Ghana fought harder for loose balls the entire game. Ghana's keeper Kingson played up to Howard's level, arguably surpassing him in terms of confidence and decisiveness -- think about some of those plays off corners and free kicks where he came off his line and punched it away (the most memorable being him punching the ball away before it came to Howard's head late). Ghana's second goal was improbably excellent on a couple levels, starting with the long-bomb pass and culminating in the in-the-air finish that went past a delayed flail from Howard, who wasn't expecting it. I struggle to think of a claim the USA could have to deserving to get to a shootout. Both teams were inconsistent. Both teams made bone-headed plays, had communication breakdowns on defense, and were poor at developing plays in the final third. But Ghana had a few flashes of brilliance, occasionally rising to the moment in a way that eluded the US. This was a good run for the US - they drew England, won their group, and had the two most clutch performances in the group stage. Most days, they might be better than Ghana, but not this day. And really, until they resolve their slow start to halves, they can only expect to overcome so many deficits in a row. The US led opponents for about 2 minutes the entire World Cup, and we need to bump that number up a smidge if we're going to threaten to crash the late rounds. Uruguay, meanwhile, advanced despite throwing away the first twenty minutes of the second half. After not having given up a goal the entire tournament, they seemed certain that their first strike would put them through. Instead, South Korea scored yet another goal off a set play, and Uruguay had to push forward again. That suited Suarez just fine, who bent a ball at an impossible angle, especially in the rain, to put Uruguay through. The consensus seems to be that South Korea out-played them, but other than that stretch to start the 2nd, I felt Uruguay were more dangerous. Certainly the Forlan-Suarez combo has lived up to its billing. Wonder who will be paying Ajax for Suarez, and what they'll have to pay to nab him? Uruguay should beat Ghana, and they are a true dark horse to reach the final. But let's open this up to USA discussion as we eulogize their World Cup -- 1) What went wrong today? 2) What does the USA have to do to take the team to the next level? 3) Do you think this run will leave any lasting impact on US sports fan culture?

When you need 2 and play to score 0, you might be Greece. What was Greece thinking? What was their grand plan to get through? Samaras had maybe two decent opportunities, one due to Argentina's Dimichelis whiffing on a slide, but that was it. A draw would've been as helpful as a loss, yet the Greeks looked set to play for 0-0 from the start of their game against the Leo Messi All-Stars. Shameful. To top it all off, they still coughed up 2 goals to Argentina, one rocket off the head of Demichelis, another off the foot of Palermo. And Messi himself came close a few times but still couldn't get his first of the tourney. The South Korea-Nigeria game was memorable for two second-half errors. The first came courtesy of Yakubu, who had the ball about 2 yards from goal, perfectly still, with the keeper entirely out of the picture. Missing a penalty wide left is embarrassing, but doing the same with the Oxford English definition of a sitter is humiliating. Yakubu did precisely that before being given a reprieve via a stupid leg assault in the box by South Korea. Yakubu stepped up and redeemed himself with a clinical penalty that sent the keeper the wrong way. But it wasn't enough to prevent Nigeria's demise, and the 2-2 draw sent South Korea through to the round of 16. It'll be Uruguay v South Korea and Mexico v Argentina in a few days. Both favorites will like their chances.

I am THIS MANY TIMES better than you. Messi was pulling the strings today, eh? With the South Koreans mounting multiple confidence-building challenges in the second half, it was Messi who squashed the upset. At 2-1 in the 77th, he slalomed into the box and fired at a sharp angle from the left. South Korean GK Jung Sung-ryong made a brilliant kick-save, but it fell right back at Messi's feet. He fired again, and this time it bounced off the post and into the feet of Higuan (who was a touch offside) about a yard from the sticks. He slotted it home. A few minutes later, Messi floated a tall ball over a wall of South Korean defenders to sub Sergio Aguero, who did his best to copy the move as he floated it across to Higuain on the right for a confident header, a hat trick, and a 4-1 finish. Higuain's first goal was also the result of great passing, coming off the head of Maxi Rodriguez to the head of Walter Samuel replacement Nicolas Burdisso, who sent it to Higuan's dome for what seemed at the time a suffocating 2-0 lead. Strikers are on the field to finish, and Higuain did that today. You won't find many people collecting hat tricks in the World Cup who don't deserve them, and I am not here to suggest Higuain is a fraud. But it's worth mentioning that there are a lot of players in the world who would love to spend their club days with Kaka, Alonso, and Ronaldo (okay maybe not Ronaldo) and then suit up for country with Messi, Tevez, and Aguero. Higuain puts himself in the right place to benefit from the creativity of others; that's his job. But he also left a lot on the table today, enough that I'm wondering how much better than "pretty good" he really is. There were whiffed (and unnecessary) bicycles, unmarked shots skied high, and a feeling that, unless he was point-blank, you weren't gonna get much out of him. Again, he's a very fine striker. But I wouldn't even call him the man of this match; that was Messi. Messi not only created most of Higuain's chances, he drew so much attention with his moves forward that he even created the space for Higuain to operate. One piece of advice for the hobbit-esque Maradona: when you get a 2 (much less a 3) goal lead late, rest the best, most energetic player in the world, mmmmmkay? Not only does he need to conserve energy, some teams won't be as gentlemanly as South Korea was and Messi could become a target. Speaking of South Korea, they put in a very good effort today, certainly better than the scoreline showed. There were at least 2 great chances to tie it, one when striker Yeom Ki-hun rumbled forward with the ball and pulled Romero toward him. A shot across the face might've gone in, but Ki-hun went for a same-side shot and fired into the side-netting. Later, Argentina's keeper Romero came out for a ball and misjudged it. The South Koreans nearly beat him to the spot, and if they had, it would've been an open goal for the equalizer. There was a bad own-goal to open play, but the biggest gaffe of the game belonged to Argentina CB Martin Demichelis. Seconds before half, he turned his back with the ball and South Korea's Park Chung-yong swiped it from his feet and shot his team back into the game. This came on the heels of the injury to Walter Samuel, Argentina's rock at the back. A brutal mistake, a crucial injury... and now Maradona's decision to exclude Inter Milan defender and captain Javier Zanetti looks even more foolish. But thou shalt not question the Ego of God, especially after a 4-1 win.

Title courtesy of my coblogger, Auguste. I doff my hat to you, sir. As exciting as it was, as proud as I am of the team, as pleased as I am with the result...dang, am I ever glad that's over with. My nerves were frazzled to the point of a near-dissociative state and I felt like I'd drank a pot of coffee on an empty stomach...coffee mixed with oven cleaner and shards of glass. It's exhausting being a soccer fan! BUT! At times it is also rewarding, and while of course I was hoping for a US win today, I will gladly take a 1-1 draw. Overall, I'm happy to say that the US was the better team for good portions of this match. It didn't start that way, with England's goal coming in just the 4th minute after Steven Gerrard easily got away from Ricardo Clark. This was worrisome not just because of the obvious but because the US tends not to recover well when they allow an early goal, whether in the first or second half. But rather than getting deflated and coming apart, the team buckled down and responded very well. The defense, including Oguchi Onyewu in his first full game since his knee injury last October, gave one of the best performances we've seen from them in a long time. It wasn't without blunders here or there of course, but was much stronger and more cohesive than usual. In fact, Capello's reason for subbing out James Milner in only the 31st minute was that "he was having trouble with [Steve] Cherundolo". Tim Howard was unsurprisingly great, making several key saves even after taking Emile Heskey's boot to his ribs. I do not ever want to see this again:

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