I sat down to the Portugal match fully expecting to see something like the usual 6-0 thrashing they generally serve up to Angola. The Angolans understandably hate their former colonizers and there’s usually plenty of fire and red cards. Portugal don’t just beat them, they humiliate them. Today’s match was a comparatively listless 1-0 for the Portuguese.

It looked like it was going to be brutal when Portugal scored after 4 minutes, but the match bogged down after that, and Portugal once again seemed content to back off the gas a bit once they felt they did enough to win. The three points should have never been in doubt in this match, but they left Angola with every chance to steal a result, right up to the whistle.

Portugal took the points, so it doesn’t matter if it was 1-0 or 20-0, but if I’m a Portugal fan I’m starting to worry about it being deja vu all over again. They are supposed to play with the South American style, with flash and flare. Instead, they seem only to have mastered the South American Achilles heel–they walk on the pitch as if the game was already won and the match is just a formality.

In a lackluster contest, Mexico eventually found the answers and beat Iran 3-1.

I remain unconvinced. The entire match seemed pretty even between two below average squads until Mexico broke the 1-1 tie late and took the air out of Iran.

For obvious reasons, it’s practically impossible to root for Iran in any sort of arena, but Mexico is my team that I love to hate. They make it easy to do. I wouldn’t have been happy no matter what the result was in this match.

On a completely unrelated issue, since my mind had occasion to wander fairly often during this match, I was glad to hear the German authorities were at least thinking about the shadow problems. I thought it was just me. In seemingly every stadium so far, the shadows cast by various inanities hanging over or around the venues makes it seem like we’re watching the match through a sheet with some holes in it. I don’t know what effect it’s having on the players, little, I suspect, but it’s annoying the hell out of me.

Arjen Robben’s first half goal was just enough to get the Netherlands past Serbia Montenegro 1-0

Just as advertised, the Serbia Montenegro defense was solid and kept the match tight and entertaining, but the class team won. This, so-called by some–including me, Group of Death, is now shaping up to be a battle for the top spot. A battle Argentina should win, but the Dutch are solid and should do some damage in this tournament now that the team is built more around the talent than egos.