We've grown accustomed in recent years to seeing an unlikely semifinalist in the World Cup. Bulgaria in 1994, Croatia in 1998, South Korea and Turkey in 2002 -- although 2006 broke from the pattern somewhat. However, we already know that there must be at least one unlikely semifinalist in 2010. That team? A1-B2-C1-D2: Uruguay. A team that needed to qualify through a playoff, a team that generally didn't look particularly impressive in qualifying either before or during that playoff, a team generally given 80-1 or 100-1 odds of winning the World Cup (with 150-1 odds available from one source), a team that didn't even qualify for the 2006 World Cup. South Korea. No World Cup Finals wins outside their home country... until 12 June 2010, 2-0 over Greece. USA. An idiosyncratic 3rd place in 1930, a moment of greatness against England in 1950, but a team that has only really been consequential for the last 20 years or less. Ghana. Four-time ACN champions, a perennial African powerhouse, but first qualified for the World Cup in 2006 (and advanced before running into Brazil in the Round of 16.) None were seeded for this World Cup, but one will be playing on the last weekend: who will it be?
I say USA. Their offense hasn't even played well yet and I think they will be supercharged by the win Wednesday....giving them an edge on the other 3 teams.
Just to correct you, Korea achieved its first foreign-soil WC victory in 2006 against Togo. It's too bad The Africans turned out to be the Group punching bag and those 3 points were not as valuable as originally believed; even a hard-fought draw against France to end on 4 points was not enough to see us through to the knockout rounds in Germany. That being said, this bracket certainly is fascinating. I guess we can thank Argentina for topping the group since their road to the semi's is much more arduous. I truly belive any team can get to the semi's from these 4 and it certainly is possible that that team can squeak their way into the Final. It certainly would be refreshing to see a country that has never won it all before gain that coveted star above their crest.
More importantly, if I recall right, their probable draw/bracket looks easiest of any team. Could be huge WC for American soccer.
I actually wanted to play Germany just because I have some friends there who have consistently laughed off USA when talking about their mighty club the last few years. Its nice to avoid them if USA is going to keep advancing, but if they lose to Ghana, I'll be pissed....I'd rather at least lose to Germany.
The 4 teams deserve a boost on this WC. Korea & USA has been solid contenders in the last 20 years, without much stars (Donovan, Jisung of course) but with great teamwork. Ghana has been solid in U20 and U17 class and in the last WC they has a very good team maybe better than this but now they have renovated in a very good way. We in the other end usually has good players but we lack long run organization, for now that has changed with Tabarez. I just hope he continue the project for the next WC, since almost every starter could be there. We will not have a better chance than this though.
Never hope to play Germany in international play. Ever. They have gotten to the world cup semifinals something like a dozen times and hold the record for it, despite not even playing in several of them! They are right up there with Brazil for teams you don't want to face in a WC.
Well I understand its a death wish...all I'm saying is, if US gets beat up by Ghana I will be disappointed that they didn't at least lose to Germany....seems like a more worthwhile loss. I'll just have to hope USA faces Germany in the final game instead Besides, Germany just got beat and it embarrassed their fans....they're not unstoppable.
They got beat in a game they didn't have to win, and in a game with a man down and a ref that had no business being on the pitch. Not really indicative of anything other than FIFA's horrible officiating. Of course it's much easier for the USA to bow out to Germany than Ghana, but you are pretty much conceding defeat by even worrying about "who I would rather we lose to". That's a horrible mentality.
Haha, well it would be a horrible mentality if I was playing. What I think doesn't affect the game on the field, but I am actually rather confident against Ghana...but I was also confident against Algeria and that was almost disaster...so I am always "prepared" for disappointment. Prevents me from throwing stuff when the loss happens. You said Germany lost a game, it didn't have to win. I understand they were down a man but they COULD have been eliminated today because of that loss.
ghana was probably the most horrible side to make it out of their group. 2 goals both penalties, although one of them (Kewell's handball) should be a legit goal from field play. USA will knock over Ghana.
Any of Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana, or USA are extremely bizarre choices for a WC semi final. Uruguay probably least bizarre though.
My prediction is penalties. Ghana are a very strong team, but have nobody who can finish. If they had an Eto'o or a Drogba, they'd be a threat to any team.
How do you figure that? Australia has looked better than they did against Germany Week 1, but it was a close finish. Ghana held their own against Germany and took plenty of good shots. I'm of the mentality that neither of these 4 teams are a perennial favorite. The USA has had the most dramatic comebacks in the World Cup so far, they're a team with a ton of resiliency and mental toughness...you can't count them out until the referee blows his whistle. If there's any "favorite" it's Uruguay, but I still don't know about this teams potential. They beat up on South Africa winning 3-0, but showed very little in the other two games against Mexico and France (let's not forget that couldn't even score on France!). Uruguay's defense may be enough to get them to the Final 4, but don't be shocked if South Korea upsets them. I just don't see Uruguay being a consistent, strong attacking team. Even in their thumping of RSA, South Africa actually controlled possession 57% of the time! You may can do that against a team with no defense, but attack-happy teams like USA and Ghana can exploit that. Mind you, USA has its own defense problems. It's funny, neither of these 4 teams are attacking powerhouses. USA and South Korea have put up the most scores, but neither have mastered that art a la Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, etc (and USA has done it from behind). Ghana LIKES to attack, but hasn't been fortunate enough to score outside of penalty kicks. You have to think they're good for at least one a game and who knows, looking at their competition that may be enough to get them to the semifinals. Uruguay is the safe man's pick, but it's by no means a given. All four of these teams will be playing their hearts out knowing they may never get a better draw than this.
In case no one knows it, among these teams in Football history, one of them has won 14 times the America cup, 2 times the olimpic Gold medal (1924 and 1928), 2 times has achieved being the World Champion (1930 and 1950). Among its 10 times it has ever participated in World Cups, besides those two World Championships, 2 times it has the reached the round of 16 (not considering the actual edition, which hasn`t finished yet), 1 time been in 1/4 F, 2 times has been Fourth or semifinalist (1954 and 1970). In other words, a full history of well deserved final positions that any country in this whole world we live in, would be happy to have had only half of their results. This country is URUGUAY , my friends. At least show them a little more respect on behalf of their history and actual performance, which probably will have them at least among the Semi finalists if not World Champions of this edition,....once more.
Uruguay certainly has a respectable history, but it's like the old American Football saying..."what have you done for me LATELY?" Looking at THIS World Cup and THIS Uruguayan squad, I see a team that would be REALLY fortunate to make the Final 4. They'll be favorites based solely on their history, but if you're a fan of this team and all you have to pin your hopes on is what happened in the 30s and 50s, then your team is probably going to lose lol.
i think you're really underestimating uruguay. suarez, forlan, and cavani are world class. lugano is a fantastic central defender. perez and arevalo are fantastic. the pereiras out wide are as well. these guys all play at a high level, and no offense, every uruguayan starter walks into the US squad, many right into the starting 11. uruguayan football has produced some good young kids that are doing well at the past couple youth tournaments and people like cavani and lodeiro are future stars. as for history, when you come from a country like uruguay, you are still expected to win. when you wear a jersey with that kind of history you feed off it and it makes you more confident, why else do you think germany does so well every year no matter how strong the side is? people like klose and podolski are rubbish at club level, but the national shirt picks them up, and the same is true for uruguay, who will only get stronger as this goes i certainly won't view it as a shock if they make the semis, as i chose them to do so before the tournament. remember, the qualifying rounds in south american are brutally hard and we've seen in the past that a team can just scrape by and win the thing, like brazil in 2002. remember, uruguay beat ecuador in quito to get to the world cup, and ecuador is a good team, and should be here over some of the crappy euro sides that have been terrible like slovakia and greece, who was still defending while down 2-0 and out of the world cup
Ok so I read your whole post and I think you are delusional. People give Uruguay TONS of respect. But you bringing up events that happened in the 1920s, 30s and 50s is laughable when talking about Uruguay's chances on progressing through this WC. I think Uruguay has about a 40% chance of going to the semis, USA 23%, Ghana 22% and SK 15%. That is based on the quality of Uruguay's players, team and results NOW, not from over 50 years ago. Get real and learn humility when it comes to the "respect" that your team deserves. You have excellent players but there are far better teams in this tournament so please don't group your team into that of the elites, it is laughable.
Please Go and read where he is from. He is not even Uruguayan. Most teams would die for the history that Uruguay has, whenever it happened. The last time they won a major trophy was 95 copa america, not even Argentina have won a trophy more recently. If you knew anything about Uruguay you would know they are very humble, at least a ton more than americans.
I actually pin it on the fact that South Korea and the US have subpar defenses and Ghana can't finish to save their lives (US's finishing has not been great either this tournament). Based on the performances so far, during THIS World Cup, I would be confident. But, history is what makes me substantially less confident. Uruguay has historically done much worse against athletic teams, which all three other teams are. Uruguay is also extremely erratic, if bad Uruguay shows up, any three of these teams are good enough to destroy them pretty easily. If Uruguay actually show consistency and keep letting other teams waste energy with pointless posession while pretty easily soaking up the presssure and then letting loose their far superior strikers for better opportunities, Uruguay shouldn't have too much of a problem with any of these teams. Unfortunately, I just don't know if they'll do that.