World Cup shaping up to be an all-South American affair

Welcome to Copa America, the biennial championship of South America in which all 10 nations of that continent take part.

And there's always a few specially invited countries which compete. This year, those countries are Germany, Ghana, Holland and Spain.

And the tournament's been moved a few thousand miles to the east, South Africa, and been renamed the World Cup.

That's what it seems like with four South American countries still alive in the World Cup quarterfinals: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

South America's World Cup qualifying is the toughest of any continent's: 18 games played over 2 years. The five qualifiers all reached the second round, and only Chile lost, and that was to Brazil. While the United States opened its CONCACAF qualifying series with a record-setting 8-0 win over Grenanda, Argentina didn't qualify until its 18th and last game. And then Uruguay survived a two-game playoff with Costa Rica to become the 32nd team in the final field.

And here they all are, one game away from an all-South American semifinal round.

The marquee games are both scheduled for 10 a.m. starts: Brazil-Holland today, Argentina-Germany tomorrow. They'll be followed at 2:30 by the less glamorous Uruguay-Ghana today (did anyone predict either one in the semifinals?), Paraguay-Spain tomorrow.

Argentina-Germany has a lot of history. The Argentines beat West Germany 3-2 in the 1986 final in Mexico, and the Germans returned the favor 4 years later in Italy, 1-0.

And now, rather than stopping Diego Maradona, the Germans have to stop Lionel Messi.

"You can't shut him down for the entire match. You have to contain him with a collective effort," said German midfielder Sami Khedira, who was on the field when Messi scored two goals to lead Barcelona over Khedira's Stuttgart team, 4-1, in a Champions League game last season.

"When you look at the names, on paper Argentina is simple better," said German star Miroslav Klose.

In the 2006 World Cup quarterfinals, the Germans eliminated Argentina with a 4-2 penalty kick victory. Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero said that he's already preparing for that by studying the German roster for individiual styles.

"We have to be well-prepared for everything," Romero said.

Brazil coach Dunga seems to think that there are actually five South American teams still playing.

"We know the Netherlands are a very difficult team to play against," he said. "Their football is actually very similar to South American football. They don't try to stay defending and rely on long balls. They have technical quality and we will need to be ready for that."

The Dutch and Brazilians have played in three other World Cups, most recently in the 1998 semifinals in France, where Brazil won a penalty shootout. The Dutch are currently riding a 23-match unbeaten streak.

"It's a world football classic," said Robinho, who scored one of Brazil's three goals against Chile. "It's going to be like a final."

Paraguay and Spain last met in a World Cup in 2002 in South Korea, with the Spanish taking a 3-1 victory. Uruguay and Ghana, the tournament's surprise teams, will be playing each other for the first time.

But they're still playing, unlike the United States, England, France and Italy, and one of them will reach the semifinal round.

And, yes, the draw is lined up for a possible Argentina-Brazil final.

Oh, and the next Copa America, in 2011, will be played in Argentina.

But it seems like it's already being played in South Africa.