Schade, nur acht (The aftermath of the Round of 16, Part 1)

Will the German side just continue to get better until they cap it all off by adding another World Cup title to their rich football history? They postively punished the Swedes, seemingly able to carve out the Swedish defense at will. Their runs culminated in resounding THUDs against the Swedish keeper Isaksson. 26 shots! The Swedes made a good run in getting into the second round but a missed PK by Larsson and a rolling German squad brought their run to an end.

Mexico played the match they needed to play against Argentina (aggressive, direct football) but unfortunately they didn't get the result that they needed in falling 2-1 to Argentina. Certainly Borgetti must wish he had a couple retries at shots that sailed just wide of the post. And perhaps the referee wishes he could reconsider the obvious foul Heinze committed when Fonseca caught him napping on a goal kick and Heinze was forced to purposely foul him on the way to goal and escaped with a yellow card. But there is nothing Mexico has to be shamed about in this game; they took one of the tournament favorites to the limit and beyond. Argentina advances and looks to be in quite good form although Mexico did make them look vulnerable on occasion. Argentina starts to look deadly when they get in the goal area so the threat of a fast paced counterattack from their opponent may be just the thing to keep the Argentina strikers from crashing the goal box and causing trouble for the defense.

The leaky boat that is England sails onward. It wasn't pretty, but it counts. All the ails that have been there throughout the tournament persisted in England's 1-0 win over Ecuador...Beckham ghosting on all but a few (admittedly important) set pieces, Lampard blasting souveniers into the stands, Rooney playing with spirit but still searching for that first goal, a brilliant defensive play (this time from Ashley Cole) the only thing separating England from trouble and, this time, Eriksson not even bothering to bring Crouch on the field. Luckily the defense has been solid and kept England in the game. England has been fortunate, in a way, they haven't faced any of the tournament heavyweights thus far. At some point England will need to score goals on a running play. Will they rise up to the task?

Portugal won a bruiser against a stubborn side from the Netherlands in what degenerated into the sloppiest and most foul-heavy game of the tournament. Both sides had numerous chances to convert but couldn't find the net. Even more frustrating for NED is that they had the better chances but couldn't convert. Oddly enough, Van Nistelroij didn't see any playing time, which should provide plently of topics of conversation among Dutch fans as their team is now forced to watch on the sidelines like everyone else. Portugal should certainly celebrate their advancement but they must also be concerned about the fact that Deco and Costinha will be unavailable for the next game after the red and yellow were flying in the most "colorful" World Cup game in tournament history. Many other players on the Portugese side will step onto the pitch with a yellow card and have to be concerned with acquiring another and, should the Portugese advance, missing the next game. Portugal will need to create more chances if they want to move further in this tournament.