Yeah... England has not played well at all, and I've always thought Beckham gets more credit than he deserves, not sparking his team like other greats left in the tournament... Joe Cole on the other hand is a sparkplug and flies under the radar...
I was at the game when I lived in Quito in 2001 when Ecuador beat Brazil for the first time in history 1-0... what an experience with an atmosphere unlike anything I'll ever see in my life 100 times greater than any Superbowl... every man woman and child in the nation was crazy and it lead to Ecuador qualifying for the first time in history for the World Cup despite being just the second smallest country in South America qualifying with giants, unlike the US qualifying in North America... I attended a few games in Quito, joining in drunken chants of "Nos vemos en Japon!"... or "we'll see you in Japan!"...
Ecuador this round of qualifying beat Brazil again and Argentina... just amazing (Brazil actually lost two games in qualifying... to Ecuador and Argentina)... I did see the Portugal match and wow... that was a crazy match, although the officiating on top of being horrible has seen way too many cards... every foul where the guys puts on a face results in a card...
Anyway... my Italia faces off tomorrow against the socceroos... perhaps one of the only other countries competing aside from the US where soccer is nowhere near the #1 sport...
Anyway I digress... thanks for the compliments on the zoos and good luck Eric...