World Cup 2010: England, Mexico Crash Out as FIFA Comes into Question Yet Again

I woke this morning to the sound of rainfall and it's something I hadn't seen or heard in about three weeks. While it means I'll have to take a break from painting the outside of my house, it also means that the painting of the interior can begin. Thankfully, I'll be back to work on Thursday and I can get a bit of a break then.

The only real place to start today is with the World Cup and the exit of both England and Mexico yesterday at the hands of Germany and Argentina, respectively. Just to add a little spice to both games, we had goals allowed/disallowed that clearly should not have been as the officials failed to see what was obvious to the rest of the world even without the medium of action replays.

In the first game, England were abysmal and were lucky to be only 2-0 down as half time approached when a well worked short corner led to Upson pulling a goal back for them.

As the Germans reeled a little from that setback, Lampard fired in a shot from the edge of the box which hit the bar and bounced over the line and back out again. He celebrated, but the referee played on as neither he nor his assistant had seen what had happened.

I thought that it would fire England up for the second half, but it didn't happen and the theory that the referee would gift them a penalty as soon as Gerrard or "Shrek" fell over in the box wasn't fulfilled either. They played just as poorly in the second half and Germany ran easy 4-1 winners to give England their worst defeat ever at the World Cup finals.

Germany played well, but England played awfully bad and they were a collection of individuals and not a team. Yet again "Shrek" failed to make any impression and when Heskey came on with the scores at 4-1, you realised that despite their claims otherwise England simply didn't have a good enough team to win this World Cup.

There were no options on the bench to really change things around and they had to make do with players who just weren't up to the task.

The whole defensive display was woeful as the Germans continually found space behind them with runs from midfield and no English midfielders tracked back with them. They were over run in midfield as they played a 4-4-2 that the Germans simply played their way around and the inclusion of Defoe was strange as he did just as little as "Shrek" for the entire match.

I could go into individual displays and mistakes, but I haven't got all day. I will say that England had no proper formation and were unable to change things when they were going wrong.

In the later game, I thought that Mexico put up a very good challenge to Argentina and were in with a great chance until Tevez scored his first goal from a blatantly offside position. How the officials didn't spot it I'll never know, and when the goal was replayed on the big screen the Mexican players were far from happy as their thoughts on the validity of the goal were confirmed.

The second goal followed soon afterward from a terrible defensive mistake, and when Tevez made it 3-0 early enough in the second half Mexico could have been forgiven if they gave up but they kept on trying to play their football.

They were rewarded with one goal and came very close to pulling another one back on a few occasions. They exposed Argentina's weak defence and managed to keep Messi very quiet for most of the match, in my opinion.

It means that there are only two Arsenal players left at the World Cup and Carlos Vela can now book his summer holidays too, although he didn't play last night. I presume that was down to the injury that he is carrying although he hasn't exactly set the tournament alight either.

Today's games start with the Netherlands against Slovakia and are that is followed with Brazil against Chile. RVP should be in the Netherlands lineup and after scoring his first World Cup goal in their last game I hope he can continue to make an impression as he is the only Arsenal player left in the tournament who s a sure starter for his country.

I can't see past wins for both the Netherlands and Brazil, and I presume that they will meet each other in the last eight, which should hopefully be a cracking game.

In Arsenal news, we are again linked with Nice striker Loic Remy and if the story that Eduardo is to be allowed to leave is true, then it is possible that we might sign another striker. I would imagine that with the boss saying we will sign a defender very soon that our first priority is in that position and with a goalkeeper needed too, the striking options are well down his list of priorities. 

If reports are to believed, we are also in the chase for Werder Bremen and Germany star  Mesut Ozil, but I would imagine that his World Cup performances have priced him out of our range. Apparently Barcelona want to sign him to stop him joining Arsenal, Chelsea, or Man City as we are deemed to be potential rivals to them.

With Cesc also in their sights, I wonder if that is the case and maybe they see him as an alternative to Cesc when they finally get the message that he is not for sale. If the worst thing did happen and Cesc left I suppose Ozil would be seen as a possible replacement for him, and we would certainly have the money to afford him then, but I don't think Cesc is going anywhere.

I thought Barcelona were a club with a lot of debt but if they are to buy players to prevent them joining their rivals either I am wrong or they are going down the Real Madrid road.

Another player linked yet again today is Christian Eriksen of Ajax and Denmark, who is an 18-year-old midfielder. He made a couple of substitute appearances at the World Cup for Denmark and I can't say I noticed him, but then again I wasn't looking for him either.

Joe Cole is again linked of course, with his Chelsea contract finished on Thursday and England on their way home from South Africa. I'm fairly sure his future will be sorted out this week but I doubt if it will be at Ashburton Grove.That's it for today.

Here's  a collection of Eduardo's goals for Arsenal before that fateful injury.

See You Tomorrow.