Postcard Wars

Postcard Wars has got to tell you — Germany v. Argentina was almost too much to take. And holy crap am I psyched about the outcome.

In a game that probably wasn’t as offensively interesting as most people would have liked, Germany came out on top after burying four straight penalty kicks and saving two of Argentina’s, 4-2 in the shootout after 1-1 in regulation and two extra sessions. Miroslav Klose continues to amaze, and his equalizer in the 80th minute was 1) beautiful and 2) a very good reason for no Germans to doubt him anymore or label him as a “first-round player.” Well done, Miro: I could have cried when you put that one in.

Whether the better team won this morning is debatable, but it certainly wasn’t as though Argentina dominated the game. They sat back once they had a lead — on a very nice goal just after the half — and Germany took advantage. Argentina put in a defensive midfielder to try to sit on the lead, and that has never been the Argentines’ style. That’s more like something Italy would do. FORZA ITALIA, of course, had no problems with the Ukraine today in a 3-0 win, and this sets up Deutschland-Italia in Dortmund on July 4th, day of American independence. Wow.

Michael Ballack played well today but could be doubtful for the big game. He had trouble walking by the end of the match, but that didn’t prevent him from putting in a well-hit penalty kick.

Congratulations to the Ukraine for being a surprise of the tournament and to Andrij Shevchenko, who is a great player, fun to watch and doesn’t whine like almost every other player in this tournament.

Postcard Wars is going on a small vacation to celebrate American independence and the good fortune of DIE MANNSCHAFT. Updates provided if possible, but for now let’s look ahead to tomorrow’s games: England v. Portugal and Brazil v. France. World Cup fever has hit home hard.

Photos from Getty Images.

GERMANY V. ARGENTINA — 1:1 (4:2 on penalties)

ITALY V. UKRAINE — 3:0

ENGLAND V. PORTUGAL — 0-0 (1:3 on penalties)

BRAZIL V. FRANCE — 0:1

What’s the feeling out there? Will it be a repeat of the Germany-Brazil final four years ago? Is it finally England’s year? Or is the Iberian Peninsula finally going to write its own chapter in soccer history?

Postcard Wars welcomes a pair of greetings from the Universe of Football, a.k.a. Germany. The first comes from the Frankenstadion in Nurnberg and the second from Bad Saulgau, a small town in Baden Wuerttemberg that fell just short of being one of the host venues this year. Many thanks! You’ve been noted.

Frankenstadion Nuernberg

Bad Saulgau, Germany: Spiritual home of Postcard Wars. Danke, Tante!

Giant soccer cleats in Berlin.

Germany's parliament looks out over a temporary soccer paradise.

A 10,000-seat replica of the Olympic Stadium lets visitors watch games with other fans for 3 euros. Beer and wurst readily available.

It's a beautiful game.

Four years ago the host Koreans had a somewhat awkward, translated slogan that their wild and wonderful fan base kept displaying: “Korea Team Fighting!” With mere minutes to go in today’s late games, it looks as though Korea Team is No Longer Fighting. Which is a shame, because that means only one team from Africa and Asia — Ghana — has qualified for the Round of 16 (unless we count the Socceroos). The Swiss look very impressive, racking up their second straight 2-0 win, and French scorers Henry and Vieira have come out of the woodwork, sending Les Bleus through.

The morning’s games provided no major surprises, with Spain and the Ukraine advancing from Group G. Now that all first-round action is complete, we can say with certainty what the do-or-die round looks like:

Germany v. Sweden — 2:0

England v. Ecuador — 1:0

Argentina v. Mexico — 2:1, extra time

Portugal v. Holland — 1:0

Italy v. Australia — 1:0

Switzerland v. Ukraine — 0:0 (0:3 on penalties)

Ghana v. Brazil — 0:3

France v. Spain — 3:1

We have some fascinating matches to watch in the next week! The Mediterranean Mixup between the French and Spaniards, the clash of World Cup underachievers between Holland and Portugal, the blond-haired, blue-eyed brouhaha between the Germans and Swedes and the Americans against, well, four more years of waiting.

All photos taken in Berlin last week. Please note that the big red sign delineates places and years in which Germany has won it all. Love it!

What a day today was. Four games and some happenings that Postcard Wars certainly wouldn't have predicted.

In the match that everyone in Washington was talking about, the USA fell to Ghana 2-1, sending the Africans to the quarterfinals alongside the Italians, who defeated the Czech Republic 2-0. You will find, on these pages, that I named the Czechs as my outside pick to win the World Cup; their sudden and inexplicable demise is shocking. Perhaps they were as aged and rusty as the pundits said.

In the next group, we saw Japan go up against Brazil, only to have Ronaldo return from all those "Fatty" jokes by scoring two goals and allowing Joga Bonita to win, 4-1. But the real upset came in the other game, when Australia scored a late equalizer to notch the score 2-2 and put the Socceroos into the quarterfinals — where they will meet Italy. Go, go, go Socceroos. How I would love to see Viduka outscore Luca Toni in that game. Credit to a fun team from a fun country with fun people. And on the flip side, has the sun set on Croatian soccer? They have certainly fallen from the grace of their third-place finish eight years ago in France.

Finally, I would like to give massive respect to Cote D'Ivoire, the best team in the World Cup not to advance to the second round. After a 2-1 loss to Argentina which they could've won and a 2-1 loss to Holland which they could've won, what a delight it was to see them come from two goals down to beat Serbia, 3-2, in the 86th minute. These guys easily would have advanced from Germany's group, or possibly from Spain's group too. Nice work, fellas — you were easily more entertaining than France, Italy, the USA and a load of other teams.

Finally, some interesting tidbits to pass along. Up to a thousand Dutch fans were pantless during the Oranje's game against the aforementioned Cote D'Ivoire. Read the article for the reason why. And, finally, in Thailand — whose team did not qualify for the World Cup — even the monks are shirking their duties to watch the games. Good call, fellas.

PS — Carolina beat Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup this week. Postcard Wars would normally devote considerably more space to hockey, but the proprietor of this site is unenthused that a southeastern American team has defeated a team from Alberta for the second consecutive Finals. But Cam Ward is a pretty awesome goalie. I will say that.