BLUE SAMURAI

Another amazing day of World Cup soccer to talk about with a few major surprises. This tournament gets more exciting the longer it goes on! Gotta hope this keeps up.

Let's start off by talking about the big event of the day, Japan qualifying for the knockout round! It was a match with Denmark that they had to win and they went out there to take the lead 2-0 in short order. It was brilliant form, getting two goals from two separate free kicks. Directly! Nobody saw this performance coming from Japan, nobody! Denmark got one back but Japan answered with an Okazaki goal that gave them a scoreline of 3-1 and the win. This win moved them into the knockout round as second place in the group behind Netherlands. The Blue Samurai showed they had every right to be in this tournament and became the second Asian team to get into the knockouts. I'm loving every second of the Japanese performance as I'm sure their countrymen are as well. They may not make it much further but it's been a tournament of upsets.

Netherlands got the full nine points in the group by finishing up their excellent form after beating Nigeria. It was a good outing by the Dutch and surely they'll be favored for some good results in the next round. They go in top of the group. This group was certainly one of the more exciting thanks to the resurgent Japanese squad. The Dutch, however, were never outgunned and never backed down. This team has the potential to do what no Netherlands side before has. While everybody else is talking about Spain, Brazil and Argentina the Dutch might be able to sneak through.

And then Italy crashed out of the tournament. The Slovakians destroyed the poor aging Italians to send them home in tears as they wiped the floor with them 3-2. The Italians got their fight only in the last 20 or so minutes, something they hadn't shown all tournament. It's a winless campaign for the defending champions and something completely unprecedented. Both finalists from the last tournament are out, which will make for a very exciting knockout stage. Italy showed little of anything special and rightfully crash out. Can't win them all.

The other match in Italy's group was between Paraguay and New Zealand. All New Zealand needed to move on was a win. I say all, but they'd never won a game at this level before. After drawing against Italy they felt like they could do it but Paraguay held their ground and never gave the Kiwis a chance. It was heartbreaking when the final whistle sounded and the score stayed the way it had started, but the New Zealand side will feel they did well to essentially knock the Italians out of the tournament. Two draws is a new record for the team and the draw against Italy was a massive result that killed the champions hopes. Paraguay are looking very good for a traditionally unheralded South American side. From the same continent that is dominated by Argentina and Brazil they are making their own name known and move on to the knockout stage to face Japan. That should be a brilliant match.

That's it for the World Cup today. Netherlands faces Slovakia next round and Paraguay goes up against Japan. Those could all go any which way.

Today's link is ExPat Blog which is a place for expats (foreigners living abroad) to connect and list their blogs. For me what it represents is a way to find anybody living anywhere in the world and reading their slice of life blogs about their location. I've found great blogs from people living all over Asia and Europe, as well as some from a foreign perspective in America. Not everyone at the site has a blog so you really have to dig but there are some real interesting blogs to be found.

Last day of group matches tomorrow. Brazil is through so it's up to Portugal, Ivory Coast, Spain, Chile and Switzerland to decide their fates and find the last three participants in the knockout stages. It'll be fun!