Though we were reasonably ok going forward, but we still managed to let the opposition have way too much time and space on the ball.

A good effort from the youngsters, good for the future, but not really good enough to continue further than the group stages, imho.

Mixed feelings about England v Italy....

Hodgson put a fresh and young team out and that is to be applauded. In every recent world cup England has put a team out of superstars that have consistently failed to perform.... These younger guys at their first world cup don't come with all the baggage that the "superstar old guard" come with. Raheem Sterling was fantastic and you could see he was playing his socks off... he's certainly going to be one to watch in the next world cup.

Rooney was as disappointing as ever. Apart from his superb setting up Sturridge's goal he had a bad night. I'm not a fan of Rooney - to me he represents everything that is wrong with the superstar celebrity football player, overrated, overpaid and underperforming. It doesn't help that Hodgson has got him playing in a position he's not at all suited for, but still a player of Rooney's (alleged) calibre should be doing much better.

Italy really seem to enjoy playing the ball in the midfield, looking for an opening befor trying to get the ball to Balotelli. I don't think England did anywhere near enough to disrupt Italy's game in the midfield. Whether this is because England have a fairly weak midfield or Hodgson told them to take it easy on the first game and not bust their balls I don't know. It would have been nice to see some more get up and go from the England midfield and trying to take posession from Italy instead of letting the Italian midfield enjoy the lion's share of the posession.

I do think that the Italians have one glaring flaw.... their apparent reliance on Balotelli. If he gets injured or a match ban they will be goosed. What was encouraging was to see that England managed to keep a lid on Balotelli for nearly all the match.... the problem is with a guy like Balotelli he only needs one chance (and he got it). Unlike Rooney who had several chances but wasn't able to deliver.

Looking forward I think England v Uruguay is going to be very interesting. Both teams will be looking to bounce back from defeat with all to play for. Likewise it looks like Costa Rica have demonstrated pretty well they're not minnows.

I'm thinking that the young and fresh England team, and the fact that just for once expectations back home in England aren't so high... Hodgson could be laying the solid foundations for a very good team in the next world cup. I'll be pleasantly surprised if England makes it out the group stages, but I can't see them making it past the first knockout round.

Shocked by the Netherlands-Spain result. I could see the Dutch winning, but never by that scoreline. But if any team could bounce back from that it would figure to be Spain with all of their experience. What a shocker for Casillas though. His confidence has to be shaken.

I thought England played fairly well, and the result was fair for me. But I just can't see them doing much damage sending cross after cross in to the box despite the beautiful goal they scored. But they don't really have the midfield to play it through the middle of the park. Lambert can get on the end of some of those crosses, so would be worth a punt.

Drogba's seeming effect on the game was dramatic, though it may have just been coincidence. But things sure seemed to open up when he came on.

Great tournament so far.

Italy's Achilles heel is their reliance on Pirlo, not Balotelli. Pirlo is the heart and soul of the team, the one center who acts as a hub to direct passes where they need to go: center, left or right wing. Take Pirlo out of the game (not necessarily by force, but by putting a lot of pressure on him), and you take Italy out of the game.

Case in point: Bayern M�nchen vs. Juventus Turin during the 2012/13 Champions League.

Balotelli is just another old-school striker, and he would not have scored had Cahill not temporarily lost sight of him.

Another thing Italy did well yesterday was that - acknowledging the climatic circumstances - they kept the ball (70% possession during the first half), which forced the English team to run. They methodically tired out the opposing team. Hence England running out of steam towards the end.

England's disposition was very defensive - almost Chelsea-esque. Maybe it would have been better to put a lot more pressure on the Italian team early on, try to score two goals, thereby force Italy into the offensive, calmly defend, and look for counter-attack opportunities. Essentially what Italy did in the 2nd half.

But England is on a good way with the younger generation, and who knows; there are still two more games to play in this round, so the door to the next round is still wide open.

Switzerland was just robbed of a goal. Wrong offside call, but probably hard to see for the linesman.

Whoa!

Last minute win for Switzerland during overtime. First Ecuador missed a great chance, then Switzerland scores with a fast counter-attack.

Good match, at last a good beginning for our French team! 1st goal was a classic foul, 2nd goal was really behind the line on the top side camera (so, not controversial), 3rd showed the potential of our new top striker... Is Benzema following in the footsteps of our great Zidane? Good tone for the following competition. Great to be French tonight! When France plays offensive, it's really nice football to watch.

Japanese fans clear stadium after game

In 11 games so far, the winning side has scored 25 times and the loosing side has scored 6 times. There has been 3 'own goals'.

Well played match by the French team, Benzema really impressed, that's the way to come back from the disaster of 2010!

Also congrats to the Swiss for that last minute win, neither they or Ecuador seemed to be happy with the draw, good to see that.

Argentina was underwhelming, I expected a high intensity high scoring game and instead they sat back and defended like a European team... Kudos to Bosnia for ignoring the bad luck and fighting the whole way and to Messi who got on song and opened his WC2014 scoring account, very happy for him, must be a relief.

Not happy at all with the way Argentina played today. >(

Considering that Argentina has some of the best offensive players in the world, that match was indeed sobering. Only one "real" goal against WC newcomer Bosnia in a rather slow-paced game (compared to the other matches so far).

Then again, the best teams and title contenders do not reach their full potential and fitness level until the quarter finals, so it's way too early to draw any conclusions. This is true for all games so far.

Edit: the trick here obviously is to somehow survive the group phase and last sixteen round.

That being said, I am a little nervous regarding today's match against Portugal.

Well 3-0 for Germany already. Already the seccond half is a surplus for this game.

Can't believe how badly Portugal is playing. Also Pepe's red card has to be one of the dumbest penalties I have ever seen.

I see the US vs. Ghana game is at 6:00 EDT.

I'll be happy with a tie.

80 mins on the clock and Germany still lead Portugal 4-0

Absolutely disastrous start for Portugal.... it's a shame that the German victory has been marred by some very unsportsmanlike behaviour from Muller. Pulling that sort of stunt at the highest level of the game with the world watching is exactly what the sport doesn't need.

Yeah, awful game from Portugal. We can�t blame Muller for Pepe's stupidity, he's well known for his bad behaviour and he shouldn't have done what he did. But as a team Portugal was unrecognizable. Congrats to Germany.

Sitting in a bar here in Texas watching the Germans just manhandle Portugal.

Listening to Texans comment on the game was painful, but I see the point.

In Basketball, players flop down for fouls. Football players get carted off on a stretcher. These things happen in sports.

But at no time does a player grip his face and roll around as though his whole family has died and his penis severed. If the players could just leave their hands off their face, they would stop looking like men that you wouldn't want to share a beer with. I know its to pull on the heartstrings of the ref and fans... but for godsakes, it takes all the "Man" out of the game.

I see a video for an idiot playing with guns, and he shoots himself. He says "#%&*$#! I just shot myself!" and hobbles off camera, just to put it in perspective.

Women don't roll around and hold their face when they get injured in Women's soccer...

Anyway, boring game for Germ/Port further exacerbated by 11 v 10 scenario early, but my boys are starting their run.

Wow Portugal was very mentally weak and self-destructed there.

Poor defending and a unlucky questionable penalty goes against them and so Pepe lets his frustration at Muller's playacting ruin the WC for the team most likely.

Sad to have a match I had been looking forward to so much, turn into such a one sided farce from Pepe's and Muller's bad behavior.

Compare Portugal's reaction to the mature and strong way that Bosnia handled a similar early bad luck yesterday and you can see how poor Portugal's outcome is, I think they are done.

Congrats to Germany, they played well, though they should be embarrassed by Muller's playacting.

Big opportunity for USA and Ghana though, should make the last match today have even more meaning for each team.

Well he got Pepe's fist in the face, and was already on his way up again when Pepe headbutted him. So who showed "unsportsmanlike behaviour" again, exactly? Pepe absolutely deserved the red card, especially if you consider his history.

If M�ller had been acting, he would have stayed down. He gets right back up after falling down. That is not acting. He even said in the interview afterwards that he hopes it does not look like he was acting.

If you watch the replay again, he gets hit, puts both hands on his face as he falls down, rolls once, then sits up massaging his chin.