22 June 2010 – Day 12

With Portugal, Spain and Chile all winning yesterday and giving a lesson in how to beat weaker opposition, the second round of games have come to an end. Today will see the start of the final group games and the airports of South Africa get busy as two teams and their fans depart each day from now till Friday. It also gives a chance to indulge in a little “what if scenarios”. So if we take the tables as they stand now the last 16 draw would look like this:

Uruguay            v          South Korea

Slovenia            v          Germany

Ghana                 v          USA

Argentina         v          Mexico

Netherlands     v          Italy

Brazil                   v          Spain

Paraguay           v          Japan

Chile                    v          Portugal

It would see a number of the favourites go head to head and leave the competition with a more open look. One  game of huge significance would be a Quarter Final involving the winners from Netherlands/Italy v Brazil/Spain and leave other tournament favourites (Germany, Argentina and Portugal) with a less demanding route to the final. But all that’s speculation and I’m forgetting that England will win 4 nil tomorrow and storm into the Quarter Finals and go rampaging on to collect a glorious World Cup win……

Oh sorry Doctor – yes of course I’ll keep taking the tablets………