World Cup Commentary #2:

The results are in for groups C and D!  The USA played a riveting match with Algeria.  Both teams missed opportunities to score, but the worst was a USA goal being disallowed by an errant offsides call.  That's two goals in two games taken off the scoreboard due to bad refs.  It would be outrageous except that the USA won the group anyway.  Think of that.  We lost two goals due to bad refs and still won the group.  USA is beyond doubt a great team this year.  In the 91th minute of the game, in added time, the USA pulled off a miracle goal that gave us the win.  Algeria had clearly given up on trying to advance out of the group stage and was content to just spitefully drag the USA down with them to a 0-0 tie.  Thank goodness the unsporting Algerians, who even hit Dempsey in the face and got away with it, didn't prevail in the end.

Meanwhile England finally showed it has some talent and defeated Slovenia for the second place bid.

As for Germany, their play was not very inspiring, especially compared to their match with Australia.  With typical German efficiency though, they did just enough to win their group and were content to stick with that.  Germany only allowed one goal in all three matches and that was while playing a man down.  They are clearly a dangerous opponent no matter how ugly it was for them to progress.  England will have their hands full playing against a soccer superpower like Germany.  Ghana, the team Germany disposed of, had their chances to score but blew them all.  Ghana so far hasn't scored a single goal save through penalty kicks.  They got through with a win, a tie, and a loss.  They didn't look like a very good team and I would be highly disappointed if the USA fell to competition like that.  The USA should crush Ghana and move on to the quarterfinals.  Anything less is a failure.

To keep up with whether the better teams are making it through the World Cup finals, let's compare FIFA rankings again:

Group C:
USA:  Fifa rank 14
England: Fifa rank 8
Slovenia: Fifa rank 25
Algeria: Fifa rank 30

Group C winner average:  11
Group C loser average:  27.5

Group D:
Germany: Fifa rank 6
Ghana: Fifa rank 32
Australia: Fifa rank 20
Serbia: Fifa rank 15

Group D winner average: 19
Group D loser average:  17.5

So again we end up with a mixed bag.  Sometimes the higher ranked teams are making it, sometimes the lower ranked teams are.  The big break here though is that Ghana should be a weaker opponent than any of the teams the USA has faced so far.  If we don't crush them it will be a disgrace.  It's not often the World Cup throws us such easy pitches, starting with a weak group and followed by a weak round of 16 competitor.

It should be obvious that Argentina will beat Mexico, and Uruguay will beat South Korea.  Both of those teams have looked completely dominant and both their opponents have been rather shaky.  Tomorrow we can find out about who proceeds, and who plays who, in groups E and F.