GERMANY 8 SAUDI ARABIA 0 by JacquesTheLad

What more to say? Before the game, the talk was of Germany fielding their weakest side ever, and that this was the first World Cup in living memory that you could safely write them off winning. The Saudis, it was said, would produce stern opposition. How wrong they were to be!

Basically, Germany dominated proceedings from first whistle to last, with little in the way of resistance from Saudi Arabia. The first goal came in 20 minutes, with Klose heading home with a diving header despite Saudi Arabia having a couple of chances to clear the ball before it came to his path. He then added a second seven minutes later, rising wonderfully to put the ball past the keeper. Bayern Munich's Michael Ballack was next up, placing his header superbly past the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper on 40 minutes. Carsten Jancker got involved in the act on the stroke of half time, striking the ball through the keeper's legs in first-half injury time.

With the game over as a contest, the game dropped off into the second half, with Germany simply controlling the pace and flow of the game. Klose completed his hat-trick with another header from a corner, and somebody else scored (can't be bothered checking who it was). How many's that? Em, think that's 6, eh? Well, substitute Oliver Bierhoff added his name to the scoresheet with a shot that had no right to find the net, and Thomas Linke was the final name, heading home a corner to make it 8.

All-in-all, a superb performance from Germany, which must have gave Ireland and Cameroon food for thought. As for the Saudis, well, they can still qualify, mathematically if not theoretically. The English press must rethink, and must still be getting stuck into that humble pie...

ARGENTINA 1 NIGERIA 0 by JacquesTheLad

Em, I didn't actually see this game, as I was still sleeping. But Roma's Gabriel Batistuta scored the game's only goal with a header from a cross from Manchester United's Juan Sebastian Veron on 63 minutes. Maybe BWTT will tell you more, I don't know...

PARAGUAY 2 SOUTH AFRICA 2 by JacquesTheLad

Same with this game as above, although Paraguay went 2-0 up with goals from Roque Santa Cruz and Arce (yes, that is his name, although it's pronounced Ar-say) putting them in control. However, the South Africans fought back, and after Struway put through his own net to get them back into it, Manchester United's Quinton Fortune scored in the final minute with a penalty to salvage a point for them.

England v Sweden and the other game tonight... :-)