Greece

please oh please oh please.

SLOVENIA!

Slovenia pulls back a goal in the 88th minute! Huge development to keep the playoff leg more even. Anything can happen Wednesday. Russia leads 2-1.

The game of the day in Africa has kicked off. Egypt leads Algeria 1-0 after a goal in just the 2nd minute of the game for Zaki. Egypt is going to need by more than 1 though to advance to South Africa.

Motherland Update

Bilyaletdinov AGAIN. The Everton employee puts Russia up 2-0 and in full control of the 2 leg playoff if they can hold on to this score.

Final

That's it for the USA. 1-0 loss on a questionable PK call. Scary moment at the end that Cherundolo goes off with a knee injury. We'll have to see how that plays out later in the day. Good showing from the US despite the loss. Robbie Rogers, Bradley, Feilhaber, and Guzan were some standouts for the US. In the end, the Slovakia back line was just too strong. Next up, Denmark.

UEFA

The first game of the UEFA playoffs has begun and the Russians look to take a 1-0 lead into half time after a 40th minute goal by Bilyaletdinov (say that five times fast...or even once correctly).