World Cup - Taking stock after two games

So all the teams have played two games. Some are eliminated from advancing, some have secured a place but not a seed, and many are still trying desperately to stay alive.

Based on watching most of the games here are the favorites so far in alphabetical order:

Argentina
Brasil
Ecuador
Portugal
Spain

If you put a gun to my head, I would still pick Brasil, but not as confidently as before the tournament started.

My father-in-law is particularly upset with his Brasil squad. He has started calling Ronaldo 'gorginho' for how fat he has become. He really looks lazy on the field. His days in the starting eleven have to be numbered. They are much more dangerous with Robinho on the field. And Kaka looks great. My wife, born in Brasil, has a theory that the uglier the Brasilian team is, the better they play. Kaka makes her nervous. She thinks he is far too good looking.

Now the US team...

I thought that Italy and the Czech Republic were the better teams on the 12th and the US and Ghana were better on the 17th. If not for the red cards, the group would be all tied up at 3 a piece. It will be interesting to see what Arena does to his lineup since Mastroeni and Pope are unavailable. (Side comment: Mastroeni deserved to be sent off. Go studs up and you are taking a huge chance. Pope's cards were very questionable. I feel bad for him to miss this game.) Arena could go 3-5-2 and put Beasly and Reyna in the midfield with Dempsey, Convey and Donovan. He could go 4-4-2 with Conrad replacing Pope and Johnson up top and Reyna playing defensive midfielder. Or he could get really creative and do what I think makes the most sense. Put an attacking formation out there, 3-5-2 with Olsen replacing Mastroeni. My lineup would be

G - Keller
D - Cherundelo, Onyewu, Boccanegra
M - Olsen, Reyna, Convey, Dempsey, Donovan
F - McBride, Johnson

Subs - Beasley, O'Brien, Wolf

Predictions:

USA 2:1 Ghana
Italy 3:1 Czech Republic

Final Group E Standings
Italy 2-0-1 7 Points
USA 1-1-1 4 Points
Ghana 1-2-0 3 Points
Czechs 1-2-0 3 Points