World Cup Quarterfinals, Part 2

Just to recap, I am rather excited right now to be in the midst of the World Cup, but I feel as though we are in the eye of the storm. Nothing is going on right now!! But in the next 2 days, we will get to the see some of the best games of this tournament.

Will we see some upsets from Ukraine or Portugal? Would France beating Brazil be a huge or upset or a normal upset? How do you define these things? What is the game between Germany and Argentina? Is there a true favorite?

You might have also made the comment that I should have taken care of Germany v Argentina and Italy v Ukraine first, in case I did not get around to writing again today. That way, I would have Friday covered and could handle Saturday on Friday. Got that?

Instead, I took care of my favorite teams, Germany and England, and left the others for now. It is not that I do not like Italy, Ukraine, Brazil or France, but I am not emotionally invested in them. No idea why, that is just the way things are. I do believe them to be huge games though. Ukraine, as I mentioned could be a huge upset of a top team in Italy. Brazil v France has enormous potential to be a monumental upset of the tournament favorite, Brazil, while at the same time, France is a great World Cup team, so it is not really an upset.

Anyway, on to the matches. Italy v Ukraine...
Ukraine is coming off a very nice win agains Switzerland. it was a pretty clean game but in the end the Swiss just could not put the shoot-outs balls in the net. Very sad for them but wonderful for Ukraine. They are a fast, attacking team. I like them over Italy. Mainly, I like their style over Italy. They have momentum from the close game. Italy on the other hand has a bit of a gift. I thought it was a foul in the box, so the penalty kick was valid. But still, a penalty kick in the stoppage time? Not too high on the motivation meter. Ukraine 3-1

Brazil v France is so good on too many levels. 2 powerhouse teams, tons of history, 6 World Cup wins between them, though Brazi lhas 5 of those, most recently in, oh yeah, the last one. The equaliser had been that Ronaldo was slow and out of shape. Brazil's last 2 games have shown that he can still run and score though, so that may be out. However, Brazil's win over Ghana, while it looked good on paper (3-0), 2 of those goals were off-sides goals. Ghana controlled that game except for 1 major lapse. Granted, controlling a game but never scoring... I would prefer the win. France looked good against Spain, though it took 2 goals in the last 12 minutes to put it away. That is what winning teams do though. Keep it close and score when you get the opportunity. Both goals at the end were fantastic. Loved the game.

This next point warrants a new paragraph. I never know when to do that because I never did well in grammar classes. Sorry about the comas too. The Tour de France starts Saturday morning. This has to be huge for this World Cup. As a Frenchman, which do you devote your energy to? The Tour is named for your country. Though, you have not won the thing since before you won the World Cup. Granted, it is only the first day of the tour, which presents a problem if France advances beyond Brazil. I just thought I would bring it up. By the way, a German and an Italian are picked to win the Tour (Jan and Basso). Just thought I would mention it since Germany and Italy might play each other July 2nd.

I think the French will be able to watch the Tour without worry after Saturday. Brazil 2-0