ENGLAND suffered the worst defeat in their World Cup finals history, losing 4-1 to old rivals Germany to go out in the Second Round in Bloemfontein.
The Three Lions' back four - Ashley Cole, John Terry, Matthew Upson and Glen Johnson - were pulled apart by the pacy German forwards with Mehut Ozil pulling the strings.
On 20 minutes, Miroslav Klose helped himself to his 50th international goal - more than any Englishman in history - when he stole in ahead of Terry and Upson from an innocous goal kick.
And it was deservedly 2-0 shortly afterwards when a neat passing move ended with Lukas Podolski in space in the England right-back area.
Podolski took a poor touch but he had so much time that he was able to adjust his position and fire through goalkeeper David James' legs.
But, if this was to be a bad day for England, it would also be a disastrous one for governing body FIFA and its president Sepp Blatter.
Blatter has repeatedly rejected calls for goal-line technology to be introduced, arguing ludicrously that it would be too expensive for the world's richest sport.
England had somehow got back into the match at 2-1 on 40 minutes when Upson went briefly from zero to hero by heading in a short corner.
Then, a minute later, Frank Lampard crashed a shot off the underside of the bar which went well over the goal-line for what should have been 2-2.
Unfortunately for Blatter, the Uruguayan referee and his myopic linesman compatriot failed to see the clear goal, leaving the England players understandably incensed.
But, for Germany, this was sweet revenge for England's disputed third goal in the 1966 Final.
And, despite feeling that they should have been level at the interval, England had been second best for much of the opening period.
The gulf between an ageing England squad and a vibrant Germany team showed again in the second half.
Lampard hit the bar again in a brief rally after half-time but, when Thomas Mueller beat the woeful Gareth Barry for pace to score twice in three minutes on the counter, it was time to take down the bunting.
Unsurprisingly, the highly-paid England coach Fabio Capello blamed the defeat on that disgraceful refereeing call but the Italian and his 23 man squad could do with looking closer to home first.
This World Cup as a whole was an awful effort from England. Poor in the 1-1 draw against the United States, Capello's men somehow got even worse in the 0-0 stalemate with Algeria.
England gained a reprieve by qualifying for the last 16 with a 1-0 against Slovenia, a country with 2m people.
But a failure to get a second goal against the Slovenians meant England finished second behind United States in Group C.
It was likely that the Three Lions would have had to beat Germany, Argentina, Spain and Brazil to win the tournament.
Exposed in defence and useless in attack, it was sadly not a surprise that England failed to clear the first of these hurdles.
Their neandethal style of play with the long-ball constantly pumped towards Emile Heskey deserved nothing more.
Wayne Rooney was a peripheral figure throughout and he has now failed to score a single goal at a major tournament finals since 2004.
On the other hand, aided by a generous defence, Germany scored more goals in Bloemfontein than England managed all the way through the tournament.
The wheat has been sorted from the chaff. The real World Cup starts here.
SECOND ROUND RESULTS
26/06 Uruguay 2-1 South Korea
26/06 United States 1-2 Ghana (after extra time)
27/06 Germany 4-1 England
27/06 Argentina 3-1 Mexico
28/06 Netherlands 2-1 Slovakia
28/06 Brazil 3-0 Chile
29/06 Paraguay 0-0 Japan (Paraguay won 5-3 on pens)
29/06 Spain 1-0 Portugal
Quarter Finals: Uruguay v Ghana, Germany v Argentina, Netherlands v Brazil, Paraguay v Spain
SOUTH AMERICAN teams have dominated the first World Cup on African soil so far with four of the five teams progressing to the last eight.
Six-time winners Brazil produced their best performance of the tournament so far to dispose of Chile, the only South Americans to fail to make it to the Quarter Finals.
It was a cruel case of history repeating itself for the Chileans who went down to a third defeat to Brazil in the World Cup finals.
La Roja had previously lost to Brazil 4-1 in the Second Round in 1998 and 4-2 in the Semi Finals in 1962.
Brazil had also won 3-0 and 4-2 in the two qualifiers for World Cup 2010, and Chile could provide no answer once again to another inspired performance in Johannesburg.
Nevertheless, the first goal was preventable - it was utter simplicity as Juan headed in a corner on 34 minutes to give Dunga's men the lead.
But, from then, Brazil relaxed and were soon 2-0 up when Luis Fabiano scored his fourth goal of the finals at the end of a neat passing move.
Robinho added a third after the break with a strike from the edge of the box as Brazil began to justify their favourites tag. They are now as short as 5/2 with most bookmakers.
Despite that, Argentina have probably been the best team to watch at the World Cup so far. La Albiceleste have had the most shots in the tournament and have scored the most goals.
Argentina beat Mexico 3-1 in a repeat of their Second Round fixture from four years ago to set up another repeat fixture from World Cup 2006 - against Germany in the Quarter Finals.
Germany won that match on penalties having scored a late equaliser in normal time but the Argentines look well-placed for revenge after Carlos Tevez's double in Johannesburg.
Nevertheless, Tevez's first goal on 25 minutes should not have been allowed, the Manchester City man having prodded home Lionel Messi's through-ball from a clear offside position.
It was an unbelievable missed call from the linesman as Tevez was ahead of every Mexican player when Messi threaded the ball.
The mistake came just hours after England had been denied a clear goal against Germany, and it completed a terrible day for FIFA and Sepp Blatter.
Mexico were shaken by the opener and, perhaps unsurprisingly, were 2-0 just minutes later when Gonzalo Higuain hit his fourth of the tournament after a defensive error.
And the contest was over just seven minutes into the second half when Tevez hit a glorious strike to make it 3-0.
New Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez pulled a goal back with 20 minutes left but it was nothing more than mere consolation and El Tri have now gone out of each of the last five World Cup finals in the last 16.
Uruguay and Paraguay are the other South Americans still in the hunt after their Second Round wins over Asian pair South Korea and Japan.
Luis Suarez scored on eight minutes and 80 minutes as Uruguay beat South Korea 2-1 to reach their first World Cup Quarter Final since 1970.
It was a heart-breaking defeat for the Koreans who spent much of the game chasing after Suarez's early strike.
The pressure from 2002 semi finalists finally seemed to have paid off when Bolton Wanderers' Lee Chung-Yong headed in a free-kick from close range on 68 minutes.
But a belting strike from Suarez left little time for another South Korean response and ensured two-time winners Uruguay could turn back the clock.
By contrast, Paraguay have a modest World Cup history and have reached the Quarter Finals for the first time ever after beating Japan on penalties.
The Japanese had never gone beyond the Second Round stage either and so this was a tense tie with few chances which finished 0-0.
With Paraguay taking first, all five penalties had been converted when Yuichi Komano stepped up but he fired his spot-kick over the bar.
Nelson Valdez made it 4-2 to the Paraguayans before Keisuke Honda kept Japan hopes alive. Oscar Cardozo ensured it was a brief stay of execution and Paraguay progress to meet Spain.
The Spanish will have seen little to worry them from their South American opponents having produced their best performance of the World Cup to beat neighbours Portugal 1-0.
David Villa scored the only goal of the match on 63 minutes but it was the least the Euro 2008 winners deserved.
Portugal had set out to contain Spain but relied on goalkeeper Eduardo to save brilliantly from Fernando Llorente, Sergio Ramos and Villa before the breakthrough.
The best Portuguese chances fell to Hugo Almeida either side of half-time. First, Almeida put an easy header wide before he was considerably less fortunate to see a looping effort spin past the post.
However, that was all Portugal had to offer and, while Fernando Torres' troubles continued - he was withdrawn on the hour for Llorente - Spain march on...
... And so do Ghana as the African continent's last representative at the first African World Cup after a 2-1 win over United States in extra time.
The Black Stars became only the third African country to reach the last eight after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 with that win over the Americans.
And victory over Uruguay would mean they would be the first ever team from Africa to reach the Semi Finals.
Ghana started well against USA and Kevin-Prince Boateng's early goal led to a succession of chances in the first half.
The Ghanaians failed to extend their advantage and looked set to pay for their profligacy when the Americans produced a much-improved second half performance.
Bob Bradley's men got a deserved equaliser when Landon Donovan scored from the spot after Jonathan Mensah's clumsy tackle on Clint Dempsey but neither team could find a winner in 90 minutes.
Just three minutes into extra time, Ghana struck another early blow as Asamoah Gyan showed great composure to control a long-ball before producing a sweet strike for his third goal of the finals.
The goal left the Americans shell-shocked and they were unable to raise much of a response until late on but Ghana survived without too much panic.
Netherlands beat Slovakia 2-1 after goals from Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder gave them a fourth World Cup finals win out of four.
The victory was more comfortable than the score suggests with the Oranje able to control the match and hold Slovakia off at arm's length after Robben's 18th-minute low strike from outside the box.
Miroslav Stoch and Robert Vittek had chances early in the second half to equalise but Maarten Stekelenburg produced two top-drawer saves and the match swung back in the Dutch's favour.
A quick free-kick played in Dirk Kuyt on the left and he beat the advancing Slovakian keeper Jan Mucha to set up Wesley Sneijder for the easiest of goals with six minutes left.
Despite a lack of time left in the game, the Dutch could have extended their lead further before Vittek scored a penalty with literally the last kick of the game after Stekelenburg's foul on him.
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