On the second day of the knockout stage, two huge referee errors marred the outcomes of two highly anticipated games.
In the first game of the day, Germany took on arch rival England.
The Germans quickly got out to a 2-0 lead in the first half, with goals from Miroslav Klose (20th minute) and Lukas Podolski (32nd minute), the longtime strike partners.
However the British refused to give up, and cut the deficit in half with a header goal from defender Matthew Upson (37th minute).
Just minutes later, Frank Lampard's long shot crossed the goal line after hitting the bottom of the crossbar, but the backspin on the ball forced it back towards the field of play, and the referee and his linesman did not realize the fact that the rest of the world knew, that the ball had crossed the plane of the goal line and was a clear goal.
The English had to settle for going into the 2nd half with a 2-1 deficit, and because they were pushing forward so much, the Germans were able to capitalize well on the counter attack, and within three minutes, Thomas Muller scored twice to make it a 4-1 game and send England crashing out of the World Cup.
"We are very satisfied," said Germany coach Joachim Low. "It was a fantastic performance against a very experienced England team. I'm sure it was a fun game to watch for the fans. We definitely played with lot of confidence, and the first goals were good for our morale."
The second match of the day was between Argentina and Mexico.
The two spanish speaking nations played in front of an electric atmosphere at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, most there to see the magic of Argentina star Lionel Messi.
Argentina scored first, when in the 26th minute Messi beautifully played through towards goal striker Carlos Tevez. The pass was too strong though, and the Mexican keeper Oscar Perez was able to get a hand on it.
Tevez's momentum had brought him offsides, and when Messi latched back onto the ball and chipped it over to Tevez, the Argentinian striker was at least two yards offsides.
However the call was not made by the ref or linesman, and Argentina got to keep their 1-0 lead. All 10 Mexican players on the field at one point were shouting at the linesman who didnt make the call. They were very upset to say the least.
Just a few minutes later, Gonzalo Higuain capatalized on a terrible mistake from Mexican defender Ricardo Osorio to give Argentina the 2-0 lead. Osorio had just lost control of the ball right in front of the goal, and Higuain just had to dribble around the keeper before slotting home.
Argentina put the game away in the 52nd minute when Carlos Tevez his his second in what could be the goal of the tournament to give La Albiceleste the 3-0 lead. His blast of a shot from 25 yards away screamed into the upper 90 of the goal and the keeper Perez had no chance to stop it.
Javier Hernandez saved some pride for Mexico as he scored in the 71st minute, but it was not enough to lead a comeback, and Mexico again lost in the round of 16 to Argentina.
"I think Argentina were the better side over the 90 minutes and we didn't have any real scares," said Argentina coach Diego Maradona. "All I can do is congratulate the players because they're doing things well, playing the ball around and enjoying themselves. The team looked comfortable out there, despite the quality of the opposition."
Argentina plays Germany in the quarter-finals at Cape Town Stadium on July 3, 2010 at 10:00AM ET.
