Well I certainly didn't expect that. That was an extraordinary display by the Mannschaft, they tore Diego Maradona's side apart. It should be noted however that the score was only 1-0 until the 68th minute, and that anything could have happened until then. But just like against England, Germany were unstoppable on the counter-attack and Argentina's defensive weaknesses were brutally exposed, especially on the wings. That was just ridiculous, the right back was just destroyed. Now we see if the Germans have the depth to put a capable fill-in for Thomas Müller and the possibly injured Sami Khedira.
Next the Germans face Spain. This is the first match Spain will play against an opponent whose unstated game-plan is not to simply absorb the Spanish pressure and hope to score on counter-attack. Switzerland did it successfully in the first match but Spain has been able to break through in all its subsequent matches. It's atypical for Spain to successfully do so, and I had a terrible feeling ahead of the Paraguay match, I really thought they'd lose, and they nearly did. Paraguay should have been ahead at halftime, and then again when they earned the penalty with a half hour to play. Honestly I think Paraguay were the better team on the day but I'm glad Spain was finally able to win a World Cup quarter-final. So many times before they were the ones who played the better match only to lose, such as the infamous defeats at the hands of Italy in 1994 and then against South Korea in 2002, although the latter was simply stolen by the referee courtesy of FIFA. I really thought the match was on its way to penalties, and that tragedy would befall Spain once again. I now have to pick them to go to the final at the expense of the young Germans. They'll be fielding virtually the same side that beat the Germans in the final of Euro 2008, although I expect them to drop Fernando Torres for this match.
The Netherlands are favorites to beat Uruguay in the other semi-final, though Uruguay are one of those pesky teams that just refuse to lose. The Dutch victory over Brazil was, in my eyes, more of a defeat by Brazil and less a victory for Holland. All the goals in the match were produced via a comedy of errors, and Brazil really just beat themselves. Kudos to Holland for capitalizing on it but they'll have to be better to beat Uruguay.
Uruguay's win over Ghana is now infamous, in large part due to the wild ending in which Luis Suárez swatted away a sure goal that would have been the winner. Asamoah Gyan's subsequent miss from the penalty spot will go down as one of the most tragic moments in World Cup history, you really have to feel for the man. He had the chance to carry Ghana into the semi-finals, a first for any African side, but his shot hit the post. That's really unforgivable for a professional footballer and in the end Ghana have only themselves to blame. It is highly unfortunate, though. After that there was no way Ghana could win the penalty shootout, it was already over, you don't recover from something like that.
There is no permutation that would surprise me at this point, I can see any of the four remaining teams winning it all. May these semi-finals be as good as the quarter-finals were!
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