We called for predictions before the World Cup started. With a lull in the action before the quarterfinals, now's as good a time to go back and see how everybody ran.

The Blogger

1. "Holland wins." This pick is still alive, but in tough against Brazil on Friday. Not hopeful.

2. "France and England to fall in first knockout game." Got England spot on, but it turns out even my lowered expectations were too much for France.

3. "South American dominance; Asians crash out." I got the South American part right. Two Asian outfits reached the round of 16, which is two more than I thought would be there, but neither looked to be any good.

4. "African teams to do poorly." Got this one mostly right; even tipped one misc. African country to make noise—but I couldn't find Ghana as the country to do it.

5. "USA to go out in group stage." Wrong, but perhaps the right idea? The USA was pretty poor. Even after a very fluky goal against England, the USA was only stoppage time away from bowing out in the Algeria game. The USA couldn't impose itself on lowly Ghana in the knockout game.

The Responses

Chris Morgan might have done better than all of us. He has Brazil over Spain for the final, and the USA in the second round then going out. Well done.

Kevin Payne expected bigger things from the USA, but his blog after the Yanks were eliminated means we can't really hold what amounted to a homer prediction against him. More objective in identifying Uruguay and Paraguay.

Erickson also had the USA in the office pool, but is on record changing his mind for Uruguay before the first kick of the ball. Correct. He's also got Brazil, who are looking great.

evantodd is looking very good, calling a Holland—Argentina final. As I wrote, Brazil looks tough, but he's still alive. More impressively, he was the strongest in his statement about fading France. Secondary "dud" choice? Italy. WOW, nailed them both. He had South Africa in the last 16, but they were nipped on goal difference.