Crystal Shards

I'm hoping Germany, the US, and England go through. Who knows how likely it is, but I'd like to see a clash between Germany and either of those teams.

France's internal drama showed on the field. I really didn't expect South Africa or Nigeria to get out of the group stages, though I had more hope for Nigeria than South Africa.

I bet he won't miss another this World Cup, lol. Not after that.

Nah but I'm sure the media won't be too kind, if the games are even reported. For all we know, the North Koreans don't even know there is a World Cup, or that their team qualified. The Spain-Honduras game wasn't bad. I lol'd when they missed the penalty though. Can't bitch about Podolski anymore.

It was a curbstomp, sure, but it's North Korea. I wasn't really all that impressed with it. Had they curbstomped a team that is known for playing well, then okay. I did feel really bad for the North Koreans though. I bet they were happy when the final whistle blew.

Kaka's second yellow wasn't even close to being deserved. I haven't really been all that impressed with the Netherlands. They're playing well, but they're not exactly shining through all the dredge or anything. I have to say I haven't been all that impressed with this World Cup so far, but I honestly think that's because the refs are taking up most of the spotlight. It's like they think these people traveled all that way to watch THEM and not the players.

I think it's because the team is so old. It's not necessarily that they're washed out, but well... they're kind of washed out.

Denmark played better than Cameroon. Is anyone else tired of these refs already? I mean where did FIFA get them?

Apparently holding two or more players negates a goal.

They totally stole a goal from the USA. Bradley scored despite two Slovenians holding on two USA players... and we fouled? What?

This ref is fucking terrible. Klose just got carded twice and sent off for the two most innocuous fouls ever made. 6+ cards in the first half, mostly bullshit calls. Mostly against German players. And then when Serbia scored they jumped into the crowd area. Should have been an immediate card. Did they get carded? Of course not.

What the hell happened to France? They have excellent players... Why didn't they play as a team?

It sucks that he got carded, but it was the right call (in regards to Khune). As for Kaita of Nigeria... His action was totally uncalled for. I can't watch the video. It won't load. But I don't remember him being offsides when the British were showing the clip over and over again.

That Nigerian player is an idiot.

According to my boyfriend Switzerland has gone 490 WC minutes without giving up a goal. They were knocked out by Ukraine last time in penalties. I don't think Spain has as big of a shot as everyone says they do. AND WTF WITH THIS GAME URUGUAY VS. SOUTH AFRICA?

Honestly I think the ball complaints are overstated and a bit of a cop out. I'm sure it's way harder on the goalkeepers than it is on the strikers. Not to say it's not hard on the strikers to have such a smooth ball but I mean... I dunno. I kind of feel like a lot of people are using it as an excuse.

The only teams that have impressed me so far are Germany, Nigeria, and Korea Republic, and to a lesser extent the USA. Everyone else just seems like they're playing not to lose.

A big congratulations to North Korea. I was hoping for a tie at the very least simply because it'd mix things up but realistically speaking I was thinking it'd be more along the lines of Germany-Australia. Good on them, despite the fact Brazil wasn't up to their own standards.

This. The Italians are... ugh. Over here we like to call them the Italian Diving Team (others like to call them the Italian Bribing Team).

YEAH FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH GO PARAGUAY DOWN WITH ITALYYYYYY

'USA beats England 1-1' However I'm not finding it on their site. Honestly I think the whole "winning" thing is that it was more than a game. Like we won more than just a draw. If that makes sense.

I agree with the BBC's and Skyspot's portrayal of things, but I may be biased because I'm not a fan of Schweinsteiger. It was clumsy, and deserved a yellow, but to me a red card is malicious or incredibly, incredibly stupid. The foul was neither. But that's just me.

Yeah I know FIFA's rules > papers but oftentimes the papers give interesting viewpoints on whether FIFA's rules were enforced properly. And yeah, I mean Australia seems to have been doomed before they even walked on the pitch and they were already down several points, so it wasn't like it broke them.

Oh, I thought Mueller was the replacement since he got the number. I thought he did alright but needs a little more control when it comes to approaching the goal. Honestly that didn't look like a red to me, at least from the angles I saw. That looked like a yellow tops. But I guess we'll see what the papers say on that. I know Inter played better. BM sucked that game. Hence me being worried. I agree on Ozil but I dunno that I'd say Mueller was the gamebreaker.

It was me, because of the way Bayern Munich played against Inter Milan (most of the German team comes from BM), but after witnessing that... Mueller (Ballack's replacement) I think did okay for an opening match. I mean he's got huge shoes to fill. But now the coaches should know where they need to direct him so that he can... well... be better. Lahm did a good job as captain. But what the fuck was up with that red card? I was watching German TV and even we were like, um... What?