Soccer Watch
All the World Cup news that's fit to print
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., June 23, 2006
With the group stage of the 2006 World Cup almost over, we say farewell to the charming long shots who give the cup so much of its flavor – Trinidad & Tobago, Togo, Costa Rica, et al. – and down to some serious football. With more than half of the championship bracket filled in, Ghana is the only true Cinderella left at the ball. Their fate will be decided against the U.S. on Thursday in the Group E of Death, with the very real possibility that either the Italians or the Czechs will be head-ing home early. (Also, Croatia-Australia decides second place in Group F.) On Fri-day, it's Ukraine-Tunisia for second placein H, and another free-for-all in G. Then, the Round of 16, where each day's games represent a quarter of the bracket:
Saturday: Host Germany will be favored over Sweden in the first game. Mexico got the draw nobody wanted; Argentina has been flat-out dominating at both ends of the field. If things go as expected, this will be a killer quarterfinal.
Sunday: England should beat Ecuador, but losing Michael Owen to a torn ACL will hurt them at the next level. Portugal could surprise in the afternoon game; they handled Mexico fairly easily while resting six of their best players.
Monday: Italy has a huge talent edge; but scrappy Australia produced two of the best games of the first round. No telling at this point who's playing in the afternoon game.
Tuesday: Depending on how things turn out Friday, this day could be stacked. Brazil-Czech Republic are ranked 1-2 in the world; Spain-France would be huge.
This copy is changed and updated from what originally appeared in the print edition, where I transposed two of the daily schedules. My apologies for the error. - N.B.
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