I wish I could jump in a hot tub and travel back in time 100 years. If I could, I would stop all that is wrong in the game from ever happening and make sure that all the bad things that do happen could not happen. I would put salary caps in the game, I would make the punishment for cheating severe, for bribery very severe and I'd make sure that the game, above all things, remained honest and had some values.

I don't have a hot tub though so I cant do what should have been done years ago and I apologise for the rant, but the game tonight just turned into who was the best cheat and it isn't very nice.

The second goal consisted of two hand balls and Kaka was sent off because someone ran into him, on purpose and fell to the ground as if hit. Kaka did nothing and Fabiano, who scored the second goal, should have had a little more integrity, a little bit of fair play about him, to have said something about how he played hot potato with the ball.

I know it will never happen and I know that cheating is all part of the game these days, but am I really naive to hold out hope that one day it will be fixed and the game will become honest and real again? Is it wrong of me to hope that somebody somewhere values football for what football should be about and is one day, soon, going to step in and fix things? Don't answer that.

The Goals

Fabiano scored twice - the first in the first half when he was played into the box by Kaka and he fired the ball into the roof of the net. The second, was after handling the ball twice before hitting it into the net. It wasn't an honest goal, but it counts and I have to mention it.

The third goal was made by Kaka again, this time down the left. He crossed to Elano who slotted home - a good goal. Elano limped off a few minutes later and we hope he is okay, because we think he has had a great World Cup so far and he will get better.

Didier Drogba got one back for Ivory Coast but there was no time left and it was merely a consolation.

The Sending Off

Kaka picked up a deserved yellow card for pushing Yaya Toure, but a minute or two later Abdelkader Keita ran into him and fell to the ground clutching his face. His face wasn't touched, not unless Harry Potter was under his invisibility cloak standing right next to Kaka, so no contact could have been made to his face and after watching several replays, that was confirmed - no contact to his face.

It was a joke and it made what was almost not a joke of a game into a bit of a joke. If I was French, I'd go on strike.

The Summary

Brazil deserve to be in the final sixteen and tonight they played some great football, which is what makes the goal a little bit annoying and why we have ranted the way we have.

Somebody somewhere called it the beautiful game. We now suspect he was a PR man because it is so rarely 'just' beautiful these days and we think that is sad.

Group G Table at Full Time

Team	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Brazil	2	2	0	0	3	6
Portugal	1	0	1	0	0	1
Ivory Coast	2	0	1	1	-2	1
Korea DPR	1	0	0	1	-1	0