OK. Let’s get one thing straight in England-Germany. The goal that wasn’t given changed their World Cup second round clash, completely. If England leveled at 2-2, England has all the momentum and the Germans, a young team, might have crumpled. FIFA president Sepp Blatter, considered by most pundits to be pretty useless, will still make up some excuse for not using technology.

But did England deserve to win instead of lose 4-1? No.

Where do we start with the problems?

Matthew Upson was absolutely brutal in the center of defense. He and John Terry were caught well out of position on Germany’s first goal, route one stuff. The defense parted like the Red Sea.

Then for the second goal, Terry and Upson were again exposed, giving Lukas Podolski all day to set up and rifle a shot past David James. In Terry’s defense, he played with three different players in the center this tournament, not the recipe for success.

Wayne Rooney was a no-show. Whether he was hurt or not doesn’t matter. Scoring goals and causing all sorts of problems for opposing defenders in the Premier League, Rooney looked ordinary in all four games. And he was mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo prior to South Africa.

Manager Fabio Capello clearly lost the plot. The Italian couldn’t cope with the pressure and cracked. Capello bizarrely brought off one striker for another, rather than take off holding midfielder Gareth Barry, when down by three goals. Capello must love Emile Heskey, because to bring him on instead of Peter Crouch is a joke.

Maybe losing to Germany wasn’t so bad. Had England faced Argentina in the quarterfinals, it might have been 6-1.

FIFA got more egg on its face in Sunday’s late match between Mexico and Argentina, which the latter won 3-1. Argentina opened the scoring after Carlos Tevez was clearly off side. Mexico, stable and threatening up to that point, couldn’t really recover.

Whoever showed the replay inside the stadium should be applauded, since it brought more embarrassment to the world governing body.

So, Uruguay (solid, and with two potent strikers), Ghana (lucky to get the U.S. in the second round), Argentina (the standout team) and Germany (typically good) are the first four teams into the quarterfinals.