Day 19 of the 2010 World Cup is upon us and brings with it the final day of the last 16 knockout stages. The two games today will determine who joins Ghana, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Holland and Uruguay in the quarter finals.

The closing stages of the World Cup are nearly upon us, with the last 8 fixtures looking like this;

Netherlands vs Brazil
Uruguay vs Ghana
Argentina vs Germany
Paraguay/Japan vs Spain/Portugal

Todays first game is Paraguay vs Japan. The Japanese has done brilliantly to get this far in the World Cup and come up against a Paraguay team which finished top in its Group. However Japan have played very well in the tournament so far, adopting a 4-5-1 formation that beat Cameroon and Denmark, and narrowly lost 2-1 to Holland. They have a discipline and work ethic on the pitch that when complemented by the set piece techniques of Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo mean that this Japanese team is more than capable of getting a result.

Paraguay have struggled for goals in South Africa. They defended well in the 1-1 draw against Italy, and easily disposed a Slovakia side who didn’t turn up on the day (2-0), but the 0-0 draw with New Zealand was very poor. They have used 5 different forwards, none of them who have scored yet, including Roque Santa Cruz.

Japan to win 3/1 with Ladbrokes and William Hill
Honda (Japan) to score at any time – 3/1 with Paddy Power
Japan 1-1 Paraguay after 90 mins – 11/2 with William Hill and 888sports
Japan 2-1 Paraguay – 14/1 with 888sports and Bet365

This evenings game is an exciting match on paper. Spain vs Portugal is one of those games that on paper looks like it should be full of attacking flair and determined defending, and if it lives up to the quality on the pitch, then these two evenly matched sides could provide a cracking game.

However Portugal are yet to concede a goal in this tournament, and have kept clean sheets in 16 of the last 20 games, so have Spain got enough in their locker to provide the goals that they need? Even with David Villa and Fernando Torres, two of the best strikers in Europe, being backed up by some of the best midfielders in Europe, ultimately I think these two teams will cancel each other out and we could see our first penalty shoot out of the tournament.

Portugal 1 – 1 Spain 11/2 with William Hill and 888sport
Portugal to win to nil – 5/1 with Ladbrokes
Portugal to win the World Cup 2010 outright – 22/1 with Ladbrokes, Bet365 and Paddy Power
Villa (Spain) to score first – 4/1 with William Hill
Game to be won on penalties 9/1 with Paddy Power

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For England, ze World Cup 2010 is over. An inept display which will surely have Fabio Capello answering some serious questions up at the FA headquarters has thrown a small shadow over what has turned out, after the first two rounds of games, to be a quite excellent tournament.
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Fabio Fabio Fabio.
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I think I have found the reason….

Well its all clear now. The Group games have finished and now we are on to the knockout stages. The final 16. The sharp end of the tournament.
So who’s in and who’s out?
Here’s the complete line up for the next 8 matches.
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