FIFA World Cup 2010: Argentina and USA To Progress, It's A Knockout From Here

Good morning from a hot and sunny Dublin. Normally at this hour on a Saturday I'm catching up on some lost sleep after a hard game of football the night before. However, seeing as I didn't do the donkey work for today's blog last night, like I usually do, I am now sitting on my sofa with my laptop and my eyes are barely open.

On to the football and yesterday's offerings at the World Cup. First of all we had the climax to group H as Brazil played Portugal and Ivory Coast played North Korea. As I predicted Portugal shut up shop and Brazil couldn't break them down in a drab affair which was fairly bad tempered too. Portugal haven't conceded a goal yet and Spain will find it hard to score against them in the last 16. I expect that to be another bad tempered game.

It meant Portugal came second in the group as the draw was all they needed and Ivory Coast's 3-0 win over North Korea was to no avail but at least they regained some pride and in fact they could have won by more. North Korea go home with no points and having conceded 12 goals and only scored one although it was against Brazil. I'm sure they will be greeted as World Cup winners on their return or possibly thrown in jail instead.

In the later games Spain got the win they needed against Chile to progress as group winners into the last 16 and with Switzerland failing to beat Honduras it meant Chile also progressed to that stage. Cesc came on as a sub yet again and I wonder will he ever start a game for Spain in this World Cup. However Spain were far from convincing at times and Chile played very well. The biggest problem for Chile now is that they face Brazil with three players suspended following their second yellow card of the tournament or in the case of Estrada a red card last night.

There's no rest for the wicked as it's straight on to the last 16 today with the clashes of Uruguay against South Korea and USA against Ghana. They're not the most mouth watering clashes but personally I think Uruguay will win through and the other game is very hard to call. I think it may go to extra time and although I hope the USA progress I think it might well be Ghana.

In other news, Arsenal are today linked with Stuttgart and Germany midfielder Sami Khedira who I know very little about. We are also rumored to be about to sign 15 year old Ivan Dzoni from Hajduk Split but again I can tell you nothing about him. Lastly in today's rumours we are again linked with Liverpool striker/midfielder Ryan Babel although I think he will stay there as Benitez is gone and he might think he would have a better chance under a different manager.

The boss has said that there will be a defensive signing very soon and I think it's going to be Koscielny from Lorient. With the projected move almost tied up and the clubs more or less agreed on a price it would seem the only thing delaying the move now is that the boss doesn't have his blackberry with him in South Africa.

With the World Cup half way over there are only three Arsenal players left in the competition as Cesc, RVP and Vela fly the flag for us. There have been two goals by Arsenal players so far and I think after today Vela will be on his way home too. In my forecasts I predicted nine Euopean teams in the last 16 but I did say I thought that was too many. As it turned out all the South American teams progressed and only six European teams are left.

In group A I predicted Mexico and France as qualifiers and I only got Mexico right as Uruguay were the other team to make it. In group B I predicted Argentina and Nigeria to qualify and again I only got one of them right as South Korea qualified with Argentina. In group C I went for England and the USA and I was pleasantly surprised to get it right. I'll review my other predictions tomorrow.

Here's a look at how great a player Patrick Vieira was.

See You Tomorrow.