Moras, Tziolis, Samaras, Papadopoulos, Karagounis (c) (Spiropoulos, HT), Vyntra, Torosidis (Patsatzoglu, 55'), Kyrgiakos, Papastathopoulos, Katsouranis (Ninis, 54')
Argentina line-up: Romero, Demichelis, C.Rodriguez, Burdisso, Bolatti, Veron, Messi (c), Otamendi, Aguero (Pastore, 77'), Milito (Palermo, 80'), M.Rodriguez (Di Maria, 63')

Argentina made sure the world sat up and took note by claiming all nine points and winning their group with considerable ease. Greece needed to better South Korea's result but against Argentina that's more than a tough task. Despite Maradona fielding a somewhat weaker, if you can call it that, side Greece still were very much spectators of the opening exchanges with Argentina playing lovely interchanges with one another. Messi looked his dangerous self and the Greek defence were kept on their toes and needed to provide some very decent tackles. Greece were parking the proverbial bus and looking to beat Argentina route one style, trying to pick out Samaras who had a couple of chances but Demichelis put stop to any threat. Apart from these rare chances Argentina made sure Tzorvas earned his stripes and was made to sweat all night, but he managed to keep scores level at half-time.

The same pattern was repeated in the second half; Samaras given few chances and Tzorvas doing his up most best to keep Messi and Milito out. However his rearguard was broken just after the 75 minute mark when Demichelis latched onto Di Maria's corner and played an 'interesting one-two' off Milito's back before slotting home. Maradona provided a bigger celebration than anyone, proving he can still celebrate a goal. He was nearly able to celebrate again but Messi saw another shot thwarted, this time by the woodwork. But Argentina were to grab a second from substitute Palermo who sent a side-footed shot past Tzorvas for a very neat finish. Mexico await Argentina in the next round which Argentina should be favourites after they beat Mexico at this stage last World Cup, but Mexico will have something to say about that and maybe even a case for revenge.

Kore Blimey, Just Made It: South Korea 2-2 Nigeria 22/6/10

South Korea line-up: S.R.Jung, Y.H.Cho, J.S.Park (c), J.W.Kim, C.Y.Park (D.J.Kim, 93'), Y.P.Lee, J.S.Lee, S.Y.Ki (J.S.Kim, 87'), C.Y.Lee, K.H.Yeom (N.I.Kim, 87'), D.R.Cha
Nigeria line-up: Enyeama, Yobo (Echijile, HT), Kanu (c) (Martins, 57'), Afolabi, Shittu, Yakubu (Obinna, 70'), Ogbuke Obasi, Etuhu

South Korea make it to the last 16 but most definitely by the skin of their teeth. Nigeria had very good chances to nick the three points but were unable to, allowing Korea to sneak in. Nigeria knew they had to win and were very nearly behind early on, but Bolton's Lee Chung Young just couldn't stretch far enough make enough contact to send it goal bound. After that though it was Nigeria in full control of play and looked to attack and twelve minutes in they were ahead; poor defending by South Korea, which looks to be a major problem for them, allowed a cross to be swung in and Uche baffled Cha Du Ri by coming out of nowhere to put the ball into the corner. Obasi, Kanu and Yakubu created several first half chances but couldn't convert as they looked to fly the flag for Africa. Uche thought he'd grabbed his second but his blast hit the post and came flying back out, maybe the first sign that it wasn't going to be their day. But Nigeria would create their own downfall by giving away an unnecessary free-kick, it was whipped in by Celtic's Ki and Lee Jung Soo was unmarked at the back post to bundle it over the line and bring South Korea level.

Smelling blood, South Korea looked more attacking in the second half and just four minutes into the half they were ahead. Again another unnecessary free-kick conceded by Shittu led to Park Chu Yong to curl around the wall and wrong foot Enyeama as it crept into the corner, possible questions of the goalkeeper needed to be asked here. Yakubu looked set to equalise when he had created space for himself inside the box but a last-ditch tackle from Cho prevented Yakubu from getting the shot away. He had an even more glorious chance minutes later when the ball was squared to him four yards from an empty net, he somehow managed to side foot the ball wide which may just eclipse Govou's miss against Uruguay. Three minutes later he was able to redeem himself when substitute Kim Nam Il again unnecessarily conceding a penalty when he should have just cleared his lines, up stepped Yakubu and he coolly placed it into the opposite corner from the diving Jung, making scores level at 2-2. Again Nigeria had chances to nick it, most notably from Martins who just couldn't find the target from numerous great chances.

So South Korea were left to celebrate and Nigeria became yet another African casualty. Again though I have to blame manager Lars Lagerback for Nigeria's downfall. For me not to start with the attacking threats of Yakubu, Martins, Uche and Odemwingie seems absurd. All four possess a great goal scoring threat and would have caused many defences problems. I don't Kanu should have started, he was a great player in his prime but he's getting on a bit and hasn't got the pace to start a game. He's definitely a impact substitute now and would do a fantastic job from it I'm sure.