Controversy over the Cup

Someone really wanted Korea to get to the round of eight.\nI love conspiracy theories. How else can FIFA explain two of the worst calls in the Cup going against Italy in the overtime period, which they lost to South Korea. A yellow card on a supposed "flop" when the player was clearly tackled and calling offsides on the most brilliantly thrown ball of the tournament. How else do you explain that -- dad refereeing?\nI love the way the U.S. sports media has made the Red, White and Blue the biggest underdog in the tournament. The only game that the U.S. is going into as a definite underdog is when they face Germany in the quarterfinals. They should have beaten all the other teams they played; the team is honestly not that bad as ESPN tries to make it seem. Enough already with the inferiority complex.\nThe baggiest winners of the cup so far have to be the bookies in London and all over the world. The house made a lot of money throughout the tournament. With Italy losing to South Korea, only four teams are left that had odds of less then 10-1 on winning. That number will definitely go down because two of those teams, Brazil and England, face each other in the quarterfinals. It's good to be a bookie these days.\nThe match-ups\nNow let's consider the football that is still to be played. Here are the match ups: England dukes it out with Brazil; Germany plays the American team; Senegal and Turkey play, assuring a team that has never made it to the semis will. The last match-up is red hot: Spain against the co-host, South Korea.\nThere are some really interesting match-ups. Both England and Brazil have won the Cup before. Both teams will be playing with the pressures of legacy and history. In a match pitting Brazilian flair and English counter attack, I bet the boys from Rio take down the Three Lions 2-1.\nThe Senegal and Turkey game will be historically opposite to the England-Brazil match up. This is Senegal's first trip to the World Cup and Turkey hasn't made it to the championship since 1954. This will be the most important day in the sporting history of both countries. Expect the economy and everything else in both countries to completely stop for the 90 minutes their national teams will be on the field. \nI don't know who wins this one, but of all the matches, it is the one I'm looking forward to the most. I'm rooting for Senegal, because it's about time we had an African team do well in the Cup. It's been 12 years since Cameroon got this far.\nSouth Korea is red hot; they shocked the world when they beat Italy on a golden goal. Now they face a Spanish team that is very similar to the Italians. They will have the home crowd behind them, so things will be interesting. The Spanish have a class team that hasn't lost or tied a match all tournament and will know not to take the host teams chances at beating them for granted. Spain holds off Korea's desperate and lightning-quick attack 2-0 to get to the semis.\nThe blueprint for American soccer has always been Germany. Historically, the American players overseas have done best in the German professional league. The Americans play German soccer, unfortunately not as good as the Germans do. \nGermany has the best player in the cup, Michael Ballack, and the best finisher in Miroslav Klose. The U.S. has Reyna and Donovan, but they're not quite up to par with the Germans.