World Cup Roundup Day 3: The goal scoring has arrived

Coming into today the goal scoring had minimal with most games ending in ties no greater than 1-1. Today all that changed. Germany came out and put on a clinic in a 4-0 beating of Australia. This should scare all American soccer fans since they may be the first knockout stage opponent. It must be said that half the goals occurred after Australia went down to ten men. Germany may have a young squad, but they didn't show any World Cup opener jitters. They were dominant in time of possession, which is an attribute I wish the US would pick up. Ghana showed the World that 2006 was not a fluke in winning their opener against Serbia. They are in the best position of all the African nations thus far to play. Yesterday's tie between England and the United States has put both of these teams in a precarious position now that Slovenia has beaten Algeria. This goal was once again a fluke type of affair. The Algerian goaltender could have punched the ball to the side, but instead tried to scoop up the ball. The effect of today's result is that England and the US need to win their remaining games to go to the knockout round. If anyone falters they will be out. The onus is harder on the Americans as Slovenia, a good squad, is the next opponent; while England face an altered Algerian squad due to a red card.
Tomorrow's games include Denmark versus Netherlands and a variant of total football. Defending champions Italy will start their title defense against Paraguay will be an interesting Europe-South America encounter. Japan against Cameroon may mean the next African team to notch a win. Cameroon is a solid squad led by their star striker Samuel Eto'o.