Knockout starts

Hero Ozil is mobbed by the Mannshaft after his super strike

The group stages have ended and the final 16 teams are up for battle in the first round of knockouts. As expected, France ended their campaign miserably in similar fashion to the one they had in 2002. The team unrest naturally spells disaster for the French and host South Africa had managed to exit the tournament in a much dignified manner with the win. The English team morale was on the verge of collapse too, especially with news of a coup by Terry over a few mugs of beer. Nevertheless, they succeeded in salvaging a one goal win to progress through and so did the US who topped the group thanks to hero Donovan. With the Germans going through after Ozil's super strike and England failing to clinch first spot, it's Operation Sealion this Sunday as the traditional rivals meet once again. Beckenbauer will surely be rubbing his hands in glee to launch a few mortar strikes at the English camp. I must say this time, I'll be siding with the Luftwaffe against the RAF.

Things were not so rosy for the Italians as they follow suit with the French in being one of the biggest flops of the World Cup. The defending champions finished bottom of the group and failed to register a single win for the 2010 campaign, a remniscent of the French team in 2002 who were the defending champions during that year too. It was a dramatic match against Slovakia especially in the last minutes but the Eastern Europeans managed to run away with a 3-2 win with an equalising goal from Italians being denied.

The Brazil vs. Portugal match turns out to be a stalemate with both sides cancelling each other out but it's good enough for both to progress to the next round. Since Spain topped the group, they'll set up an interesting derby against neighbouring Portugal. David Villa scored in the crucial match against Chile to ensure that he's at 3 goals alongside with Gonzalo Higuain. Anyways, it's great to see two Asian nations South Korea and Japan advancing to the next stage and I hope they'll go far too for Asian pride sake..lol.

Given the manner in which the teams are arranged, I have calculated that at least one semi-final berth will be awarded to an underdog team, and the 4 of them in contention of this exclusive place are Ghana, America, South Korea and Uruguay. If England had topped the group, they would have taken America's place and by all means, have an easier route to the semis. This would also mean that if either Brazil or Holland do their job well at least till the quarterfinals, they would have an easy ticket to the final. On the other side, there are congested giant spots with Germany, England and Argentina all squeezing to compete for 1 semi-final spot while the other spot hinges on the outcome of the Spain vs. Portugal match. It is early, but the winner of the Spain vs. Portugal match will most probably make it to the semi-finals. As one can see, there's alot at stake for the giants even in the round of 16.

Oh well, I'll be hoping that Deutschland will improve on its erratic performance in the last 2 matches and hopefully, the English are still confused and distracted by the little coup by John..lol.