World Cup Group Stage: Round 2

-Game of the Round: USA: 2 – Slovenia: 2

Not even close on this one. This game had a bit of everything. A couple great goals, a feisty atmosphere, a dramatic comeback, and a hotly-disputed disallowed goal at the end. Slovenia was devastatingly clinical in the first half, scoring twice on what seemed to be their only two chances. The US came roaring back in the second to equalize and were probably robbed of the winning goal by the referee at the death.

Runner-Up: Cameroon: 1 -Denmark: 2

-Worst Game: England: 0 -Algeria: 0

I'm not one of those people who thinks you necessarily need goals for an encounter to be exciting, but how about some chances? Or some decent attacking play? This game got exactly what it deserved: a big fat zero (two of them in fact).

Runner-Up: Holland: 1 – Japan: 0

-Biggest Upset: New Zealand: 1 – Italy: 1

Who would have thought that New Zealand not Australia would be the Oceania team making the splash at this year's World Cup? Yes, you can argue that the Italians are notoriously slow starters, but they are still the defending champs while New Zealand's soccer pedigree is virtually non-existant (though the first first piece of it may well be created if they can somehow squeeze their way out of this group). New Zealand clawed and fought for everything they got in this game, defended valiantly and fully deserved their point.

Runner-Up: Germany: 0 -Serbia: 1 (not because Serbia's a bad side, simply because the Germans had looked so good in the opener)

-Best Performer (Team): Portugal

The Portuguese bounced back from a very bad game against the Ivory Coast to blow North Korea away 7-0 and put themselves (thanks in part to the Ivorians's loss to Brazil) back in the driving seat to qualify, or even potentially nip the top spot in the group. Portugal ran rampant in the second half, giving us a full display of their offensive firepower, particularly on the counter-attack. That being said,I don't think we should read too much into the severity of the scoreline. Scoring a bucket-load of goals on the counter against a weak opponent doesn't necessarily translate to scoring that single crucial goal in a tight game against one of the competition's better defenses.

Runner-Up: Argentina

-Worst Performer (Team): England

Really a toss up between France and England for this honor this week (I didn't have the heart to consider the North Koreans. Bad enough that their first televised game under the reign of Kim Jong-Il ended up a 7-0 thrashing). I went with England simply because, while they may not have lost as France did, the quality of the opposition wasn't comparable. Mexico are actually an above average side, whereas Algeria (no matter how hard England tried to make them look it) aren't. Both France and England have had dressing room rifts since their respective poor results and now stare elimination in the face going into their final group game.

Runner-Up: France

-Best Performer (Individual): Diego Forlan, Uruguay:

Forlan has so far shown himself to be the heart and soul of this Uruguay side. He scored two goals against South Africa but that was only of the tip of the iceberg with regards to his contribution to the team. He created chance after chance for himself and others and was very unlucky to not complete his hat-trick late in the game.

Runner-Up: Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal

-Worst Performer (Individual): Sani Kaita, Nigeria:

Soccer is a team sport of course, but in some cases one individual mistake can end being extremely costly for the team. In the case of Sani Kaita's red card against Greece, it ended up costing Nigeria their place in the competition. Nigeria perhaps weren't cruising, up 1-0 with 33 minutes gone, but they certainly looked the better team. Kaita's moment of madness, lashing out at Vassilis Torosidis, forced the Nigerians to play two thirds of the game with 10 men. The Greeks got a second wind from the sending off and came back to win the game 2-1 and knock the Super Eagles out.

Runner-Up: Wayne Rooney (was expected to be one of the tournament's stars but has looked woefully off the pace in the first two games)

-Best Goal: David Villa, Spain:

Villa was stellar against Honduras. He totally outclassed a defense that couldn't keep up with him, and was one missed penalty away from the World Cup's second hat-trick. On his first goal, he received the ball out wide on the left hand side about forty yards away from goal. He drove towards the corner of the penalty, split two defenders with quick feet and a burst of speed, and held off another just long enough to hammer the ball across the face of goal into the top corner. A great strike from quite possibly the world's best finisher.

Runner-Up: Luis Fabiano, Brazil (And no, not the one where he clearly handled the ball while juggling around and over three Ivorian defenders....though the handball spoiled an otherwise delightful strike.)