I thought Chile were great the last two games, i hope they can win the World Cup.

Seeing Uruguay stepping up now, Mexico look solid,and Columbia with 6 points...

The huge support these teams are getting in the stadiums can give them that extra edge i guess.

The African teams seem to be in meltdown, despite losds of their players playing in the (so called) Premier league.

Yeah all bar Ecuador doing well as expected, great support to.

They are doing well, but let's not forget they're playing in South America with big support.

Mexico aren't a South American team.

Chile were fantastic against Spain last night. I'd say in a way it was possibly the most impressive performance of the World Cup so far because the way their gameplan was executed to absolute perfection. The way they pressed the ball particularly was a good as you'll see.

Stuck a fiver on chile earlier at 22/1 to win it still surprisingly generous odds.

Will take a good side to beat them

Chile have been a force for quite a while and so have Uruguay.

I've been more impressed by the 'lesser' South American/Central American teams than I have been with Brazil.
Although admittedly that could change very quickly once the knockout stages start.

Chile in particular have been very impressive.
Columbia are flying too, but it looks like they're in the easiest group of the tournament.

Costa Rica have done well so far too. It remains to be seen how they fare against Italy and England though.

Honduras have been poor though.
Maybe the worst team of all so far

I'm just speaking of them in general. The ones who've impressed.

If you look at the record of Latin American teams in World Cups in Latin America (1970, 1978 & 1986), it's very good. Most teams, even the smaller ones, get out of the group and one of the teams goes on to win.

Brazil and Spain are the only teams to have won a world cup outside their own continent and I am not sure I would include Spain as there used to be a time where cups used to alternate between South America and Europe. It's odd to think a location can make so much of a difference.

The is still plenty of time for Brazil and Argentina to get their act there but Chile and Costa Rica sure have been impressive.

Errrr Argentina won in Mexico '86

In footballing terms I always see Mexico as south American but point well made.

Would 'Latin American' be a valid catch-all term for the teams we're talking about?

Yes, see my post above.

I see it. Latin American it is then.

Oh yeah, Costa Rica have got out of their group and are into the second round.

Congratulations Costa Rica.

When you look at how tough their group was to get out of I just don't know how they did it.
Looking at the potential teams they will face in the second round the quarter final even looks possible now.

They're a good attacking side. I can see how they undid Uruguay's second rate defence. I'm not so sure how they beat a well organised Italian side but everyone has their off days. They could well win the group now and end up meeting the Ivory Coast who look the second best team in group C after Columbia.