2 more matches are set

Wow, so Mexico tried their darndest to get eliminated today. Just relax and get the tie and they go through to the next round, but a stupid red card and some poor defending almost did them in during their 2-1 loss to group-winner Portugal. Too bad Angola couldn't hang on to beat Iran. Would have been nice to send them home 0-3 and especially for Angola to make things interesting for Mexico.

Still, Mexico escapes and gets 2nd. When I saw Rafael Marquez had gotten a yellow in this game, I immediately assumed he'd gotten 1 in the first 2 games and wouldn't be available in the next round. My buddy Pat Walsh (www.thesoccershow.com) told me no, he didn't have one, although Pat thinks he should automatically have been given one because of his stupid ponytail.

Seriously, hats off to Angola for playing some decent soccer. They were very defensive, but they were obviously well-coached, disciplined, and showed they weren't just a team filling out the brackets. The 2 points they earned were 2 more than most of us thought they'd get. Hopefully the program will continue to improve and we'll see them in South Africa in 4 years.

Another African team which showed a lot of guts is Ivory Coast, who battled back from a goal down to beat Serbia and Montenegro in one of the tournament's best games. Even w/out the suspended Didier Drogba, IC was pretty dangerous all day, just like they were in the 1st 2 games against Argentina and Holland. This is another team that could make some noise on their home continent in 2010. S&M played well today until losing Nadj to a red card. Then they had to go into a more conservative mode and give credit to IC for taking advantage of the numbers game.

The less said about the Holland and Argentina match, which was possibly the most anticipated 1st round matchup, the better. They were both going through regardless, and sure played that way.

So the matchups are:

Argentina/Mexico - Mexico just hasn't looked very good at all in this tournament. They had about 15-20 minutes against Iran where they were cohesive, but Iranian defensive miscues were largely responsible for the goals. On the other hand, Argentina has played better than anybody else in the first round. Too many weapons offensively, and the defense is much better than I thought it would be. This will be a real tough team to beat, and I don't think Mexico is the team that can do it.

Prediction - Argentina 3 - Mexico 1

Holland/Portugal - This might be the most even 2nd round matchup. Both teams love to attack, have skill and flair, and some world-class players on both sides of the ball. Both also squandered numerous scoring chances in their first round games against teams where goals should have been easier to come by. I give Holland the slight advantage because they're a bit deeper and a bit younger, which means a lot in this tournament.

Prediction - Holland 1 - Portugal 0

As for the U.S./Ghana game, everybody has an opinion on it, just look around the internet and you can find 200 stories and previews about this game, so I won't go into it again here. I'm just going to take a stab in the dark and say the U.S. scores early, Ghana equalizes, and the U.S. scores late to win it 2-1. Italy will beat the Czechs as they feel they have something to prove, and want to make sure they win the group so they won't have to play Brazil. They'll leave that for the Americans.

I'll be at the DC United/Chicago game tonight and I'll be sure to get thoughts on the Cup so far from some players, which I'll put up in tomorrow's entry.