Raining Goals and Cards

This World Cup has seen some terrific action with a lot of amazing goals, wonder saves, and great attacking display but these have been soured by some dubious refereeing and a lot of avoidable yellow and red cards.

With the 2nd round almost over, we have not really seen any major upsets. Czech Republic crashing out in the group stage has been the only real upset. Australia progressing to the 2nd round was no real surprise considering the fact that Guus Hiddink was coaching the Socceroos.

The 2nd round started with a bang with hosts Germany beating Sweden with ease and Argentina beating Mexico with a Rodriguez wonder goal. England then struggled to beat Ecuador 1-0, thanks to a trademark freekick. Portugal overcame Holland 2-1 in a match that saw 4 red cards and equalled the world cup record of 16 yellow cards. I feel Holland could have done much better although it seems some sort of infighting still exists within the team.

Totti saves the day

10-men Italy should thank their lucky stars for their 95th minute winner from a dubious penalty scored by Totti. The referee made some glaring mistakes yet again as Matterazzi was harshly given a red card for a foul that warranted just a yellow.

The refereeing has been nothing short of woeful this World Cup with the referees dishing out cards like crazy. There is a danger of important players missing out on crucial matches. Deco is out of Portugal's clash against England and this may just tilt the balance in England's favor.

Deco sees Red

Some real funnies (Courtesy BBC):
Spanish newspapers are claiming soothsayer Nostradamus predicted Spain will win the 2006 World Cup.
Meanwhile, an Israeli biblical scholar claims that the Book of Numbers says that Argentina will win the World Cup 3-0.