Serbia Wins In Red-Card Shocker

Caught On Video:
German Fans Arrested
After Stunning 1-0 Loss

By STEVE SUSI
One Great Season

HAMBURG, Germany -- I just like saying "shocker."

Anyway, where to begin? Watching the Germany-Serbia tilt at the Hyundai Fan Fest in Hamburg promised to be a storied affair, and the excitement was far from lacking. The officiating, on the other hand ...

As I write this on a train somewhere between Hangover, Germany, and Copenhagen, the whistleblower and his trigger-happy tongue already have been well documented the world over. In the Fatherland, as you'd imagine, it was nothing short of tragedy. The CEO of BP can breathe a sigh of relief; someone else's lack of judgment has superceded his own, if only for one flatulent moment, on the front pages of tabloids and other legitimate news sources.

Check out the videographic evidence I shot last night of these two guys epitomizing the mood of the German nation:

Freedom of speech, baby!

It's no coincidence that the game's lone goal came just one minute after Miroslav Klose picked up his second yellow and a trip to the locker room for the remaider of the game and the next one, too. And Germany, long the poster-children for methodical, technically sound football, had 19 fouls, three yellow cards, and of course, Klose's red.

The World Cup does strange things to the men on the pitch. How could it be that this team, just days after decimating Australia 4-0 and looking every bit the quality of a potential champion goes scoreless to lose its first group stage match since 1986?

Another in my litany of questions: Lukas Podolski, how do you miss that penalty shot in the 60th minute? Even though Serbian keeper Vladimir Stokjovic guessed correctly for his dive, the ball was at a tame enough pace for him to routinely reject. This was Germany’s first missed penalty since 1974 — and the first one ever saved by a Serbia/Serbia & Montenegro/Yugoslavia keeper in a Cup match.

After watching Jovanovic tuck the ball under his jersey and skip his way off the field in ecstasy at the final whistle, a stunned German captain Philip Lahm said, "The referee made some strange decisions." Indeed he did, handing out nine yellow cards, a tournament high.

But I think Germany could best describe their own play using those self-same words.

Ghana Can't Take Advantage of Man-Down Socceroos

The men from Down Under soldiered on without midfielder Harry Kewell for 66 minutes to achieve a draw with Ghana after seeing the red mist for the second time in as many games. Kewell inexplicably blocked a shot from Jonathan Mensah with his arm, giving Ghana a penalty kick, which Asamoah Gyan buried in the 25th minute.

Both sides played spirited ball, with the Black Stars repeatedly breaking the Aussie defense with amazing speed but not adding to their tally, while Australia saw some excellent chances despite their man disadvantage, but they, too, failed to capitalize.

Australia coach Pim Verbeek said afterward, "We're still in the race. The boys were fighting for everything, and with everything they had. I can only be proud of the players." Of course he should say that. For a manager to say otherwise would be a breach of coaching protocol. However, I'm not sure what wizard he's consulting with — it's going to take a miracle for the 'Roos to emerge from group play and repeat their overachievement in Germany 2006.

It's hard for me to believe what I'm about to type here in my Copenhagen hotel room, but here goes before we run out to watch babes -- er, the Denmark v Cameroon match:

Ghana leads Group D with four points, followed by Serbia and Germany each with three, and Australia with one.

Click here for Steve's bio and an archive of his previous stories.