KAFO-POWER!!

Welcome to the Round of 16, aka the KNOCKOUT ROUND!

I won't waste much time discussing matches from Thursday. We all know what happened.

Germany held on with another beautiful goal from Thomas Mueller. Credit the Americans for a plucky performance who, despite losing 1-0, advance to the next round with extra thanks going to...

Thomas Mueller of Germany admires his teammate's, umm, beer gut, after scoring against the second most awesome team on the planet (number 1 is, of course, some guy named Messi).

Portugal! Portugal beat Ghana, as predicted, by a score of 2-1. Pretty Boy Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winner, salvaging pride for both himself and his country. Portugal was a sinking ship after being torpedoed by the Germans, and they took Ghana (who were short some of their better players) down with them.

This is how Ronaldo looks when he MISSES a shot. That's how AWESOME Ronaldo is. No sarcasm, reeeeeeally.

Belgium, despite playing a man short for a good chunk of the second half against Korea, managed to score WHILE shorthanded, handing Korea yet another loss and setting up a Round of 16 match up with the Ladies of Liberty... err, I mean, those awesome Americans. But they will be without Steven Defour, who was ejected late in the first half for deliberate foul play.

Steven Defour of Belgium tries to level the playing field for Korea by receiving a straight red card. Apparently the referee didn't take kindly to two-footed tackle, but I think it's really the Hello Kitty Tattoo he really disapproved of.

Algeria and Russia also played on Thursday. 1-1. Isn't that interesting?

ALL YOUR COFFEE ARE BELONG TO US
Coffee-exporting nations are powerful. We rely on them. We dare not risk offense, lest we lose in trade of this precious commodity. Think about it: what would YOU do without your daily jolt? The day will belong to the Caffeine-Nations.

BRASIL 2, CHILE 0
COLOMBIA 2, URUGUAY 1

Team Brasil. Hey, doesn't that guy on the top left play goal for Toronto FC? Why yes he does.

And what do the two LOSING teams on this fine day have in common? They produce ZIPPO coffee. That's right, they're both smaller, nations (size and population) and they are both situated too far south in South America to be able to produce ANY coffee.

I like Chile, I like how they play, but Brasil will prove to be too much to handle.

And Uruguay has struggled with Suarez; imagine how they'll play without him against one of the most exciting teams thus far?

Uruguay will be lost without their star chomp.., errr, player.

Throw the power of coffee into the mix, and it's game over.

As a final note, congratulations to J-S for winning the HALF AND HALF prize for leading the pool at the end of the Group Stage. It's still anybody's game.

Best of luck to all.