For whatever reason, I had so far managed to avoid this tournament's duds. I think I was in bed for the Ghana-Panama snooze-fest and I was chasing the Ivory Coast team up and down I-95 when Portugal and DR Congo were stinking the joint out.
But I was wide awake and locked in for this one… and I guess I had one coming.
Let's do the positives first. Mexico's away strip is magnificent. I might actually buy one. Guadalajara's stadium looked nice. Owen Hargreaves is a good co-commentator on the United States commentary. Erm… that's it.
OK, Mexico won, so they won't care. But South Korea… what was that?
This is their 11th consecutive World Cup appearance, they were unbeaten in qualifying and they have lots of decent players. Lee Kang-in has played more than 120 games for Paris Saint-Germain over the past three seasons. I realise he is not a starter in Paris, but they are the best team on the planet.
South Korea's first shot on goal did not come until the 88th minute. Their second came a second later. But that was pretty much that. Loads of possession, lots of neat passing but no crosses, no dribbles and no corners until the 92nd minute.
For most of the game, it looked like they were playing a possession drill. It was like they were hoping for a point for every fifth pass completed.
Son Heung-min got hooked after 56 minutes, which suggests he played badly. He did not play well, but I am not sure why he was singled out.
This was a poor game but South Korea were particularly disappointing, even if they had that late, late chance to draw. They made the semi-finals on home soil in 2002 but have not been beyond the round of 16 since then. They will do very well to get that far on tonight's evidence.
