More Mundial

It’s been a great world cup from my perspective. I’ve managed to see a lot of games and am simply loving that fully half of the quarter finalists are from South America. Wouldn’t it be nice to see all South American semi-finalists?

A few weeks ago I made some predictions about who would make up the quarter-finalists,

“…my pick is that Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia and Uruguay will make up the final eight.”

OK, so I got five predictions right. Sadly, Chile didn’t win their group, so Spain drew Portugal. Brasil were too strong and too disciplined for Chile, but I wonder what a Chile versus Portugal match might have looked like. Italy, of course, massively under-performed and so we have Paraguay one stage further than expected. Serbia also disappointed, which gives us the pleasure of seeing Ghana with the chance of being the first African team to make the semi-finals.

Before the tournament started I predicted an Argentina versus Netherlands final. That’s still quite possible, though Brasil are playing better football than I expected and could well win out tonight. If they do, then I suspect they will be too strong for Uruguay, who will end Ghana’s run. On the other side of the draw, I’m still backing Argentina to make the final, overcoming Germany and Spain en route to the final.

That would leave us with Argentina versus Brasil in the final, with both teams coached by former world cup winning players.