Well...

I was hoping this wouldn't come this soon but... USA is out. A 2-1 loss to Ghana in the Round of 16. Well.. it was a decent run. They lost just this one game. Now another four-year wait.

Group F

I'm happy to be wrong, sometimes.

Italy, the defending champion, one of the teams I said had the best chance to win this World Cup, has just been eliminated in the group stage.

New Zealand, the team I was hoping would pull off a Christmas miracle in June are going home, having not lost a single game and having finished ahead of Italy. They played a good World Cup, earning their first ever points in a World Cup with three ties.

Paraguay and Slovakia advance as first and second place, respectively. Now they await the results of Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, and Japan. Cameroon is already out. Netherlands will probably win the group, meaning they'd play Slovakia. Denmark or Japan will probably play against Paraguay in the Round of 16.

Group Play Blockbuster

Coming into the 2010 world cup, the United States-England was very much hyped in the U.S.A. Throughout the rest of the world, eyes are on the group of death game featuring Brazil and Portugal. The Brazilians coming into this tournament appeared to be much better than the Portuguese, especially with the loss of Nani.

Now that Kaka is going to miss this match with his red card from the Ivory Coast game, I'd say things are a bit more even than before with the Brazilian midfield a bit more unstable than normal. Its going to take a magical performance from the best player in the world, Cristian Ronaldo, for Portugal to come out with a win in this game against Brazil.

This is the last blockbuster matchup we will see before the playoffs begin. I say the Brazilians come out shakier than normal, but not shaky enough to lose.

Brazil - 1
Portugal - 1

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Wow.

Way to wait 'til the last minute to score, but what ever works, right?

USA 1, Algeria 0.

USA takes the group with 5 points, a +1 goal difference and 4 goals scored.
England takes second with 5 points, a +1 goal difference but only 2 goals scored.

New Zealand 1, Italy - 1

Nuff said people.

Anything is possible in this 2010 World Cup.

Taking a Glance at Group C

Kudos to anyone that predicted Group C would end up like this, but chances are I'm giving kudos to absolutely nobody.

This is the skinny on Group C.

1. Slovenia - 1-0-1 - 4 Points - +1
2. USA - 0-0-2 - 2 Points - 0
3. England - 0-0-2 - 2 Points - 0
4. Algeria - 0-1-1 - 1 Points - -1

Wednesday at 10 AM ET, USA-Algeria will play. At the very same time and day, England play Slovenia.

If these four teams want to be thorough with their advancement, then they should just flat out win. Only Algeria is still in a pickle even if they win. The rest, you win you're in.

As for our United States National Team, If they lose their done and can just go home. If the USA win, and England beats Slovenia along with the U.S. maintaining their 2 goal advantage, the U.S. advance AND win the group. There is a small window for the U.S. if they tie again, but it is very marginal. If they tie with Algeria, and England-Slovenia tie along with the U.S. maintaining their 2 goal advantage, they advance in that scenario as well.

But for the U.S. sake, just win dammit.

Oh, and as for England.....wow. Just wow.

What goes around comes around.

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Mexico 2, France 0

Ha, you shouldn't be in the World Cup anyways, France. (R.I.P. Ireland's 2010 World Cup dream).

Cuauhtemoc Blanco is magic.