Sagen Sie Auf Wiedersehen

Very exciting weekend of World Cup competition. Since Friday, 6 more teams have been sent packing. We've seen some very exciting match ups, some heartbreaking moments, some horrible officiating, and some last second miracles. Let's see how the Group of 16 is looking like now. Early Saturday morning, the Group of 16 kicked things off with Germany taking on Sweden in Munich, Germany. The Germans, despite being the home team, clearly demonstrated just why they deserve to be there, and why they deserve to advance. 2 goals, both early in the 1st half, was all the German team needed to make short work of the Swedes. The final score, 2-0, sends Sweden home, and Germany into the Quarter Finals. Now, to find Germany's next opponent, we go to Leipzig, Germany where two Latin American powerhouses, Argentina and Mexico, squared off. It was a tough choice trying to pick a favorite between these two, it is always nice to see a Latin American country advance. Mexico wins by proximity, but it was up to them to win by goals. Mexico opens up the scoreboard early in the 1st half, and it seemed like they were giving the Argentinians a run for their money. Then, off of a corner for Argentina, one of the Mexico defenders, in an attempt to knock the ball out of the area, instead connects with the back of the net. Mexico is left bewildered, and ultimately unable to score for the rest of the match. At the end of the regulation 90 minutes, the score stood at one apiece, and off we went to our first Extra Time in this World Cup. 8 minutes into the 1st half of Extra Time, Argentina, in what has to be the most beautiful, and also perhaps the most miraculous, goal of this entire tournament. Again, Mexico found itself dumbfounded, along with the rest of the world after such an amazing goal, and it never recovered. Final score, after Extra Time, 2-1. Argentina moves on, and Mexico packs its bags. Sunday, bright and early, England met with Ecuador in Stuttgart, Germany. This game was a little difficult to watch. Not only was the officiating terrible, but also, the weather was taking a very big toll on the players. Both teams were sweating heavily, and I think I even saw Beckham throwing up a little bit. Both teams were giving it their all, and in the end England, off an awesome free kick by Beckham (bending it like only he can!), put the Brits in the Quarter Finals. To find their opponent, we head to Nuremberg, Germany where Portugal faced off against Holland. This game, again, was evenly matched, the two teams playing their hardest. But, yet again, the officiating played a crucial role in this match, seeing 2 players leave on either side. In the end, Portugal found a hole through the Dutch defense, and ended the match with a final score of 1-0. Portugal meets with England next, and Holland watches safely from home. That brings us to today. First thing this morning, Italy took on Australia in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The Aussies, who were my pick to advance, met the Italian offense head on, and, although they were not on the same level in terms of skill, they managed to keep the Italians at bay. And talk about getting down to the wire, 30 seconds before the end of the regulation 90 minutes, the ref hallucinates and sees a foul within the box that wasn't there. The Italians, out of sheer luck, and a nicely executed penalty kick by Totti, advances to the Quarter Finals. G'day Aussies! Thanks for puttin' another shrimp on our barbie! The Italians now get to sit back and watch Switzerland vs. Ukraine straight from Cologne, Germany. I wasn't really expecting much from this game, other that thinking that the Ukraine would easily take out the Swiss. But what I was expecting to be a slow game...ended up being 10 time worse. It was long, boring, uneventful, and ultimately disappointing. Perhaps the most lackluster performance by both teams in any World Cup game thus far. (Or ever!) The only thing that made it worse is that it plowed through 90 minutes of regulation time PLUS 30 minutes of Extra Time, and straight into Penalty Shoot Outs. The Swiss were all over the place, except where they needed to be, which is on target. In the end, the Ukraine found the net 3 times, and won their ticket into the Quarter Finals, 3-0. So, at the end of this very eventful weekend of play, we see the Quarter Final match-ups starting to take form. One more day of Group of 16 play, followed by 2 days of rest for all teams involved. Quarter Final play kicks off on Friday morning. But we still have to get through tomorrow. Scheduled to play: Brazil vs. Ghana, and Spain vs. France. This should be good!