Germany defeated, while England and US draw on day of surprises

Today's matches continued the pattern of surprising results which began with yesterday's defeat of spain. Germany was surprised 1-0 by Serbia. England drew 0-0 with Algeria and the US was almost beaten by Slovenia. The World Cup is becoming more even. Though you would not bet against them, Spain, Germany and England all face real possibilities of not qualifying.

in their match with Serbia, Germany showed that their route of Australia probably had more to do with Australia's weakness than German efficiency.

Down 2-0 at the half, the US should have lost to Slovenia. But for some reason, the Slovenians abandonded their cautious defensive game to seek more goals and would have allowed the US to walk away with the win had the referee not disallowed a winning US goal on a phantom foul.

An entrepeneur could likely have made a quick shilling or two selling paper bags painted with St. George's cross for the English fans to put over their faces. England seemed unable the simplest techniques. England's players, particularly, Wayne Rooney seem unable to control the ball with any certainty. England are perhaps worse than other teams with the ball because of the amazing sponsorship agreement which the English FA signed with UMBRO which prevented them practicing with the new Adidas Jabulani Ball

As a long suffering England fan, I'm confident that despite the ball, and having to play a confident and difficult Slovenian team, will get past the group stage. The team has not yet inflicted its quota of misery on its fans. No World Cup is complete without the sight of an English player missing the goal on penalty kick and the opposition celebrating.