World Cup Roundup Kuthathu

Kuthathu means "three" in Zulu, and that means it's time for the third installment of the LSF World Cup Roundup. We'll skip the Germans thrashing the Aussies (who I called out for changing to an easier qualifying division, and it showed) and get to some more recent group tests.

Netherlands v Denmark

Own goal! Own goal! Is Daniel Agger is marked man in Denmark, or is it Simon Poulsen. After a Dutch cross, Poulsen tried to head a ball clear, but it bounced off the back of Agger to get Netherlands on the board. My cousin Dan has the Orange winning the Cup. Is he a soccer smarty pants?

Japan v Cameroon

I knew Japan would be hot! Despite a ringing shot off the post by the 'Roons, the land of the Rising Sun came out on top thanks to a 36th minute close range strike by Honda-son.

Italy v Paraguay

Damn! I watched this entire match, and Paraguay was awesome. They defended the I-tals perfectly in the first half and came away with a brilliant header goal on a set piece from Alcaraz. It looked as though we were in for a huge shocker of a game, but in the 60 something minute De Rossi saved an entire country by earning a point against the big ups from Paraguay. 

New Zealand v Slovakia

How in the world did the All White Kiwis come away with a draw in this one? A crazy game tying goal well past the 90th minute (sorry, Karen), gave NZ the shocking tie game. Here you have the Slovaks celebrating their first World Cup goal in a tournament opening match, and then boom, all of New Zealand is going nuts because they snagged a point from the Slovaks. Good stuff.

Ivory Coast v Portugal

Um, Ronaldo, you're supposed to put the ball in the net. Not off the wood. The group of death had a nice start with a nil-nil draw between Drogba's Dealers and Ronal-do'hs (commercial reference!)  Rockers. I think the nicknames will stick. Drogba came in for the second half ad made little difference.

Brazil v People's Republic of Korea

I think we have to actually give a little love to Kim Jong-Il's North Korea squad here. It took 55 minutes for Brazil to break through the communist defensive block. Robinho made it 2-0 before the North Koreans halved the lead to make it look a lot better than it actually was. Despite that, I'm proud of the country that I'm supposed to hate, as an American. Bad me.

3 really good games tomorrow, my favorite being the host country against "Have it Uruguay." Love the cup.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē