The Remaining Sixteen

32 national teams qualified and were invited to the Soccer World Cup in South Africa. 32 teams were arranged in eight groups of four. The FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) placed a front runner in every group from A to H and then drew other nations to the groups via lottery, considering in the procedure that nations of all continents are well mixed up and yet also fairly arranged according to their ranking. This was meant to not have a top runner be eliminated in an early phase of the competition and also to have the high probability that every continent remains represented as long as just possible.

South Africa hosts the 2010 Soccer World Cup and indeed the FIFA placed all six participating African teams in different Groups: South Africa in group A, Nigeria in group B, Algeria in group C, Ghana in group D, Cameroon in E and Ivory Coast in group G.

In the first two weeks of the World Soccer Championship all the four national teams in one group competed with one another and the best two out of four proceeded while the weakest two dropped out. These two weeks of group phase are now over and 16 nations remain in the competition. Looking at the African nations however, the one and only team which survived this group phase is Ghana of group D. The drop outs here were Australia, the "Socceroos," as they call themselves, who performed well and were truly close to success, and Serbia, who kicked a harsh and hard ball, but finally failed. The German team was the set top runner and kept with its station, though it appeared to be a hard piece of work for the mainly young players who are not much experienced in playing on such world stage.

Top runner and second-placer in group A was France. However "le Bleus" were not able to win a single match, lost against Mexico and South Africa and dropped down to place four of four in their group. Many in Germany were gloating over the French as it appeared they committed the error Germany got trapped in way back in the history of Soccer World Cups, that is, fielding experienced players rather than young ones. The average age in the French team was above 28 years and so it was not a surprise to see any of their opponents just so move and run faster than them. Upon return back home to France, the team was not much welcomed but ignominiously blamed by the papers and media for the debacle caused by the Equipe-Scandal. South Africa however also dropped out, but due to their victory over France in the last group match, the nation and the whole continent celebrated their Bafana Bafana frenetically and blew the Vuvuzela ecstatically.

In group B the top runner Argentina, under legendary player Diego Armando Maradona who now coaches the team, qualified for the quarterfinals as well as runner-up South Korea; and in group C the USA placed themselves even in front of England, the favorite in that group.

No surprises also in group E as the two winning teams there were the Netherlands and Japan. Interesting here to my mind however is the fact that the Netherlands are already considered a candidate for the Cup Final. All their players have their Boer-sounding names like de Jong, van der Wiel, van der Vaart, van Bronckhorst and so on. It might be interesting to see how they and all the fans do in a final match that will be taking place in Soccer City, located in Soweto, the former Apartheid township of Johannesburg; a Cup Final I would preferably want to see would be the Netherlands against the last remaining African team: Ghana. But though the Netherlands could make it to the finals they would meet Ghana only in the semifinal and only in Cape Town. This semifinal and then the following final with the Netherlands however is still a thrilling thought for me.

The groups G and H also provided no surprises. Top runner Brazil, the nation with the most world cup qualifications and the only nation that participated in every Soccer World Championship ever since, placed number one. It is followed by Portugal and Spain and Chile who made it to on points and left the drop-outs Switzerland and Honduras behind.

Finally: How did Italy, the reigning world cup champion perform, one might ask. And there is not a German who would not smirk over this question and then say: Italy finished two matches in a draw, lost one and shot only 4 goals. They placed themselves last in the line and are on their way back home already. Worst performance ever for a titleholder was France in 2002 having lost two matches, finishing one in a draw and having shot no goals at all. Italy made a move close to this world record (Smirk). Winners in this group were Paraguay and Slovakia.

So here we are now, all set to see who makes it to the quarterfinals: Uruguay or South Korea, USA or Ghana (as of presstime, Ghana triumphed over the US), Germany or England, Argentina or Mexico, Netherlands or Slovakia, Brazil or Chile, Paraguay or Japan, Spain or Portugal.

Half way through the World Cup Party the suspense is palapable. 16 remains today, 8 will remain next week, and the Final Match is set on Sunday, July 11.