Day 20: Rating the Final Eight

FRANKFURT, Germany

Ageism: 46 Mundial years added (Big day yesterday: another day on the calendar knocked down, a game, a Borussia Dortmund sweatshirt (got cursed out by some Schalke fans for that) and an Italy press guide.
Pallor: Drawn
Forecast: Raining winners (it’s opening day at Frankfurt’s Galopprennbahn – the racetrack – so of course I’m going. How else do you expect me to spend a day off?)

Finally, it’s time to draw breath here. Yes, a day off. After getting off the train from Dortmund early this morning, grabbing some Chinese takeaway in the station and heading back to the apartment it was time to sit on the patio, having a glass of wine, feeling every one of those Mundial years. Even the birds were quiet.
There’s eight teams left here. From what I’ve seen, here’s how they line up, in order of preference (UPDATED, with the latest odds from the friendly neighbourhood government-licensed bookmaker here, with Mario Basler -- my favourite German footballer -- making an appearance there this Saturday):

ROBERTO CANDIA

Roberto Abbondanzieri: No glaring weakness here.

1 Argentina. They’re loaded, and survived a nervy knockout with Mexico. The one team here with no glaring weakness (9-to-2).
2 Brazil. These top two could be the final the way the grid is set up. But their defence looked shaky at times against Ghana – in the first half, there was lots of real estate being yielded. Argentina has enough firepower and skill to exploit that, if they end up meeting (5-2 favourites).
3 Germany. The real revelation here, they’ve been great fun to watch and they’ve got the home-country fever pushing them along. Their defence has yet to be seriously tested, and they’ll get that against Argentina next out, which should be the match of the tournament so far -- prove themselves in that one, and they well could ride it all the way to the final. That’s going to be an either-or game, but the way they play and with that packed house in Berlin, it cannot be anything but thrilling (4-1 second choice).
4 Italy. They’re the real wild-card here, and I may pop by the shop today to see what kind of price they are on the board. They looked like potential World Cup winners in group games against Ghana and Czech Republic, both of them 2-0 wins against good teams. And although they struggled in their other two, they have the best defence among this final eight group (5-1).
5 Portugal. Scolari is the man with the plan but they kinda lost their cool in that crazy one against Holland and they’ll be missing the ultra-important Deco against England. They’re the trickiest team left (11-1).
6 France.

THOMAS KIENZLE/AP

Little help, please?

They seem to have got their acts together, although I didn’t see the surprising win over Spain on Tuesday and now they draw Brazil. I still find it hard to believe that Patrick Veiera is back and playing so well, but experience is something they certainly have (9-1).
7 England. They certainly have had the luck you need to go far at the World Cup. They certainly could get by Portugal next out, but too often their chief inspiration Wayne Rooney is playing all by himself (13-2).
8 Ukraine. Apart from a four-goal outburst against a very weak Saudi Arabia team, they’ve scored only one goal. For a team that relies heavily on Shevchenko, they look like they’ve gone as far as they can – and in their first World Cup finals, that’s a pretty good run (34-1).

Comments

[Uhclem]

FYI: there's a fine fine piece by Jeffrey Toobin in this week's New Yorker on American soccer (sic), but not -alas- online, the greedy sods. A sample taste:

"In the years since the English team won its only cup, in 1966, its supporters have come to resemble Red Sox fans circa 2003, in their amazing ability to conjure, then experience, scenarios of doom and the resultant self-pity. Perhaps that's why they drink so much...."

[cy]

They're drinking the towns dry. In today's Daily Mirror was this stat: they're shifting 200 pints a minute wherever they go, and averaging 17 pints apiece per day. That's a lot of beer. That's a lot of drunks.

[Maria]

I do not agree with the Ukraine's rating as #8. Although not all the games with Ukraine's
participation were spectacular, I think the team can pull themselves together and show the result when needed. They do not resort to "diving" = cheating like Italians to get a free penalty. I do not understand why you put Italy so high up in your rating. They have not been champions for a long time, and will definitely not be this time.

[Carla]

That's a lot of vomit in the gutters.

[Allan Craighead]

Its been a good tournament for the beer makers. With lots of beer gardens and patios to consume large glass of the frothy brew, combined with the local Germans, Czechs, English, Aussie and us Canucks all well known for our love of the stuff. I know in my trip I had at least three nights of 10+ pints while chatting, okay slurring with my fellow footy fans, before staggering back to my room. I only wonder how many mugs are making their way back home to remember these wild nights?

Cheers,

Al.

[Dave]

Ukraine is going nowhere. For them to even be mentioned along with the other 7 remaining teams is a prize enough. Ukraine is in a totally different class in respect to the remaining 7 teams. They'll be going home late friday night. Italy is 3 times world champions, thats just as many as Germany and 2 less than Brazil. They won the cup last in '82 which was not too many world cups ago, as well as finished second a couple of times since then. When has Ukriane won?

[billy]

"They do not resort to "diving" = cheating like Italians to get a free penalty" .

Maybe you should watch the reply or learn the rules on soccer since you clearly are ignorant. You anti-Italians just can not stop with your hate.