England & Brazil Out

Both England and Brazil were eliminated from the World Cup today. I was sort of surprised that these teams did not manage to advance, but then again both have not been playing their best soccer in this tournament (or so the announcers said). England has looked spotty, but found a way to win and so I figured that they would do the same against Portugal. But once Beckham went out of the match, that seemed to take the spirit out of the team and that was it.

Brazil looked truly awesome against Japan and France had seemed shaky at times - so it was a shock to see how the Brazil team played today. They were just tentative and did not seem like there was a sense of urgency until the very end, and by that time it was too late. The France's team captain Zinedine Zidane played superb and was the reason that France advanced.