Underdogs at the World Cup

It’s beginning to feel a lot like 2002. Remember when Turkey and South Korea slipped into the World Cup semi finals at the expense of traditional powers like Italy and Argentina? Well, the underdogs have once again reserved one of the spots in the final four.

The group phase is still a couple of days away from completion, but the knockout stages are already beginning to take shape. We can already see that Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea and the United States occupy one quarter of the bracket – which means that one of these unheralded teams will be appearing in the semi finals.

Uruguay has been there before – albeit many, many years ago. So have the USA, in the very first World Cup in 1930.  And imagine if Ghana could make it that far; the whole of Africa would be tooting their vuvuzelas.

This unusual scenario comes down to the fact that many of the pre-tournament favourites have underperformed. (We’re looking at you, France and Italy.) As a result, there are some unexpected and tantalizing fixtures in the cards for the first round including England v Germany and maybe Chile v Portugal or even Spain v Brazil.

Many will be disappointed to see such big names fall so early in the tournament.  But when you remember the thrills that teams like the USA have already served up, you’ve got to start getting excited.

Strictly football for the South Koreans this summer