[a*ed]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Ok, back to World Cup matches after a few days!

I predict Brazil going through on penalties.

And Germany winning 2 - 1 in 90 minutes

I guess it's probably going to be France considering the kind of team Deschamps has put together.

P.S. I am supporting Germany.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Ok, back to World Cup matches after a few days!

I predict Brazil going through on penalties.

And Germany winning 2 - 1 in 90 minutes

I hope it's not an extra time game. Germany should go through if they bring their A game tonight.
I am rooting for Colombia considering they are the underdogs and have played really well all throughout.

[a*ed]

Originally Posted by a*ed

I guess it's probably going to be France considering the kind of team Deschamps has put together.

P.S. I am supporting Germany.

Germany proves me wrong ! Neuer the man!

[deetjohn]

Great win for Ze Germans. I am so happy!

Hope Columbia can add to my happiness.

[harry10]

Hoping for a win from Colombia. Will be a nice end to the day.

[Latheesh]

Brazil 1 - Colombia -0 ;-)

[aneezan]

Brazil played better than they did so far through the tournament. My heart goes out to Columbia and James. Though I support Brazil, I wouldn't have cared less had they lost to Columbia yesterday. But one thing's for sure: They've won fans and hearts all over the world.

Brazil-Germany coming up. Exciting!
Interesting to see whether it would end up being an all South American final affair. Then the history of an SA country not winning in SA would not exist.

[kaushik_s]

Neymar is ruled out of the WorldCup due to the injury (vertebral fracture). Thiago Silva is suspended for the next match. Brazil already playing with 10 players and one dummy forward ie Fred. I guess Germany couldn't have asked for better situation than this.
Germany although won but looked a bit off-color against France. Probably due to the flu/fever in the camp. But they would play much better in the semi final for sure. Brazil played better football in the first half and there were some glimmer of hope for them. But the second half changed everything and now a limping Brazil will find it a daunting task at the semis.

Hoping for Argentina to pull up their socks and display a better football that they are known for. But till now it doesn't look like that they have the hunger to win. Today's match gonna be tough for them.
Nothing much to say about the Dutch, I hate them for their play acting which now only can be rivalled by Italy. Hope they'll crash out soon.

[joe1980]

With Neymar and Silva out, it should be a cake walk for Germany to reach the finals. Brazil is in a crisis situation. On the other side, I hope that Argentina makes it somehow, otherwise it might be looking like just another European tournaments where-in Germany play against Netherlands in the finals.

[Mik]

I have my money on a Germany-Holland final with Germany edging the Dutch out simply because of having a more complete team. Its scary the amount of talent available on the German bench. A Gotze /Podolski /Schurrle /Mertesacker are amazing substitution options. To think that they are missing exciting talents Marco Reus, Badstuber and Gundogan to injury makes you wonder how effective the DFB is in churning out world class footballers.
The current Argentina team simply doesn't look like a WC winning side. Even if they edge out Belgium today I see no way they can put it past the Dutch (Assuming Costa Rica is out of steam)

[RSR]

Yesterday's quarter-finals were average games, nothing special. A bit understandable, as teams and coaches want to avoid defensive mistakes at all costs. I hope we get better quality football from the four teams playing today.

I thought France had it in them to find an equalising goal and take the match into extra-time. They couldn't do it. A pity, since Deschamps' men were getting into their stride for what I thought would be a longer run in the tournament.

Brazil were pretty good in the first half, and Colombia's strong come-back in the second had them flounder somewhat. In the end, it was sad to see James and the merry Colombians depart.

The second game was quite rough with all those hard challenges, especially on Neymar and James. It's terrible that Neymar got a fractured vertebrae and will miss the rest of the tournament. I hope he recovers soon and makes a strong comeback to football. He is just too talented and gifted a player, and an utter joy to watch.

[thoma]

I can't believe it, Messi missing out on a one-on-one chance. Higuain and Di Maria (well almost) too earlier. These guys are riding on pure luck, Higuain got a sweet ball to net. Romero seems so unsure, don't they have a better keeper? Compare him to Neuer. Neuer just stayed in his place and fists the ball, his body didn't move an inch I thought the ball hit the cross bar!

Di Maria as usual does all the hard work only to shoot at a defender. But the silver lining of this game, I enjoyed Higuains tricks with the ball and Di Maria's control more than Messi.

I would like to see a talented Germany vs a hard working Netherlands fight for the cup.

[linuxmanju]

Originally Posted by thoma

I can't believe it, Messi missing out on a one-on-one chance. Higuain and Di Maria (well almost) too earlier. These guys are riding on pure luck, Higuain got a sweet ball to net. Romero seems so unsure, don't they have a better keeper?

Di Maria as usual does all the hard work only to shoot at a defender. But the silver lining of this game, I enjoyed Higuains tricks with the ball and Di Maria's control more than Messi.

I think that was the strategy to make the game slow, Infact Argentina was not even trying for a counter. Pass around and frustrate the opponents. Most teams do that under hot and humid conditions after an early break.

Welcome back Higuain to form, a wonderful player who had an off tournament sofar. Messi missing one on one, I am yet to see a player who hasn't in the history of football.

[dZired]

Originally Posted by linuxmanju

I think that was the strategy to make the game slow, Infact Argentina was not even trying for a counter. Pass around and frustrate the opponents.

Messi missing one on one, I am yet to see a player who hasn't in the history of football.

+1 to that.
The way Argentina played today looked a completely planned strategy to exhaust the opponents and go for the attack on sighting any weak gap.
About Messi, yes he missed a one-on-one chance. But his own expressions showed the dissapointment he had from his attempt.

[thoma]

Form the pre-quarters, the game has changed; it was mostly the test of nerves more than pure footballing talent. It was all about containing opponents and scraping through; and the big guns stood up to their names. The margins were puny, many a penalty shootout decided the outcome. That was what big names are known for, to handle pressure. But the punch of the first round is missing.

Now there exist only 4 names.
Brazil vs Germany and
Argentina vs Netherlands

On paper, Germany and Netherlands should meet for the title. But the others are also big guns and if they can drag the game to a penalty shootout, they are not vulnerable.