IGHT teams remaining, each of them three elusive victories away from taking home the World Cup. That scenario is sure to produce drama and hopefully some great football in the last ten days of the tournament.

The quarter-final line-up has thrown up some mouth-watering matches to be played today and tomorrow.

The second round gave us a mixed bag of games, some of them absolute crackers and some that weren't much of a spectacle. The disappointing thing for me is that none of the African teams made it to the last eight.

Ghana were the only ones to make it to the knockout phase and they were a bit unfortunate to draw Brazil. The Black Stars were fearless and attacked the world champions in the same open and entertaining way that enabled them to beat the Czechs and the Americans.

Despite creating numerous chances, they were denied a goal through poor finishing and some good goalkeeping by Dida.

Class, particularly in the finishing department, will always come out on top in the World Cup and Brazil have oodles of it. Ronaldo, criticised for being too slow and heavy in the opening match, is now looking like the lethal striker we are used to seeing. And the way he scored the opening goal, racing on to a through ball and completely bamboozling the goalkeeper with a dazzling step-over, was a warning to all Brazil's future opponents.

You don't get to be the top goalscorer in the history of the World Cup finals, as Ronaldo is now, without having class, and with his two goals against Japan and his great strike against Ghana, he is showing that the magic is still there.

This is a fascinating quarter-final match-up, pitching the ever-improving hosts against many people's favourites to lift the trophy.

Germany are riding on a wave of patriotic fervour at the moment, as the whole of Germany gets more excited with each match they win. Their confidence should be sky-high after four successive victories.

They are proving to be a free-scoring team, having found the net ten times already in the tournament, and their strikers Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski are forming a dangerous strike partnership, as they showed with some excellent inter-play against Sweden.

Midfielder and captain Michael Ballack is running into form and against Argentina, it will be critical for the Germans that he stamps his authority on the match.

The German defence looked fragile in early games, but they appear to have ironed out those problems. Argentina are well capable of exposing any weakness at the back with players like Hernan Crespo, Javier Saviola and Lionel Messi, who are masters at timing their runs to latch onto passes from the likes of playmaker Riquelme.

Mexico gave Argentina a real battle in the second round, as I suspected they would, and only Maxi Rodriguez' wonder goal in extra time spared them from going to penalties. So Argentina are far from unbeatable and this match should be a cracker.

The Italians are always serious contenders to win the World Cup and it is no surprise to see them in the last eight. They were a little fortunate to defeat a battling and hard-working Australia side 1-0, thanks to a last-minute penalty that should not have been given in my opinion.

With their traditional strong defensive qualities, the Italians frequently need only one goal to win and that makes them a team you can never rule out. In fact, they have conceded just one goal so far.

I expected Ukraine to improve after their 4-0 drubbing by Spain, and they will be delighted just to have reached this stage after that opening-match disaster.

They matched Switzerland in a lively second-round match and advanced because they took their penalties better.

It's fitting for Ukraine's great striker Andreiy Shevchenko to get the chance to showcase his talents in the last eight of a World Cup.

Shevchenko has been banging in the goals for AC Milan at a rate rarely seen before in Serie A and he will know all of those Italian defenders inside out. So if anyone can breach that Italian defence, it's Shevchenko.

Ukraine have got a real chance to spring a surprise.

There will some huge interest in this match in Bermuda and I imagine it will be a very hard-fought affair and it's very difficult to predict a winner.

England have got to this stage without playing anywhere near their best and they will certainly have to improve to compete with the best side they will have played so far.

They received a lot of flak for a lacklustre performance in their 1-0 win against Ecuador, and it certainly wasn't pretty. But those of us who follow South American football know that Ecuador are no pushovers and that they would not be easy to beat.

England get flak at home however they play. But the players have got to be strong enough to ignore all that and go out and get the job done again.

Frank Lampard Jr., the son of my old team-mate at West Ham, has taken a lot of stick for not scoring. When you look at the world-class players around him at Chelsea, it's no wonder he scores so many for his club, as the service he gets will be top-class. He's still managing to get plenty of shots in, but the goals simply haven't come yet.

One of the positives for England was that Wayne Rooney got through the whole 90 minutes and, playing in a demanding role playing up front on his own, looked stronger as the match went on.

Rooney is a coach's dream as it is obvious he loves the game and he just can't get enough football.

Portugal will be without two midfielders, Deco and Costinha, who were both sent off in the amazing game against Holland, which saw four players sent off and 16 yellow cards.

As one of their most creative players, Deco will be missed. But Portugal have others such as Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo ? if he is passed fit ? who are well capable of unlocking an opposing defence.

It should be a very tight match.

The Portuguese coach, Luis Felipe Scolari masterminded England's demise in the last two major tournaments ? with Portugal in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals and with Brazil at the 2002 World Cup, also at the last eight stage.

His teams have now won him 11 World Cup matches in a row and England will have to show more urgency, fighting spirit and cohesion than they have so far to end his streak.

To win, England have to play to their strengths ? hustling and bustling, playing at a high tempo and firing in balls towards the head of Peter Crouch. If they try to stroke the ball around, it won't work.

I hope England manage to win, because there are so many players who were nurtured at my former club West Ham ? Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Lampard and even John Terry was there for a time ? and that makes me feel proud.

Saturday's 4 p.m. match could be the pick of the bunch. It's a repeat of the 1998 World Cup final, when the French triumphed 3-0, but I don't expect a repeat of the result.

The Brazilians are starting to move up the gears after a slow start to the tournament and with strikers Ronaldo and Adriano now with some goals under their belt, they are looking more like the great team we expected. They will consider this match payback time for what happened in Paris.

France also made a slow start, but some of the veterans of the 1998 team are now leading their return to form. They overcame the formidable challenge of Spain impressively in the last round and although Zinedine Zidane said he would retire after this tournament, the way he kept his composure to steer home a superb third goal to clinch victory for the French indicates that he desperately wants to extend his career for another three games and bow out on the highest possible note.

France's weakness is on the flanks and Ronaldinho may be able to exploit that.

Ronaldo was heavily criticised after the first game, but the fact was he was not getting any service. Playing up front with your back to goal is the hardest position on the field and if you you don't get well fed, then you can't do anything.

Give him the service and he will score goals.

If both these sides play to their potential, it will be an absolute treat to watch.