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A monster night of matches (some twenty four ties scheduled) concluded last time around with the sixteen teams reduced to the final sixteen who take part this Tuesday evening in a single elimination knock out tournament to decide the winner of the "World Cup". Before we start however lets take look at the teams that qualified to this stage, how they got here, just who is in control of them and who they are going to face off against in the first round of this stage....
The winners of the first match will play against the winners of the second match, the third and fourth match winners will contest the second semi final. |
Ukraine romped through their qualifiers without too much trouble with victories over  Ghana,  Portugal and  Spain. As one of the teams you wouldn't want to end up controlling this team would almost certainly have fallen at the first hurdle and only the considered tactics and skill of PES legend  Wallace can be cited for their progression thus far. Against a team of equal skill you would expect Ukraine to come out on top so this could be a good opponent at this stage and Wallace is only going to really struggle when he has to take on a good player with one of the stronger teams under their control.
 Sweden came in second place in their group (of death) after recording a default win against  Brazil, a more than respectable draw against the might of  Argentina and single goal defeat against  Netherlands. Taken on the strength of the relevant nations getting out of this group was always going to be a tough proposition and even with the "lucky" owner of Brazil handing out a default  Hudson will no doubt be pleased to have got through to this stage.
As referenced above Sweden are not light years ahead of the Ukraine in terms of skill and unless Hudson has been keeping his skills a secret - this opening tie will suit Wallace down the ground as the two Scottish players go head to head. Prediction here:  Ukraine 2-0 Sweden |
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 Italy put a total of four goals past their three opponents, one each past  Mexico and  Australia and two past England. Most telling about either dkp# or the Italy team itself was the low scoring results and the fact they didn't concede a single goal in the three matches. Italy have always struck me in PES as being one of the best defensive units possible but perhaps a little lightweight up front. Thy will face an opponent here with similar attributes but with no doubt a slightly lower overall player stats value.
Look at the latter stages of any major tournament and no matter how well they may be playing or how strong a squad they may have  Germany are usually still in the hunt. Well here they are again, this time under the stewardship of  erniewOw who faces a tough test tonight using what would be considered an inferior team against the Italians here after a default win over  Ecuador, a 1-0 over  Switzerland and a 4-0 tonking by  France.
With the best will in the world towards both the organiser of this event and a fellow SGL admin I just cant see the Germans making it past the Italians. Though this wont be a free flowing game and will probably be decided by a single goal. The Azurri to come out on top here Italy 1-0 Germany. |
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France were by far the most effective team on the night racking up an average of three goals per game and keeping a clean sheet on each occasion. Rev0 took his side to straight wins against Ecuador and Switzerland saving their best performance for Germany and inflicting a body blow 4-0 defeat on the Bundesliga boys. In short Rev0 knows where the shoot button is and is no slouch in breaking forwards legs with some solid tackles. To me at least at this point looking like a strong favourite to take the title.
Another admin enters the fray in the quarter finals here in the shape of  xeQt [DaveK] and rapidly finds himself and his England team up against it. A shut out by Italy in the 2-0 defeat was the only blip on the record in the group stage sandwiched between 3-1 and 5-0 wins over Mexico and Australia respectively. Along with the majority of other users on this site, I'm used to England exiting major tournaments due to sendings off, penalties, "that" Maradona goal and other such things. We rarely go out in ninety minutes having been played off the park. So I expect nothing less than that here.
My prediction, not knowing the relevant strengths of the two players is for a high end score draw or around 3-3, no goals in extra time and England to go out to France on penalties. That's what I would expect in real life anyway (maybe with less goals)! |
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The Netherlands always threaten to deliver a title to their supporters but on most occasions end up having some kind of big team argument, falling out in lumps and then running a top team close on the way out of the event at the quarter or semi finals stage. Countless managers have tried to change this over the years and it now falls to bernie to sort it out. Recent wins over Argentina and Sweden added to the default picked up over Brazil point to some new found resolve in the "virtual" Dutch camp and this should be an easy win for the oranges.
 Syb0 is no doubt frantically attempting to work out a Ghana formation that endows him with eleven Essien's out on the pitch as (excepting the Chelsea superstar) the dressing room is rather bare of talent (and he expects a 5-0 defeat). Walkovers against Portugal and Spain were followed by a 1-0 lead against Wallace and his Ukraine team before being pegged back to an all together more expected 3-1 defeat.
No contest here, the manager of one team giving up the tie before it's played and being totally outgunned by a highly skilled Dutch side. Perhaps the prediction made will be closer than it sounded at first. Ghana 0-5 Netherlands. |
Link :  Group Tables
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Mon, 21 May 2012 21:24:36 +0100
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