ARGENTINA & MEXICO WIN & SOME STUNNING UPSETS, JUNE 16-17, 2010

Argentina gave South Korea some pow-pow by harmonizing four goals. To be fair, the first Argentine goal came from a Messi corner kick that actually bounces off the shin of a South Korean player to ricochet in. In many ways, this auto-gol demolished the psychology of the South Korean team who until then had been scrapping it out.

The second Argentine goal, courtesy of Gonzalo Higuain [ig-wa-in'], was a tomahawk header that first bounced off the posterior cranium of another player and seemed to align perfectly with Higuain's forehead. The third one Higuain only had to sweep in because it was carried down by Carlos Tevez, masterfully, swiftly. Tevez fired at the goal, it ricocheted off the post and the goalie's back and found Higuain. The fourth was a stately pass from captain Mascherano that had just the right amount of arc so that Higuain again was there to send it into the opposite pocket of the box with his head. It was extremely nice team work.

The Greece vs. Nigeria match was also super-charged and nitrogylcerinish. I think that players are going to take yellow cards more seriously. Nigeria allowed Greece to win yesterday because in the 33rd minute Nigerian midfielder Sani Kaita was shown a red card for kicking Torosidis. Granted, Torosidis played it up and cupped his face as if Kaita had struck him. But, anyone who watched the game will have to agree that Kaitan is a douchebag for raising his cleats against another player and then dropping to his knees in full realization of his douchebag move.

But without a doubt, the match of the day was Mexico vs. France. Unfortunately, I was forced to watch it streaming on my work computer, and since it was my last day the IT guy was saving a copy of my desktop and backing up files. I was able to see the Javier Hernandez goal and have to say that it reminded me of a torero or bull fighter because it was just Chicharita against the French goalie and Hernandez was able to side step him and chip it in. The second Mexican goal came from an expertly kicked penalty kicked by Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Mexico played their mighty Aztec hearts out, and even though France made a couple of futile strikes, one could easily say that Mexico dominated.



In terms of upsets, we've seen lots. Serbia bested Germany on Friday, and it is hard for me to believe that a higher being was not Serbia boostering. Well, that's not completely true: the Germans came out like Vikings in the first half, trying to completely snuff the Serbians out. And, Klose got two yellow cards and had to come off in the 38 minutes. A minute later, Serbia struck with a beautiful scissor side kick from Jovanovic. The Serbians rode a material advantage the Germans were not able to come back from. I guess my previous deduction (i.e. the intervention of God in the game) comes from several volleys in the goalie box that transpired between Germany and Serbia.

One exchange a minute before the game had more than 4 German attempts at making a goal prove fruitless. One of the attempts hit the crossbar, another was ferreted out by the goalie, and a third surely deflected (even though the volley came as a German bicycle kick). Then, a ray of light during the 60th minute, a Serbian player deliberately hits it with his hand giving Germany a penalty shot. Stojkovic defender penaly stopped kicked by Podolski was blocked by Serbian goalie Stojkovic.

Birsa's goal was a stupendous goal. I literally surprised myself by screaming it alongside Fiores on Univision. Slovenia's goal at the thirteen minute was a travesty; no one was covering Birsa (I mean no one) and he was able to run it up the the edge of the goalie box and connect against Tim Howard with a left that left even the aggressive Howard just watching it sail in. Birsa was able to give it an effect that made it spin against the direction in which it was hit; it was a pretty technical goal, all in all.