Saturday, June 24, 2006

Let the knockout stages begin


England to win the World Cup or IZ will be eating only fish crackers for the rest of his life.

When the 2006 World Cup in Germany began two weeks ago, there were 32 teams. Now, after the matches for the Group Stages have ended, only 16 teams are left to battle it out for the World Cup. These teams are Argentina, England, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Netherlands, Australia, Ukraine, Ghana and France.

I did some predictions before the World Cup began on which nations will proceed to the knockout stages and who they will meet. Here are my early predictions for the Second Round matches.



And here are the actual second round matches and my predictions on who will win.



So how did I fare in my predictions so far? Out of the 16 teams that I predicted will make it to the Second Round, only Poland, Croatia and the Czech Republic failed to make it. The only other prediction that I got wrong was the top two positions in Group G- Switzerland tops the group instead of France.

It has been a World Cup with some surprises. It is nice to see Australia (Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!) making it to the Second Round. Ecuador has been the surprise team in Group A. The likes of Poland and Czech to me are the most dissapointing teams. Don't forget the Czechs are ranked number two in Fifa's absurd world rankings.

The 2nd round matches may be slightly different from the ones that I predicted but they will have no effect what so ever in my Semi Finals line-ups.

And that only means one thing.

England will still meet Argentina in the final. You think I'm crazy? Well, I'm in good company.

Previously: England to win the World Cup!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sad to see that there r no Asian teams in the 2nd rnd.

Anonymous said...

Eng-Arg final? Haha, you guys have to beat Ecuador 1st tomoro.

Anonymous said...

IZ: b prepared to eat fish crackers for the rest of your life.

HAHAHA

Anonymous said...

wooo..what big mouth you have..iz.

=o)

Anonymous said...

Go Aussies!

Anonymous said...

Not bad lah u...ur predictions good liao. Now I go bet on England to win ok.

Anonymous said...

Hehe, you got tonight's winning teams right.

Anonymous said...

I think it wil be Argentina vs Brazil final.

England has no chance at all.

Anonymous said...

The fifa world ranking is crap. Look at USA.

Anonymous said...

My feeling is that England will play badly throughout the competition and still end up in the Final.

Anonymous said...

CUTE

Anonymous said...

Oh Iz darling. You have too little faith in the Socceroos...*coughIwouldchooseItalytoocough*

Anonymous said...

IZ: Let me feed you. ;o)

Anonymous said...

i heard so much about you from myra. and yes u are cutie, let me feed you too!

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