EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- Group F got to an early start as F3-Australia scored their first-ever goal to tie and exploded for a two more in the next 8 minutes to stun F4-Japan, 3-1. The ageless E4-Czech Republic used an early goal to set the pace as like in 1990, a Czech team whips the E3-USA (this time by a score of 3-0 instead of 5-1). And like 1990, the U.S. will face in their 2nd match, E1-Italy, who put the distractions behind them and held off E2-Ghana, 2-0.  All the momentum and build-up from 2002 was shocked back to reality after just one game. We soccer fans will remain soccer fans but unless the U.S. shocks Italy, the radio talk show hosts will merrily continue to not talk about soccer and Europe will still look down the US Soccer program.

Nearly coachless G4-Togo jumped to a 1-0 lead before TOG's Jean-Paul ABALO picked up his second yellow card on a tackle at the top of the D. On the ensuing free kick, G3-Korea Rep ties it and then Jung Hwan AHN got a slight deflection on his rocket shot to give the Koreans the win but didn't win over the crowd after taking a dangerous free kick opportunity and instead played it backwards to waste time late in the game. G1-France went a fourth straight WC match without a goal but still got the tie with G2-Switzerland, leaving KOR in 1st place. Favorite F1-Brazil and F2-Croatia played an entertaining match which included flares in the crowd and a Croatian fan running onto the field. But BRA picked up the 3 pts and its record 8th straight WC win thanks to KAKA. However, BRA is technically in second, behind AUS.

H1-Spain extended their unbeaten string to 23 games (15-0-8) with a 4-0 rout of H4-Ukraine, saving the U.S. for the distinction for worst loss of the WC so far. Are there MLS referees in the WC? That ref had the trifecta of bad calls (foul/straight red card/PK + if a ticky-tack foul, then it's outside the box) on one play but fortunately, ESP was already leading 2-0 but it left UKR with no chance to come back. 4H-Saudi Arabia rallied to take a 2-1 lead but 3H-Tunisia got the tying goal in the 92nd+ minute.

Interestingly, the second matches began today as well with A1-Germany and A3-Poland squaring off. POL had to play the last 15 minutes with 10 men and got a great game out of GK Artur BORUC, but GER had one too many chances and finally put one in in the 91st+ minute. As had been the case in the first go-around of matches, the top teams manage to find a way to win eventually.

An unusually low 3 ties meant 13 teams lost. Only one team (TUR in '02) of the 23 teams who have lost their first game in the past two WCs (when the field expanded from 24 to 32 teams) have advanced to the Round of 16. None of the seeded teams lost (with FRA being the only team to tie) which leaves R16 favorites SWE, CRO, PAR, JPN, UKR and the USA in a big hole. POL was in a big hole and now needs a PAR win over ECU for any chance at all.

HAND OF GOD: SUI's Alexander FREI's 93rd+ minute attempt to resurrect Diego MARADONA's infamous goal of 1986 backfired on many levels:

1. He didn't score
2. He got caught
3. He got a yellow card, affecting his play in the next 2 gms
4. If he lets the ball go, teammate Johan DJOUROU just needs to touch it to put it into the net and SUI wins 1-0

The 44 entries we got matched the cumulative total of the past two World Cup pools. The standings and results pages reflect all 17 matches played thus far, but the "snapshot" standings and results reflect just the first 16 matches, for comparison purposes.

Because most picked ITA, BRA, KOR, and ESP to win and TUN-KSA was a tie, the standings didn't change too much. USA's loss (which bummed 30 of us) did end PAOLO ROSSI's attempt for a perfect round (9 wins in a row). Just 18 picked AUS over JPN. TUN's stunning tying goal kept 15 from picking up a valuable point.

Six are tied for first with 12 pts (of 16 matches) and if you include GER's win, 13 pts. In addition to ROSSI, CHERUNDOLO, MIKE ON THE MIKE, SHRINKYNUT MCMADPANTS, SOURCE, and SWEET LOU are staying ahead of the pack as 14 are just one point behind. MIREAL's strategy of picking the "right" team has backfired tremendously, especially with TUN & SUI's ties and the AUS and KOR comebacks. She sits with just 4 pts, half of LANDON IS BEAUTIFUL's 8 (43rd). However, there are still 32 games left in the Round Robin. MCMADPANTS has the longest current winning streak at 11 games (missing the early ECU win); 12 including GER's win. MIREAL has the longest current losing streak at 5 games (last win: CZE) including POL's loss.

USA WC 1990-2006: All-time Round Robin (2-9-2); overall (3-10-2)... U.S. record when opponent scores in 1st half (0-9-1)... when U.S. doesn't score in the 1st half (0-10-0)... team who has scored in the first 40 minutes (11-0-1)... vs. European teams in Europe (0-6-0) (0-8-0 all-time in WC)... vs. any team in Europe (0-7-0)

WC STATS: 17 matches (3 ties)... 40 goals (2.35 per game)... 4 Red Cards (4-TRI, 14-TOG, 15-UKR, 17-POL); team with advantage (5 goals, 0 against)... 1 PK (15-ESP (G))... Scoring first: 12-2-1 (12-JPN, 14-TOG)... Shutouts: 13 (2 0:0 ties)... Leading at the half: 10-2-1 (12-JPN, 14-TOG)... Both teams scoring in the first half: 2 (1-GER-CRC 2:1, 7-MEX-IRN 1:1)