Game # 55 - Argentina vs Switzerland

I was surprised at the result of this game - not by who won it but by how hard Argentina found it to do what was predicted. Well organised Switzerland defence meant that Argentina never really had a good chance for the entire first half where Switzerland themselves came close, never better than Xhaka's chance in 29th minute. Romero not only saved that but kept the follow-up shot out too. First half finished 0-0.

The second half briefly started the same as the first half with a good chance to Drmic and then the Argentina machine finally clicked into gear. The strength of the Switzerland defence was put to the test as Argentina dominated (possession 61% to 39%. shots 29/22 to/14/7 and corners 13 to 5) in every way possible but the vital one. Second half also finished 0-0 and so it was on to extra time.

Extra time continued on exactly as the second half with Argentina fairly battering at Switzerland's defence. Just as it looked like penalties, the Messi-Di Maria combo paid off again, this time with Messi as provider and Di Maria scoring off a lovely curving drive. With only two minutes left, it looked like it was too late for Switzerland but they had one final chance to Dzemaili who sadly just couldn't quite get his strike home.

Argentina won 1-0 but it was a close, hard-fought thing and they should consider themselves lucky to have got through.

Game # 56 - Belgium vs USA

On paper, this was possibly the most imbalanced game of the second round and yet it was close all the way. Belgium benefited by an enormous margin on all attacking statistics (shots 38/27 to 14/9, corners 19-4) despite USA dominating possession 53% to 47%. What this boiled down to was that USA often held possession for a while but was curiously unable to do much in the last third whereas Belgium hurtled up the field time and again and fired away at goal (that 38/27 statistic may well be the highest of the tournament so far, certainly it is for this round). Once there though Belgium were facing Tim Howard who was yet another goalkeeper playing the game of his life, pulling off save after save (16 of them, in fact). Stunningly, this meant the the game finished 0-0 and it was on to extra time.

In the first half of extra time, USA's luck finally deserted them with Belgium scoring twice. USA finally started attacking, ironically in what was probably their best attacking football and they scored in the 107th minute. Now it was Belgium that looked vulnerable and USA kept up a relentless pressure on them until the end of the game. Sadly, this never evolved into a second goal and so it finished 2-1 to Belgium.

Belgium face Argentina in the last quarter final and USA go home after a relatively successful World Cup campaign for a team expected to perform well below their world ranking (14 before the start of the the tournament).