World Cup, 6/18

Hey everyone. I wasn't feeling all that well on Saturday, so I didn't worry with the blog at all. I hit a birthday party at Pump It Up, which left me a little sore from the moving around. Then we hit Applebee's later in the day and I was struggling from that point forward. I'm just not ready to move around much right now. I can't believe it considering how fit I was one week ago!

Enough about me. I'm back now. All is well. Let's get caught up.

SATURDAY'S FIXTURES:
*Portugal def. Iran, 2-0: Iran looked pretty awful. Crisitiano Ronaldo, POR's enigmatic but talented midfielder, played the entire game without a meltdown. That's good news for his team, which has advanced to the knock-out round for the first time since 1966. Still not sure how good POR is right now. I'd rank em either 6 or 7.

*Ghana def. Czech Republic, 2-0: Great effort. Fun match. Czech looked so bad here, and played without much enthusiasm. Maybe I overrated them. Ghana lost its two goal-scorers for the upcoming match with the U.S. because of fouls. That's becoming a tournament theme.

*Italy and U.S., 1-1: Eh. Lots of analysis of this match out there. Not much I can add. I thought Eddie Pope's first yellow card was a joke. His second was legit. Pablo's red card seemed appropriate. He slid aggressively, late, and into the guy's plant foot. That'll draw a red in international play most of the time. USA still has a chance to advance, which is not very important. USA can't score right now. Advance to play Brasil? That's a payoff?
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SUNDAY'S FIXTURES:
*Japan and Croatia, 0-0: Saw only parts of this one. I was headed to church. Scoreless tie doesn't warrant a lof of commentary.

*Brasil def. Australia, 2-0: Adriano scored on a longer ball in the first half. It was fairly nice. Then Ronaldinho missed a second-half strike, only to see unknown Fred ease in for an easy deflection score. Watching Fred freak out after that goal was outstanding. What fun this game is!

Fred goes into full happy-meltdown mode against Australia.
(AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle)

*Korea and France, 1-1: Late goal by Ji-Sung Park, one of my Man U boys, gives Korea a draw they'll take without hesitation. France appeared to score a second goal when a strike hit the goalkeeper's hand about a foot beyond the goal line. The goal was disallowed. Korea was punchy and aggressive during the second half. That is a fun team to watch. Those are fun fans to hear. I'll be anticipating all of KOR's matches from this point forward.

Ji-Sung Park, bottom right, celebrates his equalizing goal against France on Sunday.
(AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz)

The KOR fans, my favorite of the tournament so far, get rowdy before the France match.
(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Also, I have to add, Zidane's yellow card in the 86th minute was a joke. That wasn't even a foul, much less an immediate yellow. Now he's out for France's final match of pool play, and that might be the final moment of his international career. Stupid officiating.

My overseas correspondent, Jeff Vinson of Cheltenham, England, says the BBC commentators observed that the French coach will be "vilified and castigated" by the French population tomorrow. Um, yeah, I bet that happens.
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UP NEXT (on Monday, all on ESPN2)
Togo v. Switzerland, 7:55 a.m.
Saudi Arabia v. Ukraine, 10:55 a.m.
Spain v. Tunisia, 1:55 p.m.