Luis Suarez scored twice to send Uruguay to the World Cup Quarterfinals. Suarez scored the first goal of the game in the 8th minute on a sharp angle after Diego Forlan’s cross caught South Korean goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong out of position, leaving Suarez with an empty net.

The South Koreans scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on a Lee Chung-yong header. However, it was too much Suarez as his match-winning goal in the 80th minute eliminated South Korea from the World Cup; Suarez avoided two defenders and blasted a right-footed shot that rang off the post and into the goal.

Uruguay hasn’t made it to the World Cup Quarterfinals since 1970.

Ghana 2 United States 1

They may have had enough magic to beat one African country, but the Americans failed to get past the last African country left in the tournament. Asamoah Gyan’s goal three minutes into extra time propelled Ghana to a 2-1 victory over the United States. Gyan scored his goal after receiving a long pass from Andre Ayew and beating two US defenders; Gyan’s left-footed blast from 16 yards out went over the hands of American goalkeeper Tim Howard and into the goal.

Kevin-Prince Boateng scored the first goal of the game for Ghana also from 16 yards out; Boateng stole the ball from Ricardo Clark at midfield in the 5th minute and beat Tim Howard to give Ghana a 1-0 lead.

The Americans fought back, scoring on a penalty kick in the 62nd minute by Landon Donovan; it was Donovan’s 45th career international goal and fifth in World Cup play (third in this tournament).

The United States’ best chance of tying the game in extra time came in the 98th minute, but Maurice Edu’s header off a Donovan corner kick sailed just wide of the net.

United States 1 Algeria 0

They kept fighting…and fighting…and after 90 minutes of soccer, the Americans finally prevailed. Landon Donovan scored in second-half stoppage time off a rebound to send the Americans to the Round of 16. One minute, it seemed like they were going to be eliminated. The next minute, they win their group for the first time since 1930.

Tim Howard made a save on an Algerian header and threw the ball to Donovan on the right side of the field. Donovan sprinted through the Algerian half of the field and passed it to Jozy Altidore. Altidore then centered the ball to Clint Dempsey, but Algerian goalkeeper Rais Bolhi punched the ball out…to Landon Donovan, who then fired the shot heard around the world.

For Donovan, it was his 44th career international goal.

The goal couldn’t have come at a better time for the United States, who had been thwarted the entire match by the Algerian defense, as well as a linesman who washed off Dempsey’s goal in the 21st minute with an offsides call; replays showed that Dempsey was still onside. Dempsey had a chance to get his goal back in the 57th minute, but he struck the post on his first shot and missed on the rebound.

The United States fired a total of 22 shots, with ten being on goal; Bolhi made nine saves.

For the first time in US history, the Americans have won a World Cup match after being tied at the half. It was their first shutout in group play since 1950 against England, and it was their first shutout in their last thirteen matches.

USA will play Ghana on Saturday in the Round of 16.

England 1 Slovenia 0

Jermain Defoe’s goal in the 23rd minute lifted England to a 1-0 victory over Slovenia; Defoe’s 12th international goal was good enough to advance England past group play, but not enough to get the #1 seed in Group C. Defoe scored his goal after receiving a cross from James Milner.

Even after the goal, England continued to dominate the match, but failed to score a second goal. Slovenia also had its chances, but English goalkeeper David James made six saves en route to the clean sheet.

James and Slovenian goalkeeper Samir Handanovic touched the ball a combined 154 times (78 for Handanovic and 76 for James).

Wayne Rooney fired a total of four shots, but only two were on goal. He has now gone eight games (711 minutes) without a goal for England.

Because of Donovan’s late heroics in the USA/Algeria game, Slovenia has been eliminated from the World Cup.

England will play Germany on Sunday.

Group D Matches:

Australia 2 Serbia 1

Tim Cahill and Brett Holman each scored a second-half goal to lift Australia to a 2-1 victory over Serbia. Cahill scored in the 69th minute on a header, and Holman scored in the 73rd minute on a long distance shot.

However, when it was all said and done, neither team advanced to the knockout stage.

Marko Pantelic made it a game late when his goal in the 84th minute cut the Australian lead in half. However, it was not enough as Serbia ended up finishing last in the group with three points.

Had the Serbians scored the equalizer, they would have made it to the Round of 16.

Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic each made five saves.

Germany 1 Ghana 0

Celebrating after a tied game is understandable, but celebrating after losing? Apparently Ghana had a reason to. After Australia defeated Serbia, Ghana finished second in the group and will advance to the knockout stage.

Celebrations erupted on both sides of the field as the two teams live to play another World Cup match.

Mesut Oezil scored the lone goal of the game in the 60th minute on a left-footed bomb from just outside the Ghana penalty box.

Ghana will play against the United States on Saturday while the Germans battle the English on Sunday.

Half brothers Kevin-Prince Boateng and Jerome Boateng played each other in this match, with Kevin-Prince being on Ghana and Jerome being on Germany.

Uruguay: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Mexico: 1-1-0 (4 points)
France: 0-1-1 (1 point)
South Africa: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Uruguay can advance to the knockout stage if:
1) Win/Tie against Mexico*
2) Loss against Mexico and France/South Africa draw
3) Loss provided that the France/South Africa winner does NOT own tiebreakers

Mexico can advance if:
1) Win against Uruguay*
2) Tie against Uruguay
3) Loss against Uruguay and France/South Africa draw
4) Loss provided that the France/South Africa winner does NOT own tiebreakers

France and South Africa can only advance with a win AND own tiebreakers over the loser of Mexico/Uruguay. A tie in either of the remaining Group A games would eliminate France and South Africa.

Group B Standings:

Argentina: 2-0-0 (6 points)
South Korea: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Greece: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Nigeria: 0-0-2 (0 points)

Argentina can advance if:
1) Win/Tie against Greece*
2) South Korea tie/loss against Nigeria
3) Loss provided that both South Korea and Greece do NOT own tiebreakers

South Korea can advance if:
1) Win against Nigeria and Greece does not either (a) win by a larger margin or (b) win by the same margin and score at least two goals
2) Tie against Nigeria and Greece tie/loss against Argentina

Greece can advance if:
1) Win against Argentina and South Korea tie/loss against Nigeria
2) Win by a greater margin than South Korea
3) Win by the same margin as South Korea and score at least two goals
4) Tie and South Korea loss to Nigeria
5) Defeat Argentina by at least three goals

Nigeria can advance if and only if it defeats South Korea and Argentina defeats Greece.

Group C Standings:

Slovenia: 1-1-0 (4 points)
United States: 0-2-0 (2 points)
England: 0-2-0 (2 points)
Algeria: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Slovenia can advance if:
1) Win against England*
2) Tie against England
3) Loss against England and USA/Algeria draw
4) Loss and Algeria win against USA provided that Algeria does NOT own tiebreakers

The United States can advance if:
1) Win against Algeria
2) Tie against Algeria and Slovenia/England draw if England does not outscore the United States by at least two goals
3) Tie and Slovenia win against England

England can advance if:
1) Win against Slovenia
2) Tie and USA/Algeria draw and outscore USA by three goals

Algeria must defeat the United States to have a shot at advancing. In addition, Algeria will need:
1) Slovenia win/tie against England
2) Slovenia loss against England provided that it owns tiebreakers on Slovenia

NOTE: If both of the remaining Group C matchups end in draws, and England scores exactly two more goals than the United States, both countries would be even on all tiebreakers; this tie would be broken by drawing lots (coin flip).

Group D Standings:

Ghana: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Germany: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Serbia: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Australia: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Ghana can advance with:
1) Win against Germany*
2) Tie against Germany
3) Loss and Australia/Serbia draw provided that Serbia does NOT own tiebreakers
4) Loss and Australia win provided that Australia does NOT own tiebreakers

Germany can advance if:
1) Win against Ghana
2) Tie and Serbia/Australia draw provided that Serbia does NOT own tiebreakers
3) Tie and Australia win provided that Australia does NOT own tiebreakers

Serbia can advance if:
1) Win against Australia
2) Tie and Germany loss against Ghana
3) Tie and Germany/Ghana tie provided that it owns tiebreakers over Germany

Australia must defeat Serbia to have a shot at advancing. In addition, Australia will need:
1) Germany loss against Ghana
2) Germany win provided that it owns tiebreakers over Ghana
3) Germany/Ghana draw provided that it owns tiebreakers over Germany

Group E Standings:

Netherlands: 2-0-0 (6 points; clinched spot in Round of 16)
Japan: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Denmark: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Cameroon: 0-0-2 (0 points; eliminated from World Cup)

Netherlands can win the group if:
1) Win/tie against Cameroon*
2) Loss and Denmark/Japan draw*
3) Loss as long as the Denmark/Japan winner does NOT own tiebreakers*

Japan can advance if it defeats/ties Denmark
Japan can win the group with a win against Denmark and a Netherlands loss provided that the Netherlands does NOT own tiebreakers over Japan*

Denmark can advance if it defeats Japan
Denmark can win the group with a win against Japan and a Netherlands loss provided that the Netherlands does NOT own tiebreakers over Denmark*

Group F Standings:

Paraguay: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Italy: 0-2-0 (2 points)
New Zealand: 0-2-0 (2 points)
Slovakia: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Paraguay can advance if:
1) Win against New Zealand*
2) Tie against New Zealand
3) Loss and Italy/Slovakia draw
4) Loss and Slovakia win provided that Slovakia does NOT own tiebreakers

Italy can advance if:
1) Win against Slovakia
2) Tie and New Zealand loss
3) Tie and Paraguay/New Zealand draw provided that it outscores New Zealand

New Zealand can advance if:
1) Win against Paraguay
2) Tie and Italy/Slovakia draw provided that it outscores Italy

Slovakia must defeat Italy to have a shot at advancing. In addition, Slovakia will need:
1) New Zealand tie/loss against Paraguay
2) New Zealand win against Paraguay provided that it owns tiebreakers over Paraguay

Group G Standings:

Brazil: 2-0-0 (6 points; clinched spot in Round of 16)
Portugal: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Ivory Coast: 0-1-1 (1 point)
North Korea: 0-0-2 (0 points; eliminated from World Cup)

Brazil can win the group if they defeat or tie Portugal*

Portugal can advance if:
1) Win against Brazil*
2) Tie against Brazil
3) Loss and Ivory Coast loss/tie against North Korea
4) Loss and Ivory Coast win provided that Ivory Coast does NOT make up goal difference

Ivory Coast can only advance if it defeats North Korea and Portugal loses to Brazil; Ivory Coast will also need to make up the goal difference against Portugal.

Group H Standings:

Chile: 2-0-0 (6 points)
Spain: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Switzerland: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Honduras: 0-0-2 (0 points)

Chile can advance if:
1) Win/tie against Spain*
2) Loss and Switzerland tie/loss against Honduras
3) Loss and Switzerland win provided that Switzerland does NOT own tiebreakers

Spain can advance if:
1) Win against Chile
2) Tie against Chile and Switzerland tie/loss against Honduras
3) Loss and Honduras win provided that it owns tiebreakers over Switzerland and Honduras

Switzerland can advance if:
1) Win against Honduras and Spain tie/loss against Chile
2) Win against Honduras and Spain win against Chile provided that Chile does NOT own tiebreakers
3) Tie against Honduras and Spain loss against Chile
4) Loss against Honduras and Spain loss against Chile provided that it owns tiebreakers over Spain and Honduras

Honduras can only advance if it defeats Switzerland and if Chile defeats Spain; Honduras also needs to own the tiebreakers over Spain and Switzerland.

If two teams finish even on points, tiebreakers work like this:
1) Goal differential
2) Goals scored
3) Head-to-head
4) Drawing lots

* denotes event that would win the group

Just when you thought the Germans were unstoppable, they find a way to stop themselves in a soccer match. Miroslav Klose, the 2006 World Cup’s leading scorer, was tossed from the match in the 36th minute after receiving his second yellow card of the game; two minutes later, Milan Jovanovic scored the lone goal of the game for Serbia. It was Jovanovic’s 10th career international goal.

Germany’s best chance of tying the game came in the 60th minute when the Germans were awarded a penalty kick, but Vladimir Stojkovic stoned Lukas Podolski on the penalty kick to keep the Serbians ahead one goal; prior to this match, Germany had not missed a penalty kick in World Cup group play since 1974.

“It was my fault. I missed,” said Podolski. “I accept responsibility and I don’t want to dwell on it.”

The match was marred by nine yellow cards issued by Spanish referee Alberto Undiano.

The Germans lost in group play for the first time since 1986.

Slovenia 2 United States 2

At first, it seemed like Slovenia would win. Then, the United States made a furious comeback. Finally, it felt like the Unites States had completed the comeback with a win. Unfortunately for the Americans, only the first two happened as the United States was forced to settle with a 2-2 draw against Slovenia.

Valter Birsa and Zlatan Ljubijankic each scored a goal in the first half to lift Slovenia to a 2-0 lead at halftime.

The United States nearly tied the game at 1 late in the first half, but Clint Dempsey’s centering pass to Landon Donovan was broken up by Miso Brecko at the very last second. A short moment later, Ljubijankic gave the Slovenians a two-goal lead over the Americans.

Donovan was not to be denied in the second half as his goal in the 48th minute cut the Slovenian lead in half. Then, in the 82nd minute, Michael Bradley, son of US coach Bob Bradley, netted the equalizer. Four minutes later, Maurice Edu scored a goal off a free kick, but the goal was waived off by referee Koman Couilibaly of Mali because of a foul; it was not clear on why the foul was called.

Nevertheless, it was the first time in World Cup history in which the United States came back from a two-goal deficit and ended up with at least one point; the United States is the first team since 2002 to accomplish this feat. The Americans have never won a game in the World Cup in which they have trailed.

The Americans have not recorded a clean sheet in their last twelve international matches.

Algeria 0 England 0

Despite the fact that the scoreboard read a tie game, it felt more like a victory for Algeria and a bitter defeat for England. For the second time in this tournament, England had to settle for a draw; the last time England mustered just two points in two games was 1990 (England went on to beat Egypt, but got eliminated in the semifinals).

England has just the one goal in the 4th minute of the opening game against the United States; Algeria has not scored at all in this tournament.

Wayne Rooney has not scored a goal in his last seven matches. His partnership with Emile Heskey proved to be inefficient as it took over thirty minutes for England to get a shot on goal; England finished the match with five shots on goal, but Algeria’s Rais M’bohi, who replaced Fawzi Chaouchi, stopped all of those shots.

Group C scenarios:

All four teams are still eligible to advance past group play.

The United States can advance if one of the following occurs:
1) Win against Algeria
2) Tie against Algeria AND Slovenia/England tie (provided that England doesn’t outscore the United States by at least two goals)
3) Tie and England loses to Slovenia

England can advance if:
1) Win against Slovenia
2) Tie against Slovenia AND United States/Algeria tie (provided that England outscores the United States by three goals)

Slovenia can advance if:
1) Win/tie against England
2) Lose against England AND United States/Algeria tie
3) Lose against England AND Algeria wins (provided that Slovenia wins tiebreakers)

Algeria can advance if:
1) Win against United States AND Slovenia Win/Tie against England
2) Win against United States AND Slovenia Loses to England (provided that Algeria wins tiebreakers)

The only way the United States and England can both advance is if both win their respective games. However, if both teams come out with draws, and England scores two more goals than the United States, both teams would be even on all tiebreakers; the tie would then be broken by drawing lots.

Seems like every time the United States play in a 1-1 tie against a European country in the World Cup, the Americans always score fluky goals. In the 2006 World Cup, the United States scored a goal on a Cristian Zaccardo own goal in a game against Italy; that game ended in a 1-1 draw. In this game, the United States scored a goal when English goalkeeper Robert Green botched a sure save on a Clint Dempsey shot in the 40th minute. Dempsey became just the second American to score a goal in two World Cups.

Steven Gerrard scored England’s lone goal in the 4th minute.

For the United States, it felt like a victory even though the scoreboard didn’t say so.

American forward Jozy Altidore nearly gave the states a 2-1 lead in the 65th minute, but Green got a hand on the ball, which then struck the goalpost.

Argentina 1 Nigeria 0

Gabriel Heinze’s diving header in the sixth minute off a Juan Sebastian Veron corner kick lifted Argentina to a 1-0 victory over Nigeria and gave Diego Maradona his first victory in the World Cup as a coach. Lionel Messi, FIFA World Player of the Year, touched the ball a total of 103 times and passed the ball a total of 69 times, but failed to score a goal in this game.

Argentina fired a total of 20 shots (8 by Messi), but only seven were on goal. Nigeria fired 12 shots, but only one was on goal. Neither club was called for offsides during the entire course of the match.

South Korea 2 Greece 0

Goals from Lee Jung-Soo and Park Ji-Sung lifted the South Koreans to a 2-0 victory over the Greeks. Lee scored his goal on a Ki Sung-Yeung free kick from the corner of the field in the 7th minute, and Park scored his goal after intercepting a pass and swerving by a defender in the 52nd minute. Both goals were consequences of defensive miscues by Greece.

Park Ji-Sung, who also scored in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, became the first South Korean to score in three World Cups.

This is South Korea’s 7th consecutive trip to the World Cup while Greece has only made the World Cup once before (1994).

At the end of the first half of the Confederations Cup final, held in South Africa, the US thought they had a good chance of winning the game, with a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, Brazil’s unbelievable second half comeback shattered that dream.

In the American’s first ever appearance in a FIFA tournament final, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan scored the first two goals of the game, giving the US a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half.

“You realize why these guys are worth so much at times like this, but it’s still disappointing. We are in the position where we don’t want respect, we want to win,” Donovan said.

In the second half, Luis Fabiano scored two goals and Lucio scored a third to lead Brazil to the 3-2 win, giving them their second straight Confederations Cup final, and their third overall. Brazil also won the Confederations Cup in 1997 and 2005.

Through a translator, Brazil’s coach, Dunga, stated, “At halftime, we said there was something lacking, some lack of positioning. We corrected that and we pressured our opponent in the second half and we were able to score a goal.”

Luis Fabiano scored his first goal in the 46^th minute, for his fourth goal of the tournament. He tied up the game in the 74^th, for a tournament-leading five goals. In the 84^th, Lucio scored the game winning goal, by heading in a corner kick from Elano.

“We gave up the first goal so early in second half,” US coach Bob Bradley said. “We really put ourselves in a tough spot.”

“We made more use of the wings and we scored goals,” Dunga said.

Dempsey scored the first goal of the game in the 10^th minute. Donovan added to the lead for the US in the 27^th.

“They turned the ball over, Ricardo gave me a good pass in the middle. I gave it to Charlie and he did a good job getting it back to me. Just did the rest from there,” Donovan stated about his goal.

There was a little controversy in the 60^th, however. Brazilian forward, Kaka, headed a cross from teammate Andre Santos to the near post. Goalkeeper Tim Howard then stepped back in the goal, knocked the shot off the crossbar, and then held the ball securely in his arms. Kaka appealed, saying that the ball was past the line before Howard had it in his arms. Replays show that he was right.

“I don’t know whether the ball crossed the goal line. Maybe the TV images will show,” said Kaka. “It would have been fantastic for me to score a legitimate headed goal.”

The Brazilians have won eight matches and a row, and in fifteen games against the Americans, Brazil has only lost once; in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Americans reached the semifinals at the first World Cup in 1930, and made the quarterfinals in 2002. Their most famous victory before snapping Spain’s fifteen-game winning streak in the semifinals, was their 1-0 win over England at the World Cup in 1950.

“I think people around the world see that we have a good team, we have good players. Hopefully we can continue to step forward,” said Bradley.

Photo Source: Getty Images

The U.S. has defeated team Europe 14-9.5, winning the 2008 Ryder Cup.  It is only the second time in 7 tries the U.S. has beat the Europeans.  More to come later.

While the US Softball team failed to defend their gold medal, the US Soccer team was able to do so even without Abby Wambach.

Despite having been outplayed by the Brazilian women for most of the night, Carli Lloyd finally found the net in the 96th minute of the Gold Medal Game to give the United States a 1-0 win.

Despite great opportunities from the Brazilian team, US goalkeeper Hope Solo was able to keep the ball out of the net to give her team numerous chances to win the game. It was bitter disappointment for Brazil, who outplayed the Americans in the 2004 final, too, but ended up losing in extra time as well. In 14 games against the Americans since 2000, Brazil has won only one time.

Believe it or not, the US Softball team did lose today. 3 to 1 against the Japanese team. Japan handed the United States their first loss since September 21, 2000 in Sydney. The United States was looking to win their 4th straight gold medal on Thursday, but will have to settle for silver this year in the last Olympics softball game for at least eight years.

Yukiko Ueno, Japan’s resilient right-handed pitcher, pitched seven innings of softball allowing just one run on five hits. Cat Osterman for the US pitched five innings allowing two runs on three hits. Monica Abbott pitched two more innings for the US allowing one more run on two hits. The US had won 22 straight games in the Olympics, most of them with outrageously lopsided scores, before falling to Japan in the final softball game of the 2008 Olympic games.

After the game, slugger Crystl Bustos said, “It hurts a lot. You train your whole life and you want to win. You don’t expect to lose.”

It is currently 9 PM Local Time in Beijing, China, and most of the events are winding down.  As of this time the United States has an early lead with 3 total medals (one of each kind). China is second with 2 total (both golds) and South Korea is third also with 2 (both of which are bronze, thus putting them behind China). 

Do not forget all events up to 1 PM EST are live, all others shown will have been pre-recorded.  Keep checking throughout the day for Olympic Updates.