9 July 2014
NETHERLANDS 0
ARGENTINA 0
Higuain should have given Argentina the lead but wasted Perez's superb inswinging cross, volleying wide of the right post. Palacio wasted a late chance, heading straight into Cillessen's arms. Messi's sole contribution was a great cross but unfortunately for Argentina Rodriguez got on the end of it. LVG wasted his final substitution by bringing off RVP for The Hunter. He should have subbed Cillessen for Krul.
PENALTY SHOOT OUT
Vlaar - Down the middle and saved
Messi - Whipped inside the left post, Cillessen dived to his knees
Robben - Bottom right, Romero went the opposite way
Garay - Top right corner. Fantastic penalty
Sneijder - Went left, brilliantly saved by Romero
Aguero - Bottom left, Cillessen guessed right
Kuyt - Bottom right, Romero went left
Rodriguez -Smashed in off the left post
Argentina win 4-2 on penalties.
An utterly dreadful match in which both teams were gripped by fear. It would be a travesty of epic proportions if Argentina beat Germany. They're even more negative than Spain were in 2010. One goal in extra time against Switzerland, one goal early in the first half against Belgium and no goals against the Dutch. Their performances have deteriorated as the tournament has wore on. Hopefully they'll get annihilated by the Germans. An early goal for Germany would be great.
Attendance : 63,267
Assists : n/a
8 July 2014
BRAZIL 1 (Oscar 90)
GERMANY 7 (Muller 11, Klose 23, Kroos 24, Kroos 26, Khedira 29, Schurrle 69, Schurrle 79)
As Kroos was preparing to swing in a corner, Luiz glanced at Muller then ran into Klose, who gave him a shove which temporality halted his run and allowed Muller to find space and volley past Julio Cesar. Fernandinho should have intercepted a Muller centre but missed, Kroos poked the ball through to Muller who touched it back to Klose, Klose's awful shot was parried but he scored on the rebound. It was his record breaking 16th World Cup goal. Seconds into the restart Luiz hit a longball downfield for the ludicrous Bernard to chase. Neuer caught it and whacked a longball to Muller, Muller bounced the ball off his chest to Khedira, Khedira and Kroos worked it wide to Lahm, Muller missed his centre, Kroos didn't. 0-3. Just as the replays had finished Kroos snapped in to tackle Fernandinho as he collected Dante's pass and played a one-two with Khedira before tapping in his second. Hummels intercepted a Luiz longball and ran into the Brazil half, Hummels poked the ball through to Khedira as Luiz ran in to challenge and Khedira played a one-two with Ozil before slotting into the left corner.
Schurrle came on for Klose just before the hour mark and plundered Germany's next two goals. The Germans patiently passed the ball around after Dante conceded a free kick, the ever hopeless Marcelo left a gaping hole for Real Madrid team-mate Khedira to run into when trying to close down Lahm, he picked up neither player as Lahm walked past him onto Khedira's centre and Schurrle tapped home. Boateng tossed a throw in to Muller, he volleyed the ball over Dante's head to the onrushing Schurrle, he jumped in the air to trap it before lashing a left foot shot in off the underside of the crossbar from a ridiculous angle. Brilliant goal. It wasn't a complete German performance - Ozil still sucked, managing to miss an open goal after Draxler sent him away on the counter, God he's hopeless speaking of which Oscar got in behind Mertesacker, who had replaced Hummels at half time, and while he was standing around with his hand raised waiting for the offside flag like the big useless twat he is, Oscar cut inside Boateng before beating Neuer. Marcelo's ball over the top was excellent, to give him praise for the only positive contribution made by a Brazilian player other than Oscar. Somewhere in the match Neuer made a brilliant double save but the game was long since gone for Brazil.
At full time many of the Brazilians offered prayer, presumably asking for their Lord's protection from a lynching. Scolari got his players together for a full time huddle and team-talk. Wanker.
The biggest victory in a World Cup semi-final and Brazil's biggest ever World Cup defeat, their biggest ever home defeat and also their joint heaviest defeat after a 6-0 loss to Uruguay in Chile in 1920.
When I first became interested in this sport (in 1990) I was told Brazil play the best football. At that summer's World Cup they sucked. Parreira 1994's World Cup winning side were celebrated, despite the negative, defensive garbage they played, despite some dreadfully limited players (especially in midfield) but as Brazil had waited 24 years it didn't matter, all that mattered is they won. That was the death of 'Jogo Bonito' as far as Brazil were concerned.
Sure there have been some entertaining Brazil sides since (1998, 2002 and 2010) these sides were more European than South American, more physicality than the mythical flair many would have us associate with Brazilian football and it was the spineless coward Parreira who started this trend. Scolari took it a step further in the 1990s, while club sides like Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United etc, etc still played the beautiful game, Scolari enjoyed great success at club level playing the thuggish football Don Revie's Leeds and Wimbledon were famous for. First with Gremio then, to a lesser extent, with Palmeiras.
In recent years Brazil has grown economically, ex stars like Ronaldinho, Fred and Adriano were repatriated. That they have enjoyed success doesn't say a lot for the level of the Brazilian league and South American football in general and while the old guard returned home (with their tails between their legs) the emerging 'stars' left for Europe at a younger age. They are already wealthy, already famous by the time they put on the Brazil shirt. In 2002 twelve members of the World Cup winning team played in Brazil. Today only three - reserve goalkeeper Victor and the duality of shit that are Fred and Jo. Money and fame can explain the lack of hunger, the lack of talent however is far more worrying. Neymar is the first World Class striker Brazil have produced since Ronaldo (ignoring the brief cameos made by Adriano and Luis Fabiano). They have been many false prophets - Pato, a player as mentally limited in attack as David Luiz is in defence, Damiao (now 24) and that's it. No one else is emerging and if they do they're hyped to the moon, go to Europe and tank (like Piazon). Fantasistas are a drying breed in the sport but even going back 10 years there were more quality Italian #10s than Brazilians. Something is going badly wrong in coaching and development in Brazil. There will be an inquest after this, whether anything changes at development level remains to be seen. If winning is all that matters than flair will continue to be sacrificed. Brazilian football needs fresh ideas, it needs a European coach of the national team, one with a far reaching vision - Klinsmann would be a good start. They also need players with proper names i.e. ones ending in 'inho' or with a diacritic (line) above a vowel not bollocks like Fred, Jo and Bernard. They sound like characters from a 1970s Carry On Film, and are almost as (unintentionally) funny.
Attendance : 58,141
Assists : Kroos, n/a, Lahm, Khedira, Ozil, Lahm, Muller, Marcelo