England vs Slovenia

23/6/10 16:00 Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth

England 1-0 Slovenia

Goal Scorer: Jermain Defoe

I'm miffed because South Africa got one of the most difficult groups and England one of the easiest ones. They said it themselves. Still, they can't play proper soccer. It's ridiculously unfair really. The other match going on at the exact time was USA and Algeria. US beat Algeria, if they had lost, Slovenia would have gone through, and if Algeria beat the Yanks by some goals, then somehow they would have advanced. US won, so yeah.

I would have preferred Algeria to go through, Muslim and African. Alright, their haircuts are entirely silly, but still. Anyway, England got through, everybody is happy and the illusion that England have the dream team still continues.

USA vs SLOVENIA

Slovenia vs. USA

18/6/10 Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Slovenia 2-2 USA [The US are saying it should have been 3]

Goal Scorers: Valter Birsa, Zlatan Ljubijankic [S] & Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley (coach’s son) and Maurice Edu’s denied goal [USA]

In the first half, Slovenia scored two goals. They could have been the second team with set of 6 points, but the USA got in their way, unfortunately. In the second half, they scored two. According to them, they scored three. It all happened when the referee stated that a foul had been committed before the goal. The players were still raging with anger after the match.

Apparently referee Koman Coulibaly from Mali disallowed Maurice Edu’s 86th-minute goal that would have given the USA a 3-2 victory over Slovenia. Coulibaly apparently ruled that American midfielder Michael Bradley had hindered a Slovenian defender, even though video replays showed no infringement. The referee will go through an advanced performance review, according to some FA source. Well, pressure from the mighty Americans, we will see who will yield now.

Algeria vs Slovenia

13/6/10 Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane

Slovenia 1-0 Algeria

Goal Scorer: Robert Koren

RED CARD:  Ghezzal

This was a ridiculously laughable match. Both teams began as if they had not much of a concept about soccer, and they basically ambled about. Algeria boasted punk hairstyles and committed fouls. I thought Algeria might have had a few reasonable chances, but it didn't seem to carry, and then the goalkeeper sort of elbowed in a goal for the Slovenians. They took a moment, and then realized that it had happened. They had scored an actual goal, a point up, a world cup started.

It also proves with all this controversy surrounding the poor Jabulani ball, that it might be rather slippery. Or is it just some of the goalies that are having trouble with slippery confidence?