Who makes the semis?

[SlavikSvensk]

hence the words "so far." you can't really extrapolate too much from the group stages. when france won in 1998, they struggled to make it out of their group. ditto brazil in 2002. this is even more true for the runners-up, e.g. italy in 1994 or france in 2006.

some teams that looked phenomenal at the group stages stunk it up in the knockout stages, like spain in 2006. at other times, the top team looked like it from the get-go, like brazil in 1994.

so everything predicted at this point has to come with a grain of salt. argentina look so strong, though. i mean, they started 7 subs in the last match and still won 2-0. when teams try to deal with messi, everyone else comes in and scores. i just don't see any other team that poses that kind of problem, or anyone who has the personnel on defense to solve it.

HOWEVER, this is the world cup and anyone can beat anyone, given the right circumstances. the most deserving team doesn't necessarily become the winning team, and there are several sides left with the quality to beat argentina, given some inspiration and luck. and as we should know too well by now, bad officiating can change the result.

[DarkYoung]

shaky start for the US. Ghana is your bogey team obviously.

come on - show those mf's wot america is all about!