World Cup Day Eight

England bore their way to a draw

Showing no creativity, no ideas, and no hope of figuring in the later stages of this tournament, England drew 0-0 with Algeria, a team that Republic of Ireland beat 3-0 just a few weeks ago in a friendly. I would mention some goalmouth action if I could remember a single exciting moment. But I can't. David James started in goal ahead of butterfingers Green. Erm...their fans booed at the end.

On ESPN:

Steve McManaman: When they play in the jerseys of Man United, or Chelsea, they are stars. But when they put on the White jersey, not so good.

Alexei Lalas: How about this? They're just not that good. They are big names, big stars, get paid lots of money, are very famous. But they are just not that good.

USA robbed by ref after dramatic comeback

USA came from two behind to snatch a 2-2 draw with Slovenia, and should have won it, but had a goal disallowed in the closing stages for no apparent reason. Landon Donavan smashed a brilliant shot into the roof of the net from a seemingly impossible angle to start the recovery, and then the coach's son Michael Bradley did well to keep his shot down when scoring the second. A really exciting game though, and one that's sure to boost interest in the World Cup here (Americans love feeling a sense of injustice, don't they? Watch them moan justifiably about that disallowed goal)

Germans shocked by Serbia

Having thrashed the Australians 4-0 Germany shot up the favourites ladder, but they've been knocked right back down again by a 1-0 defeat to Serbia. Milan Jovanavic scored the winner in the first half - but the other key moment was a red-card for Miroslav Klose (two yellows in just 36 minutes) which left the Germans chasing the game with 10-men. It's not like they didn't have their chance - Lukas Podolski admits he feels like an idiot after missing a second half penalty. So now Spain, France, and now Germany have all lost games in the tournament so far. It's getting interesting.