June 21 - Group H - Chile vs. Switzerland

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Big, big game...Chile need to win to avoid having to get a result against Spain to advance.

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Quarter of an hour into this one and i'm glad i'm watching. It's fast paced, hard fought...can really tell Chile wants this one...

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Behrami red carded for getting liberal with his arms. Swatted Beausejour in the face 10 seconds earlier and then gets his forearm up on Vidal who dives clutching his face...harsh, but also very naive.

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The Swiss have set the record for longest stretch between goals allowed at the World Cup, 617 minutes and counting...

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...and minutes later concede one, 1-0 Chile. Mark Gonzalez with a header in from a Sanchez cross...Sanchez looked like he might be offside when the through ball was played.

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Switzerland were disgraceful. You would have thought Chile would take the diving crown but the Swiss have won the gold medal.

Footballing wise they were beyond shocking as well. Terrible team.

[The Ref]

This Swiss cheese had too many holes and Chile added some more to it making it collapse.

[Free kick]

What a world cup this has been for South America. It looks like all five sides are going through to next round. Prior this World Cup my take of South American soccer was that: you have Brazil and Argentina and then three other sides who ride the coat tails of the top two's reputation. Thats how its been in every World Cup in my lifetime.

Yes, there are some great players from Uruguay, Columbia, Chile or even Peru and Paraguay occasionally, but by and large when the WC came along, only Argentina and Brazil would advance from the group. Occasionally a third side would advance but not be heard from for long. The remaining sides would have shown little else other than theatrics.

But this WC is first for SA sides. Maybe its the fact that they're taking the U20 WC seriously. Unfortunately its screwing up all my predictions in the office pool.

[loyola]

What a world cup this has been for South America. It looks like all five sides are going through to next round. Prior this World Cup my take of South American soccer was that: you have Brazil and Argentina and then three other sides who ride the coat tails of the top two's reputation. Thats how its been in every World Cup in my lifetime.

Yes, there are some great players from Uruguay, Columbia, Chile or even Peru and Paraguay occasionally, but by and large when the WC came along, only Argentina and Brazil would advance from the group. Occasionally a third side would advance but not be heard from for long. The remaining sides would have shown little else other than theatrics.

But this WC is first for SA sides. Maybe its the fact that they're taking the U20 WC seriously. Unfortunately its screwing up all my predictions in the office pool.

I think Chile has a big chance of not making the next round if they lose to Spain. If the Swiss beats Honduras by 2 and Spain wins against Honduras by more than 1 and win against Chile, Spain and Switzerland will make it to the next round.

The Spain vs Chile game should be quite exciting as one of the 2 will likely go out of the competition unless Honduras is able to get a result against the Swiss.

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What a world cup this has been for South America. It looks like all five sides are going through to next round. Prior this World Cup my take of South American soccer was that: you have Brazil and Argentina and then three other sides who ride the coat tails of the top two's reputation. Thats how its been in every World Cup in my lifetime.

Yes, there are some great players from Uruguay, Columbia, Chile or even Peru and Paraguay occasionally, but by and large when the WC came along, only Argentina and Brazil would advance from the group. Occasionally a third side would advance but not be heard from for long. The remaining sides would have shown little else other than theatrics.

But this WC is first for SA sides. Maybe its the fact that they're taking the U20 WC seriously. Unfortunately its screwing up all my predictions in the office pool.

You're partially right. There has almost always (except '94 - ironic?) been a South American team not named Argentina or Brasil in the Round of 16 over the past 20+ years (Ecuador 2006, Paraguay '98 & 2002, Chile '98, Uruguay '86 & '90, Colombia '90) unfortunately none of those teams made it to the QF's. Heck, you have to go back all the way to 1970 when Uruguay were Semi-Finalists and Peru were QF's. Back then getting out of the group meant you were already in the QF's though.