Well, Those Grapes Were Probably Sour, Anyway

[kevin_standlee]

I am working from home again today (and it's legitimate, for reasons discussed in a friend-locked post), so once again I get to see (sort of; it's on in the background while I hunch over the computer responding to analysis requests) World Cup matches. This morning it was Cinderella team Ghana against Brazil. While Ghana seemed to actually play better than Brazil, especially in the first half, Ghana had to try a risky strategy and ended up losing 3-0.

I take some cold comfort in knowing that even if the USA had managed to beat Ghana in group play, they would have taken Ghana's spot in the round of sixteen and run into Brazil, and that almost certainly would have been that for the USA anyway.

It still was a great tournament for Ghana.

The last round-of-sixteen match is being played today. My "brackets" for the remainder of the tournament are:

Quarterfinals:

Germany - Argentina: Germany in a very rough and tumble match

Italy - Ukraine: Italy, probably on penalties after 0-0, with both teams down at least one man

England - Portugal: Portugal, but England could surprise me

Brazil - Winner of France-Spain: Brazil, probably without much difficulty


Semifinals:

Germany - Italy: Germany

Portugal - Brazil: Brazil


Finals:

Germany - Brazil: Very tough call, but I'll guess that Germany's home-pitch advantage is just enough to overcome Brazil


Now in a few days you can all come back and laugh at me.

Comments

[thirdworld.livejournal.com]

I too am wide open to correction. I meant to add that the most likely one I'm wrong on is Brazil - France, and if Brazil beat France then they will beat England too. I'll still pick Argentina against Brazil though.