EL SEGUNDO / CERRITOS, CA (smt) --  Well, we have six former champs, six group winners, and an estimated six more red cards to give out.  We'll get a classic and likely a cakewalk when the Quarterfinals resume tomorrow.  1A-Germany (4-0-0) is on an upswing while 1C-Argentina (3-0-1) is coming off a come-from-behind win over 2D-Mexico in Extra Time.  This is the first of two battles between former WC champs (the other being 1F-Brazil (4-0-0) v 2G-France (2-0-2)) with more likely to come as the tourney marches on.  The last two WC winners have come from Group C so ARG will try to extend that streak.  The other Friday match will be scandal-plagued 1E-Italy (3-0-1) taking on lackluster 2H-Ukraine (2-1-1), who won on PKs after 120 minutes of scoreless soccer.

Saturday should be more entertaining but has the greatest potential of disappointment.  If 1B-England (3-0-1) actually comes out to play and 1D-Portugal (4-0-0) cleans up its act, this could be the game to watch.  The last Last 8 match features a rematch of the 1998 World Cup with BRA taking on FRA.  The fear is, that BRA actually plays 90 minutes of soccer and whips the French back to reality.  All 8 Groups are represented for the first time since the field expanded to 32 teams in 1998.

As for the pool, 24 entries still have a chance for at least the $40 4th Place prize.  I wasn't going to feel sorry for you folks who had BRA and FRA in your semifinals, but since I did, boo hoo!  That sucks.  Oh well, go POR!

There's 28 points up for grabs this weekend and we'll see how many of you got all 4 semifinalists correct (No one has ever done so).  In order, you've picked as your semifinalists:  34 BRA, 20 ENG, 18 ARG, 18 ITA, 17 GER, 8 FRA, 4 POR, and 2 UKR.  Two UKR??  What are SWEET LOU and RUSSO smoking?

Well, besides the lasting impression of horrible refereeing, it's nice to see uniforms without advertising, though teams may want to coordinate and tone down the orange/bright red unis.  On that note, the "Last 8" Things I wonder about...

BEST COMMERCIAL: Adidas' "Jose +10". I don't know how long I ignored this commercial as I was setting up the pool, monitoring entries as they came in, and having my ReplayTV automatically skip commercials... When I finally watched the whole thing, it's funny as heck... Defoe as GK?  Beckenbauer?  Classic... there's also a Making Of video and audition tape (for just Jose and Pedro, too) as well... if they showed this Pepsi commercial in the U.S., just as bizarre and funny and superstar driven (it's mostly safe for the kids to watch)...

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: You know, two weeks ago, I would've said the refereeing hasn't been too bad... now, it seems it is either decent or really bad... 310 (!) yellow cards and 25 (!) red cards, both WC records... lots of bad calls, but my favorite is the linesman raising and waving his offsides flag up (and keeping it up) as play stopped except for BRA who scored their 2nd goal v GHA; the result? the goal counted and the GHA coach was red-carded out of the match... GHA leads with 100 fouls (25 per match).. Hard to believe JPN-BRA committed just 15 fouls or that the POR-NED caution-filled match featured just 25 fouls (POR picked up 9 yellow cards and 2 red cards, but just 10 fouls)...

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?:  And what's with the refs being miked?!... the refs can now communicate each other (which means instead of one ref getting it wrong, all 4 will)... and yet it didn't seem to help ref Graham POLL from giving a CRO player three yellow cards...

THE BALL: Some awesome free kick goals- was it the 14-panel no seam Adidas ball?... when that ball knuckles, it's a pain for the GKs... even with the new ball, there have been less goals scored thus far than at the same point in 2002...

THE ROOF: With the stark contrast of shadows and sun on the field, FIFA closed the roof for the first time for the 3 PM KOR-TOG match... heat and humidity have taken their toll on play as the end of second half nears... after the quarterfinals, all games will be at night...

BRUCE v WALDO: Every time Bruce denies his responsibility in the USA debacle, the more he conjures up the Ghost of Sampson... the slow response of the USSF as well to fire Bruce (since enough time has gone by for Bruce to graciously step down after 7 good years as the U.S. coach; I mean, ESP's coach is talking of resigning right now and they just lost; I don't care Bruce's contract is up at the end of the year, do the right thing now and show the soccer fans some backbone), it makes you wonder what the USSF's grand plan really is... is it just advertising dollars?...  Is it like the NAACP where you get more out of it (for yourself, not the people you represent) if your team fails than if it succeeds?  Does the USSF get more money by touting the U.S. team as the "hope of the future with great potential" than if the U.S. would've somehow made the semis and been accepted by the Euro powers that be?  You have to wonder... I hope Waldo writes a weekly column (though it couldn't top Clap! or Crap?) because he tells it like it is; and his (paraphrasing) Yes, the U.S. team fell apart (in 1998) but this is a situation where the coach fell apart had me cheering louder than anything the U.S. did in the WC...

DUAL POWER: Six scored two goals in their first match (first 16 matches) (AUS Tim CAHILL, GER Miroslave KLOSE, CZE Tomas ROSICKY, MEX Omar BRAVO, ESP David VILLA, and CRC Paulo WANCHOPE)... since then (40 matches), only six have done so... one of those is KLOSE who leads the pack with 4 goals...

PERFECT:  SUI GK Pascal ZUBERBUEHLER played all 390 minutes and didn't give up a single goal - and the Swiss are out!... only 14 teams didn't receive a red card... not surprisingly 5 of those teams are in the Last 8 and all are former champs (missing the cut, ITA)