2010 FIFA World Cup: American Teams Dominate African Tournament

The group stage of the World Cup has ended, and we now have the 16 teams that will start the knockout stage.

American teams have been the best so far, while African teams could be considered the worst.

Only one African team, Ghana, managed to qualify for the next round in what was supposed to be "their" World Cup, the first played on African soil. Some soccer experts, including Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer, predicted at least one team from Africa would make the semifinals.

Only one of the six countries that started in the tournament will have a chance to do it, but Ghana will have to face the USA and whomever wins between Uruguay and South Korea first.

On the other hand there are the Americas, of which all teams except Honduras have been able to qualify for the next round, including two inter-American games (Brazil vs. Chile and Argentina vs. Mexico).

Mexico and Uruguay did the unthinkable when they eliminated France, a 2006 finalist, as well as the host nation (South Africa) in a group stage for the first time ever.

American teams have played best so far, especially Argentina and Brazil.

This has been a World Cup filled with surprises: Neither of the last World Cup's finalists got out of group play. France was eliminated and Slovakia and Paraguay ruled over Italy, with the contribution of New Zealand who was also one of the positive surprises in the tournament, but they sadly went home without a loss in their record.

There are mixed feelings throughout Europe, as some supposed powerhouses have been eliminated (France and Italy), some others have played better than expected (Germany and the Netherlands), and others haven't played up to the hype built around them (Spain).

All in all, we had very few entertaining games with a lot of goals, but I'm hoping to see more goals in the next round. It seems the only things we are sure to continue hearing are the annoying Vuvuzelas.