It would take the least informed sportsfan in the world tonot know that the Mondial of Soccer has now entered the Round of Sixteen. Thursday signaled the end of group play, andFriday was the first absolute rest day since the tournament started a two weeksago. Today, single elimination play starts in earnest, with twogames. Play continues like this, with two games a day for the next four days. After a rest day on Wednesday, the QuarterFinals will begin on this coming Thursday. On the upside, for non soccer fans, this isall coming to an end. Ironically, in nonSoccer countries, it is easy not to know that there is a tournament, unlessyour favorite FOX show is preempted. Onthe downside, this sets up those endings which non fans hate, ninety sixminutes of no scoring or a tie, followed by "penalty kicks" todetermine the winner. Today, indeed these next two weeks, though: all about the fans. and players. As the Round of 16 starts today, there should be great action. Both games slated today feature "thegreatest player in the world." Thefirst, France vs. Argentina, features Lionel Messi, Barcelona's favorite, whomay finally make his first goal in many a game in international play. Vive la France! The second game, Uruguay vs. Portugal, features play byCristiano Ronaldo, who is often honored on the international soccer stage, butwho for some reasons leaves critics of the game unconvinced. Both teams could be described as"plucky," and representing nations with great soccer traditions. Viva Portugal. Thisshould be a great day of soccer. Sunday don't miss Spain vs. hometown boys Russia. Spain has suffered some setbacks, includinghaving their coach replaced the day before the tournament. Russia, is, well, Russia. They are slated to win, because, well, weain't disputin', they have got Putin... Whatcan we say, though, but Viva España... The weekend of play wraps up with Croatia vs. Denmark. Having written all that, this space has been impressed withthe play so far in this year's tournament. Sure things have come out to be not so certain, "underdogs"have prevailed in some cases. Germanywashed out... Some good, some bad, allgreat play.... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
