Hung, strung and it's time for the quarters

So the second round matches are completed. I must admit, I'm utterly exhausted of it all, though. Not the football, of which there was little on display during this round, but because of the damn referees brandishing cards left, right and centre, killing off all the potential football which could have been played. It was like a red and yellow bingo game with a bunch of foreign geriatrics in black and yellow outfits hugging all the action, all that were missing were some false teeth and the smell of formalhyde. Case in point: Portugal vs Netherlands. That damn Russian must have finished off the whole of St Petersburg's winter vodka rations before the game. I could go on, but just in case he's reading this, I'll stop there (I might wake up in a dugout somewhere with missing limbs and the strong smell of formalhyde (vodka doesn't smell) in my nostrils.

Ghana versus Brazil was was the same. The ref murdered any contest there could have been, despite Ghana trying their best to keep it alive. In the end they only had themselves to blame, setting up their defensive unit on the half-way line: against Brazil that's suicide.

Switzerland versus Ukraine? They take penalties as if they'd also been swiggin' from the botty - a lot like Newcastle now that I think about it.

Italy were lucky. Ref again. Glad no Aussies made it through though.

Spain, who many thought could go all the way, especially playing against a "previously-mediocre" France, proved that they actually still are "the same shedload of underachieving tournament bottlers" as Paul Wilson calls them.

Argentina had to play hard against their Latin American counterparts Mexico, with only a moment of utter brilliance from Maxi Rodriguez proving to be the difference in extra time.

Germany were grand. Shame, Sweden were just outplayed. I think losing within 15 minutes would also dishearten me.

Any other matches? Oh yeah, I think England played somewhere, though I can't really remember because I think I fell asleep. Oh yeah, against Ecuador. I think England won.