World Cupdate

The Round of 16 continued Sunday with Germany at England, two old foes who have tangled many times in the past.  The Three Lions went 4-4-2 back to front with Jermain Dafoe and the so far less than impressive Wayne Rooney up front, while the Germans went with a more defensive 4-2-3-1 formation now that their star man Miroslav Klose was off booking suspension.  The conflict immediately turned into a wrestling match with the Germans playing brutally physical ball and the Brits responding in kind, but Wayne Rooney was trying far too hard to be the hero and started making mistakes...mistakes like forgetting to defend and pick up Miroslav Klose, who belted in one at 20'.  A follow-up score by Podolski shattered the England D, and suddently the Three Lions were looking more like paper tigers.  Klose and company dominated the first half in possession, quality, and shots taken.  England finally got it together long enough to counterattack with Upson getting a goal at 37', and the game was truly on.  The second half was a British assault as they threw everything they had at the German machine to dismantle it, and for at least 20 minutes Britain looked like they would equalize at any time.  All the more shame when Thomas Muller put in not one goal at 67' for the Germans but a second at 70', utterly decimating the Brits and leaving them broken on the pitch.  England's defenders just weren't up to the game that Klose and Muller were playing and they tore the Three Lions to shreds.  Germany's 4-1 decisive win had to weigh heavily on the minds of both Argentina and Mexico playing the late game to see who would get the honor of being fed to Klose and company next.

Meanwhile Argentina and Mexico faced off in the late game with La Albicelestes fronting a 4-4-2 back to front with Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain leading, while Mexico went with an more offensive 4-3-3 plan with Hernandez, Dos Santos and Bastita on the attack.  From the get go it was clear that Mexico came to play, but it was Argentina on top earlywith a Carlos Tevez goal that should have been called offsides at 25'.  No sooner had El Tri stopped grumbling about that gift of a goal then they let in another this time Higuain at 33'.  Mexico was playing better but were getting destroyed.  El Tri tried to rally but Argentina simply closed down the lanes and starved Mexico out for the rest of the half.  The second half found Tevez putting the exclamation point on the game with a ripper at 52'.  Mexico tried to claw back in it and pushed forward, finally getting on the board at 71' with an outstanding touch and blast move that stunned both defender and keeper.  Time more the enemy now than anything else, El Tri drove forward to try to complete the comeback and very nearly scored again at 81', but Argentina simply waited out the clock and took the easy 3-1 victory.  Argentina will face Germany for the second quarterfinal spot.