Round of 16 begins

The Group Stage is now complete and we have seen some marvelous games as well as some boring games; we have heard some great stories, some bad stories, and even some weird stories. Here's what I will remember from the games so far.

The 2006 World Cup final game matched France against Italy. This year's Round of 16 features...neither. If you had told a soccer fan 4 years ago that either of those would be eliminated this early, they would have laughed at you. But honestly, it's not that surprising now. When you build a national team, you need to find a great mix of intelligent, experienced veterans and athletic, energetic young players. Italy's team was filled with only veterans and in the end they just got outplayed.

On paper, France looked pretty good. If you had run a simulation with FIFA 10, France would have beat all their opponents nine times out of ten. But that's one of the great things about sports: intangibles. Fan support can become a confidence boost for teams sometimes and spark a great upset; on the other end of the spectrum, controversy and scandal off the field can negate any skill advantage a team may have had. This team's self-destruction has to be one of the worst any sports team has ever displayed (definitely the worst I've ever seen).

One annoying story about the games was the number of 0-0 or 1-1 ties we saw. I was glad to see this run broken by Germany beating Australia 4-0. Not to be outdone, Portugal beat North Korea 7-0. Now those are not good games, but it is nice to see some action. There were so many games that teased the casual fans into thinking, "Ok, something has to happen soon, right?" and then nothing would.
Finally there was U.S. soccer. The team has some high expectations from fans and analysts. The U.S. was served a bit of luck when the English keeper muffed an easy save to give us the draw. Then, after giving up 2 goals against a country most people cannot even find on a map, the team came back to earn the draw. Unfortunately, we should have completed the comeback with a win, but a bad call sparked the huge controversy and left fans thinking "how much of a difference will that disallowed goal make?" And then final game, where we ALMOST got screwed again, and this time would have kept us out of the knockout round. But then there was the image that will forever live on in U.S. soccer history: Landon Donovan netting the goal in stoppage time and sending the Americans to the next round.
Here are the teams moving on along with the picks I made in a previous blog.

Group A Picks: Uruguay, South Africa
Group A Winners: Uruguay, Mexico

Group B Picks: Argentina, South Korea
Group B Winners: Argentina, South Korea

Group C Picks: United States, England
Group C Winners: United States, England

Group D Picks: Germany, Ghana
Group D Winners: Germany, Ghana

Group E Picks: Netherlands, Cameroon
Group E Winners: Netherlands, Japan

Group F Picks: Italy, Paraguay
Group F Winners: Paraguay, Slovakia

Group G Picks: Portugal, Ivory Coast
Group G Winners: Brazil, Portugal

Group H Picks: Spain, Chile
Group H Winners: Spain, Chile

By the way, all my picks were made after each team had already played a game, so if those results look good, I'm not that smart.

Matchup Predictions
Uruguay v. South Korea: South Korea played great to get out of their group but Uruguay has just really impressed me with their athleticism, and Diego Forlan is a great player. Uruguay moves on.

United States v. Ghana: There's really no way I can pick against the U.S., but let's try to make it a bit more analytical. The United States has two times a better rank than Ghana and scored more points in the opening round (5 to 4). Also the U.S. will be looking to seek revenge for Ghana eliminating them from the last World Cup. United States wins.

Germany v. England: The English have been looking weak in the opening games, scoring only 2 goals total, while Germany scored a total of 5, 4 against Australia alone. While Germany's firepower immediately dropped off after their first game, England's biggest weakness has been their keeper (whichever one they pick), and Germany should be able to take advantage. The Germans advance.

Argentina v. Mexico: Just as I'm not going to pick against United States, it's nearly impossible for me to root for Mexico. And with them playing Argentina, I just don't see any way. Along with the Dutch, Argentina was the only team to win all 3 of their games, and they scored 7 goals in the process; they also feature the best player in the world, Lionel Messi. Mexico just cannot measure up to that. Argentina wins.

Netherlands v. Slovakia: Slovakia did surprise some people when they advanced from their group by beating Italy. But, like I said earlier, Italy was not that great this World Cup, and the group itself was weak. The Netherlands breezed through their group, beating runner-up Japan 1-0 while barely trying. Alexi Lalas picked them as his darkhorse team, and since I trust his expertise, I do not see them losing this early. The Dutch will advance.

Brazil v. Chile: Well, Brazil made me look stupid. I picked the upset and thought they would not make it out of their group, so they go and win it. Chile did play really well in their group, with their only loss being to Spain and that was no big deal because they advanced even with the loss. I'm picking Brazil but I think it will be a close game, either one goal difference or penalty kicks.
Paraguay v. Japan: This game looks to be really interesting to me as these teams are very closely matched. Paraguay won their group with less points than Japan had (Paraguay had 5 while Japan had 6, but they were in the group with Netherlands). Both teams' goal differential was +2, though Paraguay did come out of the weaker group. Japan got three of their goals in one game, proving they can turn on the jets should they need to. If this game goes to penalty kicks, Japan will win. Look for a good close game, and look for Japan to win.
Spain v. Portugal: Hands down, this has to be the best game of the round, maybe of the tournament. The #2 ranked team in the world (according to FIFA) Spain, against the #3 ranked team Portugal. The teams have also both been performing under their potential skill as Spain barely crawled out of their group. Portugal did score 7 goals against a weak North Korea, but that was in the middle of two 0-0 draws. Both of the teams' best players have been under par as well, with Fernando Torres battling injury and Cristiano Ronaldo only scoring one goal (was a tricky goal though). Look for both teams and players to heat up, and look for Portugal to move on.

By the way, if you're wondering what my pick is for the team to win it all, I was leaning toward Argentina before the World Cup began, and they have done nothing but impress me, so I'm sticking with that pick.

Anyway, that's all for now. I don't really have a schedule for my blogs still because with the World Cup going on, I'm jumping between the stages and U.S. soccer. Thanks for reading.