Bonus points and current standings

Saturday: Mexico vs. Argentina! This is a rematch of the entertaining round of 16 game in 2006, in which Argetina scored a goal in extra time to win 2:1. Uruguay vs. South Korea is kind of a tough call - I'll keep my pick secret! I really enjoyed the first half of the South Africa vs. France game. I was hoping Bafana Bafana were going to pour it on in the second half and really crush the demoralized 10-man French team, but a win is still great for the host nation. (And congratulations to Ali, Hallie, Tom, and me for predicting it!)

Now that group winners and runners-up are become official, bonus points are kicking in: 1 point for picking the correct group winner, 1 point for picking the correct group runner-up, and 1 point if you picked the correct two teams to advance, but in the wrong order. It may seem like the bonus point system just adds to the totals of those who already did well in group picks (so the rich get richer and the poor stay poor), but this isn't always the case. For example, Paul got every single game wrong in Group A, but he still got a bonus point for picking Mexico to finish second. On the other hand I had 4 correct picks in Group A, but no bonus points! Anyway, here are the current standings (bonus points in parentheses - already added to score)

John: 25 (2), Corinne : 21 (3), Giovanni: 21 (2), Joseph: 20 (1), Carla: 19 (2), Phil: 19 (2), Hallie: 19 (2), David: 18 (1), Kit: 17 (2), Tom: 17 (1), Cara: 16 (2), Dean: 16 (2), Alex: 16 (2) Jeremy: 15 (1), Chris: 15 (2), Ali: 15 (1), Taylor: 15 (2), Paul: 13 (2)