So close, but yet so far…

Heartbreak for fans of Korea and Japan… but hope shines bright for the future of Asia football.  Although both sides fell to their South American counterparts, their performance in this world cup proved to the world the quality of football coming through the Far East.  No need to recap the games, you can find the match reports here… Japan / Korea

With Park Ji Sung and Keisuke Honda leading the way for their respective sides, the sky is the limit for what these sides can and will accomplish in future competitions.

With the quarterfinal matches of the World Cup set, the fans of the beautiful game are set for a blistering set of matches featuring the best footballing sides in the world.  Lets checkout the match-ups

Brazil – Netherlands:

Today’s samba boys matched up against the inventors of Total Football… By definition, these two sides represents stylish football at their best.  However, both Brazil and Holland have played somewhat conservatively in this world cup, and neither side has really “turned on the style” or so to speak.  Either way, this has the looking to be an instant classic.

Prediction… 3-1 Samba boys

Argentina – Germany:

In any other year, this would make a great World Cup final.  Luckily, we get to watch these two powerhouse sides slug it out in the quarterfinals.  Team Messi is lead by the mercurial Maradona and feature some of the strongest offensive talents in the world, while the usually stoic Deutschland attack is spearheaded by a stylish youth revolution.  Messi, Tevez, Higuain… Podolski, Mueller, Ozil… we should expect goals galore in this epic match-up for the ages.

Prediction: 4-2 Argentina

Uruguay – Ghana:

With all other African sides eliminated from the competition, Ghana represents the last great hope for the African continent in their inaugural world cup.  Featuring a strong attack in Forlan and Suarez, Uruguay will be a tough opponent for the Ghana Black Stars, but in the end, it is hard to root against the home side.

Prediction: 2-1 Ghana (going with my heart on this)

Spain – Paraguay

Anointed as the favorites coming into the Cup, Spain has generally underwhelmed in this competition.  Regardless, the Reds clawed their way to the quarterfinals, and now face a Paraguay side that performed unconvincingly in their penalty victory over Japan.  Even with an unfit Fernando Torres, the Spanish side has way too much firepower for the South American qualifiers.

Perdiction: 3-0 Spain

That’s all folks.  Joga Bonito!!

Party like its 2006!