It really has been a thrilling world cup so far with the group stages providing plenty of goals, excitement, surprises while the odd team has had a hammering and plenty of big names have exited the tournament before the knock-out stages including holders Spain, 2006 winners Italy, Portugal while England finished up bottom of their group with only a point to their name. The entertainment will continue by the bag full as we head towards the knock-out stages with 8 thrilling last 16 ties and the stakes couldn't be higher with 90 minutes being the difference between a flight home or a place in the quarter-finals as the action continues thick and fast for the best players and nations in world football.
As I say then, on we go to the Last 16 then and it's time for me to preview the 8 upcoming ties, whilst also re-capping how the nations have got this far within that:
Last 16 Draw:
Brazil Vs Chile - This is going to be a very intriguing encounter between 2 South-American sides that are pretty evenly matched. Brazil finished top of Group A but only on goal difference ahead of Mexico. They actually didn't convince me and many other people with their performances in the group stages looking quite flat against Mexico while they were pretty unconvincing in a win against Croatia before warming up nicely to thrash a very weak Cameroon side. They may well be feeling the pressure of being both big favourites as well as home nation with people wherever they go expecting them to play sparkling football and record easy wins. Chile meanwhile will be feeling a lot less pressure as the underdogs in this knock-out tie, despite their very good Group B performances to beat Australia and then knock out the holders Spain and overall they are a very strong side with no pressure on them or not at least to the extent that Brazil have. This one will go right down to the wire but I fancy an upset.
Prediction: Chile
Colombia Vs Uruguay - Another all South-American last 16 tie here has the makings of another brilliant match, but with a lot of stuff that's been happening within the Uruguay camp this week, it may well be difficult for them to come back from that to the extent that the winner of this match has already been decided or they will come out fighting and even stronger because of it. Of course what I'm referring to is the Luis Suarez biting incident that occurred against Italy and the ban that has since been handed out by FIFA, and without Suarez Uruguay lost their first game 3-1 to Costa Rica before then beating England and Italy with his goals and his presence. Meanwhile, Colombia have gone very quietly about their business, winning all 3 of their games with comfortable victories over Japan and Greece and they look like a very threatening side in this world cup and whoever was going to play them in the Last 16 was going to be in for a tough match, but even more so in the case of Uruguay who will struggle with out Suarez and may have found it quite hard to concentrate on this game with all of the controversy of the last few days.
Prediction: Colombia
France Vs Nigeria - While the World Cup has been very unpredictable thus far and I'd be a little uncomfortable saying that any team would be a certainty to beat another in this case I can't see any way past a France win. Nigeria played well to finish 2nd in their group especially in their win against Bosnia, but a draw against Iran was the not the start they would've hoped for but they looked a lot more threatening by the end of the group stages in a 3-2 loss to Argentina who are one of the strongest teams in this world cup in my opinion. Nigeria have done well as a unit but they will have to do even better to beat a France side that finished top of their group with very comfortable wins against Honduras and Switzerland where they showed off plenty of fire power whilst also looking very solid, before finishing the groups off with a draw against a strong Ecuador team. France look even stronger as a unit and really seem to be firing as I expected. A very strong run for the French is not beyond the realms of possibility.
Prediction: France
Germany Vs Algeria - Even though Algeria did look like a very good strong team in the group stages, I expected Germany to be powerhouses in this World Cup and their performance in the groups suggests that they may still have quite a bit left in the tank to go far in the knock-out stages and breeze past anyone not up to the same standards as them, and you may put Algeria in that bracket. Algeria did start off very strong though playing incredibly well in a 2-1 loss to Belgium which may have seen them get a point on another day, before they beat a rather sorry South Korean side 4-2 and finally the Algerians got a 1-1 draw with Russia which was enough to see them through and was really pretty impressive. As a unit they look ok and there is no doubt they can cause Germany problems, but the Germans do look incredibly strong. Germany started off their campaign with an impressive 4-0 win against Portugal before drawing 2-2 with Ghana who finished bottom of the group but a win in the last game against the USA guaranteed their top spot and puts them in a very strong position to advance as far as possible in this world cup.
Prediction: Germany
Netherlands Vs Mexico - For me the Netherlands were one of the strongest teams in the group stages for me, thrashing the holders Spain, before battling back to beat Australia and then picking up a very nice win against a strong Chile side to pick up top spot in the group and avoid Brazil. However, Mexico are just as strong and look like a very good unit overall after holding Brazil to a goalless draw and thrashing Croatia after they got over their early nerves in a narrow win against Cameroon. As I say Mexico are strong but they've not quite got the same amount of strength of the Netherlands who were runners-up in 2010 and have every chance of making it that far again this time around.
Prediction: Netherlands
Costa Rica Vs Greece - Of all of the teams in the Last 16 of the world cup, I'd actually say that Greece are one of the weakest remaining sides. After getting thrashed by Colombia and only managing a draw against a Japan side that only picked up that one point, they somehow managed a 2-1 win against the Ivory Coast to get into the knock-out stages but as you can see it was hardly plain sailing for them but they came good when they really had to. Costa Rica meanwhile looked really good in their important group wins against Uruguay and then Italy who are 2 very strong sides with those wins and a draw in the final game with England getting them to the top spot in the group and deservedly so as they have a good squad and are playing very well as a unit. In my view it's going to be another South-American side going into the quarter-finals here as I'm not sure that Greece have enough to stop the Costa Ricans
Prediction: Costa Rica
Argentina Vs Switzerland - Argentina were pretty strong in the group stages winning all of their games despite the fact that they could only win each one against Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria by a single goal it was a very tough group and one that Argentina didn't have a problem getting out of as I expected. They have a very strong team and have let their football do the talking so far in this World Cup and I'm sure they'll continue to do that for the remainder of it. Switzerland meanwhile won the key game against Ecuador in their first group game which they followed up by getting thrashed by France and then thrashing Honduras as you would have expected. The Swiss have a decent squad and are playing ok, but ok isn't going to be good enough to beat Argentina or most of the sides that have made it into the knock-out stages.
Prediction: Argentina
Belgium Vs USA - Finally, we have one surprise package in the knock-out stages in the USA who I didn't expect for one moment to get into the last 16 against a side that I and many people believed would be the underdogs of this world cup and could go very far, and they'll certainly be strong favourites here. The USA were able to get an early group win against Ghana which was the catalyst allowing them to sneak the 2nd place in Group G on goal difference ahead of 3rd placed Portugal who were let down by the early 4-0 loss to Germany. From their they were able to draw 2-2 with Portugal meaning that so long as they didn't get beaten too heavily by Germany and Portugal didn't beat Ghana too heavily they would be through, and a 1-0 loss to Germany in the final game was the best they could hope for as they secured their Last 16 spot. Things were nowhere near as nervy for Belgium in the end as they secured their knock-out spot with a game to spare coming back to beat Algeria and then leaving it late to get a 1-0 win over Russia before beating South Korea in their final group game which was by then really a dead rubber. Belgium squad looks impressive and they've gone ok as a unit so far and I think they can continue to that throughout the knock-out stages now in Brazil.
Prediction: Belgium
Not only is it a strong line-up for the last 16 of the world cup, with plenty of exciting football entertainment sure to come with that, but it's also a very South American heavy line-up as 7 South American nations look for World Cup victory on their home continent. But can any of them do it? I'll be back to preview the quarter-finals in a few days time and take a look at which 8 nations still have high hopes of World Cup glory.
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