Semi Finals Complete After 2 Days Of Drama.
The semi final line up has been completed after two days of drama in the quarter finals. Uruguay v Netherlands will take place Tuesday with Germany v Spain taking place on Wednesday. In some regards it is a fairly unlikely semi final line up with the Spanish been the only pre tournament favourites to have made it this far. The Germans were looking towards the next world cup with this team which has no great experience of major tournaments and having a lot of untried players at this level. Their players with experience such as Klose, Podolski and Schweinsteiger have stepped up to the mark and have been aided by the likes of Mueller and Ozil in ripping teams apart up to now. They were ruthless against England and kept that going against the much fancied Argentines scoring 4 goals for the third time in the tournament. Klose is now only 1 goal behind all time goal scorer Ronaldo of Brazil who scored 15 goals at world cup finals. They will meet Spain for a place in the final and as I said in my posts before the tournament began you can not rule out the Germans.
The Spanish had a more laboured passage, having to wait until the 82nd minute for David Villa’s goal which put Paraguay out after a heroic display and much drama. Paraguay missed a penalty, and then Spain missed a penalty about two minutes later. Alonso scored with his first effort only to be made take it again and the keeper saved and then blatantly brought down Fabergas which should have been another penalty but the referee missed that one. The Spanish are now appearing in their first ever world cup semi final and it could be a great match when they face the Germans in Durban on Wednesday.
Great drama between Uruguay and Ghana with Uruguay winning 4-2 on penalties after the Ghanaians had missed a penalty when Suarez had seen red for a deliberate hand ball on the goal line. Uruguay held their nerve and will meet Netherlands who had to come from a goal down against the much fancied Brazil. Coach Dunga has been sacked this morning after failing to bring the trophy home. Wesley Sneijder has been credited with both goals by FIFA which is a total joke as the first one he didn’t even get remotely near touching the ball as it skimmed off Melo’s head and into the net. Melo later received a red card for stamping. This was the proverbial game of two halves with the Brazilians very much on top in the first half and would have been out of sight only for Dutch keeper Stekelenberg. Once Brazil conceded the equaliser the game seemed to turn and it was the Dutch who came out on top.
So down to the last 4 and you can’t rule anyone in or out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Uruguay v Germany in the final on Sunday in Soccer City and I’m sure you would have got very long odds on that one before the tournament started.
