Today's games

8:55 a.m. Argentina vs. Serbia-Montenegro
11:55 a.m. Netherlands vs. Ivory Coast
2:55 p.m. Mexico vs. Angola


The first two may determine who advances in the group of death. So far, the two favorites won their first two games.

I'm particularly interested to see Argentina play, because I thought Argentina was the most impressive team in the first round, followed by the Czech Republic. Spain was also impressive, but they were helped out by some questionable refereeing. Ukraine is a very good team, and I still think they'll recover and advance.

Anyway, Serbia is a good team, so it'll be interesting to see what Argentina looks like against them.

With the near-demise of the US' chances (I never had high hopes. Rob Booth can testify that I told him before the Cup that I thought this Cup could be France 98 all over again (eg, winless and scoreless) for the US) Holland becomes my primary rooting interest. Ivory Coast has some very good players, and they played well against Argentina. This is a very crucial result for them. They need to pick up at least a tie today. Also, they need more than one simple breakaway. They also relied too much on Robben's one-on-one bravery against Serbia. A guy like Van Nistelrooy has the skills to be the best player in the tournament. And it would be a great revenge card for Van Nistelrooy to play against Manchester United. Who will be the third forward? Van Persie? Kuyt?