That was unexpected.

For those of you who haven't heard, the US pulled off the second biggest upset of the World Cup so far by topping Portugal 3-2. If it weren't for those wiley Senegalese booting the French in the petard, the US would have the biggest upset.

Still, it's going to be the talk of the Cup for a while.

Portugal came into the Cup with a lot of pressure. Their older players are from what's touted as a "golden generation" that had a lot of success as juniors, winning a few world titles. In their grown-up years, they've been seen as underachieving, given the lack of Cup appearances and not winning the European title in 2000. This is probably the swan song for stars like Luis Figo and Rui Costa, their last chance to lead Portugal to a title.

But apparently that golden generation didn't include the defense, as they had a lot of trouble in the first half getting together. That was clearly a problem on the US first goal, but bad clears and dubious marking allowed the US the room and time to set up all their goals (one an own goal, a deflection off of a defender's head). If you haven't seen Brian McBride's game winner, find a tape or a clip on the Web.

The game may not have been as close as the final had Jeff Agoos, the American with the most international appearances without playing in the Cup, put in an own goal to cut the lead to one. I suppose after waiting so long, he wanted to get in the record one way or the other.

In opposition to Portugal, youth was served with the US team. Established stars like Cobi Jones and David Regis gave way to players like Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley, a pair of 20 year olds who, for perhaps the first time in US team history, combine speed with the skill to be dangerous (Jones, who did play the second half, has skill but is more known for speed).

So this screws up Group D quite nicely. South Korea are your leaders, with three points for beating Poland and a +2 goal differential. The US is next, 3 points and a +1 (this is where Agoos' mistake may hurt us)., Portugal with no points and -1, and Poland nothing and -2.

We play the Koreans next, they with an extra day's rest. After watching them dominate Poland, I'm a lot more worried about this game than a week ago. That the stands will be packed with Korean partisans just adds to the concern. However, the US is clearly more fundamentally sound than Poland, who looked way out of synch in their opener.

Which may give Portugal their open door back into the group, if they can tag Poland with a big loss and the US and South Korea tie. Which would set them up for needing to beat the Koreans, which on most occasions would be a foregone conclusion.

But not this month.

In other Cup news, Russia topped Tunisia 2-0. Why is this significant? It represents a win on my first World Cup bet. Not that I got all that much for it; I cleared a little over $30 for putting up $50 on the Russians. I was going to put a throwaway bet on the US, who was 5 to 1. Of course, if I did that, they'd have gotten drilled.