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[QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 4474653, member: 405"]
As of right now, France is looking the best to me.  (I picked the score vs. Poland!). Brazil has lots of injuries.  I think England is playing too slow and deliberate.

Argentina is "getting by" more than dominating, in my opinion.  They still have another gear though, even if Devin Nunez had the freaking [I]nerve[/I] to be born in another country!  LOL

I could see the Netherlands giving them trouble.  They'd better not fall behind them.  Louis Van Gaal is a great coach at setting defensive traps.  "Top Teams" at this level worry about playing their own game; they don't often think about adapting too much to the opponent.  It's hard to do in knock out tournaments (just like preparing for the zone in the NCAA's ...).

But Louis Van Gaal beat the US so easily precisely by avoiding our midfield.  He called them a "demolition derby" in one interview, with the way they bust up opponents' attacking play.  So he let us hold more of the ball, and waited to turn us over and pass through our midfield on the counter.  The 4th game in about 12 days finally wore out our guys legs' and with it, their concentration.  Runners simply got away from our defense.  We didn't track people with the same energy we did in earlier rounds.  We were too tired to continue to perform at that level.

Van Gaal may try to do the same thing to Argentina.  But Argentina has a really good defense, at least on paper.  Christian Romero, Nicholas Otamendi and Lisandro Martinez on the back line. Emi Martinez is a top notch goalie, but HAS allowed 3 goals in 4 games.  Small margins, with Argentina playing from behind and giving up almost a goal a game. Give Holland an early lead, and they might shut it down.  LVG was the one who taught "park the bus" to Jose Mourinho.
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