USA 1 Argentina 1

I didn't watch this whole match, only about 60% of it.  And it is only a friendly, which the US probably took far more seriously than their South American opponents.  But I thought the Americans were impressive.  They spent a lot of time defending, however they did a good job of it, their positioning was solid, some of the young players looked very capable, and whenever the US did put together an attack, there was really a sense of a legitimate threat.

Stuart Holden will be missed on both sides of the Atlantic, but the US actually looks better equipped than Bolton to cope in his absense.

Into the Knockout Stages

Today Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina, and South Korea went into the final 16 of the tournament and found out who they will play.

Uruguay will face South Korea. The South Americans have more talent, particularly on the front line, and let's face it, that continent has dominated events thus far. However, the Koreans are well organized at the defensive end, and like to play on the counter attack, where they display their own formidable talent, as well as pace. I like the South Korean team, and I wrote in my predictions that they could possibly make a run deep into the tournament, but Uruguay is a tall order. Uruguay are so sound defensively (they have yet to concede a goal), and Korea has shown a tendency to let their opponents score, so it is hard to see anything but a Uruguay victory. I will say 2-1.

Mexico and Argentina played each other at this stage of the 2006 World Cup in Germany as well. It was a very close, hard-fought match that went into extra time. The deciding goal was an amazing strike by Maxi Rodriguez, who took a ball down off his chest and volleyed in from about 25 yards out. It was a fabulous strike, and happened very late in the game, giving Mexico no chance to recover.

Both teams are more talented now than they were in 2006, so we should see another great match, with a rare brand of attacking football on display. I am afraid Argentina will be too much for Mexico, which is a shame, because I think that with a better match-up, Mexico could have made a deep run, maybe as far as the semi-finals. Unfortunately for El Tri, there will just be too much of Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez for them to handle. I predict a match for the ages, and a 3-2 Argentine victory, behind a Tevez hat-trick.

So, South America should continue to dominate, with at least two teams into the quarter-finals.

Big Names

If we don't count South Africa, there were seven seeded teams that earned that position on merit. Let's look at those seven.

Brazil; Won their first 2 matches, already assured of advancement to the next round.

Spain; Lost their first match. But they can still go through quite easily if they win their last two matches. Honduras looks unlikely to put up too much of a fight. Of course, if Spain doesn't dispatch of them tomorrow, it may be time to panic.

Netherlands; Already advanced after winning their first two matches. The games were hard-fought, no doubt, but victory was never really in doubt.

Italy; The Azzuri have drawn twice, and looked bad doing it. What else is new. They control their own destiny though. Beat Slovakia and they are through. Has a boring 1-0 written all over it.

Germany; They won their first game and lost their second game, but they control their own destiny as well. Win and they advance. Draw and they need help.

Argentina; Diego Maradona and his charges are just about through. It would take a dramatic turn of events to keep them from winning the group.

England; For all the hand wringing going on in Blighty, England are actually in decent shape. If they win they advance. Draw and they need help.

So calm down everybody. All seven of the seeded countries are still very likely to go through.

Who has been most impressive so far?

Germany won 4-0, but that scoreline is misleading, the Germans scored two late goals after Australia had their leader sent off with a very questionable red card.

South Korea and Holland both won 2-0 and looked good doing it.

Ghana and Japan played fairly well in 1-0 wins.

Argentina and Nigeria both looked good going forward and questionable at the back, and the South Americans managed to edge it.

For me, Ghana may have been the most impressive team overall. They looked good going forward, despite some questionable finishing, and very solid at the back. I still think Serbia will have some say in that group, and Germany are more than likely to go through. Australia will be without Tim Cahill for one match. It has to be said that at this point Ghana are in a very good position.

World Cup - Argentina

Anyone watch the Champions League Final? There was this midfield pairing for the winners, Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiosso, that was really impressive, and they represent the same country internationally, so they should be really fun to watch at the World Cup, oh, wait...

Diego Maradona is a legend, he may the greatest player in the history of the beautiful game. The English will call him a cheat, but they are forgetting his second goal against them. That is irrelevant to his coaching ability though. And he may be the worst manager in the entire World Cup. Most of the others have some identifiable strength, or history of achievement, that allows at least some justification to their presence at the largest sporting event in the world. But not Maradona. He has precious little management experience, and most of his results have been disastrous.

The rumor mill is overstocked with reasons why Zanetti was not included in the squad. The most convincing is that during Argentina's crucial final qualifier, he told the squad to forget Maradona's asinine tactics and just play how he told them to. They won the match and managed to qualify, but reports are that Maradona has not forgiven Zanetti for undermining him and actually wanting to win the match. Cutting off your nose to spite your face not being an endearing quality among managers, one has to assume this decision will come back to haunt Argentina.

Off the field drama aside, this is still an incredibly talented squad of players. Just on the front line you have Diego Milito, who was second in Serie A with 22 goals, and had 32 in all competitions, and Carlos Tevez, who was fourth in the Premier League with 23 goals, 29 in all competitions. Also Gonzalo Higuain (27 goals in La Liga) and Sergio Aguero (12 goals in only 24 matches), not too mention the young man whom many consider the best player in the world, Lionel Messi. He scored 34 goals in La Liga, 45 in all competitions.

The defense is solid and experienced, with Javier Mascherano in a holding midfield role, right in front of Nicolas Burdisso, Walter Samuel, and Martin Dimechellis along the back line.

Argentina's first match will be against a Nigerian side that is not as strong as it once was. They will meet South Korea second, and Greece in their final match. I think this will be a hard fought group as far as second place is concerned, but Argentina, even with Maradona calling the shots, should easily walk away with first position.