We’re close enough now that these guys can almost taste it.\u00a0 Two wins from immortality.\u00a0 It’s easy to understand why goals have proven harder to come by since we’ve entered the knockout phase.\u00a0 Defenders are committed to the point of desperation.\u00a0 No one wants to make a mistake, including the managers.\u00a0 Riskier tactics and team selections are eschewed in favor of more defensive (and defensible) approaches.<\/p>\n
All of the plucky outsiders have been sent home, and\u00a0we’re left with a final four which includes only the giants of soccer history.\u00a0\u00a0Of the five\u00a0nations that have won more than one World Cup, three\u00a0are still alive in Brazil.\u00a0 The Dutch are the only semi-finalists never to have lifted the trophy, but they have been runners-up three times and their\u00a0historical stature and\u00a0influence in the sport are\u00a0beyond question.<\/p>\n
Backing the big teams turned out\u00a0to\u00a0be the way to go, it seems, as I got\u00a0all four of\u00a0my quarter-final predictions right (at least in terms of results):<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER-FINALS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n My predictions (actual results follow in parenthesis, correctly-predicted winners in bold):<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0Germany 1-1 with France,\u00a0Germany wins on penalties (Germany<\/strong> won 1-0)<\/p>\n Germany had an easier time than I expected, as they looked to be in control from start to finish.\u00a0 France had moments here and there, but never seemed able to mount any kind of a sustained threat.\u00a0 I kept waiting for them to make a substitution to try to change the game, but when they finally made a move after 70 minutes, it was to swap one central defender for another.\u00a0\u00a0 They waited until the 73rd minute to bring on Loic Remy; Olivier Giroud wasn’t introduced until the 85th.\u00a0\u00a0Too little, too late.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0Brazil 2-1 over\u00a0Colombia (Brazil<\/strong> won 2-1)<\/p>\n This is not your father’s Brazil – more grit than samba, scoring both their goals through central defenders on set pieces and then hanging on for dear life.\u00a0 Colombia went toe to toe with the hosts and will feel unlucky about not having gotten a second goal, but Brazil deserve credit for defending well.\u00a0 They may not have won any extra style points, but they did what they had to do to survive.\u00a0 They paid a heavy price, though, in losing Neymar for the duration of the tournament with a back injury.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0\u00a0Argentina 2-1 over\u00a0Belgium (Argentina<\/strong> won 1-0)<\/p>\n Belgium were a bit disappointing here, never really getting into the game.\u00a0 Part of that was due to the Red Devils’ somewhat bewildering decision to have Marouane Fellaini try to man-mark Lionel Messi, a task at which he proved completely ineffective.\u00a0 Credit must also be given to the excellent Javier Maschiarano, who seemed to pop up whenever the Belgians tried to do anything in the offensive\u00a0end.\u00a0 Higuain took his early goal well and it was cruise control after that for Argentina.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 Netherlands 2-0 over Costa Rica (Match finished 0-0 after extra time,\u00a0Netherlands <\/strong>won on penalties)<\/p>\n This match was almost all one-way traffic, as expected, but Costa Rica somehow kept the Dutch out for 120 minutes and pushed them to the limit.\u00a0 The Dutch deserve credit for keeping their composure when it came down to penalties (and maybe for making Costa Rica lose theirs with the Tim Krul substitution), but it’s hard not to see this as disappointing for the Netherlands.\u00a0 They got the result they needed in the end, but their inability to break the Ticos down doesn’t bode well for their next, much stiffer, challenge).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SEMI-FINAL MATCH-UPS (PREDICTED WINNERS IN BOLD)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Germany<\/strong> vs. Brazil Even before the injury to Neymar,\u00a0Brazil have struggled to create\u00a0chances from open play (both their quarter-final goals came on free kicks).\u00a0 When you combine his absence with that of Brazilian captain Thiago Silva (suspended after picking up a very unnecessary yellow card against Colombia), things are looking grim for the hosts.<\/p>\n That’s not to say that Germany don’t have weaknesses – their defenders look slow, and their finishing hasn’t been as ruthless as they would have liked.\u00a0 Moving Lahm to his proper position at right back and starting Klose up front seemed to improve things, though, and their quarter-final performance was their most convincing so far.\u00a0 Notably, they midfield three of Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Kroos were completely dominant in shutting down a heretofore free-scoring French attack.\u00a0 All of this adds up to bad news for the hosts.\u00a0 2-1 to Germany.<\/p>\n The Netherlands have struggled with CONCACAF opponents in the knockout rounds so far, needing two late goals (including a stoppage-time penalty) to come from behind against Mexico, and going all the way to penalties against Costa Rica.\u00a0 Both of those teams had excellent tournaments but, with all due respect to them, Argentina represent a big step up in class.\u00a0 The Dutch will need to raise their game if they are to survive another round.\u00a0 They’ll also need to adjust their approach – they won’t have the luxury of keeping the ball and dictating the tempo the way they did against the Ticos<\/p>\n I think that they have the talent to play better, and they will certainly benefit from the absence of Angel di Maria.\u00a0 My sense, though, is that their exertions will finally catch up with them, and Argentina will prove too talented.\u00a0 Like Germany, they seem to have improved with each round, and they will be confident after a convincing performance against Belgium.\u00a0 1-0 to Argentina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’re close enough now that these guys can almost taste it. Two wins from immortality. It’s easy to understand why goals have proven harder to come by since we’ve entered the knockout phase. Defenders are committed to the point of desperation. No one wants to make a mistake, including the managers. Riskier tactics and team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-cup-2014"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nArgentina<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Netherlands<\/p>\n