I'M starting to wish Argentina and France were back in this World Cup.

The way the big teams are toppling out makes you wonder what kind of competition we are going to be left with if Brazil and England go out.

Germany against Belgium, Senegal versus USA or Paraguay and Turkey are all potential finals because of the way the underdog has over performed so far - and what a turn-off any of those games would be.

Don't get me wrong. This is a fantastic World Cup and there's no shortage of excitement in seeing the lesser fancied nations whipping the big boys and coming of age in world football. But there comes a time when you start to long to see the world soccer powers collide.

Love them or loathe them, it gets the pulses racing when the likes of France and Argentina take the stage. World Player of the Year Luis Figo was the latest top star to take exit left when Portugal bit the dust yesterday, following Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Gabriel Batistuta and Ortega. And while few in this country will shed any tears about the latter two countries being knocked out, the other side of the coin is that the prospect of watching the likes of Belgium, Sweden and Mexico isn't half as enticing.

The group stages have produced a string of memorable moments. Beckham's penalty, Edmilson's overhead kick and the scenes of wild revelry which follow each Japanese and South Korean success.

But my favourite was when Olic couldn't put his shirt back on after ripping it off to celebrate his goal for Croatia against Italy.

He did nothing to improve the reputation that soccer players need everything done for them when he messed about with his shirt for a minute or so before asking a couple of members of the coaching staff to show him how to do it.