World Cup Day Twelve

So, what did we learn?

* Germany are, in fact, the class of Group A. No serious surprise there, I guess. Though you have to wonder how much Ecuador were trying; they looked like they had one foot on the plane, which is funny because they were already advancing. Maybe it was one foot on the plane to Stuttgart. But either way, they apparently didn't care about trying to avoid England. I guess when the biggest moment in your nation's football history prior to now was a 1-0 victory in the last World Cup after already having been eliminated, making the knockout stages is a deal enough in itself.

* Also, why would anyone want to avoid England, especially when they have a tendency to play down to their opposition and give up absolutely crap goals to blow leads? That 90th minute equalizer by Sweden was one of the most pathetic goals you'll ever see trickle into the net in your life. I can hardly wait to read Michael Davies' take on it, though there's the possibility he had a stroke when it happened and is currently in a coma.

* Hard luck losing Owen, although had he really done anything in the Finals so far? That's what happens when you're out of fitness; no doubt it's just as well Rooney didn't play the whole game. But England are looking a really safe bet to disappoint again. Right now I'd give decent odds that England meet Holland on July 1 in Gelsenkirchen, and you have to think the Dutch are playing a lot better right now. Certainly give them the edge in goalkeepers. It all spells early exit. England just don't seem to have enough offense to play with the best offensive teams out there, and I can't see them winning 1-0 games against the likes of Brazil or Argentina when they're prone to insane defensive breakdowns like today's.

Two days until the moment of truth for the US.

By the way, for those of you wondering what my sources were on the controversies list - because this is the New York Times of soccer blogs - I started with Wikipedia to get quick summaries of every Finals, and then found second, non-open-edit sources for most of them, mostly to confirm but occasionally to deepen as well. Other points of reference included the BBC and ESPN's coverage, which was where I heard about Wasserschlact, which the Wikipedia entry for the 1974 Finals actually doesn't even mention (the German one does, but the English one does not). But I think it's important to remember that the list is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as a basis for anyone's college thesis.