The New Republic

The most error-strewn World Cups Jonathan Wilson: "Serbia must battle their own demons" Wilson (again!): Uruguay could be dark horses READ MORE >>

The French team is heading home, ending the soap opera (As the Stomach Turns). Thankfully, they were in group A, and finished early, so we don’t have to listen to one embarrassing story after another. Au revoir, mes amis. I don’t know whether England will make it through or not. They should, but need to play much better than they have. There has been an abundance of analysis for the surprising lackluster play of the big European clubs—some interesting, mostly not, all rather speculative. READ MORE >>

Group C, of course, has been a popular group for our bloggers. Rabih Alameddine kicked off proceedings with a bold pick: So the final will be Spain vs. Argentina, and Algeria will win. Mark it down. England vs. the USA divided the loyalties of some of our bloggers, including Luke Dempsey: READ MORE >>

Well, maybe he is. The contrast between Argentina and France or England is total and not simply because Argentina are winning and a winning team tends to be a happier team. Nevertheless, keeping the players contented—and unified—helps too. And here Maradona has, I think, done well. All but one of his outfield players has now played a part in the tournament and the man who hasn't, Ariel Garcé, is, well, Ariel Garcé: READ MORE >>

Could English failure against Slovenia reverse demographic trends? Cristiano Ronaldo embraces the role of villain READ MORE >>

On Twitter this afternoon we had some fun remembering French
embarrassments in Africa: the Battle of the Nile, Fashoda, Mers El Kebir, Suez, Bocassa, Rwanda and now, of course, South Africa 2010.

 Flippant, obviously, but France's meltdown this tournament has been 
richly entertaining (the shame of it is that Les Bleus cannot meet 
England. Now *that* would be a perversely amusing moment of anti-entertainment). READ MORE >>

Not surprisingly, when it comes to Group B, our writers have focused on Argentina. Daniel Alarcón pondered whether he could root for Maradona: READ MORE >>

With South Africans' dreams of soccer glory dashed by the elimination of their Bafana Bafana from the tournament today, fans may now be hoping that at least the World Cup will deliver on the economic boost its organizers have repeatedly promised them. They are likely to be disappointed again.  READ MORE >>

As Group A wraps up, here's some selections from our writers. Leon Krauze on the quality of Mexico's victory over France: It’s not only that Aguirre’s men played a wonderful game tonight: air-tight defending, wonderful ball rotation and physical fitness that, as far as I’ve seen, is probably the best in the whole tournament. By the end of the match, even Jeremy Toulalan—by far the most committed of Domenech’s disappointing team—simply wanted to throw in the towel. READ MORE >>

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