This has been quite an entertaining World Cup thus far, with more than a few surprises and lackluster performances to even it all out.

I think Argentina seems the favorite thus far as they look so in sync with one another and seem to be gaining momentum. It remains to be seen how they play their last game of the opening round, but from what I've seen, they look good. Boy, are they deep too.

France, England and Brazil have all been sort of underwhelming to me. They need to pick up their play if they want to really do damage in this tournament, France especially since they won't have Zidane for the final game of their opening round.

Germany has played well, but I don't think I'm ready to declare them a title favorite yet. Klose has been wonderful, but as others mentioned, the match today was a sort of mirage since they were facing a team that wasn't fielding its best lineup.

Still, what's important right now is just getting to the knock-out phase, so all the teams that have done so should at least be pleased by that result.


I'm crossing my fingers about the USA. They played a very good match against Italy, good enough to win in my opinion and came away with a respectable draw. However, they need to move forward from this, not think that they've figured it all out. Ghana, even without their two best goal scorers for the upcoming game, has played inspired as well and can't be taken lightly. I'd like to see more Eddie Johnson and O'Brien in this game as well as Dempsey as those three are fast and creative and the USA MUST, MUST actually score a goal.

Take care all.