Euro Duo Take The Spoils

After a superb month of football which has been the highest scoring and most unpredictable World Cup of all time, the tournament came to a end with two final games.

The third/fourth play off saw the host nation Brazil humbled for a second successive game as they fell to a 3-0 defeat to Holland and the Dutch joy began early on as Van Persie converted from the penalty spot after only three minutes.

The lead was increased just 13 minutes later as Blind continued his fine form in the competition with a superb goal but there was no real response from Brazil and their woeful end to the tournament continued as Wijnaldum made it 3-0 in the final minute to claim third place for Holland.

Sunday night saw the culmination of the entire tournament come to a head as Germany and Argentina contested the World Cup Final and a tight first 90 minutes saw the sides unable to be separated on the scoreboard and even with extra time ticking on it looked like penalties would be the likely divider.

However, Germany had other ideas and in the 113th minute a superb passage of play saw a superb cross find Gotze on the chest before unleashed a spectacular volley that sailed past Romero and had the German crowd in ecstasy. The roar from the German crowd continued until the final whistle where they celebrated a first World Cup title since 1990.

Record Breaking Last Four

After a truly unpredictable tournament so far, the World Cup semi-finals were finally upon us and the first match up saw the host nation Brazil take on the great pretenders to the title in Germany but what took place over the 90 minutes was a sight to behold.

Germany opened the scoring with a clever tap in from the in-form Muller in the 11th minute before running riot with four goals in six minutes to all but end Brazil's hopes of a home final. Klose made it 2-0 with a strike that made him the all time top scorer in the competition with a record breaking 16th goal with Kroos adding a third just a minute later.

Before Brazil could begin to repair the damage, Kroos struck again in the 26th minute with a superb effort and at 4-0, it was becoming a humiliating evening for the host nation but Germany piled on further punishment when a clever move saw Khedira make it an unbelievable 5-0 in the 29th minute.

Germany pushed for more but were limited to just the five first half goals but a few changes at the interval saw a change of attack and Brazil's nightmare turned worse as a Schurrle came off the bench to score a ten minute brace in the 69th and 79th minutes to make it 7-0 and at this point, it was hard to describe just how good the performance was but the never say die attitude of the Germans came out in the final minutes.

Brazil avoided a complete demolition when Oscar made it 7-1 right at the end but the angered reaction from the German players showed that nilling the hosts would have been a perfect end to the night but even so they will be favourites for Sunday's final in which they will take on Argentina.

The Argentines sealed a place in the final after a truly tight 90 minutes saw them drawing a blank with Holland and the might of the two sides continued as they were unable to be parted after a 30 minute extra time period which meant a penalty shootout.

Holland had to change their traditional shootout lineup after Van Persie had been substituted during the game so Vlaar steeped up first and Romero did well to save the shot with Messi converting easily for a 1-0 lead, Robben levelled for the Dutch with Garay regaining the lead for the Argentines at 2-1. However,  a surprise miss from Sneijder meant when Aguero converted his spot kick, it was 3-1 and the pressure fell on Kuyt who scored superbly to narrow the shootout to 3-2.

The vital winning strike came from Rodriguez who beat Cillessen superbly to secure a 4-2 win and a place in the final while Holland will play Brazil in the 3rd/4th playoff tomorrow night. 

 

Favourites March On

The excitement of the 2014 World Cup resumes tonight with the first semi-final but let's look at how the last four was formed in four exciting quarter-finals.

A match-up that would have been a fitting final saw an all-European tie between France and Germany with a tight game featuring only a single goal as Germany went in front in the 12th minute with a fine headed effort from Hummels. Despite a good response from the French, they were unable to breakthrough and bowed out of the competition while Germany are just two wins away from a first title since 1990.

A battle between two South Americans saw host nation Brazil take on the in-form Colombia and it was the hosts who made the better start as they went in front after only seven minutes with a strike from Silva and extended the lead with a spectacular free-kick from Luiz in the 68th minute. Colombia responded well and gave themselves hope when Rodriguez converted from the penalty spot but they were unable to level as the hosts advanced.

In the first of two Euro-American ties, Argentina took on Belgium with Higuain putting the South
Americans in front inside 8 minutes and a tight game ensured the early goal proved to be the only difference between the sides but meant there prospect of an all South American final was still on the cards.

The second Euro-American tie had many predicting an easy stroll for Holland as they took on surprise package Costa Rica but a tight game saw the sides not only remain level at the end of 90 minutes thanks to some fine saves by Costa Rican stopper Reyes, but play out an exciting extra time period in which Holland came closest to breaking the deadlock with a stunning effort from Sneijder striking the crossbar.

 The prospect of penalties saw a strange change for Holland with Krul coming on in place of the superb Cillessen due to his superior stature and at first, it made no difference as Borges converted the first spot kick with Van Persie responding for Holland.

Krul's size did pay off as he saved Ruiz's effort with Holland going ahead through Robben's strike but Gonzalez levelled for Costa Rica putting pressure on Sneijder. The Dutch attacker shrugged off the pressure to convert as did Bolanos making it 3-3.

Kuyt put the Dutch in front at 4-3 meaning Umana had to score to keep his side in the shootout but a fine save from Krul sealed the win for Holland who advance to the last four.

Group Winners All Advance

Into the last 16 of the 2014 World Cup and unlike many of the group games, the ties were all very close run games only three of the eight avoiding extra time.

Brazil faced Chile in the opening tie and the host nation went ahead after only 18 minutes with a strike from Luiz but the Chileans were soon level when the in-form Sanchez levelled just after the half-hour mark. Both sides pushed for a winner but were unable to break each others strong defence and despite surviving the 90 minutes, extra time also saw a stalemate between the two resulting in penalties.

The first few spot kicks were even with both scoring two from four with Luiz and Marcelo scoring and Willian and Hulk missing for Brazil while Pinilla and Sanchez missed with Aranguiz and Diaz scoring.

Neymar converted to put Brazil 3-2 up and left Jara needing to score to avoid sending the Brazilians through but his shot cannoned off the post to the joy of the Brazilians and the Chileans despair.

Colombia continued their superb campaign with a 2-0 win over fellow South American side Uruguay
who were without Suarez after his four month suspension but Colombia took advantage and had their in-form attacker Rodriguez to thank as he scored in the 28th and 50th minutes to send them into the last eight.

Holland left it late to deny Mexico a place in the last eight after Dos Santos put the Mexicans ahead in style in the 48th minute and in the first game of the tournament to have official drinks breaks, Holland were the fresher of the two sides after the second break and levelled through Sneijder in the 88th minute before securing the win in the final minute after Huntelaar converted from the penalty spot for 2-1.

In a game that many expected little from between Costa Rica and Greece, how wrong the pre-match critics were as the Central Americans took the lead in spectacular style through Ruiz in the 52nd minute and they were just minutes away from securing a dream place in the last eight despite Duarte's dismissal in the 66th minute when Papastathopoulos levelled in the final minute to force extra time.

The sides could not be parted in the next 30 minutes and it meant their fate would be decided by a penalty shoot out. After three attempts each they were still level with Borges, Ruiz and Gonzalez striking for Costa Rica and Mitroglou, Christodoupoulos and Holebas scoring for the Greeks.

Campbell made it 4-3 to Costa Rica but with Gekas missing for the former European champions, up stepped Umana to seal a 5-3 win and set up a dream last eight berth.

France secured their place in the last eight with a 2-0 win over a battling Nigeria who with 12 minutes remaining were looking good to force extra time but when Pogba struck for the French that hope died and any chance of levelling evaporated in the final minute when Yobo deflected into his own net to send the European side through.

The biggest surprise of the round was the tie between Germany and Algeria with the Africans doing superbly well to hold the European side to a stalemate after 90 minutes though the joy suffered a blow just two minutes into extra time when Schurrle put the Germans ahead.

Ozil made it 2-0 with a minute to go but the Germans were left with a nervy finish when Djabou scored for Algeria with just seconds remaining but it was not enough to spur them on to level and as a result, Germany marched on into the last eight.

Argentina alike their top ranked rivals struggled in the 90 minutes when they took on Switzerland and it looked like even extra time would end with the sides level but a superb strike from Di Maria with just two minutes remaining secured their last eight place and a 1-0 victory.

The final tie of the round saw Belgium take on the USA and in a stunning game they were unable to break each other down enough to score a winner meaning extra time was needed and the Belgians took advantage just three minutes into the first period when De Bruyne scored.

Lukaku made it two in the 105th minute to surely end the hopes of the Americans but just two minutes later, the USA were back in the tie when Green struck superbly for 2-1 but they were unable to level and the Belgians held on to secure a last eight place.