I am sooo tired

Man, getting up at 4:30 in the morning is getting to me.
Especially, since most of the games have been rather, well not necessarily boring, but at a very low level technically.

So, here are my impressions so far.

First of all the group stage is all about getting through. I don't really care how. Everyone is nervous and most of the games are super defensive. So here it goes.

England: No harm done, yet. Everyone knew their weakness is their goalie and their second striker. Other than that, I would not have any trouble fielding that team at all. I think people talking about Carragher being too slow etc etc are just full of shit because if that is your only problem you should win the tournament. As far as Green is concerned, I would stick with him if I was Capello. You picked him because you thought he was the best, so keep using him. Besides, Joe Hart would probably be nervous as well now of screwing up. James would be cool as a cucumber, but he would also screw up, no doubt about it.

To men the key for England success is 1. Gerrard playing well. When he does, nobody can stop him and he makes everyone better around him. I didn't watch the whole game, but I would be disappointed that he scored a goal four minutes in and then just had a so so game. Never mind Green's mistake, Gerrard seemed rather disinterested in defending Dempsey before the shot.
Second, England needs another striker to play well. That was a nice assist from Heskey, but I think Defoe should play to take some pressure off Rooney.( Is Defoe even on the roster?)
I have no problem with bringing in Crouch late, but he should not be allowed to drop less than 3 feet below the last defender. He is always roaming around the midfield sucking in wallpasses and giving them back and then he is not available when somebody breaks through on the wing.

US
Nothing wrong with going 1:1 with England. Now all they have to do is outplay England against Algeria and Slowenia. Both teams looked horrible, but I am afraid one of them will have one good game. Against who, remains to be seen. Looking at the brackets, I would go for broke if I was Bradley to try and win the group. Coming in first would make it infinitely easier to advance ,at least to the semi-final. In other words, Buddle from the start next game.

Germany:
The German press is all over itself from we are the greatest, to OH my God we peaked too early.
I think the win and the way it was won was a positive because I think young players can't be too confident. Oezil was great, so was Mueller. I am so excited not to see lumberjacks like Briegel and Maetheus anymore on the German team.Oezil is great when he is on and I expect him to play for Chelsea, Arsenal, AC Milan, or Juventus next season. He is very much like Iniesta, just not as consistent, but also not with the same supporting cast at Werder Bremen.
Mueller is a great player, who had a really bad game against Inter, which is the only game most people have seen. And Marko Marin is this tournaments super sub who can nutmeg 3 people in a row on the way to score. Go figure Klose and Podolski. Both of them scored 5 goals combined last season, but they can't miss when they put on a black and white jersey. Gomez is the exact opposite. Kiesling is up and coming and I wish Loew had put him in instead of Gomez.

I don't really miss Ballack. He is a very good/solid player, but not anywhere near Oezil when Oezil has a good day. Khedira is doing OK so far, but I would have preferred to see Rolfes. I think Helmes would be a star by now had he not torn his ACL and I think Neuer is not a big step down from Enke or Adler.

The African teams look terrible. Based on the qualifying and the African Cup this is not really a surprise. Ghana without Essien looked terrible. Their saving grace was that Serbia looked like they played at this level for the first time. The red card was a brain fart and the handball was just as ridiculous. Zigic ran around the midfield the whole time fouling people and Pantelic couldn't trap a ball to save his life. Interesting to see how they will play when they have nothing to lose.

Denmark didn't get close to scoring a goal. Rommedahl seems done. Is there anybody besides Bendtner? Time to get back to the good old 4-3-3

Holland looked tired as well. What is strange is that they always pick their fast players, but what they miss is a target man like Huntelaar or Van Nistelroy. DeJong is just a thug and should get a red card before the second round starts and then that defense is really going to swim against a team like Argentina or Spain.

France just bores me. They can't beat Israel, they can't beat Switzerland, they can't score. In the last ten years they played three good games beating Spain, Brazil and losing to Italy. 3 good games in the last ten years all within one week. I'd say they got hot and they had Zidane during that stretch. Mexico France should be an interesting game. Mexico France 2:1 is my prediction
and France not making the next round.

Brazil, Spain, Portugal coming up

Kick you later
Rainer