Tag: argentina

World Cup Final: Spain 1 – Argentina 0

by ceduarte1

MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford New Jersey

Full Match Highlights (FIFA/YouTube) | Full Match Stats — Opta Analyst | ESPN Match Report

In this much anticipated final, it was never in doubt that Spain’s ability to hold on to the ball coupled with their suffocating defense would be an extraordinary factor (the best defense is a good offense concept so the two are not mutually exclusive) and that this would make them as slight favorites to win the game. 

Counter to that was that Argentina was a team of destiny, a team fueled by emotion and togetherness (many of the starters won it all in 2022), a team that would enjoy overwhelming fan support (the home field advantage theory), and that by virtue of having the best player on the planet, let alone on the pitch, would be sufficient to eek out a victory despite being dominated by their opponents.

The former narrative prevailed and it wasn’t even close. This game was not a game for the ages if you judge games by their competitiveness and the drama they produce. It was a game for the ages for the victors for their utter and complete domination, for their ability to reduce the world’s greatest player to a mere participant, and to put a drubbing so complete that the opposing team just couldn’t help but lose its mind after it was all over.

By completely erasing Messi from the equation early on (he had 3 touches in the first 15 minutes with the kickoff counting as the first), Spain delivered the equivalent of a knock-down (not out) blow in the first minute of a boxing match. Argentina would get off the mat, but barely survive the rest of the game, holding on to dear life using every dirty little trick in the book in the hope of holding Spain for as long as it took to get to the vaunted penalty kick shootout, which, fortunately, never came. Although it must be said that had Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez not drawn the stupidest of yellow cards for dissent in the first half, and thus earning a red-card for an obvious second yellow foul on Kubarsi in extra time, Argentina may have been able to hold on.  And there’s absolutely nothing that would have guaranteed Spain winning the shootout. Had Argentina been able to hold out 15 more minutes and won the PK shootout, it would have been the greatest travesty in the history of World Cup finals, or maybe even of all time.

After Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute, after Spain had been knocking on the door the entire game, and after, it must be said, they had had a goal annulled due to a stepping on the boot foul from Mikel Merino on Otamendi in the box in yet another example of FIFA’s refereeing favoritism towards Argentina on debated plays that permeated the entire tournament, Spain looked like it had already won the game. But at this point, a desperate Argentina, started to actually play football, finally producing its only 2 shots of the game, and for a minute, it looked like they would tie the game.  These last minutes were, suffice it to say, quite tense.

In the end Spain did prevail. The statistics tell a tale of inexplicable dominance, of superiority on every level of the game: defense, passing, possession, chances created, composure, etc. Two statistics stand out: field tilt of 83.3 % and number of passes completed (763 for Spain, 357 for Argentina). Had it not been for Martinez’s historic night, this could easily have been a 3 or 4 to nil rout.

At the end, as Spain’s players poured out to celebrate, things got ugly. Argentinian players raced around trying to find anybody to punch, kick, and even choke. One particular player, Leandro Paredes, grabbed Eric Garcia by the throat and threw Gabi to the ground. (This is the same player who started a fight in Qatar 4 years ago against the Netherlands when he fouled a Dutch player and after doing so kicked the ball forcefully at the Dutch bench, causing a bench clearing brawl baseball players can identify with, and in the process, causing world-wide opinion that Argentina, while a very talented side, also possessed a darker side to them.) Other scuffles broke out and Argentinian coach Scaloni finally was able to restrain his players and stop the madness. During the fracas, Messi sat all by himself on the other side of the pitch, not willing to participate in the atrocious display of bad sportsmanship exhibited by many of his teammates. Paredes earned a red card for his action after the game although FIFA, for some odd reason, retracted it as an administrative error.

The trophy presentation was even more bizarre, with the President of the United States trying to join the Spaniards in their celebration, only to be escorted out by his new best friend, FIFAs president Infantino. And as a final insult, as Spain celebrated, Argentina turned their back, unable or unwilling to applaud the champions.

In the end analysis, none of the noise mattered. Spain collected their second star in what will be remembered as a defense for the ages.

Full Match Highlights (FIFA/YouTube) | Full Match Stats — Opta Analyst | ESPN Match Report

From the opening whistle at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, it was clear this was going to be a different kind of final. Not the open, end-to-end thriller the neutral had hoped for. Something more clinical. More suffocating. More Spanish.

Spain possessed. Argentina could not. From the very first exchanges, Rodri and Fabián Ruiz imposed themselves in midfield, controlling the tempo and denying Argentina any opportunity to build rhythm through their usual channels. Scaloni’s side were forced to go direct — long balls over the top, hoping that Julián Álvarez or Lautaro Martínez could hold something up, could bring Messi into the game. It did not work. Within ten minutes the pattern was already set and already alarming.

By the 20-minute mark, the most unsettling statistic of the game had already declared itself. Messi had touched the ball just three times. Three touches. For the greatest player in the history of the sport, in a World Cup final. The extended feeling-out period that both teams went through in the opening quarter served Spain perfectly and Argentina disastrously — because Messi cannot beat you if he doesn’t have the ball, and Spain had the ball almost all of the time. The “Olés” were already beginning to ring around the stadium from the Spain supporters as possession ticked up and up in their favour.

At 40 minutes, another landmark — and not a welcome one. Argentina had still not registered a single shot on goal. (This pattern would extend until the end of regulation time, making them the first team on record to fail to attempt a shot in 90 minutes of a World Cup final since records began in 1966.) Spain, meanwhile, had produced two shots on goal and were knocking with increasing confidence. An early opening had seen Yamal’s effort take a deflection before Martínez adjusted well to make the save — the first of what would become a historic catalogue of stops.

The first half ended goalless, but the scoreline was flattering to Argentina. What had transpired resembled a defense versus attack training exercise as the holders showed spirit but precious little else. The question at the break was not whether Spain would score, but when — and whether Martínez could hold out long enough for Argentina to somehow manufacture a chance from nothing. Or reach the PK stage of the match.

The second half began with Spain continuing to knock. Yamal created an excellent opportunity for Torres after 67 minutes but he headed too close to Martínez, who gathered comfortably. Pau Cubarsi and substitutes Pedri and Williams all drew saves from the Argentine custodian as the pressure continued. By the hour mark, Martínez had made five saves. Spain were loading the cannon shot by shot, corner by corner, and each time the Argentine goalkeeper threw himself in the way. It was a one-man resistance. It could not go on forever — but it went on longer than anyone had any right to expect.

Spain thought they had taken the lead when Williams fired into the net, but the goal was ruled out for a foul on Otamendi by Merino in the build-up. The crowd groaned. The Argentine bench exhaled. VAR, once again, working in favor of the blue and white, as it had pretty much all tournament long; it almost felt as it was ordained by the powers that be that Argentina and Messi win at all costs.

Then came the two-minute sequence in stoppage time at the end of regulation that changed everything.

First: Enzo Fernández. Already on a yellow card received earlier for dissent, his late challenge sent Pau Cubarsi twisting and flying into the air before crashing to the turf — a brainless, inexcusable foul at the worst possible moment. Second yellow. Red card. Fernández became the sixth player to be sent off in a World Cup final, with 50% of those ejections belonging to Argentine players — Monzón and Dezotti in 1990, and now Enzo in 2026.

Then: Yamal. Standing over a free kick 25 yards from goal, in the last seconds of normal time. The stadium fell quiet. He struck it with ferocious precision — a vicious, dipping delivery destined for the top corner. Martínez, who had spent 94 minutes walling off Spain’s best efforts, launched himself to his right and turned it over the bar with a flying save that drew a gasp from every corner of the stadium. By that point he had broken the championship-game record of eight saves. He would finish with 11 — the most by any goalkeeper on record in a FIFA World Cup final.

Extra time. Ten men versus eleven. The field tilt was about to get a little more lopsided.

Then, 37 seconds into the second period of extra time — at 106′ — it was over.

Pedro Porro crossed from the right. Nico Williams, arriving at the far post, nodded it down with perfect weight. Ferran Torres, on as a substitute, met it with a first-time shot rocketed into the roof of the net. Martínez had no chance. “Honestly I did not think too much,” Torres said on the Fox broadcast afterward. “I just saw the ball coming to me and I shot with the power of all the Spanish people.”

Torres became just the second substitute to score the winning goal in a World Cup final, after Mario Götze in 2014 — also against Argentina. History has a sense of humour.

Argentina, paradoxically, finally began to attack — because they had no other choice. Spain had the harder time holding the ball now as Argentina threw bodies forward in desperation for the first time all evening. Two shots — their first of the entire game, arriving after 116 minutes of play. And then the clearest chance Argentina would get all night.

Giuliano Simeone, unmarked in the centre of the penalty area, received the ball in space — the kind of position he had repeatedly threatened from throughout the tournament. This was the moment. He shot. It went well above the crossbar — not close, not unlucky, but the kind of miss that happens when a team has spent 116 minutes without a shot and suddenly finds itself asked to deliver in the most important moment of its life. The chance was gone. Argentina would not get another.

Five minutes of injury time were added at 120′. Argentina’s first shot on goal — their first in the entire match — had come from Messi in the 117th minute. Spain held. The final whistle blew. Ugly scenes followed as Argentina players lashed out at Spanish players celebrating, the raw grief of a defeated team finding no elegant exit. Spain finished with an xG of 1.94 from 20 shots. Argentina’s tally: 0.2 from two attempts.

Spain allowed just one goal in the entire tournament — their seventh clean sheet — and finished undefeated, having begun the whole campaign with a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde in the opening game. De la Fuente, the oldest manager to win the World Cup, completed a remarkable journey from that opening stumble to the summit of world football. He is now 14-0-1 as Spain’s manager.

The bus that left Cape Verde without a result left New Jersey with the country’s second trophy.

PKs:

Unai Simon 7 clean sheets. Most of any tournament. Golden glove.

Kubarsi best young player. Great analysis of his brilliant mind:

Rodri best player of tournament. Approaching best defensive midfielder of all time status.

Messi crying after receiving his medal was very telling of how much he wanted to win, how much he cared. Although I rooted for Spain, I think Messi was also deserving of a title, but unfortunately, his team, in the end, was not good enough today.

Great retrospective on the final. The good (Spain’s excellence) and the bad (Argentina’s performance on and off the field, the halftime show, 47’s pathetic lingering on the winner’s stage)

Argentinian players unveiled a sheet with the words: “The Malvinas have been, are, and will always be Argentinian.” after the game against England. Another example of how fervent nationalism and the politics it evokes is a stronger force than the game itself.

The game was preceded by a rousing rendition of Star Spangled Banner followed by stupid ass rendition of FIFA anthem “Desire”. The contrast of excellence to corniness couldn’t be starker.

7/15/26: Argentina 2 — England 1 Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta · World Cup Semi-Final

by ceduarte1

Full Match Highlights (FIFA) | The Athletic Podcast — Tuchel’s Strategy Breakdown

There are football rivalries, and then there is Argentina versus England. The word “rivalry” isn’t sufficient to describe what it feels for these two countries to play against each other, on the pitch, in the stands, or in the respective nations. This is something older and darker and more personal than sport — a wound that history keeps reopening, dressed in blue and white on one side and red and white on the other. Wars have been fought between these two nations. Entire careers have been defined and destroyed by their meetings on a football pitch. Goals scored in these games have transcended sport and become cultural mythology. To call it the bitterest rivalry in football is not hyperbole. It is simply the truth.

And yet they hadn’t played each other in 21 years. Not since a friendly in 2005. Not in a World Cup knockout match since 1998. All of that accumulated history, compressed and held, waiting to detonate — and on Wednesday evening in Atlanta, it finally did.

The History That Made This Match

Before a ball was kicked in Atlanta, it was worth pausing to understand the weight of what was about to happen.

The 1986 World Cup semi-final at the Azteca produced two of the most famous goals in the tournament’s history, both authored by the same man, five minutes apart. First came the Hand of God — Maradona punching the ball into the net with his left fist, deceiving referee Ali Bin Nasser, then telling the world he had done it “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.” Four minutes later came the Foot of God — a solo run from the halfway line that beat five England players and Peter Shilton, a goal that FIFA’s fans would later vote the Goal of the Century. Argentina won 2-1 and went on to lift the trophy. That single game was the spark that ignited a fire between two nations that has been burning ever since. Maradona reached deity level status with that performance — D10S, a merging of “Dios” (God) and his shirt number, a word that fans printed on the back of his replica shirt and meant it with every sincerity. He could do no wrong in the eyes of his country for the rest of his career.

Watch the 1986 goals

The 1998 World Cup in France added another chapter. Michael Owen, 18 years old and electric, announced himself to the world with a goal of breathtaking pace and composure. England led 2-1 before Argentina equalized in controversial circumstances and the game ended 2-2. Then came the defining moment: David Beckham, provoked by Diego Simeone — yes, that Simeone — kicked out and was sent off. Ten men. Penalties. David Batty and Paul Ince both missed. Argentina went through 4-3 on penalties. England went home. Another penalty kick shootout disappointment in their ledger.  Beckham went home to death threats and an effigy burned in the streets. Watch the 1998 classic.

Four years later in Japan, at the 2002 World Cup, England finally had their revenge. In the Sapporo Dome, a deeply personal stage for Beckham, now captain, who had spent four years carrying the weight of that red card, England won 1-0 through a Beckham penalty just before half-time. Mauricio Pochettino — now a celebrated club manager — conceded the spot kick. Argentina, despite pressing furiously in the second half, could not find a way through David Seaman, who made a crucial point-blank save from Pochettino’s header at 77′. It was England’s first competitive victory over Argentina since 1966. Beckham converted the penalty with ice in his veins and celebrated with tears in his eyes. “It feels better than it did four years ago,” he told the BBC afterward. “It’s been a long four years.”

Now, in Atlanta, in 2026, these two nations met again in a World Cup semi-final. Both the most battle-tested teams of the final four. Argentina had won six games, five of them coming from behind, surviving the VAR controversy against Egypt and the sheer force of Egypt’s resistance that required three goals in thirteen minutes. England had beaten the United States, Belgium, Mexico with ten men against the altitude and atmosphere of the Azteca, and Norway in the quarter-finals, relying heavily on Harry Kane’s goals and the increasingly exceptional Jordan Pickford between the posts. Neither team had arrived here easily. Neither team was going to give this up without a war.

The First Half — Frenzy, Fury, and Precious Little Football

It started before a ball was kicked. The Argentine players sang their national anthem with the full-throated ferocity of men going into actual battle. Forty thousand blue-and-white shirts in the stands responded. The noise inside Atlanta Stadium was extraordinary — not the polite appreciation of neutrals watching a spectacle, but the raw, visceral roar of partisans with everything at stake. You could hear the chants of Argentina, Argentina from outside the stadium.

And then the game matched the atmosphere, blow for blow, elbow for elbow.

Within two minutes, Jude Bellingham was caught in the face by Leandro Paredes’ elbow. In the seventh minute, Giuliano Simeone — about whom more shortly — fouled Elliot Anderson to give England a free kick. At the 13-minute mark, Anderson and Fernández were at it again, and they looked ready to come to blows, with Morgan Rogers and Paredes joining in. Tuchel remonstrated furiously on the touchline. No cards. By the time the first hydration break arrived, the two squads had combined for eight fouls and zero official shots on goal — a statistic that tells you everything about the tone of the opening minutes..

At half-time the scoreboard read: nineteen fouls, two yellow cards, zero shots on target — almost certainly the first World Cup semi-final since records began with no first-half shots on goal, and the first game since 1966 without a shot on target in an entire half. The only genuine sight of goal came at 38′, when Enzo Fernández shaped a free kick that tested Emiliano Martínez. Elliot Anderson received his yellow card at 38′ for a robust challenge on Messi. Lisandro Martínez was booked at 42′ for cynically hauling back Rogers.

Into the middle of all this combustion stepped a name that rang with historical resonance: Giuliano Simeone. Diego’s son. Playing only his 71st minute of football in the entire tournament, Scaloni inserted him — apparently not for his technical gifts, though they are considerable, but for precisely what he demonstrated in those opening exchanges: the chip-off-the-old-block fighting spirit that seems to flow in the Simeone bloodline. Diego Sr., of course, was the man who wound up Beckham in 1998 and was central to England’s most painful World Cup night. Junior picked up the baton with relish, involved in numerous flashpoints, driving Argentina forward physically and psychologically. Both Simeones — Diego as a player and coach, Giuliano now — represent the ethos of the Argentine pibe in its purest form: real skill married to fighting spirit, gamesmanship, trickery, and a total refusal to be intimidated. Maradona embodied the same quality. This quality, transmitted across generations, is part of what makes Argentina Argentina.

The Second Half — Dickens in Reverse

Dickens, albeit inverted, comes to mind here. It was the worst of halves and the best of halves. If the first half was all about physicality, intimidation, and standing your ground (give no quarter take no quarter), the second half, by contrast, was all about magnificent football. England daring to take the lead and then daring Argentina to take it back.

Argentina came out for the second half with an immediate change of gear. Julián Álvarez, getting the better of Djed Spence, fired twice at Pickford in rapid succession early in the second period — the first blocked at the near post, the second deflected into the side netting. Then, at 49′, Jude Bellingham appeared to obstruct Messi in the box — bodies colliding, no call, replays suggesting England got away with one.

And then, at 55′, England scored — and the entire complexion of the game changed.

Lisandro Martínez acrobatically cleared but only as far as Declan Rice, who picked out Morgan Rogers to swing in a delightful cross that was swept home by Gordon — arriving at the back post and guiding the ball past Emiliano Martínez with his first career World Cup goal. 1-0 England. And then Thomas Tuchel made a decision that will be debated for years.

Tuchel’s Double-Decker Bus — and Why It Failed

The Athletic Podcast discusses this in detail

England parked the bus. Not just any bus — a double-decker (note references to this exact wording in the podcast above).. The entire team dropped deep, surrendered possession, and invited Argentina to come at them. What worked against Mexico — barely, with ten men, on the day Bellingham scored twice in two minutes — was now deployed against a different animal entirely. You do not give a footballing genius 35 minutes to decode your defensive strategy. You do not invite Messi to probe and probe and probe until he finds the answer. This was not caution. This was abdication. At 72′, Tuchel substituted Anthony Gordon — the goalscorer — for Ezri Konsa, a centre-back, adding defensive cover and draining what little attacking threat England had retained. The message was clear: hold what we have. Contain them. Dare them to score.

Argentina responded by throwing everything forward.

At 58′, Giuliano Simeone broke clear with a chance to equalize, arriving on goal alone — before Djed Spence delivered one of the tackles of the tournament, a perfectly timed slide that dispossessed him without a hint of foul. A goal-saving intervention that deserved far more credit than it received in the noise of the following minutes.

At 68′, Pickford produced a save of the highest order. Messi whipped a cross into the area and Nico González got his head to it from the centre of the box — point-blank, certain goal. Pickford got down sharply and palmed it away with one hand. Breathtaking.

At 76′, the post intervened on England’s behalf. Alexis Mac Allister met Rodrigo De Paul’s peach of a cross — a genuine gem of a delivery — and threw himself at it, thumping a header that crashed off the inside of the left post with Pickford rooted to the spot. At that moment Argentina deserved to be level. They were not. The post held. The scoreline held.

At 84′, Pickford produced another reflex save — this time from distance — tipping a Fernández drive over the crossbar. (These two saves matched in the two against Mexico and it appeared, for a minute, that England would hold, that their hot goalkeeper in full flow, a man channeling every save into the belief that this was England’s night, was was about to wipe that sixty years of pain away.

They weren’t.

Messi — Left Foot, Right Foot, Both Feet on History

The equalizer came at 85′. Fernández, who had seen that shot tipped over, did not panic. He set himself twenty yards out at the top of the 18 yard box. Argentina took the corner short to Messi, who swung around to his left, and sent a perfect pass to Enzo, who bent a superb finish around the crowd and into the far side of the net. Pickford, who had been brilliant up to that point, was just positioned fractionally wrong. Argentina had their tenth goal after the 75th minute in this World Cup. The stands erupted. England’s resistance, built on Pickford’s heroics and the posts’ charity, had cracked.

And then, at 90+2′, Messi crossed with his right foot. Lautaro Martínez, who had scored the Copa América winner in 2024, met it at the far post and headed it home. England’s World Cup dreams were buried. Messi had assisted both goals — the first with his left foot to Fernández, the second with his right to Lautaro.

The brilliance of that moment cannot be understated. Having utilized his left foot the majority of the match (and tournament), Messi did the equivalent of a basketball cross-over. After collecting a loose ball, he dribbled to his left as customary before a wicked change of direction to his right beat two England defenders before putting in his cross.

The goal, it must be stated, did not come without significant controversy. Should Messi have been ruled to have committed an accidental foul when he stepped on Spence’s foot trying to collect the loose ball, thus giving him an advantage at the key point where he dribbled to his right ? Should the resulting goal had been disallowed after a review of the play, akin to how Egypt’s goal was after a similar stepping of the foot foul from an Egyptian defender ? This point will be hotly debated for years to come. Was this Messi’s equivalent pibe move like Maradona in 1986; using a little chicanery to gain an advantage ?

I am of the opinion that this was and it wasn’t.

It was accidental and he got away with it as the referee didn’t call it and it wasn’t reviewed by VAR (just like Maradona). Why it wasn’t reviewed by VAR is another point entirely and the subject of another debate altogether, not withstanding FIFA’s official VAR reviews that determined the contact did not meet the threshold for a “clear and obvious error”.

See https://encrypted-vtbn1.gstatic.com/video?q=tbn:ANd9GcSw_apeXxSGXtItkrrblyVmQ_vzpok0_JwayeZ_HVJEUrYCujl6

But it wasn’t in the sense that Messi didn’t plan to do this, it just happened. (Maradona did for sure put his hand up there on purpose and just didn’t think he would really get away with it.)

A Team of Destiny

Argentina have now scored nine goals in the final fifteen minutes of games at this World Cup. They have come from behind in game after game — against Cape Verde, against Egypt, now against England. They are indefatigable. They are relentless. They are the comeback kings.

Coach Lionel Scaloni said it perfectly after the final whistle: “I think that this team plays the best when we are facing a difficult situation, with adversity. We had a challenging game, a challenging situation. There was blood in the water, and we went for it.”

The reason for all of this is clear. It has been clear since the tournament began. Argentina are a team of destiny because they are led by their second D10S. Not the hand of God this time. Not the foot of God. Just the left foot and the right foot of the greatest player who has ever lived, still performing miracles at 39, still dragging his country toward immortality, still reducing the entirety of English football to heartbreak in the final minutes of a World Cup semi-final.

Diego would have smiled.

PKs:

Argentina’s xG was 1.84 from 15 attempts. England’s was 0.53 from five. The numbers, as they always do in this tournament, told the truth about who the better team was.

Here’s a shocking statistic. After scoring their goal at the 55th minute, England completed a grand total of 27 passes for the rest of the game. That’s less than one pass per minute ! I replayed the entire second half on Telemundo and closely observed to see if this was true, because as many others looking on, would not believe that this was true. The even more shocking thing is that 7 of those passes were in the immediate aftermatch of the goal, leaving 20 for almost 35 minutes of remaining time. Looking ahead to the final, Spain can make that many passes in a single minute, further proof that no matter the score, Spain will NOT, repeat NOT concede the ball to Argentina and the miniature magician.

At 80’ mark, the substitution patterns continued to mirror and reinforce the respective tactical patterns of the second half. Argentina put in Lautaro Martinez (offensive) and England put in two gigantic defenders (Dan Burn and Nicolas O’Reilly) to finish off the double decker part of their ‘bus’. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that Argentina ended up scoring on a header by Lautaro !

In the 85th minute, Messi had probed the approach with his right foot with Spence defending. While it didn’t work that time, it gave Messi the data point he needed for the cross that did work later on. The experiment proved that Messi could beat England defenders that way. It also probably was a kind of “pump” fake, to borrow another basketball analogy, that he wouldn’t try that again.

Argentina face Spain in the final on Sunday in New Jersey. Messi vs Lamine Yamal. The man who held the baby, against the baby. The living legend, against the game’s next great prince. It is, as it has been all tournament, almost too good to be true.

Great article on Messi’s dribbling prowess:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1880554/2020/08/07/lionel-messi-barcelona-la-liga-champions-league/

Continental Advantage

by ceduarte1

A month before the World Cup started, I anticipated that teams from the Americas would do quite well, considering that the Cup was being played in their back yard.  By the end of the group stage,  7 Latin American teams plus the USA qualified for the knock-out phase (the most in World Cup history): Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay. Only Ecuador and Honduras failed to advance. With more than 50% of the teams in the knockout phase, and with such giants as Spain, England, and Italy out in the first two weeks, part of the bracket looks like a mini Copa America with some distinguished guests.

In Group A, Mexico and Brazil won convincingly over their rivals, taking 1st and 2nd places respectively.  Mexico, a team that barely qualified for the World Cup, played Brazil to a 0-0 tie.  Had two legitimate goals against Cameroon not been called back due to atrocious refereeing, Mexico would have had the same goal differential (+5) but they would have still finished in second place due to the total goal rule.

Chile won second place in Group B and played a competitive game against a Dutch team that effectively ended Spain’s world reign with a 5-1 thrashing in the first game. Holland finished with the maximum 9 points and has scored a World Cup leading 10 goals.

Colombia won a relatively weak Group C handily, not a shock given they were the number 1 seed.  The Cafeteros played very well, despite missing their best player Falcao, and accumulated the maximum 9 points and scored 9 goals, second best only to the Dutch.

The biggest surprise was In Group D, where Costa Rica won the group over heavyweights Italy, Uruguay, and England.  Costa Rica surprised Uruguay 3-1 in the first game, beat Italy 1-0, and then drew 0-0 with toothless England.  Italy and England bowed out early after scoring only 2 and 1 goals respectively.  This was stupposed to be a Group of Death, but failed to materialize due to yet another pathetic performance by England. Italy was in it until the 80th minute of the 3rd game against Uruguay, when the Uruguayans scored on a set piece. This occurred right after yet another biting incident from Luis Suarez, this time against Itallian defender Giorgio Chellieni.  The evidence was evidently clear enough for FIFA to suspend Suarez for 9 games and 4 months. Uruguay, who started off slowly, but finished off strong, are now facing a daunting uphill battle in their game against Colombia.

In Group E, France was the runaway winner after destroying the number 1 seed Switzerland 5-2.  Ecuador had a chance to qualify in the last group game but couldn’t score against France. Honduras looked anemic in getting 0 points and was never in it So instead Switzerland, who got thrashed by France 5-2, sneaked out of the group, largely on the strength of a stoppage time goal against Ecuador.

In Group F, Argentina collected the maximum points. Leonel Messi finally duplicated his club form for the national side. He scored brilliant goals against Bosnia-Herzegovina and a stoppage time goal against Iran when it appeared that the Persians were about to get a much needed draw. Against Nigeria, he netted two superb goals, including one off a vintage curling free kick minutes after the Nigerian keeper had made an incredible save from almost the same spot.

Group G proved to be the true group of death. Germany collected 7 points to top the group and  the USA escaped with superior goal differential to Portugal. The US was involved in some of the most dramatic games of the tournament, beating Ghana with a last minute header in Game 1, and allowing Portugal to tie in the last 15 seconds of stoppage time. The win would have guaranteed the Americans passage into the second round before their final game against Germany. Instead it gave Portugal, who were thrashed 4-0 by Germany, life in the group.  In the end, the lopsided defeat turned out to be too much for Ronaldo and Portugal to overcome. They beat Ghana in the final game 2-1, but their goal differential was too far in the negative to overcome the US. Ghana, who outplayed the US and Germany in stretches, exited the tournament with one measly point despite playing some of the most attractive football of the Cup.

In Group H, Belgium and Algeria advanced in what was easily the weakest group in the competition.  Belgium won all 3 games for the first time in history, but didn’t look dominant in any one game. They scored all of their goals after the 70th minute, but unlike their European counterparts that made it out of the America’s tournament, don’t look like a bona fide contender. Belgium will match up with the USA in what will be a very winnable game for the Americans.

The success of teams from the Americas is hardly surprising. Historically there has always been a continental advantage.  In the 2006 World Cup played in Germany, 10 of the 16 teams that qualified for the second round were European, 6/8 in the quarterfinals, and all 4 semi-finalists were European. In the 1998 World Cup, the numbers were very similar (10/16, 6/8, ¾ respectively).  In the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, South Korea made it all the way to the semi-finals, their best showing in history. Japan made it into the second phase for the first time in their history.

The exception to this rule appears to be the 2010 World Cup played in South Africa.  The only African team out of six to even qualify for the knockout phase was Ghana.  This is a particular African problem, that despite some of the most talented players in the World, their teams rarely enjoy success in the World Cup.

As for this World Cup, the fact that so many Latin American teams have made it through means that 2 Round of 16 games will pit teams against each other (Brazil-Chile, Colombia-Uruguay) and if Mexico and Costa Rica win, the 2 CONCACAF team would face each other in a quarterfinal showdown.

I believe that the World Cup Final will be played between Argentina and Brazil.  The waythe bracket has been laid out (with the teams on separate sides of the bracket), the only way the can meet is in the championship game.   Both teams are playing at a high level and both will be heavy crowd favorites to advance. If this comes true, it would be fitting that the South American classic would decide the World Cup Champion•