your daily recap

Germany 1 - Argentina 1 (4-2 PKs): An absolutely dreadful first half, where the Argentinians started whining and whacking and diving pretty much from the start, and the Germans soon followed their lead in the diving department.  Easily the most dives in any game this Cup.  Things improved in the second half with Ayala's goal, where he managed to wrap his body around Klose to firmly head the ball in.  Later, Klose vindicated himself with a solid strike.  Overtime went back to being mostly dull.  Ayala closed the circle by poorly taking his penalty kick.  If Michael Ballack (whose performance was rather erratic) is Matt Damon, i'd say Maxi Rodríguez is Ben Affleck.

Italy 3 - Ukraine 0: A much better game than i expected (perhaps the soccer gods made it interesting because of the crap of the first game).  Ukraine came very close to tying the game and then Italy knocked in their second goal, and quickly after that a third, both on defensive miscues in the box, both by Luca Toni (finally).  Today just plain wasn't Ukraine's day; even near the end, Shevchenko was taken down in the box close to the referee, but no call.  Italy faces Germany in a rematch of the `82 Cup final.

your daily recap

Germany 1 - Argentina 1 (4-2 PKs): An absolutely dreadful first half, where the Argentinians started whining and whacking and diving pretty much from the start, and the Germans soon followed their lead in the diving department.  Easily the most dives in any game this Cup.  Things improved in the second half with Ayala's goal, where he managed to wrap his body around Klose to firmly head the ball in.  Later, Klose vindicated himself with a solid strike.  Overtime went back to being mostly dull.  Ayala closed the circle by poorly taking his penalty kick.  If Michael Ballack (whose performance was rather erratic) is Matt Damon, i'd say Maxi Rodríguez is Ben Affleck.

Italy 3 - Ukraine 0: A much better game than i expected (perhaps the soccer gods made it interesting because of the crap of the first game).  Ukraine came very close to tying the game and then Italy knocked in their second goal, and quickly after that a third, both on defensive miscues in the box, both by Luca Toni (finally).  Today just plain wasn't Ukraine's day; even near the end, Shevchenko was taken down in the box close to the referee, but no call.  Italy faces Germany in a rematch of the `82 Cup final.

soccer report

Centavo tied Qualitau 9-9; we were up 8-4 at halftime.  I was late, so i came into the game for the second half.  However it might look, though, it wasn't my fault.  Qualitau came back with 5 goals to take a late lead, but we tied with about 35 seconds to go.  After we got the ball back and were headed towards their goal, one of their guys who was lying on the ground handled the ball.  Even though we retained control of the ball, the ref whistled the handball instead of letting the play go on.  Then the other team took their time getting the ball back to us.  Then one of their players wouldn't let us take the kick, and with about 6 seconds left, kicked it away.  Now, every time there's been a dead-ball situation when a game's about to end, the ref stops or turns off the clock so that the opposing team can't waste the clock away (this is an American-style countdown clock, not count-up like normal soccer).  This didn't happen this time, and the ref just let them clown around and when the buzzer sounded, ended the game.  When i tried to bring this to his attention, he rudely told me the game was over and tried to send me away.  I jawed at him for a while ("You're ready for the World Cup") before i left.  Now i gotta find the Disciplinary Committee online so i can complain.

soccer report

Centavo tied Qualitau 9-9; we were up 8-4 at halftime.  I was late, so i came into the game for the second half.  However it might look, though, it wasn't my fault.  Qualitau came back with 5 goals to take a late lead, but we tied with about 35 seconds to go.  After we got the ball back and were headed towards their goal, one of their guys who was lying on the ground handled the ball.  Even though we retained control of the ball, the ref whistled the handball instead of letting the play go on.  Then the other team took their time getting the ball back to us.  Then one of their players wouldn't let us take the kick, and with about 6 seconds left, kicked it away.  Now, every time there's been a dead-ball situation when a game's about to end, the ref stops or turns off the clock so that the opposing team can't waste the clock away (this is an American-style countdown clock, not count-up like normal soccer).  This didn't happen this time, and the ref just let them clown around and when the buzzer sounded, ended the game.  When i tried to bring this to his attention, he rudely told me the game was over and tried to send me away.  I jawed at him for a while ("You're ready for the World Cup") before i left.  Now i gotta find the Disciplinary Committee online so i can complain.