Man In Black Says:

So of the three games Sharkey and I picked differently, Sharkey took two and I had one: The Netherlands did indeed beat a Slovakia team that I never really believed in but Sharkey kept telling me was awesome.  So that’s a win.  On the other hand, my upset pick of England over Germany was a complete bust.  I could get into the disallowed goal, and how it would’ve changed the game’s dynamic, but lets face facts; England lost by 3 goals.  No excuses there.  And I always thought the Spain/Portugal game was a tossup, so that didn’t come as a surprise, especially in a 1-0 game.  It could have gone either way, and it went away from me that time; I’m not upset about that one at all.

Where does that leave us?  Well, it leaves us with 8 teams left, and it basically breaks down to South America vs The World.  Or…South America vs Europe plus one African team.  In an added bonus, none of the South American teams are actually playing each other, which means the final four could come down to all South American teams…or none at all.  I was very very tempted to pick along one of those lines; pick all the South American teams to win.  Or pick all the South American teams to lose.  Really, with these matchups, you could make a case either way.  Then I decided that I’d pick any team that hasn’t lost a game to win their next one.  But when I looked at the matchups, one matchup makes that impossible (Netherlands/Brazil) and another was ruled out due to common sense (Paraguay/Spain).  So I decided to pick individually by matchup (imagine that!).  Here goes.

Friday, July 2

Netherlands vs. Brazil

10:00 AM EDT

Man In Black Says:

Probably the toughest matchup to call.  Or is that Argentina/Germany?  Regardless, I wouldn’t like to be the oddsmaker for this match.  Both teams come into the game without a single loss.  They’ve both looked solid, fluid, even sometimes stylish in dispatching their opponents.  My colleague Sharkey has alluded many times to the Dutch falling apart in this round or the previous one in the tournament, but I don’t think that will happen.  I just think they’ll be outclassed by a Brazil team that has all the tools necessary to win another World Cup.  I’ll pick Brazil, but I’ll be rooting for Holland.

Sharkey Says:

First, I’ll say this, I thought Slovakia would show a lot more against Netherlands than they did.  It’s not that they played bad, the Netherlands just played brilliantly.  They’re playing as well as anyone in the World Cup right now, and if they weren’t going up against Brazil I’d probably pick them to win.  Brazil has a history of eliminating the Dutch from the World Cup, though, and I think they’ll continue doing that.  Brazil was my pre-WC pick to win it all, and I’m not switching it up now.  Brazil will be the first South American team to reach the semi-finals.

Uruguay vs. Ghana

2:30 PM EDT

Man In Black Says:

I’m still upset with Ghana for knocking off the US in what had to be their best chance to advance deep into the World Cup in my lifetime.  But they did it by taking advantage of opportunity and using their amazing speed.  Uruguay, for all that they did in the group stage, looked apathetic against a South Korean team that I thought they should have easily beat.  While this may be a bit of an upset pick, I’m going to go with Ghana to make the host continent proud and advance to the next round.

Sharkey Says:

I’ll say this; I thought South Korea was better than Uruguay on Saturday, and I thought the United States was better than Ghana.  Lot of good being the better team did.  I also think Uruguay is the better team in this matchup.  I’m not really going out on a limb here, but one of two things will happen: 1) Uruguay will put everything together, and win this matchup (probably 2-0), or 2) Uruguay will be the better team, but Ghana will use the exact same strategy as it did against the United States, and win a very tightly contested match.

I’ll be rooting for Ghana on Friday, but I think Uruguay joins Brazil in the semi-finals.

Saturday, July 3

Argentina vs. Germany

10:00 AM EDT

Man In Black Says:

So… Argentina hasn’t lost.  They’ve looked completely dominant through most of the tournament.  Against nearly any other team, they’d be a no-brain lock to move on.  But then Germany came along and just layed a whoopin’ to England.  Granted, England wasn’t great, but still…I did not expect a 3-goal beatdown to occur against those two teams.

When I look at this matchup, I see Germany being Argentina’s first real test; sure they played a good Mexico team and came away with a 3-1 win, but have they really played anyone Germany’s caliber yet?  No, not really.  But then I look at Germany’s inconsistancy.  They beat England by 3, Australia by 4, and lose to Serbia.  Explain that one to me.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been going back and forth on this one, and its driving me nuts.  I think either team has a good chance, but in the end, Argentina has looked more consistant and thoroughly dominant, and that’s why I’m picking them to win.

Sharkey Says:

This is a quarterfinal for the ages.  Both teams are young and exciting.  Both teams are playing great.  Both teams can win the World Cup.  Both teams have a young attacker who is among the elite of the world (Messi is already considered the best, Ozil may be among the top 5 or so within the next year).

And, oh yeah, in 2006 Germany eliminated Argentina in this round, in PK’s, and after the match ended, the two teams got into a fistfight right on the field.  This is going to be an all out war.

I’m going to go against MIB again, and go against one of my pre-WC semifinalists; I think Germany is going to advance to the final four.  This is going to be a low scoring, tactical affair, that will come down to one play.  I think it’ll be 1-0, I think it may go into extra time; hell, it may even go into PK’s again.

I’m already excited for this one!

Paraguay vs. Spain

2:30 PM EDT

Man In Black Says:

Paraguay has been my adopted team since the US lost.  They’re underrated.  They’re hungry.  They’re feisty.  Spain is going to kill them.  I’ll be rooting hard for Paraguay, but Spain’s finally shown up to this World Cup, and that doesn’t bode well for the Paraguayans.  This, unfortunately, is the biggest no-brainer of this round.  Spain advances, but I’ll be thrilled if they don’t.

Sharkey Says:

I gotta agree with MIB on this one, I don’t see any way Paraguay wins this match.  David Villa is playing better football than probably anyone in the World Cup.  Spain is putting all the pieces together at the right time.  And Paraguay is just completely outmatched.

I hope they can keep it close, and go home with their heads held high.  But I fear Spain may win this one by three or four goals.

Sharkey vs Man In Black Watch

As alluded to earlier, they differed on three matches in the round of 16.  Both were wrong on their upset special, and Sharkey picked correctly in the toss-up that was Spain versus Portugal.

This time, they differ on two of the four matches.  Man In Black is taking the upstart Black Stars of Ghana to beat Sharkey’s Uruguay, while in the Argentina vs. Germany battle, Sharkey is taking the young German’s while Man In Black is taking the slightly-favored Argentine’s.