World Cup Soccer: Paraguay 0 Spain 1

The only good thing about this game is that this is the score I predicted in Fantasy. One of the strangest games ever, with numerous poor and inconsistent decisions. The referee should have been the "man of the match" because his erratic performance eclipsed everyone else.

Still, Villa's goal, scored off both posts, was superb.

World Cup Soccer: Germany 4 Argentina 0

My Argentine friend tells me that this game showed that Maradona is a player, not a coach. I think that this stage of the finals showed that Europe has the money to spend on their national teams, and that the money tells.

Germany is a superb team. Although I'll be rooting for Spain and then Holland, I expect Germany to win this World Cup.

One note of caution -- although Argentina did not score on Germany's goalie, he did not impress.

World Cup Soccer: Holland 2 Brazil 1

Finally, a game whose result I accept. A brilliant game puts Holland through to the final, where they are likely to face Germany but might face Spain. This is the game that got Dunga fired -- but taking the joy out of Brazilian soccer is a far greater crime than an "early" exit from the World Cup.

World Cup Soccer: Uruguay-Ghana Penalties

The game was played by the rules, and Uruguay's performance got them through to the next round, but with Suarez on a red card, and after playing the extra 30 minutes, Uruguay appear even more likely to lose their next game.

World Cup Soccer: Germany 4 England 1

England were clearly missing Rio Ferdinand. Also, as a fan of Liverpool, I can say that Crouch, Heskey, and David James have no place on England's national team.

That said, the Germans played a superb game -- a game that should have been tied 2-2 but for yet another terrible refereeing decision made possible by corrupt FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Love the game, boycott FIFA. Blatter must go.

World Cup Soccer: Argentina 3 Mexico 1

Mexican press rightly angry about the first and most important goal, which was clearly offsides, but Argentina played an excellent game.

World Cup Soccer: USA 1 Ghana 2

Heartbreaking -- but Ghana were the better team. The USA has a great goalie in Howard and a top striker in Donovan, but we need to complete the team. Fielhaber was excellent. Would have liked to have seen Buddle -- especially once it became clear that the younger Ghanaian team were running circles around the US.

World Cup Soccer: Uruguay 2 South Korea 1

South Korea played nervous and timid at times, and the first goal was due to atrocious defending, but Uruguay have a very strong team with two astonishingly talented goal scorers up front. With Suarez' 2 goals in this one, Uruguay is the only team with 2 different players to score 2 or more in different games. (Portugal did score 7 goals in one game but also played two 0-0 ties in the first round.)

The awful condition of the pitch was really the star of the game, but a slippery ball could have led to more goals.

World Cup Soccer Statistics: Goals by League in Group Stage

So far, the leagues whose players have scored the most goals in the World Cup -- as of the end of the group stage -- are:

Spain: 20
England: 14
Italy: 9
Germany: 8
Netherlands: 6

All multi-goal scorers are from Spain except for Slovakia's Vittek, who plays in Turkey.

The players who play in Spain and have scored more than one goal in a game are Higuain (Argentina / Real Madrid), Forlan (Uruguay / Athletico Madrid), Fabiano (Brazil / Sevilla), Tiago (Portugal / Athletico Madrid), and of course David Villa (Spain / Valencia). The Spanish league clearly has more than two teams in it -- and while one Real player is on this list, none from Barca are on it -- yet.

This shows that Britain and Spain derive their strength from having a real contest and from importing high quality players.

The Italian national team, unusually, featured players who all play in their home country. The only other teams that also feature players in their home league are Germany, England, and Spain. Going only by this goal count, I think things look good for England and Spain.

World Cup Soccer: Spain 2 Chile 1

A surprising game that could have gone either way. Torres is not up to his tournament winning form and should be rested next match. I hope they do so. David Villa can handle the load.

In the Honduras vs. Defensive Switzerland game, Honduras had a few chances and could have won but go out with pride, eliminating a European team that beat Spain, and proving that they deserved to be at the World Cup (many thought Costa Rica a better team).

World Cup Soccer: Brazil 0 Portugal 0

I would say that this was a cynical draw -- except for the 8 yellow cards that the two teams accumulated. Those yellow cards could hurt them later.

Cote D'Ivoire went out in style, but should have tried to get more goals. The entire tournament would have been different had Drogba not broken his arm just a few weeks ago.

World Cup Soccer: JPN 3 DEN 1

I expected this game to be won by Danish-style total football with midfield domination, lots of goals, and every player playing a full 90 minute marathon of movement and it was -- but it was the Japanese playing total football. Paraguay, watch out! Ref was bad, slightly below the very low refereeing standards set at this world cup, but not the worst.

In the other match, Holland cruised to a win against a good Cameroon side who scored only from the penalty box.

World Cup Soccer: NZ 0 PAR 0 (SLV 3 ITA 2)

I had been hoping for NZ to score 1 goal in a wide open match, but that did not happen.

Meanwhile, the Italians showed that they never deserved the last World Cup (they should have been eliminated by Australia).

The 2006 World Cup was rigged in Italy's favor but results in this World Cup show that the top 3 European leagues are ENG, GER, and, at the top, SPAIN. FRA, ITA, and Holland are in the second tier. I will update these stats when the opening round is complete.

World Cup Soccer: Australia 2 Serbia 1

Australia have now been cheated out of 2 World Cups, with 2 red cards in 3 games in South Africa and 11 yellow cards in 4 in Germany 2006. They were eliminated by a penalty kick in Germany in 2006 and effectively by the red cards and a penalty kick in 2010.

World Cup Soccer Red Card: USA 1 Algeria 0

Donovan's game winner in the 91st minute was one of the best in the history of US soccer, but this game shows yet again that FIFA must install instant replay and position an extra official behind each goal. The USA should have won by 2.

World Cup Soccer: Nigeria 2 South Korea 2

The Africans came into the match with a poor understanding of the referee, but both teams played a good, clean, and entertaining game.

World Cup Soccer: South Africa 2 France 1

South Africa needed to win by four goals to advance, but at least salvaged their pride. The same cannot be said for France.

World Cup Soccer: Spain 2 Honduras 0

Perhaps Torres should still be recovering from his knee injury. Great chances but no goals for him. Great play by Spain.

World Cup Soccer: Portugal 7 N Korea 0

Great game for Portugal. North Korea will play hard in their final game, which is against CIV, who will try to score 7 goals against them.

A quick word about corner kicks

When taking corner kicks, especially with a soccer ball that is difficult for Caltech to understand, place one player on the far side, just in case the ball travels too far.

So far, I've only seen Japan do this.