lets talk about the World CUP!

Sooooooooo
we approach the quarter finals of the World Cup
24 teams have already packed their bags and left Germany for home...
For 8 more teams..
the road ahead gets tougher..
so what are the pple's pick out there??

Germany vs Argentina

the host vs the pretenders
many predict that the argentines finally have a squad depth to challenge for the cup
but
we also cannot discount the 12th man, that is the home crowd support
not so much as it influences the play, more to influence the referee decisions
both teams play attacking football
both use attack as their defence
so expect a score draw
as both teams seem to have little to separate them
do expect the home team to emerge out of this titanic battle

initial pick:
Germany on lvl or -1/4
never doubt the home team
look at Greece at Euro 04 as an example.


Italy vs Ukraine

the Azzuri vs the East Europeans
the Azzuris showed their vast experience and awareness and savvyness in their disposal of AUstralia
the penalty was a penalty
dive or no dive
everybody will seek the penalty
no question abt that
the italians may be short on men at the back
but the kings of catenacio should get by with cannavaro in outstanding form
ukraine has been uninspiring, esp against the swiss
the saudis flattered them
thus an easy game to pick
the italianos to ease pass the ukrainians.
though a low scoring game

initial pick:
italians to squeeze it 1-0
dont expect fireworks in these
if the italians manage to keep all 11men on the field, find them incredibly hard to break down
italy to just clear handicap
but TG to be under
do prepare some coffee as this will be a boring game