Ukraine v. Portugal

Crazy…i was just looking at the bracket this morning (ah, vive la France!) and realized that, of the seven teams that have ever won the Cup, six still remain. After the weekend, we could very well be left with a semi-finals featuring teams (Germany, Italy, England and Brazil) representing twelve of the seventeen Cups. No new winners this year it seems…

World Cup 2002 began with all seven champions as well, but only four could squeak through to a sweet sixteen which instead featured the likes of Japan and Senegal.

Assuming the above four-team scenario, World Cup 2006 would harken back in terms of tradition to the 1990 version, when the semifinalists consisted of West Germany, England, Argentina and Italy, with both games decided in (ugh) shootouts. The wikipedia opinion states that Italia 1990 is “widely regarded as one of the least spectacular and most cynical World Cups ever.”

(Wellll…it wasn’t good.)

Anyone else pulling for Ukraine v. Portugal?