By the skin of their teeth

England barely made it through to the 1/4 finals. A tepid game, and really, incredible luck. Beckham did his job, and showed again what a difference a striker like him can make.

But what was that game between Holland and Portugal? Such ugliness at such a level was shameful. We seriously thought they'd be playing 3 vs 4 by the end of it. The Netherlands, instead of focusing their energy on scoring after some frustrating misses, dispersed it in reckless angry moves against Portugal. Portugal spared no low blows, with a referee who was just not looking when he should have, a number of times.

Portugal sails through in tatters, and leaves one more chance for England to move forward.