Best One, Worst One - Day 8 Round-Up

Well, that was a day and a half!

We began at lunchtime with Germany vs. Serbia, and that was some game... We began with what looked like a very strong German team, and quite a weak Serbian team. The Serbians were naturally defensive, and Germans attacking (no WWII accusations intended...), and that looked to be how it would go. But it was completely different, and Milan Jovanovic put the ball in the German net in the 33rd minute. Miroslav Klose then got himself a second yellow for a stupid tackle, and Germany had to finish the game with 10 men. Plenty of woodwork hitting then went on, and when Nemanja Vidic conceded a penalty, things looked to become equal again. Lukas Podolski then missed the penalty, and the game finished as we were, at 1-0. If you want to see the highlights, click here.

The next game was Slovenia vs. USA, and it just got better. Best game of the tournament so far. Slovenia took the lead in the 13th minute with an absolute belter from Valter Birsa, and then Zlatan Ljubijankic made it 2-0. Half time obviously went well for the USA, and Landon Donovan pulled one back through rocketing the ball into the roof of the net, and then, with 10 minutes to go, Michael Bradley, scores the decisive goal. Maurice Edu then had a goal disallowed, wrongly, and they were rightfully annoyed. Still, the ref was a bit trigger happy with his cards, and a couple of the players will miss the next game. If you want the highlights, they are found here.

Our final game today was England vs. Algeria. By a living mile, the worst game I've seen of the tournament. England just lacked absolutely everything - no attacking power, no decent tackles, nothing. It was just so so poor. David James hardly had to make a save, so it wasn't like Algeria were all over us, but there was no-one to take charge - Gerrard was abysmal, and even Rooney was poor. Waz summed it up with this - 'Nice to see your home fans booing you'. It leaves every team in Group C on 2 points, so everything is to play for next Wednesday. If you want to watch what very few highlights there were, click here.