JayWalk's World Cup 2010 Crystal Ball Gazing - Quarter Finals

No surprises in this round of 16 and every team played according to script. Man..... this World Cup is starting to get really boring with both fewer goals and more predictability.

The bright side is that now that all the weaker teams are eliminated, the stronger ones are left to face each other which means that the game may go either way.

Either that or we are going to get a lot of draws, extra times and penalty shootouts.

So with that, here is my outlook of the Quarter-Final match ups:

Netherlands vs Brazil

No surprises here as both teams were expected to eliminate their respective opponents with relative ease.

I am sad to see Chile go out at this stage where they played their hearts out both for the country as well as their fellow countrymen who are currently still recovering from the recent disaster.

Still, this is a very young Chilean team and I see great potential in them. Expect to see them in the next World Cup and certainly a team you'd expect to see in the second round and hopefully better than this year.

Coming back, Netherlands has not been playing well so far. Brazil played with more flair and creativity and this is essential to breaking down a stubborn defense which seems to be the strategy of the tournaments amongst many teams especially the weaker one whose sole purpose is to avoid an embarrassing slaughter.

I take Brazil to advance. Netherlands with such boring tactics do not deserve to win.

Uruguay vs Ghana

Perhaps the easiest of the four Quarter-final matches. Ghana the sole representative of the African continent is expected to end here while the big boys take over and show them how football is played.

Ghana is plagued with too many suspensions and injuries that simply passes the advantage to Uruguay on a platter. This shows the inexperience of the team who go all out with a bang only to realise that they don't have enough gas to reach the finish line. 

Uruguay to roll them over easily.

Argentina vs Germany

The toughest of the Quarter-final draw as two ex-multiple-champions faced off against each other. It is said that one of the finalist will come from this draw.

Paul the psychic octopus has predicted Germany to win this round.

I predict Paul to end up as tako sushi when he gets it wrong as Germany exits at this stage.

Paraguay vs Spain

The only South American team least likely to advance from this stage but if they were to actually upset the Spanairds, then we may just be able to witness the first ever Semi-Finals with all four teams from the same continent.

Spain hasn't exactly impress me much despite them being tagged one of the hot favourites to lift the World Cup. They are like Tottenham Hotspur with a self-destruct button but I don't see them pressing it here at the Quarter-Finals.

Spain to advance.


So the Semi-Finals will probably look like this:

Uruguay vs Brazil

Argentina vs Spain