Predictions:

First semi-final – Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Universidad de Chile

Both teams have over-achieved a bit thus far, but Chivas are gaining quality players from the first two knockout rounds while La U lose one of their best.  Still, Flamengo are much tougher competition than both Velez and Libertad, and Chivas did not impress in their first game in the league.  I see a close tie with goals, and I’m going to give it to La U on away goals.

Leg 1:  Chivas 2-2 La U

Leg 2:  La U 1-1 Chivas

Universidad de Chile advance on away goals.

Second semi-final – Internacional vs. Sao Paulo

These teams are difficult to separate on talent, but there are a couple places where they do show separation.  Both teams had to defeat very tough opponents in the quarterfinals, but the previous round is a different story.  Internacional’s round of 16 defeat of Banfield and their young star James Rodriguez, who has since moved to Porto, is much more impressive than Sao Paulo’s failure to score and penalty shoot-out victory against Universitario of Peru.  In addition, Internacional has performed adequately in the league while Sao Paulo has not.  While Sao Paulo’s even goal differential in league play suggests that they are better than their 16th position, the fact still stands that they are not reaching their full potential.  I see a narrow victory for Internacional.

Leg 1:  Internacional 3-1 Sao Paulo

Leg 2:  Sao Paulo 2-1 Internacional

Internacional advance 4-3 on aggregate.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Diego Forlan traded long-distance strikes in the first half for their respective sides.  A controversial no-call in the second half gave the Netherlands the lead on a goal from Wesley Sneijder.  Arjen Robben then doubled the Dutch lead, before Maxi Pereira cut the lead back to one just before the referee’s final whistle.

Coach Bert van Marwijk and the rest of the oranje will now await the winner of Wednesday’s Germany and Spain semi-final. 

The Netherlands could have jumped out to an early lead when Fernando Muslera came off his line to punch away a ball.  Positioned to capitalize on the misplayed clearnace, Dirk Kuyt volleyed his shot over the crossbar as the Dutch pressure heightened early.

Van Bronckhorst offered one of the tournament’s brightest gems in the 18th minute, with 42-yard blast to the far upper corner of the goal.  Muslera managed to get his fingertips on the ball, but the left-footed strike appeared destined for a tournament highlight reel as soon as it left the Dutchman’s foot.

Already missing Nigel de Jong from an accumulation of yellow cards, the Netherland’s defensive midfield took another hit, literally, midway through the first half.  Demy de Zeeuw, in for de Jong, took a boot to the face after Uruguay’s Martin Caceres tried to bicycle kick the ball back into play.  Seemingly incidental, the two sides scuffled for a few minutes as de Zeeuw was attended to.  Caceres and Sneijder picked up yellow cards as play resumed, for the foul and for retaliation, respectively.

The Dutch, who controlled possession masterfully for spurts of the match, looked to have the dangerous Forlan under wraps, that is until he was able to create space for himself.  A 41st-minute run down the middle of the field, saw Forlan beat Joris Mathijsen — who was returning from a slight knee injury — and send a shot past Maarten Stekelenburg.  The Dutch goalkeeper appeared to be leaning to his right as the ball bent back to the left, Stekelenburg managed to get a glove on the ball, but it was no match for the power of Forlan’s shot.

Now with a banged up de Zeeuw patrolling the midfield, and an attack needed a spark van Marwijk brought on Rafael Van der Vaart for de Zeeuw at the start of the second half.

Searching for that go-ahead goal, the physicality of the match rose as the pressure of a World Cup semi-final wore down on the players.

A 66th-minute free kick for Uruguay and Forlan looking to strike again.  His effort dipped over the wall and to the near post, but was pushed away by Stekelenburg.

Four minutes later, Sneijder sent a 18-yard shot to the far post.  His shot deflected off a Uruguay defender and was evaded by Robin van Persie, who was questionably onsides for the play.  For the third straight match, Sneijder had given the Dutch a second-half lead.

Things went from bad to worse for Uruguay in the 73rd minute.  A short cross from Kuyt found the head of Robben, who perfectly placed his header off the bottom corner of the goal.  Muslera was frozen on the play, as the Uruguay suddenly found itself down two.

A late charge from the Charruas left its already hurting defense open to the counter-attack.  But like the Dutch had done previously while holding a lead, the objective seemed to be killing the clock more so than adding another goal.

Uruguay would breakthrough late.  A deep free kick in stoppage time set up Pereira for a shot slotted to the far post, under the arms of Stekelenburg.

Emotions were on display as the Dutch appeared to have had enough of the match while Uruguay were desperate for another late goal.  The two sides argued and tussled as the referee signaled for the end of the match.

A 3-2 victory for the Netherlands means a trip to the World Cup finals, it’s first since 1978 when it fell to Argentina.

Joining them will be the winner of Wednesday’s Germany versus Spain semi-final.  A win by Germany would mean a rematch of the 1974 final, where the Netherlands lost to West Germany, 2-1 in Munich.

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No announcement was made on who would be the successor, but the Federation said that an announcement on a new manager would be made within the next month.

Brazil are scheduled to face the United States in an exhibition friendly on August 10th from New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. They will now look forward to Copa America in 2011 in Argentina, and hosting the next World Cup in 2014.

The fourth-ranked Dutch found itself down in part to a 10th-minute goal by Robinho, but clawed back to for a victory against the no. 1 ranked Brazil.

An own goal from Brazil’s Felipe Melo drew thing even early in the second half and Wesley Sneijder gave the Dutch the lead with a header in the 68th minute.

Both sides, strong contenders for the World Cup, have tamed their free-styling, beautiful tactics for a slower, more defensive and precise style of play.  Expectations for Friday’s quarterfinal match up were that the two sides would return to their open, attacking styles.

The early minutes of the match shown the Dutch backline to be the only open aspect.  With Andre Ooijer sitting back — Joris Mathijsen, who had played every minute of qualifying and the World Cup so far was ruled out after warm ups with a knee injury – and Johnny Heitinga pushing up, the Dutch defense was open for a Melo pass to Robinho.  The boisterous 26-year-old striker waited patiently to slip the ball past Maarten Stekelenburg.

Facing its first major test, the Dutch seemed doomed by the early goal. 

A brief response came from the Netherlands when Dirk Kuyt fired a near post shot, but Julio Cesar pushed the low blast away for a corner.

With a wonderful run down the left flank, Robinho sparked another Brazilian attack.  A back heel from Luis Fabiano sprung Kaka  to fire toward the far post of Stekelenburg’s net, but the goalkeeper made a spectacular one-handed save.

The Dutch found new life in the second half.  A Sneijder cross was missed by Cesar and accidentally headed in by Melo.  Suddenly it was Brazil who began to unravel after conceding a goal.

Brazil continued to attack, out shooting the Netherlands 15 to 10, but it was the Dutch who made the most of its chances.  A 68th-minute corner kick for the oranje came short to Kuyt, but was flicked on to the diminutive Sneijder, who headed the ball to the back of the goal, giving the Netherlands a 2-1 lead.

Melo’s day went from bad to worse in the 73rd minute after being red carded for a stomping on Arjen Robben.  The dynamic Dutch winger was not at his best against Brazil but was active for the whole match, drawing several fouls on the opposing defense.

Another Brazilian counterattack in the 84th minute had Kaka one on one with Ooijer, who was just average in his fill-in effort, but the Real Madrid superstar was stopped by the veteran defender.

Any hopes of a come back from Brazil fell short, and the Netherlands were off to the semi-finals for the first time since 1998.

The Netherlands will now face Uruguay, who defeated Ghana, 4-2, on penalty kicks, in the World Cup semi-finals.  That match will take place July 6, at 2:30 p.m., in Cape Town, South Africa, at Green Point Stadium.

(Ed. note – On Saturday, FIFA ruled that Sneijder’s cross was goal bound and should be credited as a regular goal and not an own goal.)

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Remember to check back with World Soccer Reader during the World Cup as we will be holding live match chats, and hosting a live call-in radio show following each days final match.

The first half, while scoreless, was an open affair featuring lots of end to end action.  Japan started brightly but fifteen minutes in and it seemed to be Paraguay who were pulling the strings

Both sides had opportunities to score that came and went.  Paraguay’s best first half chance came in the 28th minute when Roque Santa Cruz put his close range shot just wide of the net.  Eight minutes later Santa Cruz foiled a Japanese attack when he launched a diving header in to clear a ball that had been well placed inside the box from Endo.

Keisuke Honda came the closest to putting Japan on the scoreboard in the 40th minute when he unleashed a shot from outside the area that went just wide of the post.

The first half ended scoreless with Japan having managed three shots on goal to Paraguay’s one.

The second half started brightly for Paraguay.   They began attacking with urgency and pressed the Japanese defense, creating several near chances in the first fifteen minutes of the half.   As in their earlier matches in the tournament, Japan sat back and defended for long periods.  However when they did break out into attack mode they did so with surprising menace and creativity.  They had a near chance in the 63rd minute when Tanaka, receiving a ball in on a set piece headed wide of the far post.

With 20 minutes remaining the match was beginning to feel like a deadlock.  Both sides launched attacking forays and both sides defended doggedly.  Regulation plus three minutes injury time came to an end and the score remained at 0-0.  Two fifteen minute periods of injury did little to separate the two sides.

After 120 minutes of deadlocked play with neither side having engineered a real threat on goal, the referee blew his whistle and the game went to penalty kicks.

The first penalty kick shootout of the 2010 World Cup got underway with tension on the faces of players and fans alike.

Paraguay’s Edgar Baretto was first up to the mark, delivering a clinically placed low shot to the far corner of the net.  Endo, stepping up for Japan, found the back of the net when he put his ball in the high corner sending keeper Justo Villar the wrong way.

Lucas Barrios, was next up for Paraguay.  The Borussia Dortmund striker coolly slotted his ball past a diving Kawashima.  Makoto Hasebe kept it even for Japan.  Paraguay also kept things even, with Christian Riveros sending one down the middle and safely into the back of the net.

The breakthrough finally came when Japanese defender, Yuichi Komano struck a powerful shot that went high, rebounding off the crossbar.

Valdez was next up for Paraguay and he to duly converted.  Next up for Japan it was Keisuke Honda who calmly slide his shot past Villar.

Oscar Cardoza, was the man of the moment stepping up to take Paraguay’s final kick.  Calmly striding up he almost casually put his shot by the keeper, sending Paraguay onto the next round and ending Japan’s World Cup dreams, at least for now.

Paraguay advance to meet either Spain or Portugal in the quarterfinals.  Japan, who were the last Asian team remaining in the tournament, will be heading home.

Juan put Brazil on the board in the 35th minute from a header off a corner kick from Maicon, which was placed beautifully into the box. Just minutes later, Luis Fabiano doubled the lead on a beautiful possession from the Brazilians as a whole. Robinho intercepted a Chilean pass and found Kaka, whose one touch pass found Fabiano in the box. Fabiano dribbled around a diving Claudio Bravo, and slotted it home for the 2-0 advantage.

After falling behind by two goals, Chile was never able to do much with possession in the attacking third and struggled to even possess past the half line. Brazil’s defense and relentless pressure in the midfield proved to be just too much for Chile.

Brazil continued the control of possession in the second half. In the 59th minute, Robinho curled a ball from the top of the 18 yard box past Bravo to finish off the Chileans.

In the 74th minute, Robinho almost added his second when he was able to beat the defense and fired a shot on goal, but Bravo was up to the task and deny him.

Chile did have a late push to try and salvage something, as Humberto Suazo was able to fire a shot from inside the Brazilian box, but Julio Cesar was able to preserve the shutout.

Chile were without defenders Gary Medel and Waldo Ponce, who were forced to sit due to yellow card accumulation. Midfielder Marco Estrada was also unavailable for the match due to his ejection in the final group stage match against Spain.

Brazil welcomed back Kaka to the lineup after his one game suspension for an ejection in the match versus the Ivory Coast. Robinho, who did not play in final group stage match against Portugal, also returned to the lineup.

Chile become the first South American team eliminated from the tournament, as all 5 teams who qualified advanced past the group stage. Brazil will meet the Netherlands in a quarterfinal match-up on Friday.

In 2010, in the exact same stage of the tournament, Argentina will get its chance for revenge.

After seeing the Germans dismantle England, 4-1, in Sunday’s first Round of 16 match, Argentina put forth an impressive display of its own in a 3-1 victory over Mexico. And much like Germany, the Argentines got the benefit of a crucial miscue from a linesman.

On Argentina’s first goal, Lionel Messi chipped the ball from the edge of the box and over the last two of Mexico’s defenders, who were both a good three feet in front of Carlos Tevez. From a blatantly offside position, Tevez guided the ball with his head into the net.

There was no flag from the linesman, Stefano Ayroldi, and the goal stood. Most of the Mexico team surrounded Ayroldi to plead its case, to no avail.

Mexico had been well in the game up to that point – Carlos Salcido hammered a long-distance shot off the crossbar and Andres Guardado went inches wide from 20 yards out prior to Tevez’s goal – but lost focus afterward. Just seven minutes later, central defender Ricardo Osorio made a horrendous play on the ball to give it right to Gonzalo Higauin, who took it into the box and finished past Oscar Perez for the 2-0 lead.

Argentina’s third goal was all class, and one of the best of the tournament. Tevez’s original ball into the box was blocked, but he regained possession 25 yards away from goal and blasted it into the top-right corner of the net, leaving Perez with no chance.

Argentina switched off a bit and let Mexico have the ball, and Javier Hernandez pulled on back in the 72nd. Hernandez had a beautiful first touch to turn past Martin Demichelis into the box and hit a left-footed shot by Sergio Romero.

The Mexicans continued to control possession but didn’t really threaten to score again.

And now, two of the World Cup’s top performing teams meet in Saturday’s quarterfinal. Argentina (10 goals) and Germany (nine goals) are the highest-scoring teams in the tournament, and both were in top form Sunday. Their meeting in the next round figures to be one of the most anticipated matches of the competition.

Switzerland threw the first major wrench into the tournament with a 1-0 win over Spain, but is not advancing.

Spain, a favorite to win the tournament, rebounded from that loss to defeat Honduras, 2-0, Monday and Chile, 2-1, yesterday.

And the Chileans, who have played some of the most entertaining soccer in the tournament, join Spain in the round of 16. Chile will play Brazil Monday, with Spain taking on Portugal Tuesday.

Chile will play its South American rivals without defenders Waldo Ponce and Gary Medel, who both picked up their second yellow cards of the group stage against Spain and are suspended.

Chile was having a go at Spain in Friday’s encounter and was putting its opponent of its game early. But David Villa’s terrific strike in the 24th minute settled Spain’s nerves. Chile keeper Claudio Bravo came out of the penalty area to challenge a long ball, but his clearance bounced to Villa, who took a one-time, left-footed volley from over 40 yards out and curled it into the empty net.

Spain’s passing game soon took over and led to Andres Iniesta’s goal in the 37th. The rout appeared to be on as Chile’s Marco Estrada was sent off for tripping Fernando Torres on the play, but the South Americans held firm and pulled one back two minutes into the second half when halftime substitute Rodrigo Millar’s 20-yard shot deflected off Gerard Pique and past a helpless Iker Casillas into the net.

As the second half wore on and news of the Switzerland-Honduras stalemate evidently made its way to the players, both teams clearly laid off the gas pedal. The Swiss would’ve needed to make up two goals against Chile in goal differential, and try as it might, Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team couldn’t put one past Honduras. If anything, the Swiss were lucky to not concede in what was up-and-down theater for the last 30 minutes.

So, Spain has shaken off its opening loss and won the group. The possibility of a Brazil-Spain final returns.

Brazil were without some of their key starters for this match. Kaka was not eligible for the match due to a red card in the previous group match against the Ivory Coast. Elano missed the match due to an ankle injury suffered against the Ivory Coast. Robinho was rested by Brazilian manager Dunga. Portugal were without Deco for the second straight match due to injury.

Brazil had controlled a majority of the possession during the match. Portugal came out with a much more defensive mentality, looking to catch the Brazilians on the counter.

In the 33rd minute, Luis Fabiano played a great ball into Nilmar, who was able to put it past the Portuguese keeper Eduardo, but hit the post.

In the 39th minute, Brazil were on the attack again. Maicon made a great run down the wing and a terrific cross into Luis Fabiano, who headed it just wide of goal.

Portugal came out the aggressor in the second half. In the 60th minute, Christiano Ronaldo controlled possession down the wing, beating 4 Brazilian players with some finesse and was able to get a cross off into the box. Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar was able to punch the ball out for a corner just in front of a lurking Raul Meireles in the box. It would be Portugal’s best opportunity on goal all match, but unable to capitalize.

Eduardo was forced to make some late heroics to salvage a point for his side. In the 88th minute, Lucio headed a ball on target off a cross from Dani Alves, but Eduardo came up big. Just a few minutes later, a shot from Ramires was deflected by a Portuguese defender and forced Eduardo to parry over the bar.

As the final whistle blew, what some may have expected to be a goal frenzy, ended in a scoreless draw and both sides advance to the next round. Brazil will face their South American counterpart Chile on Monday, while Portugal will face their neighboring rival Spain on Tuesday.

It was the eighth straight time that Brazil finished atop of their group, and the 11th straight World Cup where they have advanced into the round of 16. Portugal extended their unbeaten streak to 19 matches, with their last loss coming against Brazil in 2008.

Mexico finishes tied with South Africa on four points, but Javier Aguirre’s team goes through to the second round with a superior goal differential. The hosts defeated France, 2-1, giving them a –2 goal differential for the tournament; Mexico’s is +1.

The Mexicans had their chances in both halves and controlled possession leading up to Uruguay’s 44th minute goal, which came off the head of striker Luis Suarez.

Uruguay skipper Diego Forlan, one of the most impressive players in this World Cup so far, played Edinson Cavani down the right wing to start the goal’s build-up. Cavani crossed into the box, where Suarez had eluded his marker, defender Francisco Rodriguez. Suarez had an easy header and put it past Mexican keeper Oscar Perez to open his World Cup account.

Rodriguez’s tough day got worse in the 64th minute as he missed a golden opportunity to level the score. Pablo Barrera, a halftime substitute for Andres Guardado, did some good work to elude a defender on the right-hand edge of the area and cross it into the mixer. Rodriguez was unmarked from six yards out, but somehow managed to screw his header wide across the face of a virtually open goal, as Uruguayan keeper Fernando Muslera was rooted to his spot.

Any concern about the teams playing to a draw to ensure qualification were quickly dispelled, as both teams attacked from the opening whistle. Suarez had the best chance in the early going, as he was played in to the right side of the box after a misplay in the Mexican defense, but his shot went just wide of the far post.

Mexico soon began to assert itself and Guardado was inches away from scoring a fantastic goal in the 22nd minute. The winger, making his first start of the tournament, blasted a shot from 30 yards out and struck the underside of the crossbar with Muslera beaten.

Giovani dos Santos burst into the box at the half-hour mark, but Uruguay defender Jorge Fucile made a fine sliding tackle to nullify the threat.

Mexico was again undone by a lack of sharpness in the box, as Guillermo Franco contributed little to the cause, not for the first time in the tournament. Aguirre introduced Javier Hernandez in the 63rd minute, and may look to start him in Mexico’s round of 16 match Sunday, most likely against Argentina.

That would be a rematch of the teams’ meeting in Germany in 2006, won by a wonder goal by Maxi Rodriguez in extra time.

Uruguay, meanwhile, awaits the second-place team from Group B, with that match to be played Saturday.