We've provided a pick for every game so far in this tournament and we aren't doing half bad. Twelve of sixteen second-round participants were wisely selected for their style of play, group opponents, and of course, the color of their jersey's. One hour before the second-rd match between Uruguay-South Korea, we have to finish off the predictions based on the teams that made the final 16:
SECOND ROUND
Uruguay 2-South Korea 1
US 2-Ghana 1
Germany 1-England 1 (England on PKs)
Argentina 3-Mexico 2
Netherlands 2-Slovakia 0
Brazil 3-Chile 1
Paraguay 1-Japan 1 (Paraguay on PKs)
Spain 1-Portugal 0
I went with my heart instead of my head on the England-Germany match. England always makes it out of their group in big tournament, but always notoriously crash out early on penalty kicks or a big mistake. That will have to wait until the quarterfinals.
QUARTERFINALS
Uruguay 2-US 1
England 1-Argentina 2
Netherlands 2-Brazil 3
Paraguay 0-Spain 2
SEMIFINALS
Uruguay 0-Brazil 2
Argentina 2- Spain 1
THIRD PLACE / FINAL
3rd place:Spain 3-Uruguay 1
Final: Argentina 2-Brazil 2 (Argentina on PKs)
Let me know your thoughts on these picks-- go Yanks!
Wow! Nice pick on the Uruguay South Korea game. I hope you are dead on for the USA game.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure England can't beat Germany on PKs. I mean, it's England and Germany! England will blow the PKs, although Padolski's PK might be a hint that the Germans have lost their PK prowess. What a power penalty!! - tim
err.. correction... what a poor (not power) penalty!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tim. England always blows PKs- but as mentioned, I went with the heart and not the head.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments!
ok. so why did you pick argentina, if you originally thought maradonna would ruin argentina's chances. anyway, you got some good guesses in.
ReplyDeletei like germany the rest of the way, those big strapping lads look mighty powerful so far in the knockout round. spain is too soft.
Anon- that is a good point. I simply felt Argentina had the best players overall, and that it had to be a S American team, so the options were Argentina or Brazil. Brazil is too popular a choice, ergo Argentina.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say Maradona would RUIN Arg's chances, just that he would "hurt their team." Basically, I felt Arg was better with someone else as the coach- as it turned out, he did hurt their team- so much so that they lost. He was clearly outcoached by Loew in the quarterfinal vs Germany.
I meant the winner had to be S American.
ReplyDelete