The world cup is in a transitional phase right now. The first teams are returning home (and let go of their coaches). The remaining teams are hyping up a bit more.

A positive part of the World Cup so far are the referees. They have been fairly consistent and have had the wisdom not to ruin teams’ chances by handing out to many yellow cards.

Even though the world of soccer is getting smaller due to the fact that most players face each other in the same leagues it is still noticeable in my eyes that some teams really stick out. Argentina won many of the youth championships in the last decade and their junior team won the last Olympics tournament. Now they overwhelm us with a very young squad - go figure.

France was praised for their youth development efforts a decade ago but now they showed up with one of the oldest teams on average. It appears that taking the risk of brining young and hungry players to the World Cup and therefore sacrificing some “national heroes” is getting rewarded this time.
Switzerland has another young team and it hasn’t hurt them so far.

Argentina and Spain in the final? Everything is possible at this stage but I wouldn’t be too surprised to see duel of two old friends. Brazil needs to take some time off. Most of the players know each other very well. Primera Division going World Cup.

So how about the German boys then? The play their best soccer in years and are certainly highly entertaining. On a good day and with a bit of luck (which they usually have) they can beat almost anyone. I believe their string of luck will come to an end before the finals. Ecuador, Poland and Costa Rica doesn’t exactly compare with Sweden, England, Netherlands and Argentina.

I think their mission is almost accomplished: They ignited the fire of the fans with their offensive play. The atmosphere in Germany is great. All the pre World Cup fatigue is finally gone.

Let’s get ready for the round of knock outs. I can already see lakes of tears all over already;-)