There is no doubt what the media over here will be focusing on in the papers tomorrow however there was 2 other games played today, one was a cracker and the other a shock result, really glad the World Cup has picked up the 2 ^nd stage of games have been really exciting.

MY THOUGHTS:

Lots of expectations on the German team today, after the impressive 4-0 win over Australia and the Serbian team had lots of questions against them after a poor performance against Ghana, so everyone could only foresee one result, and of course as this World Cup proved, things don’t always go according to plan, Germany were in control until Klose picked up his second yellow card, he was sent off and soon after Serbia hit on the break and scored, apart from the Penalty that Podolski scored Germany never really troubled the Serbians and the number of people backing Deutschland will have decreased rapidly.

Milos Krasic had a great game for Serbia, much like the player being tracked by Juventus and Man City, charging down the right-wing putting in dangerous crosses and he was just a constant threat to Babstuber and the German defence, Jovanovic was busy on the left and always showing a desire to get into the box, Zigic was disappointing, apart from the knock-down for the goal he did nothing, and showed no desire to go after the ball. Subotic and Vidic were pretty solid all of the game, apart from Vidic’s crazy moment when he raised his hands and touched the ball.

Serbia showed signs of life but they were more content in stopping Germany play than actually going on to dominate the game themselves, however unless Australia improve Serbia could have 6 points and no display of great football, worrying times for football.

The Germans started pretty well, the passing and moving was there, Ozil the conductor, with Muller and Podolski on the wings, but when Klose got sent off there was no spearhead to finish off the attack, I thought Muller worked really hard today, he never stopped running on the right wing, and tried as much as he can to bring Germany back level, he showed good pace and skill, but lacked support.

Apart from losing the game the one disappointing part for Germany was when Marin and Cacau came on, they added nothing to the German team, for the 20 minutes they were on no chances were created, this will worry Low and the German fans.

MY THOUGHTS:

What a game this was, probably the game of the tournament so far a talented Slovenian team that had a fantastic start but then spirit and commitment of the American team provided a great comeback and possibly deserved the victory which was stolen away by a poor referee decision.

Was impressed with Slovenia’s start much better than the game against Algeria, Ljubijankic caused trouble from the start not just in the air but his pace got in behind the US backline, Robert Koren had a very quiet match and it was up to Valter Birsa to step up to the plate, received the ball in the middle of the pitch turned it onto his left foot and curled a beautiful ball past Howard in net, a lovely goal and a great way to kick off the game, and they finished the half off superbly Novakovic slipped a ball through to Ljubijankic and he coolly placed the ball past Howard, Slovenia were on place to Qualify to the last 16, but the USA weren’t quite beat yet.

Bradley made 2 changes at half time bringing on Edu and Feilhaber and they couldn’t have gotten off to a better start with Donovan pushed upfront he latched onto the ball and raced toward the Slovenian goal and he smashed the ball past Handanovic, Donovan played much better on the frontline giving him more chance to be effective on the ball and caused more damage.

Coach Bradley’s son Michael played fantastically well, he was the driving force behind the US comeback and he got his deserved goal, charging forward from midfield and poking Altidore’s knock down past Handanovic, Altidore was a thorn in the Slovenians side, winning a lot of knockdowns, sometimes not using his power and speed as well as he could, but his aerial presence cause problems all game.

Now the US has to beat Algeria to have any chance of reaching the last 16, we know they can score goals but I have question marks over if they can keep a clean sheet.

MY THOUGHTS:

I’m going to start this the way most newspapers won’t Algeria impressed me tonight, great passing and moving a calm and controlled feeling to their game, if only they had a striker that could produce a great run or clinical finish.

Bougherra, Yahia and Halliche were imperial at the back any time an England player took a bad touch they were on it in a flash and stopped Rooney and co have any loose balls to punish them, Ryad Boudebouz was a surprise starter and the Sochaux midfielder played very well, his skill and ability shone through, first touch was brilliant and looks to have so much potential, Ziani and Belhadj ran themselves to the ground, Ziani was superb and was a shame he had to come off with an injury, apart from all Belhadj’s running it was a shame he couldn’t put a decent cross in.

After this performance Algeria will give USA a great game on Wednesday, and who knows a win and some goals could pull off a miracle and a place in the last 16.

A truly awful performance from England, not one player to pick out for a positive reason, no passion, no desire, no work ethic, one of the worst performances for heart and desire I’ve ever watched for an England team, I am the first person who wants them to fail, but usually they go down with a fight, Rooney one of the so called “best players in the world” was terrible, his first touch was garbage all game, never linking up with any of his teammates, Gerrard was asked to play on the left but he was continually found in the middle even on the right, leaving too much space on the opposite, I can’t believe England can play that bad again, and would expect them to play better on Wednesday.

Fabio Capello will receive lots of stick in the forthcoming days about his player selection, his tactics also his methods, I think Englands performances are to blame for part of the performance, but the players have to be to blame, Rooney’s attitude after the game was awful, those fans paid lots of money to travel to Cape Town etc to watch their team play and to have an attitude against them for voicing their concerns, Rooney should be ashamed of himself and should issue an apology, lots of things will have to change before Wednesday.