EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) - Defending World Cup champion France (0-2-1, 1 pt) needed what the Uruguay (0-0-2, 2)-Senegal (1-0-2, 5) match had. They needed to score at least two goals- both Senegal and Uruguay scored three. They needed three goals in the second half after being down 1-0 to Denmark (2-0-1, 7)- Uruguay scored 3 in the second half after Senegal scored 3 in the first half. They need some luck as David Trezeguet's shot bounced off the crossbar and fell just in front of the goalline- Senegal's Papa Bouba Diop's shot bounced off the crossbar and fell just in back of the goalline for a goal. In the end, France hit two more posts/crossbars and fell to Denmark, 2-0. Uruguay, needing a win, fell behind early and often, trailing 3-0 at the half setting up Senegal winning the group. However, Uruguay fought back immediately (1st minute of 2nd half) and tied it in the 88th minute and then had a golden opportunity to win it in the 92nd which would've been one of the greatest collapses in World Cup history. But Senegal survived although they had to settle for 2nd place in a wild 3-3 tie.

In a card-riddled match, Germany (2-0-1, 7) found themselves down a mam in the 40th minute but not out, as they scored two goals shorthanded to send Cameroon (1-1-1, 4) home, 2-0. Ireland (1-0-2, 5), who had come back twice in their first two matches to tie, routed Saudi Arabia (0-3, 0), 3-0, to take 2nd place in Group E.

With France out of the tourney, Argentina (1-1-1, 4) became the favorite to win it all. Needing a win against Sweden (1-0-2, 5), they dominated play but couldn't finish. The Swedes shocked Argentina with a free kick goal in the 59th minute. Then Argentina got a penalty kick in the 88th minute and missed, but put in the rebound to tie the score up. Even with 4 minutes of extra time, Argentina ran out of gas and now out of town, as they were eliminated. In what could be the most boring match of the tourney, England (1-0-2, 5) and Nigeria (0-2-1, 1) played to a scoreless draw giving Sweden 1st place in Group F. This "Group of Death" sort of fizzled with 1 of 2 Argentina goals off a penalty kick miss and 1 of 2 England goals off a PK.

Paraguay (1-1-1, 4) has not had a good World Cup. In their first match, they allowed two second half goals to tie South Africa (1-1-1, 4). Then in their 3-1 loss to Spain (3-0, 9), their only goal was kicked in by a Spaniard. And their start of the third match saw them go down a man in the 22nd minute and then gave up a sloppy goal to winless Slovenia (0-3, 0) and trailed 1-0 at the half. Needing a combnied 3 goal margin of victory for both themselves and Spain, halftime saw that number at zero. South Africa then tied Spain for the second time at 2-2 forcing that magic number to -1 in the 53rd minute. Now four goals would have to be scored by Paraguay and Spain in the next 37 minutes. Spain retook the lead 3-2 six minutes later. Six minutes after that Paraguay tied it up 1-1. Eight minutes later Paraguay went up 2-1. Eight minutes later Slovenia had a man expelled evening things up and Paraguay scored three minutes later to complete an improbable comeback. Spain held on to win giving Paraguay a spot in the 2nd Round on goal differential over South Africa. Nine goals were scored in the two matches giving Group B a combined total of 22 goals, most of any group so far.

FIRSTS: It's the first time a defending champion failed to make the 2nd round since 1966 (Brazil) and the first time a defending champ was held scoreless. The first time Argentina failed to make the 2nd round since 1962. Senegal in their first World Cup, qualifies for the 2nd round.

CARDS: Twelve yellow cards (7 on SEN) in the SEN-URU match. Sixteen (8 each) in the CMR-GER match- GER's Carsten Rameolow picked up two in 4 minutes to be ejected but CMR's Patrick Suffo picked up two in 18 minutes to even things up. Carlos Paredes of PAR picked up two yellow cards in the first 22 minutes but still outscored SVN 2-1- SVN's Nastja Ceh picked up a straight red in the 81st minute which evened things out and PAR scored the Round of 16-clincher three minutes later.

ANNOUNCERS: Biggest laugh was JP Dellacamera's shocked reaction ("What?!") when the ever entertaining co-host Tommy Smyth rattled off about how high the humidity was ("it's like 903 Thallus!"). The Mike Hill/Seamus Malin combo puts me to sleep- but the crowd noise is up (coincidence?) so that keeps me awake. Jack Edwards is a little over the top ("Mine eyes have seen the glory", "Friedel is from Mars", and "The dream is over (today for South Africa)") but he keeps me awake with his goal calls.

ROCKY MTN SOCCER (41 pts) is one of four people to get 6 of 8 Round of 16 teams correctly thus far and has used his strong Round 1 picks (23 of 27) to take a three point lead over BERNISAM UNITED FC (38). Three people are tied for third place with 36 pts. DIMPLES and CRESTFIELD WAX PAPER are tied for last place with 26 pts (along with a low of 3 Round of 16 teams so far) but at least they are 2 of only 10 people to still have their champion in play. No one picked Denmark's win while at least 18 got the other four games correctly. Uruguay's tie denied three people of a point and Argentina's PK goal kept SOCCER GURU (3rd-T, 36) and PUNA (6th-T, 35) from picking up a point. In fact SOCCER GURU also had Senegal.

Now, for every correct Round of 16 team (doesn't matter whether you had the team finishing 1st or 2nd), you get three points. Paraguay's amazing comeback denied SPERM JELLY DONUTS (18th-T, 31) South Africa's pick, essentailly a six-point switch. Nineteen picked Paraguay. Only five had correctly picked Sweden but since everyone picked Argentina as well, it was a wash with England. Same with the lone pick for Senegal. DONUTS had Senegal but also had France (a wash for those who had France and Denmark). Some missed opportunities for points. Just seven people had Ireland as they snuck in over Cameroon. DANNY BOY (12th-T, 34) was the only one not to have Germany in the 2nd Round. Everyone had Spain and 18 had England.

Now the next two days will decide who will be eliminated from prize money as 32 more points are up for grabs. Ten people already have 2 of their Final Four teams out (France and Argentina), but with surely more upsets to come, can they hang on?

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I hate to say it, Oh my heck II...
Scott HW