Yeah, the refs seemed to be going overboard with disallowing goals for the US. Seems like a lot of the referee decisions have been controversial in this Cup.

WOW, what an incredible turn of events for the United States. Earlier today, they were minutes away from being eliminated, and now they actually have a chance of making the SEMIFINALS.

The more goals scored tiebreaker for the US & England for top of the group has been a boon to the US and a great misfortune for England.

The United States now faces Ghana instead of the powerhouse Germany on Saturday, and if they win they will most likely face Uruguay, a rather strong team. However, England is stuck facing powerhouse Germany and if they win, they will most likely be stuck playing probably the best team in the tournament so far - Argentina.

NZ has its third group match tonight, so there will be lots of Kiwis staying up late to watch. I won't, but will hear the result in the morning - it's a long shot against Paraguay, but wouldn't it be amazing not to be beaten by them too!
We've done very well for such a low-rated team, just getting in was great, and to have drawn twice has put our team on the map.

Go the All-Whites! (who are playing in black tonight to distinguish between them and the red/white of Paraguay)

Congrats to New Zealand on their third tie of the tournament. You have earned the world's respect, certainly.

I tuned into the very end of the Italy v. Slovakia game because I saw that Slovakia was beating Italy 2-0 at the time and I expected an interesting end to the game. Boy was I right. Italy scored, then scored again, but it was off-side. Then Slovakia scored again (with a really cool goal off a throw-in), and then Italy scored again. Within the 20 minutes I watched, there were 3 goals scored! So, Italy are out. France are out. Are there usually so many upsets in this tournament?

Yay! Go New Zealand! We got our third tie (though admittedly nil all.) I don't think anyone expected them to do this well. Italy's going home, we're going home but only because Uruguay and Slovakia scored more than us. I'm very surprised both Italy and France got out. That Italy/Slovakia game sounded cool. I wonder who will win the Cup? Any guesses?

Aw... seems like this isn't everyone's favourite thread. Won't be mine in the next few minutes, unless England can win. (Doesn't seem likely since they're in a three goal deficit with like 15 mins to go.... )

COME ON ENGLAND!

EDIT: It's official. No point even staying to watch the 2 minutes of added time. England are out.

I really like the Netherlands, reckon i'm going to switch over, the seem pretty strong though everyone is rooting for Spain. I've not been a big fan of Spain, not after the Fabregas saga. Though I'm resigned to the fact that he will be leaving my beloved Arsenal for Barcelona.

You're right Aurora. Us Yanks seem to be avoiding this thread after our heartbreak. Well, we fought fairly and we fought well, but it just wasn't enough. Even though the USA plays great soccer in the second half, it's not enough to win in the World Cup. You have to play great soccer, all the time, not just when you're feeling pumped up for half the game.

This has been a huge World Cup for America. Sadly, we thought this might be our year--and in many ways it was. But we didn't go as far as we could have. It did, however, show America that our soccer team can compete on the World's Stage without being embarrassingly terrible. The team gained enormous viewership. Landon Donovon is actually kind of famous now! The team earned my fanship, I know that. At the beginning, I wasn't that excited about the US team, but I can surely say that I wanted them to succeed even more badly than I want Spain to succeed--which I couldn't really say at the beginning. They worked hard, performed well, scored goals when it counted.

Now I'll root for Spain, but not without bittersweet feelings about the US.

I'm sorry about England's loss Aurora. That match was my ancestry battling it out. It seemed Germany deserved it though. I'm not familiar with what you call the Fabregas Saga. What is it?

Haha yeah well I think it was to be expected. England were never really going to beat Germany, I mean it's Germany! But you know it's nice to hope! Haha yeah beat us 4-1. Ah, terrible defence but we had a disallowed goal.

Oh *that*! Well, Barcelona are a big shot Spanish club who *love* poaching players, along with Real Madrid, keeping them on benches, never letting them play and so the player's career goes down the shoot. Look at Henry, when he left Arsenal for Barcelona I don't think he played very much or Hleb when he left Arsenal for Real Madrid( I think) he sat on the bench and no one has heard head or tail from him since he left. So I pretty sure that is exactly what's going to happen to Fabregas when he goes to Barcelona. Thing is he's only 22/23 years old and in his prime! He isn't even in the first team for Spain so you can imagine him being like Hleb sitting on the bench.

The whole saga thing is that Fabregas has a contract at Arsenal until like 2014 or something, years away, and Barcelona have kept insisting 'We'll sign him before the World Cup' 'He'll be back in his home town before next season'. His home town is basically on the doorstep of Barcelona. So, everyone in Spain is like 'Come back home Fabregas' and I'm just like can't you wait. He's young, let him spend one more season at Arsenal, cos we are so so close to winning a trophy, then you can have him. He is young enough to still be wanted in the next few years. It's all very depressing as Arsenal haven't won a trophy in 5 years.

I'm getting the feeling i'm supporting teams that don't win matches or trophies!

You're right Aurora. Us Yanks seem to be avoiding this thread after our heartbreak.

I would have posted, but I was gone all yesterday and I had to go to church this morning. No time for moping about NarniaWeb.

But yes, the US lost. All the underdogs in the second round have lost so far except for Ghana. Darn it, why can't the United States win even when they're the favorites? xD

I'm happy for Africa, though. At least they have one team they can cheer on in the quarterfinals.

Were we the favorites Minotaur? I didn't know that.

Well, could this get any more exciting? I really doubt it.

I didn't watch the match, but the highlights from the Netherlands/Brazil game were awesome. I can't believe Brazil are out and the lovely Oranje go through!

And then I did watch the Ghana/Uruguay game and didn't expect much from it, but then WOW! The last play of the game (in over time), Ghana try not once, not twice, but three times to put the ball in the net as it bounces around the box and Luis Suarez ends up hitting it out of the goal with his hand, robbing Ghana of a win on the spot. He gets a red card, is ejected from the game, and Ghana gets a penalty, which the guy misses and the game goes into a shootout. Whew!

And then in the shootout, Uruguay, with all the class and cool possible, rob Ghana of their win and win the shootout to move on. You couldn't write a game that exciting.

Oh my goodness, the Brazil/Netherlands game was insane. My whole office was cheering because we were all voting for the underdog (since we were tired of Brazil winning, lol). None of us actually expected Netherlands to win!!!

I wasn't able to watch the Ghana/Uruguay game. Sounds like it was crazy though...I need to watch replays of it!

I'm currently watching Germany/Argentina. Deutschland für!! Germany's first goal was beautiful... but there are still more than 30 minutes to go, so nothing is won yet. After France and the US, if Germany gets eliminated I won't know who to root for anymore!

ETA: Germany just scored another goal! They scored the same way Argentina almost scored... and yet it worked for them (though I don't know enough about soccer to really understand why )

ETA 2: wow, this match was incredible. I thought it would be a close one but Germany was awesome. Yay Germany!! And go Spain later tonight!
Oh, and how come the UK doesn't have a team? How come it's England playing and not the UK as a whole? I always thought people said England simply because non-British people often say "England" when they mean "UK," but my brother just told me that every region (are they called regions?) in the UK had its own team?

How come it's England playing and not the UK as a whole? I always thought people said England simply because non-British people often say "England" when they mean "UK," but my brother just told me that every region (are they called regions?) in the UK had its own team?

I guess the answer is that the United Kingdom is not so united after all. I'm not a Brit, so a inhabitant of that lovely isle will know better than I, but my guess is that the regions are still fiercely loyal to their own region and wish to play separately.

You're right! Germany's game was wonderful! I don't like Spain's chances at all. They really struggled today and with Torres not scoring, I have little faith in them winning. It will be a huge surprise if Germany don't win the whole thing. I personally think that the final should have been Spain v. Germany, because I think they're both better than the Netherlands (though the Oranje are really quite good). But you can't choose your draw, so oh well.

Yeah...I'm rooting for Spain, but I have a feeling that Germany will take home the cup.

Well, I am rooting for Germany since I have German blood in me!