Hello and good day to you. Yesterday we got our first four quarter finalists but such is the way these draws work, we now need to find four more. Here are the 8 hopefuls in the bottom half of the draw. We’ll say goodbye to four of them today.

USA vs Republic of Ireland

USA! USA! USA! Matt Wills will be delighted to have escaped the group stages and probably cock-a-hoop to win the group but stranger things have happened. Forza 2-3-1-2-2.

It might not be the glamour tie of the round but Dave Mathieson is the defending champion and I think he will be absolutely delighted with this draw compared to what it might have been. 5-3-2 lives on.

Blimey, what a game. Rocky Balboa puts through his own goal and Sean Devine makes it 2-0. Roy Keane adds a third after 13 minutes and it looks like Dave has done it again…but the USA fight back starts immediately. Kirovski nets a penalty, then gets another. Clavijo equalises before half time and it’s incredibly 3-3.

The second half allows both teams to reset but Roy Keane doesn’t do resetting. He shoves it up Matt’s bollocks for 4-3 and then Sean Devine finally seals the win. What a fuss.

A relatively even game but Ireland were better in the final third, ultimately.

Lalas gets man of the match, a common theme in these games. Conceding 5 and none were his fault clearly.

Good luck following this Denmark and Argentina…

Denmark vs Argentina

Diamonds are forever for Denmark, with the added boost of the midfielders going radge. I always enjoy Dane’s called Brian. Three of them here.

Argentina stick with this formation which is like a flexible diamond. The flexmond. Veron at the point is interesting.

Very interesting! To paraphrase Barry Davies anyway. A tight game is decided by the mercurial bald man who cost Man Utd and Chelsea a fortune to mixed reviews.

Tense? Dull? You decide. Argentina won’t care.

Big Pete’s 3 saves get him a bottle of champagne. There’s no better bacon.

Something very different now…

Morocco vs Spain

Paddy’s Morocco side were arguably the biggest surprise of the group stages, their bold attacking strategy saw them through and earning a shot at Spain.

Andrew Walker’s Spain set up in ominous fashion. It’s just a solid team from back to front with plenty to spare on the bench.

It’s brutal from the off. Raul and Alfonso basically finish this inside 10 minutes. It’s 3-0 at half time and even after some foot off the gas action, Morocco have a few punts at goal only for Raul to net his second and third to take the ball home. Morocco bow out.

Somehow they had the better of the overall, I’m not really sure it’s that much of a consolation when you lose 5-0 but little victories.

Raul gets man of the match. If a centre half had got it here there would have been riots.

One final game…

Portugal vs Cameroon

I’ve changed my mind, Cameroon might actually have been the shock of the groups. They did essentially knock out Brazil. Anyway, Portugal spent their group stages cock teasing smaller nations by playing badly for 80 minutes then scoring 6 in 10 minutes. Rob sticks with 3-2-3-2.

Charle knows his limitations so we’ve got a low block and long ball. There’s still 3 up top. There’s many at the back.

I mentioned how Rob’s Portugal side are a weird bunch. If they can be motivated, they’re unstoppable and so it proves as they pummel 6 in 22 minutes. SIX. with an hour to play. Charle rightly realises there is little that can be done. Joao Pinto got a hat-trick in the first half and adds his fourth on 51 minutes. 7-0. Tchami climbs off the bench to make it 7-1.

Maybe if Tchami had started it would be a different story.

There can be very little argument with the result.

With that, we have our quarter final lineup! Can you pick a favourite out of this lot?

England and Italy will be liking their chances with a semi final against Croatia or Norway, whilst Argentina will be delighted to face Republic of Ireland, the outsiders. Spain vs Portugal is a derby, of sorts, but should be a great match too.

See you for the quarter finals!