2010 FIFA World Cup: The Wheat Has Been Separated From The Chaff

Going into the World Cup there were at least 10 nations who would have felt they had a realistic chance of emerging victorious. The bookmakers might not have been able to see beyond Spain and Brazil but Argentina, Holland, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal and, to a lesser extent, the Ivory Coast and Cameroon would all have felt winning the World Cup was at least a possibility.

Spain Brazil, Argentina and England were the teams generally felt most likely to succeed. Germany, France and Italy were not regarded as serious contenders with many feeling their squads were lacking in quality and, in Germany's case, experience.

With two more ties remaining in the round of 16 the World Cup has already done an excellent job of showcasing the outstanding teams while the others have, like reality TV show rejects, been sent home to reflect on what might have been.

The worst offenders have undoubtedly been France. Their squad is not as strong as the one which triumphed in 2008 but a side containing Frank Ribery, Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka and Yohann Gourceff should have been able to hold its own in any elite footballing competition.

Instead the French imploded, bringing shame on their team as they meekly surrendered their much coveted World Cup status. Qualifying from Europe is no easy task and the likes of Russia and the Czech Republic are absent, as well as the Republic of Ireland who were cruelly denied by Thierry Henry's handball.

Any of these sides would have surely fared better than the French who managed a solitary point. This ranks them the second worse team in the entire competition, ahead of North Korea but behind New Zealand who managed three points.

The Italians were at least better than the French. They might have had a much easier group but their side is a shadow of the one which triumphed four years ago. In the end they were slightly unfortunate to have an equalizing goal disallowed by an erroneous linesman's flag in the game against Slovakia. If the goal had stood and the game finished 2-2 Italy would have qualified at Slovakia's expense.

To progress to the knock out phases without winning a single game would not have been a particularly impressive achievement and the Italians cannot feel they particularly deserved a place in the latter stages of the competition.

Germany and Portugal do not seem to be as strong as they once were. Portugal might have Cristiano Ronaldo in their ranks but lack quality almost everywhere else, particularly up front. The Germany side is young and inexperienced and in the absence of influential midfielder Michael Ballack was widely expected to come up short in South Africa.

Both these sides have surpassed expectations with Germany's 4-0 demolition of Australia and Portugal's sensational 7-0 win against North Korea being the results of the tournament to date.

England failed to impress at any stage, save for a mildly convincing 1-0 win over Slovenia. They were unable to top arguably the weakest group in the competition and subsequently found themselves facing Germany rather than Ghana.

An up and coming Germany team tore England's golden generation to pieces with an emphatic 4-1 win and are well worth their spot in the quarter finals. As are Holland who have improved steadily throughout the competition and look a far better team with Arjen Robben returning to form and fitness.

Brazil and Argentina have fullfilled expectations and having cruised through their first knock out games both will feel they are on course for World Cup glory. Spain have not been as good as people might have predicted but they are still in the competition and will need to up their game if they are to get the better of Portugal in the pick of the round of 16 games later tonight.

While the elite teams have either thrived or failed the draw has given a few of the so called smaller sides the chance to progress.

The USA showed tremendous spirit to reach the second phase but were narrowly defeated by Ghana. On paper the weakest of all the African nations, Ghana will be looking to make up for the disappointing performances of the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and South Africa by becoming the first African team to reach a World Cup semi final.

Uruguay have, in Luis Suarez, arguably the outstanding player of the competition to date, and look a good side. South Korea have also been impressive but it was Uruguay who prevailed 2-1.

There is guaranteed to be a third surprise side  in the quarter finals because Paraguay are playing Japan. Neither team would have been expected to progress quite this far but the presence of Ghana, Uruguay and either Paraguay or Japan makes the competition a more interesting place.

Every four years the World Cup asks the question, 'which is the bext footballing nation in the world' and slowly but surely that question is being answered. We have already learned that it's definitely not France, nor Italy, nor England. It might well be Spain or Brazil. It could even end up being Ghana or Uruguay.

A definitive answer awaits on July 11th but in the meantime let the learning process continue. The 2010 World Cup is giving football fans the world over a highly entertaining education.