Profound, profane or pedestrian

As finals go, this was a damn good one. Too often these are tentative affairs where no-one is willing to take a risk so no-one does anything effective. Instead, both sides attacked for a good proportion of the time (Germany more than Argentina)  but both sides had strong and well organised defences that dealt with most attacks before they really got going - shots were 10/7 for Germany and 10/2 for Argentina.

It was concerning to see an obviously concussed Kramer sent back on, only to be taken off about 15 minutes later, visibly distressed and disoriented but then I suppose the stakes were high. It was good to see Messi regain some of his running form - ironically, he scored no goals in this game but I think this was probably the closest to peak performance that I have seen from him all tournament. I suspect that that, had Di Maria been playing, this would have been a very different game. Germany took advantage of every opportunity and when a slim one finally came, Goetze put home the only goal of the game in the 113th minute.

Suddenly it was done - Germany are World Champions and Argentina are runners-up. Probably a fitting result, considering the form of all the teams in the tournament with Germany scoring the most goals and Argentina conceding the fewest.

I realise that, in the heat of the moment, commentators say silly things but these two gems really stand out for me:

1. After James Rodriguez' first goal vs Uruguay "That's a goal that you could pour over your strawberries on a warm summer night ...... *awkward pause* ..... uh, because it is the cream of the goals ..... uh, the cream. Anyway ..... " Even he knew he had gone a step too far!


2. Five minutes before the end of the Brazil vs Germany semifinal "We've only five minutes to go and Brazil just need to get seven to take this game into extra time." There was a very long pause afterwards - again, even he had to figure that a statement like that was just ridiculous.

Shocked and stunned! Stunned and shocked! Who would have thought that Brazil would be utterly demolished by half-time and then toyed with to the point of humiliation in the second half? I thought that Brazil might have struggled a bit in attack without Neymar but I didn't imagine that Thiago Silva's loss would be the one that completely destroyed the coherence of the team.
( Much waffle follows. )

A wonderful reflex shot from Higuain in just the 8th minute put Argentina into an early lead. Belgium never really generated much of a reply as Argentina's defence easily dealt with anything Belgium tried. Di Maria went off injured so the Argentina attack became even more reliant on Messi and he stepped up to the mark with a free kick that only just went over the bar. Belgium's sole significant chance went begging as Mirallas headed wide.

The second half saw much of the same with Huguain having two more close attempts early, Courtois dealing with both well. Belgium finally got some attacks strung together and produced a fine save off Romero to avoid a deflected own goal from Garay. The Argentina defence tightened up still further and Belgium never really looked threatening again. Surprisingly, almost every Belgium attack for about the last twenty minutes was via the classic long ball - a tactic that a skilled and disciplined defence like Argentina's had no trouble dealing with at all. Messi very nearly scored Argentina's second but yet another fine save from Courtois kept the score to 1-0.

Argentina are through to their first semifinals since 1990.

This was exactly the game that you might expect from these two teams - tight football, not too many errors and not too many opportunities for either side. The game had a surprisingly early goal - from Germany when Hummels headed in a Kroos cross off the underside of the cross bar (whoa, far too many "cross"-es in that last sentence). Germany took control after that but it was the German keeper Neuer that had to fend off a Valbuena shot to keep the score the same at half time.

France came out after the break and really took it to Germany but with no result. However, France was doing well defensively, repeatedly cutting out the final German ball. On the other hand, they weren't doing that well up the other end - and, on the rare occasions that they did, Neuer was having another one of days when he could do no wrong. In the dying moments, Neuer showed just how true that was when he kept out a close range Benzema shot that could have equalized the score.

Germany goes on the the semifinals yet again off a narrow 1-0 scoreline. France can go home at least partially redeemed after their miserable 2010 World Cup performance.

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).

Another second round game where the result was as expected but the pathway there was not as smooth as the scoreline suggests. The first half was very much Algeria's as they did most of the running and much of the attacking. On several occasions, it was only Neuer's anticipation and sprint speed over short distances that kept Algeria at bay. Mind you, he is known as one the new generation of keeper-sweepers so that is not too surprising. Even so, there were occasions where it really was a close call. However, Algeria rarely got behind him so the first half finished 0-0.

Clearly, Germany had copped a real talking-to over the half-time break because they came out transformed and re-energised. Germany really dominated possession (63%/37%) from this time on and came close on a number of occasions. As always, Algeria came back at them from about the 75th minute with Feghouli, Slimani and Soudani all having shorts (or crosses) stopped by Neuer. The second half finished 0-0 so it was on to extra time.

Germany really stepped up yet another gear and dominated extra time from beginning to end with Schurrle finally scoring with a delightfully flicked shot going past Mbolhi. Ozil added a second, just to make sure but Algeria still didn't give in and finally got a goal through Djabou in the dying seconds of extra time but it was too little too late.

The game finished 2-1 to Germany and put them through to a quarter final against France.

The first half was dull as Greece sought to blunt the Costa Rica attack by slowing the game down to a crawl. Greece was successful in doing this as the half finished 0-0. Of course, it also meant that Greece barely had a shot on target too.

After the break, the game eased up a little as both sides started to get attacks going. The weight of Costa Rica attacks eventually told and Ruiz scored in the 52nd minute. Greece barely even responded until the red card for Duarte in the 66th minute. This eventually roused them out of their slumber and the game became increasingly desperate for Costa Rica as Greece launched raid after raid though generally without an effective shot on target to finish off. Almost within sight of qualifying, Costa Rica finally conceded, after withstanding a veritable barrage of shots from Greece(24/13 to 6/2). The 91st minute equalizer was so late that there was nothing that Costa Rica could do to respond so the game finished 1-1.

In extra time, the Greeks were far and way the dominant team and thundered shot after shot on the Costa Rica goal (it felt like the majority of Greece shots were from this period of time). No-one really had a great chance so it finished still 1-1.

The penalty shootout was the usual lottery but very accurate Costa Rica shooting (they didn't miss a single penalty) meant that they won, 5-3 on penalties.

Costa Rica now meets Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

In a somewhat similar start to the Brazil-Chile game, this started as a real hack fest and I was starting to wonder if Uruguay had returned to the bad old days when they were certainly one of the hardest sides in South America. They really didn't present much of an attacking threat and their defence was containing the Colombia forwards well - that is, until the irrepressibly James Rodriguez popped up and scored what has to be the goal of the tournament so far. That really changed the game for Uruguay who just had to come out now and attack. Suddenly, they looked vulnerable at the back and a little ineffective up front, despite the valiant efforts of Cavani who seemed to be the only dedicated striker. I will say it and say it just once - they really did look flat in attack without Suarez but then no team should ever be about just one person. The first half finished 1-0 to Colombia.

The second half was much the same as the first and who should score again but James Rodriguez who scored from close range after a wonderful sweeping team move. There was still plenty of time to play but Colombia increasingly retreated into an 11-man defence and at times risked letting Uruguay muscle and blast their way back into the game. Just as that happened, Ospina stepped up and pulled off a series of saves that denied Uruguay any joy in front of goal. The game finished 2-0 to Colombia so they will face Brazil in the quarter finals.

This was a great game to watch and a wonderful advert for the game with so much attacking potential on display in both teams.

Best Goal - Messi's goal against Iran, though Villa's against Australia might be up there for sheer cheek.
Worst missed goal - Probably Busquets' missed "tap in" against Chile.
Most sentimental goal - Cahill's thumper against Netherlands, simply because this is the end for most of that squads's international careers so to go out on that note is great.
Funniest goal - Not sure if it is funny or sad but Akinfeev's fumble against Korea Republic might be a contender.
Best use of new technology - No, not the goal line cameras but the soluble white foam - a wonderful antidote to the creeping free kick (both kicker and wall) phenomena. I was just watching some 1990 replays and it was so common an issue that no-one even bothered to pretend after a while.
Outstanding player - There are number in close running but I think it has to be Messi for his wonderful consistency. There are others who show the occasional flash of even greater brilliance but is just that - occasional.
Most disappointing player - Wayne Rooney again - he was my pick in 2010 too! Sadly, Christiano Ronaldo comes a close second. Suarez for sheer stupidity, of course, but he actually played well until he decided to do his own Hannibal Lecter impression.
Dullest game - not really a game but that Opening Ceremony was so bad it both sucked and blew simultaneously.
Most surprising - For me it had to be the Spain vs Netherlands game. To watch the World Cup holders just torn apart in what I thought would have been a tight close game was definitely a sight to see. The Costa Rica vs Italy game would have been a bigger surprise if it were not for that fact that Costa Rica had already beaten Uruguay who were playing much better than Italy.
Flattest team - Interesting because last time it was between Italy and France - this time it is Italy (again) and Spain but near impossible to pick. I am inclined to Spain since they were the reigning World Cup holders and also because they were eliminated after the second group game. At least Italy were still in the mix until that last game.
Punching above their weight - This has to be Costa Rica who not only finished unbeaten at the top of their group but beat two previous World Cup holders and drew with a third.