Wow

Well, I'm back. Thanks to all who sent Jess and I nice messages over the past week. It really helped.

And... HOLY SHITBALLS!!!!!! That was absolutely magical. I had the US placing second in our group. Never been happier to be wrong. Landon Donovan had disproved pretty much everything negative people have said about him. I used to heckle the guy when he would come to RFK to play United. Never again. That man is a hero.

Certainly, though, Clint Dempsey deserves a lot of credit for the win. He worked his ass off, got a great goal disallowed and took an elbow in the face. I don't know why the US can't catch a break with this officiating, but it's childish to complain. Besides, we don't have to complain. Bottom line: Bring on Ghana.

So I'm 6 for 8 so far on teams making it to the knockout round, though I haven't always predicted the correct order of finish. Once the group games wrap, I'll look back over the whole round and see how I did.

Here's some non-US related thoughts:

Weird stuff in Group D. Talk about a bunch of schizophrenic teams. Never could tell who was going to do what... and yet, Germany and Ghana seems like a really pedestrian outcome for such an exciting group. Oh well, I probably didn't give Germany enough credit, but I don't think anyone would say that team's not beatable.

I hate Mexico. I'm an Argentina fan until further notice.

France... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA