Czech Republic 0-2 Italy
I only watched the first-half here. The Czechs came out and played the better Football, but once Italy headed themselves into the lead it seemed as if we'd only have one winner. When Polak received his second yellow-card the Czechs had a mountain to climb to pull themselves back into the match. Inzaghi's 87th minute goal effectively ended this one as a contest.
After a 3-0 win against USA on the opening day, the Czechs were a good dark horse for the trophy.. now they're on their way home. Its a funny old game.
Ghana 2-1 USA
The talking point here will be Markus Merk's (secretly Ghanian) decision to give Ghana a penalty for .. ermm, nothing!?
This clearly handed the initiative to Ghana right after USA had equalised, and on the stroke of half-time as well. Merk won't be refereeing the Final if thats as good as his decisions are..
USA tried hard to get back into the match in the second-half. They had several opportunities to score, but those chances didn't fall right for them. Towards the end it seemed as though every Ghanian player who was 'fouled' (or should I say fell over) wouldn't get up due to 'injury'. One of them seemed to be genuinely hurt, but the rest.. pathetic.
USA out .. Ghana move on to be taught a Footballing lesson by Brazil.
Group E Final Table
1.
Italy. 7. +4.
2.
Ghana. 6. +1.
3.
Czech Rep. 3. -1.
4.
USA. 1. -4.
Croatia 2-2 Australia
What a match!!
IMO, this has been the best match of the World Cup so far.
So much drama, action, tension and excitement!
Croatia had a dream start by scoring from a free-kick with only 2 minutes played, but after that they decided the best plan of attack would be to sit back and defend. Australia had plenty of space to create chances with, but when the ball went into the penalty area they seemed to often come up against a Croatian wall. Viduka should have had a penalty early on when he was clearly rugby tackled to the ground, but Poll seemed to miss it!
As the half wore on it seemed more and more likely that Australia would score a goal, and they did! It came from the penalty spot after Stjepan Tomas's handball. Moore calmly converted to sent in the Ozzies level at half-time.
In the second-half Croatia started the better team. They had early chances and took the lead again on the 56th minute with a soft soft goal.. Kovac shot from about 20 yards out - a soft shot which should be saved easily - and the ball bounced right through the lumbering Kalac! WTH was he put into the starting line-up ahead of Schwarzer!?
The Australian assult started up soon after. Aloisi, Bresciano and Kennedy all came on to boost their attacking play. Pletikosa made a very good save on the 72nd minute as he jumped on and smothered the ball in an attempt to stop it crossing the line .. which he achieved, only just! Australia should have had another penalty as there was another handball in the penalty area by a Croatian player, but it was missed by all the officials. Not to worry for Australia though, as Harry Kewell cooly converted a flick-on in the 79th minute to send the Australian fans wild! However, this was when the crazyness began..
84th minute - Simic is sent-off for his second bookable offense, of which he can't have too much to complain about.
86th minute - 10 .v. 10!! Emerton received his second yellow card for a deliberate handball on the near touchline - he can't have any complaints.
Tudor was right through on goal with a few minutes 'Togo' .. he only had the keeper to beat!! .. but Australia survived this and a few more penalty area scrambles!! Fingernail biting time for the Ozzies.
90th minute - with Croatia looking desperate for a goal, Simunic was shown his second yellow card of the match.. so you would expect a red to follow!? ..right!?! Well, apparently in Graham Poll's magical world of refereeing, the third player to be shown 2 yellow cards must receive a third (which he did) before he can be sent-off.. and so as the Australians had the ball in the back of the net for the 3rd time (which was ruled out for something.. of no consequence now!) .. Poll showed a third yellow card to Simunic and sent him off, while also blowing for full-time, while receiving a pat on the head from Mark Viduka!!
Australia were the better side today and deserve 'Togo' through!
Japan 1-4 Brazil
I was glued to Croatia - Australia, and only saw highlights of this match! The Japanese took their goal well and probably deserved a half-time lead, but Ronaldo equalised for Brazil just before half-time. Juninho, Gilberto and Ronaldo all scored excellent goals in the second-half to give the World Champions a deserved win. Kawaguchi had such a good first-half with many world class saves, but he let his side down for the second goal.. The funniest quote of the World Cup came from the commentator after Ronaldo had scored his second -
"when you can shoot like that, you don't need to be able to move." 
With this kind of display it might be possible for Brazil to win the World Cup for a 6th time, but then again, they were only playing Japan.
Group F Final Tablel
1.
Brazil. 9. +6.
2.
Australia. 4. 0.
3.
Croatia. 2. -1.
4.
Japan. 1. -5.
2nd Round Monday 26th June
Australia .v. Italy (16:00)
Tuesday 27th June
Brazil .v. Ghana (16:00)
I can't watch then. *sighs*
