MM - 7:25 AM EST on ESPN

Woo Hoo! Another win by Spain! 3-2 against South Africa. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of this one.

Spain 3 - South Africa 2. Woo hoo! Spain and England are both through to the knock-outs (Spain looking decidedly superior). We are a happy household. However, Ireland will no longer be one of the teams we are supporting!

What will do USA today? They'll try to win? or they'll look for a 0-0 to avoid Italia?

USA did it

For me it seems incredible that a country with no soccer culture has created a good and competitive team, leaving Portugal, a great team, away from the next round.

I really hope Spain would win Ireland, though they are a tough team. It is a pitty that luck matched us with Ireland. I like it

It would be historical if we made to the quarter-finals. Four wons on a row...

Fernando

The best part of the next round is that France, Argentina, and Portugal get to watch it from the comfort of their own collective living rooms. :p :p Actually, Zidane will be watching from his suite at Le Club Hair pour L'Hommes.

Of course the other funny thing is that the US-Mexico match presents the following two possible outcomes: 1) Should the US win, someone on the Mexican team will probably be shot as they disembark in the D.F. airport since they will have "disgraced" the nation; or 2) should Mexico win, the American players will still disembark in anonymity at whatever airport they land at, and we in SoCal will get to watch all the locals with Mexican ties act like they won the war for Texas or something. At least there are five Spanish-language channels with which to see all of the rioting live.

A country with "no soccer culture" (you guessed it, the good ol' US of A) also doesn't run the risk of economic market failure, pandemic Japanese student beatings in the capital, or even shootings of national players should they lose. This seems to be a plus.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to a nice, subdued and safe sports celebration. The Lakers victory parade starts in about an hour-and-a-half.

CaliBasco [Who wants Spain to win it all, and for the US to beat Mexico just to watch their faces in defeat...]

Uh... ok.

If the EEUU continues to play like they did today they won't be around much longer... though it's good they squeaked through.

Okay, MM...that guy in the photo was sitting about 5 rows up from me! WHERE AM I????? And, how could you not have watched the match? Shame!

HEY!... What a first round!! Its one hour 'till the kick-off for round two, Germany-Paraguay. I've decided to stay up for this match, rather than awake at 0630 for UK-Denmarck. This way I'll catch a few hours ZZZ's before I'm due at the Cubs-White Sox baseball game (which for you non-Chicagoans, is just about as big as any world cup match!).

Spain, along with Brazil, looks to be the class of the tournament so far. But watch out for those Germans. And don't forget the Swedes (whom I've been backing since the begining). USA-Mexico is a match with A LOT riding on it. Thats a border war, with braggin' rites on the pitch. For CaliBasco's sake alone, USA needs a win. Then, a match with Espana in the semis...? Time surely will tell....

Kurt,

I agree about the Sox/Cubs cross-town rivalry. It's big time stuff. They could triple the price of tickets for those match ups and still fill the seats. Even though I've waited patiently for over fifty years as a Sox fan, I want to see a Sox-Cubs World Series. It would be a real barn burner... even if Mrs. O'Leary's cow doesn't come into play -

I think our (US) soccer team had better go ahead and make plans for their return trip home. About 8 AM ET on Monday, they should be able to board the plane - But then again, who knows? They did well against teams they shouldn't and badly against a team they should have played well against. Maybe they can "convince" the Mexican team to stop at Chi-Chi's for a nice Mexican dinner on Monday, a few hours before the game. That would increase our chances, since the Mexican sidelines would have to be lined with 20+ porta-potties -

I can just see the Mexican flags flying around LA. There's going to be shouts of, "Pancho Villa rides again!" (In Spanish of course) They may even demand we surrender California, New Mexico, and Arizona, along with Texas back to them... Gawd!

Wolf (Who will watch the game, waving a little 3" x 5" US flag in front of his TV, and boycott Mexican beer for a whole month if we don't beat them - )