Group stages are finished, now it is the money time.

 

The group stages are over, and the real tournament can begin. The expansion of the tournament to 48 teams provided us with some fairytales such as tiny Curacao, the Orange Liqueur from the Caribbean, actually getting one point and also scoring a goal against Ze Shermans.

The biggest surprise has been another Island nation, this time the Blue Sharks from Cape Verde, actually qualifying for the knockout stage, by managing to draw all three of their games including against Espana. The reward for the Blue Sharks is a game against Los Gauchos and Messi.

The Jocks duly provided the tragedy we predicted as result after result went against them and they eventually finished as the eleventh placed third team, with only the top eight advancing. The Tartan Army has been magnificent and will be missed especially by the owners of pubs and bars across the continent.

The Ayatollahs also went home after a nail biting conclusion to the game between the Strudels and the ex-French colony of Algeria. Algeria scored in the fifth minute of injury time and in Teheran they were dancing in the streets and prostrating themselves to Allah, only for the Strudels to score a minute later sending the Ayatollahs home. 

This type of mood swing is common.

The three host nations all advanced although the lumberjacks lost their home field advantage, more about them shortly. The US of A have on paper an easy looking run to the quarter finals, so now the pressure is on.

The Sombreros utilizing their home field advantage to the full were one of only three teams to win all three of their group games, the others being Los Gauchos and Les Bleus, so they are in pretty good company. The two latter teams have so far been the standout teams along with the Oranjeboom.

Of the other usual suspects, we shall go into more detail when we preview their actual games but suffice to stay there were no major upsets for the so called big teams, even if they all did not look that good at times.

Of the teams we mentioned as being dark horses, the Samurai boys, the Fez heads and the Vikings are all looking good. and do not be misled by the battering the Frog legs gave to Odin’s boys, The Vikings played a second string team resting ten players for the clash.

To conclude this part, an interesting, in my eyes at least, stat. Nine of the ten African teams advanced, whereas only two from the nine Asian teams managed to do so and I feel that Australia as a continent in its own right is not really Asia and even Japan as an island race is also not.

So, what do we have to look forward to. There are sixteen games in this round and there are some absolute corkers scattered amongst them such as the Oranjeboom against the Fez heads. The Samba Kings against the Samurai and as mentioned above the fairytale clash between the Blue Sharks and the Argies. The Vikings against the pianists from Cote D’Ivoire will also be an interesting clash.

There are also a number of games that will only interest the residents of the respective countries playing in them, such as the Pharaohs versus the Wallabies and the game which opens this round tonight between the lumberjacks and Bafana Bafana.

This game is a difficult one to call, Bafana Bafana, looked awful in their opening game and not very good in their second game scrapping a draw with a late penalty and then winning one nil in their last game against the very poor K Pop demons.

The Lumberjacks were not much better, drawing their first, destroying the hapless Qataris in their second and losing when the Canadian goalie had more holes than the Swiss cheese he was playing against. This game is good ammunition for those opposed to the expansion of the tournament.

If the lumberjacks were playing this at home, I would favour them but as it is being played in Los Angeles, I am not sure who to pick. The fact is that whoever wins will be facing the Fez heads or the Oranjeboom and that will be that.  This game could go to extra time and even penalties, and as I am not allowed to sit on the fence, I will go with Canada.

Tomorrow, we have two good games to preview, so until then, adios,