Now that the first round of the World Cup is over, with the U.S. surviving a massive choke to set up a match with Mexico Sunday night, this may be as good a time as any to revisit a "classic" piece of Smythiana.
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Tonight, its Germany-Paraguay (11:30 p.m.) and England-Denmark (4:30 a.m.). On paper, these matchups don't look very interesting, as neither Paraguay or Denmark have as much talent as their opponents. I believe England is on the verge of exploding offensively, having already played three teams that are superior to Denmark. That would probably set up a quarter-final game with Brazil. For US fans, the Germany game is critical, as the winner will play the US-Mexico winner. Sorry if I'm overdoing the college hoops analogy, but the Germans are starting to remind me of that North Carolina team that made the Final Four three years ago, a team that barely made the tournament (really only making it on reputation), was only seeded 8th, and then upset Stanford in the second round. After that team made the semifinals, it seemed almost inevitable that they would do so, and the weaknesses of that team were forgotten by the same people who were outraged that the Tar Heels even made the tourney. Anyways, I don't see the Germans having any problems scoring against that fat tub of lard in goal for Paraguay.
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