Round of 16 Favorites

All of the favorites and group winners have advanced. Does anyone know if all 8 group winners have advanced in the past?

May sound strange but I think one or both of the dogs advance tomorrow. Belgium has not played to its potential and i think is vulnerable. Argentina must score. They are not physically imposing. They rely too much on one player. I think they are also vulnerable.

never has since the field expanded

https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/483529205942996992

This was exactly what my cousin told me on the phone.......he said exactly what you posted on the group winners advancing & that he thinks both favs will lose.

I think they split but who knows.......we've had 3 draws out of 6 games, whose to say we don't have 1 more draw in the last 2 game's of 16.......

By the way, the games the dogs covered in regulation, the games were draws.

You're right tho, what's the odds of all 8 group winners advancing? Same as them not?

Thanks fellas. Thats what I suspected. The oddsmakers feel like usa has the best chance of the two dogs of advancing. Despite getting three wins belgium have looked unspectacular. They have not hit their potential. Had high expectations before the cup started which worries me. They have world class talent but have not dominated any games from the beginning. Usa definitely played in the tougher group. Battle tested.

Battled tested luck vs tactics and talent. I will take the latter, 90% of the time.... especially at even money. 2-0 Belgium. Fabian Johnson can not get in advanced positions without worrying about Hazard. Beasley will have to deal with Januzaj or Mertens. Even if no Kompany, world class GK like Courtois can sort it out...

Belgium has the better GK and better backline... if you think USA can counter the way Algeria did vs Germany, then go for it (but I just dont see it). And for all the US people saying how bad Bradley has done.... they are just clueless.... Toughest position against top talent. He has been run ragged these first 3 games (portugal draw no where near his fault.... blame yedlin for not sitting on the ball in the corner, or guys not tracking back).

lastguyoffthabench said:

Battled tested luck vs tactics and talent. I will take the latter, 90% of the time.... especially at even money. 2-0 Belgium. Fabian Johnson can not get in advanced positions without worrying about Hazard. Beasley will have to deal with Januzaj or Mertens. Even if no Kompany, world class GK like Courtois can sort it out...

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Belgium was arguably in the weakest group while usa fought its way out of arguably the toughest group. Belgium has underwhelmed and not been tested thus far. They are the youngest team in the tourney and their leader is a 22 year old. Its their first time in a world cup for most if not all of their players. They did not even qualify for euro 2012. Big expectations have been heaved on this young unproven group of kids. Yes they have talent, but IMO experience and teamwork win out tomorrow. I think the pressure is too much. Usa have no expectations.

lastguyoffthabench said:

Battled tested luck vs tactics and talent. I will take the latter, 90% of the time.... especially at even money. 2-0 Belgium. Fabian Johnson can not get in advanced positions without worrying about Hazard. Beasley will have to deal with Januzaj or Mertens. Even if no Kompany, world class GK like Courtois can sort it out...

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The Belgium coach has been roasted for his inefficient tactics with this roster. They look out of sync. Just like Spain

Belgium group was apparently weak, but Algeria took it to Germany hard today off the counter attack. Could have been 1-0 if not for Neuer sense for the game and coming out various times. Germany was outclassed/outplayed the entire first half.

If we are talking about groups, does this rule out Colombia's chances of beating Brazil... because that group was a joke... (note, I still see a Brazil win over Colombia 2-0)

USA game 1.... caught Ghana sleeping off a throw in. Goal. Many injuries throughout. Ghana pounded them 2nd half and should have gone up 2-1. Bradley couldnt sniff a pass to anyone in the final third.... long balls long balls. One corner, USA stole the game.

USA game 2... bad play in the back, Portugal goes up a goal early... Howard bails them out before half to not be down 2-0. Jones brilliant strike equalizes.... USA then goes up... then the entire country blames Bradley for that goal at the death, when all Yedlin had to do was sit on the ball in the corner..

SBD7... I agree... Januzaj should be in the XI, and Fellaini shouldn't sniff the field... and with a LB like Beasley, he should be licking his chops to start either Januzaj/Mertens.

should add that is wrong of me to say Fellaini shouldn't sniff the field, but that could help USA in their tactics...

JohnBlue123 said:

Belgium was arguably in the weakest group while usa fought its way out of arguably the toughest group. Belgium has underwhelmed and not been tested thus far. They are the youngest team in the tourney and their leader is a 22 year old. Its their first time in a world cup for most if not all of their players. They did not even qualify for euro 2012. Big expectations have been heaved on this young unproven group of kids. Yes they have talent, but IMO experience and teamwork win out tomorrow. I think the pressure is too much. Usa have no expectations.

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I wont say US cant win, anything can happen but can we get this weak group argument out of here already. Algeria showed its class today, to think it couldnt have beaten or given a scary run to Portugal, Ghana and the US teams in this tourny is absurd. Russia and South Korea were nothing special but keep in mind Belgium played a man down vs South Korea with a spot locked up they played back ups and still got the win. Russia wasnt a talented squad but teams playing with all men back have been tough outs all tourny for great teams no less so while id expect most from the US group to take Russia to expect a vastly different goal line than we saw with Belgium would probably not happen so lets not be so quick to discount the win. Meanwhile the us group of death was a nice name for it pre tourny but the reality was far from it. Portugal with injuries and suspensions was a shadow of its regular form and you can only beat who is in front of you and the us were unlucky to not win that but maybe they used that luck when Ghana probably deserved the win in the first match up with the US. By the time the US played the germans the group was largely decided, a favorable draw schedule helped their cause but Germany had little to play for so hanging your hat on a loss as keeping up with the big dogs isnt entirely accurate. Im not saying they backed into the 16s they earned their way but its easy to put a lot of stock in the group of death and overlook the so called weak groups but how they shake out in reality is important and Belgium getting thru tough matches might just bode well moving forward while the us despite qualifying really hasnt beat a team thats qualified for the 16s and really didnt give the one it played much of anything resembling a scare, 1 shot on target for a match?

lastguyoffthabench said:

Belgium group was apparently weak, but Algeria took it to Germany hard today off the counter attack. Could have been 1-0 if not for Neuer sense for the game and coming out various times. Germany was outclassed/outplayed the entire first half.

If we are talking about groups, does this rule out Colombia's chances of beating Brazil... because that group was a joke... (note, I still see a Brazil win over Colombia 2-0)

USA game 1.... caught Ghana sleeping off a throw in. Goal. Many injuries throughout. Ghana pounded them 2nd half and should have gone up 2-1. Bradley couldnt sniff a pass to anyone in the final third.... long balls long balls. One corner, USA stole the game.

USA game 2... bad play in the back, Portugal goes up a goal early... Howard bails them out before half to not be down 2-0. Jones brilliant strike equalizes.... USA then goes up... then the entire country blames Bradley for that goal at the death, when all Yedlin had to do was sit on the ball in the corner..

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Brazil also played in a weak group. That game will be evenly matched. Looking forward to it.

Usa-ghana the usa had to change their strategy on the fly with altidore out. That was a huge game changer. Somehow in the end they found a way to win. Credit usa. They faced portugal in a must win situation. Usa should have won were it not for the late equalizer. Usa playdd well.

nuckers said:

I wont say US cant win, anything can happen but can we get this weak group argument out of here already. Algeria showed its class today, to think it couldnt have beaten or given a scary run to Portugal, Ghana and the US teams in this tourny is absurd. Russia and South Korea were nothing special but keep in mind Belgium played a man down vs South Korea with a spot locked up they played back ups and still got the win. Russia wasnt a talented squad but teams playing with all men back have been tough outs all tourny for great teams no less so while id expect most from the US group to take Russia to expect a vastly different goal line than we saw with Belgium would probably not happen so lets not be so quick to discount the win. Meanwhile the us group of death was a nice name for it pre tourny but the reality was far from it. Portugal with injuries and suspensions was a shadow of its regular form and you can only beat who is in front of you and the us were unlucky to not win that but maybe they used that luck when Ghana probably deserved the win in the first match up with the US. By the time the US played the germans the group was largely decided, a favorable draw schedule helped their cause but Germany had little to play for so hanging your hat on a loss as keeping up with the big dogs isnt entirely accurate. Im not saying they backed into the 16s they earned their way but its easy to put a lot of stock in the group of death and overlook the so called weak groups but how they shake out in reality is important and Belgium getting thru tough matches might just bode well moving forward while the us despite qualifying really hasnt beat a team thats qualified for the 16s and really didnt give the one it played much of anything resembling a scare, 1 shot on target for a match?

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When you have 3 tough games in a row there is no time to take a break. Algeria had a game off against korea. Algeria would not have qualified if in group G. They would have been last place. Being in a tough group changes the dynamics. Algeria couldnt even beat russia. They qualified with 4 points in a weak group.

Saying that group G was only a group of death pretourney is absurd. Thats why they call it a group of death. Some top teams will appear to look pedestrian due to the quality of play in the group. This was the same portugal squad that did well in euro 2012. Ghana is a strong african side. No question about it. Take anyone of Germany, portugal, ghana, or usa and switch them for korea and no way algeria qualifies for the knockouts.

JohnBlue123 said:

When you have 3 tough games in a row there is no time to take a break. Algeria had a game off against korea. Algeria would not have qualified if in group G. They would have been last place. Being in a tough group changes the dynamics. Algeria couldnt even beat russia. They qualified with 4 points in a weak group.

Saying that group G was only a group of death pretourney is absurd. Thats why they call it a group of death. Some top teams will appear to look pedestrian due to the quality of play in the group. This was the same portugal squad that did well in euro 2012. Ghana is a strong african side. No question about it. Take anyone of Germany, portugal, ghana, or usa and switch them for korea and no way algeria qualifies for the knockouts.

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When you have 3 tough games in a row there is no time to take a break - simply not true, by the 3rd game the Germans had qualified and the us were near assured qualification due to their 1 win so I highly doubt anybody outside diehard us fans think the Germans gave their best performance in that match up but I think we can all say with the tourny on the line for them yesterday Algeria saw them bring whatever they could and stood firm for regulation, thats more than the US did.

Algeria had a game off against korea - an easier opponent yes but having lost to Belgium in their opening game this game was hardly a game off they needed the win and did what it took to get the win. They outclassed a weaker opponent.

Algeria would not have qualified if in group G. They would have been last place - there is no way to know that, based on teams they played in common the results would say they could hang with any team in the group, if they can hang with the class of the group.

Being in a tough group changes the dynamics - everything changes the dynamics, drawing Ghana first in the tourny and getting to play Germany 3rd when a win wasnt necessary sure changed the dynamics for the us. Portugal drawing Germany first sure changed their tourny. This couldve played out vastly different if we drew it up and played the tourny again but thats the fun of the tourny.

Algeria couldnt beat Russia - and it took over 90 minutes for Argentina to break Iran. Nigeria drew with Iran. Greece qualified. Germany needed extra time to beat Algeria. Teams that play behind the ball the way Russia Greece Algeria Iran can and do arent necessarily easy walk over matches, youre assuming due to rankings the us group could beat them easily but there are some great teams who had frustrating days vs these lower ranked teams. A win isn`t guaranteed over these teams. Brazil was supposed to walk over Mexico but solid defense and tending and the pre tourny faves walked away unable to break the Mexicans down.

saying that group G was only a group of death pretourney is absurd- now youre just being silly. Group D going into the tourny was looked at as another group that was nasty to be a part of. 3 teams that shouldve been competing for round of 16s with one cakewalk but the reality was England was shit. Italy was shit. Uruguay was just good enough till Suarez lost his mind and costa rica was the cake walk and theyre into the 8s. Reality and pre tourny form are 2 different things. Portugal on paper was the same squad that did well in Euro 2012, but stop looking at paper and watch the games, everybody who watches know Ronaldo wasnt in top form and playing with an injury. Pepe lost his mind and wasnt playing and is a huge cog in that team. As is Coentrão who went out vs Germany and Hugo Almeida wasnt in, that you believe that doesnt change their pre tourny position is mind boggling. Ghana is a good team im not taking anything away from them but to think you could just take them out of their group into another and they qualify is no lock. Ghana drew up Germany as did Algeria for regulation. Algerias played some of the african sides in matches and drew up Ivory Coast who is at least as talented as Ghana so without the matches being played its just speculation, this Algerian team is no easy out. Algeria would give any of the teams from group g a run for their money and would probably surprise more than 1 of them but maybe they wouldnt have qualified then maybe they wouldve we`ll never know but I cant say for certain that Algeria couldnt qualify against those teams, not with what they showed all tourny long.

There's your 4th draw Johnny.......take Belgium to win in regulation. All 8 group winners looking to advance........

3 Stars & Stripes
2 Red Devils