Germany 2006 - Summary of knockout rounds [R]

[DJT]

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ROUND OF 16              QUARTERFINALS            SEMIFINALS               FINALS
(June 24-27)             (June 30-July 1)         (July 4-5)               (July 8-9)
===========================================================================================

Germany        2 ---|
Sweden         0 ---|
                    |--- Germany        1 ---|
                    |--- Argentina      1 ---|
Argentina      2 ---|  (AET, FT 1-1, PK 4-2) |
Mexico         1 ---|                        |
(AET, FT 1-1)                                |--- Germany        0 ---|
                                             |--- Italy          2 ---|
Italy          1 ---|                        |    (AET, FT 0-0)       |
Australia      0 ---|                        |                        |
                    |--- Italy          3 ---|                        |
                    |--- Ukraine        0 ---|                        |
Switzerland    0 ---|                                                 |    FIRST PLACE
Ukraine        0 ---|                                                 |    ================
(AET, PK 0-3)                                                         |--- Italy     1
                                                                      |--- France    1
England        1 ---|                                                 |    (AET, FT 1-1, PK 5-3)
Ecuador        0 ---|                                                 |
                    |--- England        0 ---|                        |    THIRD PLACE
                    |--- Portugal       0 ---|                        |    ================
Portugal       1 ---|    (AET, PK 1-3)       |                        |    Germany   3
Netherlands    0 ---|                        |                        |    Portugal  1
                                             |--- Portugal       0 ---|
                                             |--- France         1 ---|
Brazil         3 ---|                        |
Ghana          0 ---|                        |
                    |--- Brazil         0 ---|
                    |--- France         1 ---|
Spain          1 ---|
France         3 ---|

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[Canuck Oranje]

I was looking at this from the perspective of one of the underdogs. There is a daunting task waiting Ghana and Ecuador.

If Ghana defies all the odds and surprisingly beats Brazil, they are rewarded by a route to the final that probably would mean facing Spain/France in the quarterfinals, England/Portugal/Netherlands in the semifinals. Ecuador faces a similar prospect to get to the final.

On the other side of the draw, only three big names (at the beginning of the tournament) are on this side.

That is not saying anything about how the tournament is structured. Only that if you assume that many of the big names use the first stage as a means to get into shape, one side is stronger than the other.

Australia is well positioned to go deep. What better time to meet Italy but early as they are one of the teams that are building as the tournament goes on. The next game is either Switzerland or the Ukraine. Only then will they likely face Argentina (or Germany) which means they are already in the semifinals.

If Australia can pull off the upset of the tournament in their next game against Italy, it is not inconceivable that they could be into the semis.

That is a far easier route than say Portugal who would likely have to go through the Netherlands, England, and Brazil (or Spain) to get to the semis on the other side.

[Vancouver Fan]

I'd probably look at Switzerland to pull the upset over a team like Italy rather than Australia. They look organised and dangerous. They also have the best home field advantage of all the teams other than the Germans.

[RJB]

But looking at this now, one can see that had France won their group, and Switzerland finished second(rather than how it did finish, with France second and Switzerland first), it would have made for an extremely balanced set of brackets.