World Cup Review: 32 to 16 (Updated)

Lo Bueno (The Good)

The round of 16 began earlier today in the World Cup with a thrilling victory by Uruguay over South Korea. Luis Suarez scored a goal in each half for los celestes in their 2-1 win that included a game-winning golazo ten minutes from full time. As you can view in the highlights below, the match was a hard-fought affair and Uruguay played wonderfully in order to overcome the plucky Korean side:

Update: Uruguay's quarterfinal rival on Friday will be Ghana who beat the U.S. in extra time by a score of 2-1.

Mas de lo Bueno (More of the Good)

Uruguay’s win was indicative of the great run teams throughout the Americas have made during this World Cup. Soccer fans from Anchorage to Antofagasta are celebrating at how nearly every Western Hemispheric side made it past the group stages. Several teams were undefeated in group play including Argentina who won all three of their matches thus far. Mexico and Chile may’ve lost their last group games but they too have moved on to the round of 16. Even though Honduras was the only Western Hemispheric side not to continue they played the role of spoiler in their 0-0 tie on Friday against Switzerland.

Eric Farnsworth of the Council of the Americas predicted that the MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) sides will continue on to the quarters. What predictions do you guys and gals have?

Y lo Feo (And the Ugly)

Five words: R. Kelly’s World Cup anthem.

Online Sources- Americas Quarterly, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, Univision.com, The Guardian, Onion A.V. Club