7/5/10WW

World CUpdate

Be Off With You!

Brazil largely beat themselves when they lost their composure after a crtical mistake.

Ghana deserved to advance but was thwarted by the Hand of Satan and poor penalty taking.

Argentina was exposed as an inflexible, bullying fraud.

Paraguay was finally dispatched, saving the world from another 90+ minutes of negative football.

Assessing the Survivors

The Favorite

Germany: Der Mannschaft put on the performance of the tournament in the quarterfinals, steamrolling Argentina 4-0. It was a total team effort, with every man on the pitch contributing to the domination. Owing to a misgiven yellow card by the referee during the Argentina match, they will be without Thomas Muller for their semifinal tilt against Spain. However, with the way they've been playing since their wake-up call against Serbia, they should be expected to absorb his loss and roll into the final.

The Contenders

Netherlands: A combination of luck and skill saw them past self-destructive Brazil and into the semis. They continue to improve from match to match, and if they can continue to play together and sublimate the internal rivalries between teammates who don't particularly like each other, they should find themselves playing for their first ever World Cup championship. After coming so close so many times before, it may finally be their turn.

Spain: La Furia Roja have shown only flashes of the form that saw them crowned champions of Europe only two years ago. Part of this is due to the fact that Fernando Torres is clearly not all the way back from his pre-tournament injury, but it seems that the world has developed a strategy for slowing down the high powered Spanish attack. Team after team has been able to disrupt their rhythm and give them trouble by roughing them up and playing exclusively for counterattacks. That Spain have made it this far is attributable almost entriely to the sterling form displayed by David Villa, the Cup's leading scorer and arguably best player. He will need to remain in form if Spain is to have any hope of advancing past the German juggernaut and into their first ever World Cup final match.

Cinderella

Uruguay: They should not still be in the tournament, but here they are. A favorable draw, a redemptive performance from Diego Forlan, and the emergence of the now-banished luis Suarez have taken La Celeste further than anyone could have reasonably expected, but in all likelihood it ends against the Dutch.

PREDICTIONS

Uruguay 1-3 Netherlands

Germany 3-2 Spain

Moment of Awesome