JUNE 28 — As the World Cup Finals moves into its knockout phase, we can reflect that the vast majority of the teams heading home early from Brazil sadly deserve to do so.

Or to put it another way, this weekend’s last 16 fixtures will be contested between the right teams.

There have been big-name casualties along the way, of course, starting with reigning champions Spain, whose failure to take their pre-tournament problems seriously in the apparent assumption that everything would turn out alright on the night made them vulnerable to the admirably energetic efforts of the Netherlands and Chile.

Two more European heavyweights fell from a miserable Group D (the worst group of the tournament, in my estimation), with Italy nose-diving horribly after a surprisingly entertaining opening victory over England. The 2006 champions failed to score and barely created any chances in their subsequent two games against Costa Rica and Uruguay, and they will not be missed.

Likewise England, who were unable to find a formula to get the most out of their emerging young talents and were sunk by defensive frailties as they conceded poor goals in losses to Uruguay and Italy. 

It was somehow appropriate that the ‘Three Lions’ whimpered out of the tournament with a goalless draw against the Costa Ricans, who are not a particularly good team but were able to become the best of a bad bunch as they topped the group.

Costa Rica have gone through, of course, with Uruguay, whose Luis Suarez sideshow soap opera has significantly detracted from the fact that they responded well from an early loss against Costa Rica to produce spirited and committed performances to win their last two games. 

Suarez’s latest bout of biting will not have endeared Uruguay to many people, and that’s a particular shame for outstanding defender Diego Godin, who continued his remarkable scoring sequence by netting the all-important winner against Italy after recently hitting the target for Atletico Madrid in the La Liga title decider against Barcelona and the Champions League final against Real Madrid.

In Group A, the less said about Cameroon the better, while Croatia were a big disappointment in their crucial last game against Mexico. 

Although the Croats would have advanced with a victory, their talented midfield duo of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic was unable to take control of the game while Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic didn’t receive enough service to become a factor. As a result, Croatia have gone home as one of the tournament’s great underachievers, no doubt still lamenting the ludicrous penalty which gave Brazil victory in the tournament opener.

Another team guilty of squandering a good opportunity to progress was Portugal, who served up frustrating fare throughout their three games – starting off with a rather feeble self-implosion against Germany. 

Even in their last encounter against Ghana, Portugal still had another chance to redeem themselves by gaining a big enough winning margin to overhaul the United States, but they were scuppered by uncharacteristically poor finishing from Cristiano Ronaldo and characteristically poor finishing from the infuriating Nani.

Colombia romped Group C and their potential quarter-final clash with Brazil – assuming they overcome Uruguay as the rest of the world will be hoping – could prove to be one of the games of the tournament.

Alongside them, Greece sneaked through courtesy of a disputed last-minute penalty in their final game to become perhaps the only undeserving team in the last 16. Ivory Coast would have made a much more interesting addition to the knockout stages, but they were victims of their inability to finish their attractive approach play with sufficient goals and instead we have the prospect of Greece attempting to bore Costa Rica to death.

The remaining groups were played out predictably as France, Belgium and Argentina finished convincing group winners, with Honduras, Ecuador, Russia, South Korea, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina bowing out.

None of those eliminated teams did enough to justify feeling hard done by, with Russia particularly poor in their 1-1 draw against Algeria in the final game—Fabio Capello’s men would have gone through with a victory, yet their performance lacked any conviction or purpose and there’s no denying Algeria fully merited their first-ever place in the knockout phase.

And so, possibly with the exception of Greece, we can happily reflect that all the teams in the last 16 deserve to be there. 

This is where the tournament gets serious, and we should keep everything crossed that the adventurous nature of the opening fortnight is not diminished now that the tantalising prospect of extra time and penalties is dangled in front of nervous coaches.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.