I watched half of the Sweden/Senegal match early this morning (2:30am) thanks to my infant son who decided that this World Cup match was a can't miss viewing event...either that or he was hungry. I taped what I thought was the rest of the game, only to find out that I didn't count an on extended OT .
I sorry to see my second favorite squad in Sweden sent home, but Senegal deserved the win from what I've seen and read.
As for the Irish, I thought they'd prevail against Spain who rarely manages to live up to the hype or talent they possess. Oh well, hopefully the USA can prevail so that I still have a vested rooting interest .
The Spanish are living up to their talent for once. Well, more so than in previous years where they would have lost this.
Both Senegal and Sweden deserved to win but only one could advance, so one had to go. Late in the game one of the Swedish players put on a real clinic in ballhandling and barely missedthe shot. If he had scored it might havebeen the best goal of the Cup.
What this world cup is showing is that, there is a trend in the strange happenings during the matches so far. What I've seen points out that many of the teams are growing closer together in terms of skills and abilities. Just a cup back (4 years ago) we've seen a disparaging gap in team abilities, while now except for a few teams (like China, Saudi Arabia, etc) some of the teams that were considered "lessers" have taken the forefront of football. While I do see that individually speaking certain teams are still way better than others, teamplay effort (success) seems to have been standardized at a level met by many teams in the league. If this trend is not a freak of nature but the natural course of football evolution, then this precendent speaks of great football games (and World Cups) in years to come!
I think this "evolution" has a lot to do with the fact that African and Asian players now play with European teams. The skill and talent is becoming pretty even, which is a good thing. It's now, more than ever, truly a "World" Cup.
      USA wins, 2-0 (including a goal from San Jose Earthquakes forward Landon Donovan)!!!
      USA most likely won't defeat Germany, but who cares... this is further than anyone expected the Americans to advance in the 2002 World Cup!
      And it must be said: the second U.S. goal from a current San Jose player (Landon Donovan) came off a cross from a former San Jose player (Eddie Lewis)!
I thought the Spanish were low-down nasty vs the (very honorable) Irish yesterday, but those Mexicans are vicious b*stards! *stomp* *hack* *shove* *grab* *stomp* - they deserved to have more than one man sent off.