# 5 ...Bloody hell

- That italian guy's (what's his name ?) elbow on Mc Bride. This was probably the worst foul of the tournament. Deserved of a 4 match suspension. Pretty bloody stuff. It was also impactful as it affected that match and future Italy matches. Although the worst foul - it makes #5 and not #1 because the US couldn't capitalize and the Italians lifted the cup anyway.

#4....Hair pulling son of a...

- #4 was Crouch's hair pulling incident with Trinidad's Sancho. Seems insignificant, and wasn't even called. But arguably it gave England a goal in the dying 10mins of the game that probably would have ended in a goaless draw without it. This could have set up a situation for Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago to go through at the expense of England. An elimination in the group phase would have been an enormous upset for England.

#3...... Boys, boys

- Rooney's red card, foot stomp and push. Although its debateable whether Rooney could have made a difference against Portugal will never be known. But the fall out for Manchester United's Rooney/Ronaldo earns this #3

#2.....Is it or isn't it...to be or not to be...

- # 2 is a tied French affair. France's penalty against Portugal looked like a Henry dive..sort of  but it was enough to send them through. Tied is France's free kick against Brazil that scored them the winner.

#1......ohhh Zizou

- Could have Zidane worked his magic one more time and ended it in a stroke of brilliance before the end of extra time ? Could his penalty have made the difference in penalties.....we will never know.

The refs are doing a much better job now.

My theory ? Fifa wants the footballing powers to go to the quarters to produce 'EPIC' games:
Viz: Argentina, England, Brazil (who don't need much help), France, Italy, Holland etc.

These teams pull in the crowds and are the stuff of legend.

But when pit against each other, the ref becomes more fair. That's why Rooney was red carded ! If England were playing Trinidad say, Rooney would have gotten a yellow or no card at all. If you looked at the other games that Rooney played in you would note that his attitude and behaviour was essentially the same as before - he just wasn't disciplined.

Of course this is just a theory.

I agree you can't help a BLEEP poor side overcome Italy, England etc., but if the difference is small, a foul call or card makes a world of a difference. Would you dare say that if Rooney were still on the pitch that England would not have had a much better game against Portugal ?

Having said that , England's real outstanding qualities lie in 'dead balls' (enter - Beckham) and their great defense - Rio, John Terry (who I think is the real reason England made it this far) etal.

That brings me to BRAZIL.

My Theory ? The Brazilians are really from Krypton and can defeat any mere mortals. But the French discovered Kryptonite several years ago and carry it onto the field when they play Brazil.

The Kryptonite does not affect humans however and the Germans (who seem to have been bitten by radioactive spiders this year) if not the Portugese will end France's run. If not then France must be the luckiest team on the planet to always seem to perform best against Brazil. Zidane you ole fox. Nuff said........

23 minutes into the England / Ecuador match and already England is being favored ! Ecuador should have had a clear corner after Ria F put the ball out ...but no....goal kick.

I am pretty much a neutral - but hey fair is fair !

Seems these Refs have blinders on when the fouls come from the big boys .. we saw it when Mexico played Argentina, as well as when Trinidad & Tobago played England. We also saw it when the African sides played the 'established' powers.

Glaring example was Crouch holding Sancho's hair to score had 'no foul' but several players in other games got yellow and red cards for questionable fouls.

Rooney in this game is fouling badly, but no foul and no replay of his bad behavior. The English commentator says " Rooney's enthusiasm for the game..." . Go figure, that's a foul for the small boys.

Seems that the Big Teams have a 12th man on the field.......

There have been numerous articles about the sub-standard performance of several teams in the tournament. The roaring lions topping the list with the #5 ranked USA getting its fair share as well. Even the players and coaches chiming in. Owen said after the ####mp;T game that they would rise against 'better teams' - all respect to ####mp;T 'of course'. Bruce even offered that the Concacaf region was 'weak' - hence the poor showing ?

To quote ####mp;T's always entertaining but insightful coach - Football is not Mathematics ! Rankings don't guarantee performance. Preparation, talent, hard work and sound tactics do !

Perhaps, just perhaps could it be that the ####mp;T and Paraguay team were simply better prepared than expected. Could it be that ####mp;T had greater heart, spirit and motivation ? Could these things be the reasons ? If so, then its not that England is playing badly ! Its just that they are playing better prepared teams than they expected !

Playing a lack lustre Jamaican side and beating them 6-0 is not proper preparation (no matter how many robot dances you get to do).

In the end of the ####mp;T game, its clear that Crouch had to foul Sancho to get the go ahead.

As for the USA game. Clearly the Czech Republic is a fantastic team. Why not give credit where credit is due.

Looking at ####mp;T's preparation, 5 friendlies were played. And the last 3 were lost. But if you observe the strategy, ####mp;T played increasingly better and better teams, sometimes with experimental squads.

ICELAND - won by 2, Peru - 1-1 tie, Wales 2-1 loss, Slovenia 3-1 loss, Czech Republic 3-0 loss (note the same margin as the USA Team).

The difference between a science and an art is that science is reproduceable 100% of the time. Water will always boil at 100degress and freeze at 0.

In an art 1+1 is seldom = 2. Football is an art !