World Cup - and Plate

I am getting very much into the World Cup going on currently in South Africa. There are eight teams headed to the quarterfinals that start on Friday - Uruguay, Ghana, the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Paraguay and Spain - and soon enough there will be four. Once we get to those semifinals, I am going to try out (or for lack of time, find) a dish from each of the four semifinalist countries and write about it. And since the games are taking place in South Africa (who didn't even make it to the glorious Round of 16), I'll include a fifth recipe from there, too.

I can't really prepare for it right now, except for the South Africa part. But I can make some guesses: I'm pretty sure at least Brazil is going to make it forward. Did you see that game against Chile? Damn, now I understand just why Brazil is such a soccer - er, football - juggernaut. So there will definitely be something South American posted here at some point soon.

UPDATE 1: Well it looks like I was wrong about Brazil - the Netherlands beat them 2 to 1 today as Brazil just fell apart after the Dutch tied it up. Utter shock, and the five-time World Cup champs go home, while the Oranje - the best team never to win the World Cup - go on to the semifinals. So we have two cuisines of five set: South African and (NOT Brazilian but) Dutch. The only downside: Dutch food ain't that good. I've had it.

UPDATE 2: The field is narrowed again, as Uruguay heads to the semifinals for the first time since 1970, keeping Ghana - and the African continent - from their first ever trip to the semifinals.

UPDATE 3: And the semifinals are now set: the Netherlands will face Uruguay on Tuesday, and the following day the mighty German team will take on perennial never-been-to-a-finals-before-but-still-good Spain.