A good day of soccer, but I didn’t get to watch as much as I planned. I saw all the England/Germany match and ended up pulling for the Germans. Mostly, because the German effort wooed me. The lack of effort shown in the English midfield did not help. Tough no goal call by the assistant referee. It is hard to argue that such a call is not game changing especially the change in momentum. It would have been the tying goal and it came so quickly after the first that momentum would surely have favored the Three Lions.

Having said that, the English side just seemed to fold it up for the day. There was no surge to continue the first real spark of fire they have shown. The second half was all Germany and the final result seemed well-deserved. Congratulations to my German friends and condolences to my English friends.

I was settling in to watch the Mexico/Argentina game a little bit late. Argentina had already scored 2 goals by the time my son and I sat down to watch the game. The cheap giveaway by the Mexican defense has to be the most fun goal of the tournament so far.

I didn’t get to see much of the game, because I got pulled away for a family trip to the emergency room! Great work, as always, by the friendly folks at Floyd. One broken arm and several hours later and we were back home. But the game was over. I still haven’t had a chance to see the goals.

I know I should pull for Mexico, since the better they do, the better CONCACAF looks. But I cannot. Too many games and too much history. So the loss by El Tri went as I thought it would. Argentina just has too many options. Great to see Tevez score. You have to love how hard the guy works. Sets up Argentina v Germany in the quarters.

Today’s games are the Nederlands v Slovakia and Brazil v Chile. Slovakia wants to prove their early results are not first time flukes so they will fight hard. The Dutch have not really stood out despite taking all nine points in the group stage.

Brazil and Chile sets up a South American rivalry from the qualification stage of the tournament. I think Chile (La Roja) was the last team to best the Selecao. Brazil has to be the favorite, but the Chile will go in with guns blazing. Chilean Humberto Suazo was the top scorer in South American qualification and will see his share of attention from Brazil’s stern defense.