Pre-Knockout Stage

Round of 16

Just like World War II, the French are out before the fighting starts, the English are fighting the German and the US joins late with a bang.

The group results left FIFA with a poor bracket. Consider the four "pods" (to borrow an NCAA term).

Pod A	Pod B	Pod C	Pod D
Uruguay-A1	Netherlands-E1	Argentina-B1	Paraguay-F1
South Korea-B2	Slovakia-F2	Mexico-A2	Japan-E2
USA-C1	Brazil-G1	Germany-D1	Spain-H1
Ghana-D2	Chile-H2	England-C2	Portugal-G2

Pod A is made up of teams for which advancing from the group stage is an accomplishment – one of them will be in the semi-finals, none of them can be viewed as a top eight team, yet one of them will finish fourth or better.

Pod B is the one pod which is well balanced, two world cup contenders (shame that one of them will have to miss the semis). An upstart (keep an eye on Chile four years from now) and an unknown which is hot after a big upset win.

Pod C has 3 teams which expected to be in the Semi-finals this time around (not that all three could have made it). And a team which advanced of out the group stage since 1994 – third best such streak after Germany (1954), Brazil (1970). Italy failed to advance this time and while the previous time they failed to advance was 1974, in 1994 they advanced as a 3rd place finisher.

Pod D another pod with three strong teams, but only Spain is a team we truly expected to see in the finals. Paraguay will see a semi-finals appetence as a great success (they never made the quarter-finals in the WC). While Portugal made it to the semis four years ago, this time around the hopes were this high, but realistic expectations were lower even a first round exit was a possibility)

USA – Algeria game

This is what the world cup is all about, an emotional roller coaster. From the joy of an early lead, to the disappointment of it being over ruled due to a bad offside call (they actually showed the replay with the "shadow" in the stadium – a big plus to the Organizing committee). From the despair of a second round slipping away due to countless number of missed opportunities to the euphoria of a winning goal in added time – to the unadulterated joy of a win in the game and the news from Port Elizabeth which meant the US winning the group.

On the down side – US fans still don't know how to be spectators. People come with elaborate headgear which can add 30cm-50cm to their height. Pregame this is great in the stands this is a problem since it blocks the view for many others. To make it worse, some fans get to their feet as soon as the ball crosses mid-field. I have been known to stand up during sporting events, so I have nothing against it in principle. The general rule is that after a few seconds you are back in your seat. You stand up to make a point or when there is real scoring chance, your team crossing mid-field is not a scoring opportunity.

Games in South Africa

To be fair was I anti-vuvuzelas before I got here. After the Spain – Honduras game I felt even stronger about them not belonging in the stadium. After last night, I ready to actually fight against them. I'm sure you have heard about the noise "pollution" – not my argument; Players can't hear each other – Normally I would say deal with it; inability to hear the whistle – now you have my attention; a player gets a YC because of it – ban it! But most of all, the reason I want all vuvuzelas banned is that they take away the ability of fans to support or relay their team. If your pro-vuvuzelas argument is based on tradition, you might want to know that this great form of "celebration" is not even a pre-teen ("He began with 500 trumpets in 2001").

The noise is non-stopping and very load even when a large group of fans tries to cheer, it is impossible to hear it even 5 rows away, forget about hearing it on the field. As far as I'm concerned the best reason to ban the vuvuzelas is the fans – I want to be able to support or boo my team and for the players on the field to hear it. I want to be able to get a section of the crowed to hear a "smart alec" remark made by a fan after a miss or a bad call. With the vuvuzelas in the stands – all these are gone and the big loser is the game.

Tie Breakers

There are questions about the tie breaking procedures used in during the group stage on the 2010 world cup. The official word is from 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Regulations, Article 39 bullet 5, page 41

The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:

a)    greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;

b)    goal difference in all group matches;

c)    greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:

d)    greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

e)    goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;

f)    greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;

g)    drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising (sic) Committee