Lordy, after the US's nail-biting squeaker of a win yesterday (seriously, that was one crazily intense game), to Italy's amazing/stunning defeat at the hands of the plucky Slovakia team, I don't know how much more drama I can take! There have been some incredibly exciting matches of late. So, who advances to the elimination rounds? (it's not done, yet) My favorites are in italics...
- Uruguay
- Mexico
- Argentina
- South Korea
- United States
- England
- Germany
- Ghana
- Paraguay
- Slovakia
- Netherlands
- Japan
There are a few more matches to sew up the remaining teams, as the remaining groups sort it out until the final 16 are reached. This afternoon, I'm watching doomed
Cameroon (going nowhere, statistically) go up against Holland, just to watch them play again; they were a good team, but just didn't have it when they needed it. I also want to see the Dutch play again. For all of the talk of how great they are, I haven't been so impressed. I like watching the World Cup on the front end, sussing out the teams, seeing who the good teams are, versus the floppers and foulers. I really wanted to see more African teams advance (and I'm in a pickle with the US having to go up against Ghana Saturday -- I was really wanting Ghana to go further, but up against the US, I have to root for the US, because the US is such an underdog in soccer, and Ghana is a very, very good team that would totally stick it to the US if we're not careful).
Tomorrow has
Portugal v. Brazil (10 a.m. EST) and Chile v.
Spain (2:30 p.m. EST), among some other games. Both of those should be fucking sweet, if those teams play well. Normally I wouldn't root for Portugal, but going up against Number 1 Brazil, I totally am. Get'em!
Except that if Brazil manages to spank Portugal, AND
Ivory Coast manages to clobber North Korea, then Ivory Coast could miraculously advance. The odds are very long for this, but I would like to see another African nation advance to the final 16.
