In case any of you are awake on the west coast, feel free to post comments etc. about the US - Slovenia game here. 

It's been an interesting few days - Spain contrived to lose to Switzerland, whose coach, German legend Ottmar HItzfeld flat out said he cribbed their approach from the US victory over Spain in last summer's Confederations Cup, and France lost to Mexico 2 - 0, almost certainly guaranteeing that the French will be flying home next week. 

As I write this, Germany are experiencing a serious reversal of fortune: having beaten Australia 4 - 0 over the weekend, they are now down a goal to Serbia and lost Miroslav Klose to what apparently was a total joke of a red card decision.

Into this mayhem strolls the US - they really need to win this game, but they are well matched with Slovenia, who play strong defense, hold their formations, and are dangerous on the counter-attack. Not unlike the US.

Depending on the version you read, Slovenian striker Andrei Komac either guaranteed a win or was badly mistranslated, but either way Tim Howard's not amused. 

This could be a really interesting game of pace and end-to-end action (sassy!), or another dull tactical display to leave soccer-phobes convinced the game is crap. Either way, here's hoping for a US win.