TWO WEEKS TO ELIMINATE ONE TEAM FROM THE AMERICAN HEMISPHERE?:

The South American Juggernauts (Carl Bialik, 6/22/10, WSJ)

South America, which sent two of its five World Cup teams through to the knockout stage on Tuesday, is dominating the tournament’s early stages like no other continent has since the World Cup field expanded to 32 teams in 1998.

Uruguay and Argentina won their matches on Tuesday by a combined score of 3-0, bringing South America’s overall record to a remarkable 10 wins and two draws in 12 matches. Brazil has joined those two teams in the second round, and Chile and Paraguay also would advance with at least a draw in their final matches. (They could also conceivably go through with losses.) In the 12 games, South American teams have outscored opponents by a combined 21-4, never conceding more than a goal. It’s possible that the continent will emerge from the first round undefeated in 15 games — Paraguay is vastly superior to its final opponent, plucky New Zealand; Brazil is ranked slightly higher than its opponent, Portugal; and Chile, while not quite the equal of Spain, will be focusing on defense, a strong point for the side, as it aims for a draw. Remarkably, all five times could even win their groups. Chile and Brazil would join Uruguay and Argentina as group winners with mere draws, while Paraguay wins its group with a win and could win with a draw. That scenario would mean five South American teams got one of the 32 World Cup finals berths, and all five won one of the eight groups.