Down to the final eight and the real fun begins. All the pretenders (including you, France) have been weeded out, which leaves us with four exceptional quarterfinals. Personally, I didn’t do too badly with my picks, selecting six of the eight quarterfinalists - although I only correctly placed two of them.
Two of the games really stand out: Portugal-Germany and Spain-Italy. Spain never seems to catch a break in these tournaments, and a quarterfinal date with Italy is no exception. However, you can bet that Spain hasn’t forgotten their bitter World Cup ’94 quarterfinal loss to Italy, Most people did not expect Germany and Portugal to face off until the semi-final round, so the winner of this game could very well end up in the final.
Croatia-Turkey features two teams playing their best soccer right now. Croatia was one of three team to win all three of its group stage games, while Turkey is coming off its amazing comeback against the Czech Republic that got them into the next round. And of course, that comeback came on the heels of its first comeback win against the Swiss, giving Turkey two more comeback victories than rest of the field (that’s 2-0 for those of you counting). Netherlands-Russia is probably the least intriguing of the quarterfinals. Russia must be playing with more confidence after winning it final two games, but the 4-1 shellacking by Spain does not bode well for them. Oh, and neither does the complete and utter dominant form that the Dutch have displayed.
Portugal, Croatia, Spain and Netherlands have to be considered the favorites to advance, but it would not be a total shock (except for Netherlands) if all of them fail to win. A Portugal vs. Spain/Netherlands final looks to be most likely, but I still think it is too early to count out the wily Italians. Germany is also fielding a very experienced side, and relative unknowns Croatia and Turkey could always surprise someone.
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