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Argentina - Germany, 7:00 AM PDT/10:00 AM EDT/15:00 GMT
Paraguay - Spain, 11:30 AM PDT/2:30 EDT/19:30 GMT
When Argentina's roster for the World Cup was announced, I was at first perplexed and then bizarrely angry at Esteban Cambiasso's omission. Esteban Cambiasso is one of the very best defensive midfielders in the game, is in the prime of his career, has been capped 46 times for Argentina and is coming off a tremendous season in club play that ended with a tremendous performance in the Champions League final which was instrumental in Inter's victory. There is absolutely no reason for his not being included on Argentina's squad.
Okay, there's one. One very big, very loud, very crazy reason. I'm fairly outspoken in my lack of caring about the personal lives of athletes, but Diego Maradona is such a poor excuse for a human being that he makes it impossible to ignore. And yet, despite his lack of human decency, normally functioning mental capacities and demonstrated competence, he finds himself the manager of one of the elite national teams in the world. The only reason Esteban Cambiasso is not on Argentina's national team is because Diego Maradona is insane. I predicted that Cambiasso's omission would come back to haunt Agrentina, and I would like nothing more than for Germany to make this prediction a reality.
Also, Spain are playing Paraguay. So far as I am aware no one involved in either match is clinically insane.