Brazil haven't been convincing, put too much pressure on Naymar and Fred has the mobility of an oil tanker carrying a 747 carrying a space shuttle. They were lucky against Bosnia (dodgy penalty) and Mexico who really should have won the game.

Spain? Preping the Jet. Portugal could be joining them later tonight.

Germany? Whipped 10 man Portugal but were hanging on at times against a good Ghana team. If Ghana could cause them that much trouble, what could a more clinical team do?

Argentina were outplayed in the 2nd half by Iran and only the brilliance of Messi saved them from total embarrassment.

Meanwhile, the French are in Group E for Easy, but they still have to beat what's put in front of them and they've done that while playing some great, counter-attacking football.

The Netherlands destroyed the World Champions and had the spirit to come from behind against the improving Aussies.

Costa Rica have qualified from a group containing 3 world-cup winners with a game to spare. They literally done what England couldn't.

Energetic Chile literally pressed Spain out of the competition with a fantastic performance while earlier beating the Aussies who can return home with pride in their performances, while Columbia, backed by their legion of fans, have played some good stuff.

So, do you think one of the favourites will get better as they progress and actually win this thing, or is it time for a Chile, Netherlands, France or even Columbia to become World Champions?

I'm tempted to put money on the French myself.

No, it never happens. It will always end up being one of the traditional powerhouses that wins it in the end.

The referee & linesman will see that it never happens How they flagged Dzecko off, when he wasn't even close to being offside i'll never know.

I think it will probably settle into a more predictable mode in the next stages, but I can't see why France might not be up there.

I have money on the French, but I wouldn't exactly call them "dark horses". I thought they had a pretty easy ride into the the last eight when anything can happen, so they seemed a decent bet at the odds.
Netherlands surprised me, but I still think they'll come unstuck. I can't see Belgium going all the way, and Germany are over-rated in my opinion. I still think the winner will come from South America, my first bet was Uruguay but not with confidence, I just liked the odds. I don't think you can really look past Brazil or Argentina, but they're not attractive from a betting point of view.

Brazil beat Croatia, whilst the penalty was harsh (happens every week in premier league) they did score 2 good goals apart from that, wouldn't call that lucky so much.

I still can't see past Brazil or Argentina as winners.

same here

we have seen too often in the past the eventual winners having slow starts so its too early to be that concerned about either of those teams

whilst we have also seen teams flying in the group stages and just run out of steam later

Germany is the team that confuses me atm , they have a lot of very very good players but they seem very unbalanced , there was a lot of talk about England playing people out of position but what would have been the reaction if we had played a team of 4 centrehalfs , a fullback (in midfield) and 5 midfielders like Germany did last night

My money was on Germany to begin with, but now I reckon France. Felt so sorry for Iran yesterday they worked so hard, should have scored 2 or 3 even and were undone in the end by a mediocre Argentina side who seem uninterested...

Go Ghana

I think this is the year the South American duck will be broken.

Uruguay have two world-class strikers but have put in two very average performances.
This is one of the worst looking Brazil sides ever.
Messi and Di Maria aside, the Argentinian team look lethargic.
Chile have looked impressive but don't see them lasting the distance.

None of the South American sides scream "World Cup winners!" to me - but, even after yesterday's performance, I still fancy the Germans to win.

I think Netherlands or Chile have a decent chance of winning it, depending on the outcome of their match. If you look at the draw, whoever tops group B has a very good run to the semi-final.