SPAIN OR BRAZIL WILL WIN THIS WORLD CUP
Domingo Ivan Casañas
June 26, 2006
The big games coming up in the quarter finals starting June 30th will be Germany vs Argentina. Of course the home field advantage will be a plus for the German team. But I see Argentina advancing and beating Germany 2-1.
Then England will be playing Portugal who should beat the Netherlands to advance to the quarterfinals. This is a match that will most likely go into overtime after a 1-1 or 2-2 tie. Portugal has a very good coach that can motivate his players to advance in overtime. Italy should be able to beat Australia to advance and face Switzerland or the Ukraine; it could be either one since it is a toss up. Switzerland or the Ukraine has a good chance to upset Italy in the quarter finals especially because the Italian tempers tend to increase the more they play and maybe they will end up playing with one or two of its players in the showers after being kicked out. Spain should handle the French team like a cheap bottle of French wine, they will score against France with at least a two goal difference to win and advance. Then the key match up will take place when Brazil faces Spain. This game will be like a real World Cup match up, in my opinion. It will end in a tie and we will find out who will win it in overtime. Whichever team wins Spain or Brazil will advance all the way thru the finals and be the World Cup Champion.
The games so far have seen some very good referees and some that should go back to their homeland and retire. For those of you that have been watching, you know which ones I am talking about. The Asian challenge is gone and only Europe, South America and Africa remain, even though Ghana will be packing soon.
The surprise first-round elimination of the Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia means that the second round isn't as heavily European as expected, and four European teams are bound to go out. Host Germany faces Sweden in Munich today, Portugal meets the Netherlands in Nuremberg on Sunday, Switzerland takes on newcomer Ukraine in Cologne on Monday, and the Spain-France showdown in Hanover is on Tuesday.
The World Cup has been really fun and great to watch on Univision. The commentators at times make a few mistakes themselves, but overall they do an excellent job in giving the fans great information and great television coverage. They repeat the games later on in the evening so that if you were not able to watch during the day you will be able to enjoy the games later on the same night.
The United States was a great disappointment specially when they just needed to win their last game to advance against Ghana and were not able to do so. Coach Arena who did much for USA soccer should move on and maybe help a Latin American country in their quest to reaching the World Cup. Landon Danovan should go back to the practice field and get ready for the next World Cup and not bring his shy way of doing thing into a match when it comes to the World Cup. I was disappointed to see that he did not have enough confident in himself to take shots when he had the opportunities. His timid ways or the way he would rather pass than take the shots himself tells me that he did not want to be the goat and definitely did not have the confident to try to be the hero.
The World Cup is a brilliant masterpiece where the whole world comes together to celebrate, cheer and root for their country. I am always fascinated by the way the host nations comes thru when they are the ones putting on the World Cup. I am planning on visiting South Africa in 2010 so that I can once again be part of this great tournament that gives us so much in one month. Enjoy the rest of the games.
Domingo Ivan Casañas (Written on June 23rd…Could not upload to American Chronicle website)
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