The top picks

After two days of rest, which did not actually give us enough time to let the FIFA World Cup fever subside, the action once again heated up last night in the start of the quarterfinal round of the tournament in Germany.

Well, the Germany-Argentina and the Italy-Ukraine matches have been decided by the time this column comes out.

My picks for the games would be Argentina and Italy, but we could not discount the possibility of a reversal.

Host Germany has proven to be a strong team despite criticisms that this squad is not as strong as their fans had wanted, but then coach Jurgen Klinsmann has so far proven the fans wrong as his squad emerged victorious in all four matches that they have played.

Team captain Michael Ballack has been excellent at midfield while Miroslav Klose and Lucas Podolski have been great at finishing the goal opportunities that Ballack sets up for them.

Argentina has been a very hot pick to be in the final this year. The two time champions from South America have so far scored the most lopsided win in the tournament by scoring a 6-0 massacre of Serbia-Montenegro.

Except for the 0-0 draw against Netherlands, the Argentines have shown class in their other matches most especially the 2-1 whacking of Mexico in the round of 16.

Italy is, hands down, expected to beat World Cup debutante Ukraine, which has so far been the cinderella squad of the tournament. A shocking opening match loss to Spain, 0-4, was Ukraine's baptism of fire, but since then, the team has been short of being miraculous.

The victory via a penalty shootout over Switzerland in the round of 16, thanks to Ukraine goalkeeper Olexandre Shovkovskyi, who saved two Swiss penalties, has put Ukraine in a position the team never really expected to be at.

Italy, a three-time winner hasn't really shown great form yet. Thanks to the referee, the Azzurri leapt past the Australian Socceroos, 1-0, via a penalty kick to win in the round of 16. Despite the lackluster performance, Italy has no reason to lose to Ukraine, but then we can never tell if Ukraine would again get lucky.

The matches late tonight and early tomorrow will be more interesting. England faces Portugal starting at 11 pm (RP time) and at 3 am, Brazil battles France, a rematch of the 1998 final.

I had an interesting discussion with my son Nico about the England-Portugal game. While I pick England to win, he told me that he likes England to do so, but Portugal has the upper hand in the match.

My "nine-year-old World Cup/football authority" told me that Portugal has not lost or drawn a match in this World Cup by sweeping the group stages. In the round of 16, Portugal beat Netherlands in a tightly fought match, 1-0, which also resulted to four expulsions.

The reason why I go for England is that Deco of Portugal will be one of those sitting on the bench during the game for getting a red card. However, David Beckham's squad will still have to contend with veteran Luis Figo, my son told me.

He'll probably be wearing an England jersey when we will watch the game tonight and will be hopeful to see Peter Crouch do his "robot dance" to celebrate a goal.

We did not have any discussion on the Brazil-France game. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu, Kaka, and my new favorite - goalkeeper Dida, will have no reason to lose to the Les Bleus.

Zinedine Zidane probably wants to see a repeat of the 1998 final where France shocked not only Brazil but the whole world as well, before he retires. That is however too much to ask unless Ronaldo would again find himself having chills before the game, just like eight years ago.

The semifinal picture would be Argentina vs. Italy and Brazil vs. England (or Portugal as Nico insists). I wish I can really tell how the games would end, but not even psychics can guess it right always. Have you ever read a headline that read: "Psychic wins the lottery?"

Ole, ole, ole.