I think Essien could have made a difference today. His energy would have made life hard for the likes of Kaka and would have covered his full-backs for the threat of Carlos and Cafa, who have excellent today, btw.
Will be sad to see Appiah leave the World Cup - he's been excellent but, like Argentina and Riquelme, you get the feeling that if he has an off-day, so does the team.
Game over.