So USA's loss to Ghana is good for Africa, so at least one team from the continent remained. Give USA credit, soccer is really not big time in the US as it is in the rest of the world. Lots of interest among kids actually playing but watching as spectator sporthas never caught on

I don't really think England's disappoint was anything out of the ordinary. I mean, they always fail to live up to expectations, and I thought this is the weakest English squad theres been for the past decade. I never expected them to do well.

In most of the previous campaigns, most of the goals came from a Beckham set piece or cross, so with Becks being out I (rightfully) thought that England would have problems conjuring up the goals.

Must say the most disappointing is France. Their results are poor enough, but even worse, they became the laughing stock, got ridiculted, and was a shame to their country.

Heard that the biggest winners out of england's loss was the bookies. If england wenton to win the world cup then the betmakers stood to lose $100 million. Apparenty this wiled cup has more wagers than any other world cup and may itself be the biggest in England ever.

With World Cup going on, some basic simple facts that you've just got to know.
Why football is played for 45 minutes in each half?
Why people play football for 45 minutes, not 30 minutes or 1 hour?
Even the sports scientist and some of the senior players could not give the right answer.
In that confusing situation one person came up with a reasonable answer.

He said......."The reason people play this game for 45 minutes is...



There are 2 teams and there are 11 players in each team.
Each player brings his own "2 balls"
So in total there are 44 balls.
There is one ball on the ground itself. Thus the grand total is 45.

Question Answered !!!

Sometimes there is injury time of 2 mins which is the referee's balls!

Is this from the shenzhen guy who sold you the fake drogba captain?

There are very few balls being shown in the Japan Paraguay game so maybe it should have been stopped early rather than going to extra time according to Hunters theory.

Definitely something to do with his Shenzen contact

Bye bye Japan and bye bye Asia =(  
Brazil or Spain to win it all
Thank god the fake Ronaldo didnt get away with his dives.

Homer got 6 out of 8 games for the round of last 16 right   (see post 387) - maybe those games have just been too easy..
But look forward now to the quarter-final.

Netherlands vs. Brazil.
First real test for the Dutch - do they have what it takes to beat the Brazilians? Simple answer - No! Brazil gets a clean 3-1 win over the Dutch team that is not up to the challenge...again.

Uruguay vs Ghana
Can Ghana leverage on home continent advantage against the double world champion? Looking at talents and the four games played in the world-cup final I have to say that the race is too close to call. Could go either way.  Homer says Ghana is the first African team to go to the Semi-Finals

Germany vs Argentina
A classic game - World Cup Final 1986 and 1990 and quarter final 2006. Back then home-field advantage accelerated the German game and got them into the penalty shoot-out. Thanks to Jens Lehmann's cheat sheet Argentina was beaten. This time around it might be more difficult. So Germany needs at least 3 goals to beat Argentina or at least to go to the penalties. Can they do it? Yes, they can!

Paraguay vs. Spain.
Looks like a no-brainer. The Spanish have picked up speed since their shock defeat against the Swiss and they won't be stopped by Paraguay. Yes, they know how to play defensively, but Spain's talents should be able to make the difference and boost the to a 2-0 victory.

Brazil on penalties
Uruguay 2-0
Germany 2-1
Spain 1-0

Why is a mongering session for 45 minutes then? I certainly don't see 45 balls around the place!

Where did you get this

Any explanation for extra time of 30 mins and 5 penalties in a penalty shootout?

Netherlands vs. Brazil.
It could go down to a penalty shootout loss for Holland again. They've got a horrible history against Brazil.

Uruguay vs Ghana
I agree Ghana may have a slight edge but Uruguay seems to have the luck in this World Cup. I'll pick Uruguay to win.

Germany vs Argentina
Spot-on. Probably the worst team for Argentina to meet. The Germans love to puncture the dreams of opponents.

Paraguay vs. Spain
With Villa in the mood, Spain shouldn't have too much trouble here. Just some patience needed to silence Paraguay.

You're not gonna predict who's gonna be in the final

I'd say its Brazil over Spain in the final.

I'll be rooting for Brasil.  I watched the Dutch play the other night, and left by half time.  Bored me to freakin tears!! An excellent analysis once again homer.

Uruguay vs Paraguay in the finals !

it would be interesting to see a Brazil vs. Argentina final.  They look to be the two strongest teams at this point.

Germany v. Brazil in finals!!!

Ok Boys, it goes like this:
Brazil Vs Uruguay
Germany Vs Spain

Final:
Brazil Vs Spain

World Champions:
Brazil

Next world cup... The world champions defend their title at home?. What a seller.

I think japan and south korea have some opportunities