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I didn't update for the last day of the round of 16, mainly because I didn't have much to say. The two teams who were expected to go through did, but not in a fashion that earned them much credit in my books.
But now things are really heating up again, and Friday gave us the ultimate 'upset' - world #1 Brazil was beaten in the quarter-finals, joining a string of top ranked teams that have gone home already.
I put the word upset in quotation marks though because the result didn't surprise me too much. The Netherlands haven't been fabulous so far, but they've been solid enough to pose any team real problems. Brazil started out strongly and scored a quick goal, but seemed to fall asleep at half-time. By contrast, the Dutch came out agressively in the second half, working hard and scoring the equalizer when a defensive lapse by Brazil led to an own goal. The winning goal was a thing of beauty - a corner kick flicked on by Kuyt to Sneijder, who deftly headed the ball into the net. Where though was the Brazilian marking?
Once down, Brazil lost their composure and there was a lot of pushing and shoving through the last twenty minutes. The referee was forced to bring out the red card when Felipe Melo, responsible for the own goal, stomped on the leg of a fallen Dutch player. Down to 10 men, thus died Brazil's dream of another World Cup title.
In the other match, Ghana was the last surviving African team so had an enormous home field advantage. Judging by our local sports bar and coverage on the CBC, they also had an enormous TV viewership advantage too, in Canada at least. They went ahead with a goal in added time of the first half when a shot from over 30 yards out curled past the Uruguayan keeper. Uruguay equalised early in the second half and the teams then went on to play over an hour of scoreless football. There were a fair number of chances, but Ghana's goalie was on the top of his form. At the very end of extra time, Ghana had a flurry of scoring opportunities, culminating in a free kick that was stopped by a hand ball. The tension was incredible as Ghana's Gyan stepped up for the resulting penalty kick, but alas, the kick went off the crossbar. It now went to a penalty shoot out. Although Gyan partially redeemed himself by scoring on his try, the rest of the team failed to follow suit. Uruguay won, to the delight of their followers but the sorrow of many others. I'm hoping they get thrashed by the Netherlands next week.
Pretty soon, another giant will fall as Argentina and Germany face off. My head says the former will win, but my heart yearns for Germany to pull through. They've got a lot of young players and I'm hoping they'll be quick enough to expose weaknesses in the Argentinian defense. Can't wait!
But now things are really heating up again, and Friday gave us the ultimate 'upset' - world #1 Brazil was beaten in the quarter-finals, joining a string of top ranked teams that have gone home already.
I put the word upset in quotation marks though because the result didn't surprise me too much. The Netherlands haven't been fabulous so far, but they've been solid enough to pose any team real problems. Brazil started out strongly and scored a quick goal, but seemed to fall asleep at half-time. By contrast, the Dutch came out agressively in the second half, working hard and scoring the equalizer when a defensive lapse by Brazil led to an own goal. The winning goal was a thing of beauty - a corner kick flicked on by Kuyt to Sneijder, who deftly headed the ball into the net. Where though was the Brazilian marking?
Once down, Brazil lost their composure and there was a lot of pushing and shoving through the last twenty minutes. The referee was forced to bring out the red card when Felipe Melo, responsible for the own goal, stomped on the leg of a fallen Dutch player. Down to 10 men, thus died Brazil's dream of another World Cup title.
In the other match, Ghana was the last surviving African team so had an enormous home field advantage. Judging by our local sports bar and coverage on the CBC, they also had an enormous TV viewership advantage too, in Canada at least. They went ahead with a goal in added time of the first half when a shot from over 30 yards out curled past the Uruguayan keeper. Uruguay equalised early in the second half and the teams then went on to play over an hour of scoreless football. There were a fair number of chances, but Ghana's goalie was on the top of his form. At the very end of extra time, Ghana had a flurry of scoring opportunities, culminating in a free kick that was stopped by a hand ball. The tension was incredible as Ghana's Gyan stepped up for the resulting penalty kick, but alas, the kick went off the crossbar. It now went to a penalty shoot out. Although Gyan partially redeemed himself by scoring on his try, the rest of the team failed to follow suit. Uruguay won, to the delight of their followers but the sorrow of many others. I'm hoping they get thrashed by the Netherlands next week.
| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | Semi-Finals | Quarter-Finals | Round of 16 |
| Uruguay | Argentina | |||||
| 2-1 | Uruguay | Argentina | 3-1 | |||
| South Korea | Mexico | |||||
| 1-1 a.e.t. 4-2 PSO | Uruguay (world ranked #16) | (July 3) | ||||
| USA | Ghana | Germany | Germany | |||
| 1-2 a.e.t. | 4-1 | |||||
| Ghana | (July 6) | (July 7) | England | |||
| Netherlands | Paraguay | |||||
| 2-1 | Netherlands | Netherlands (world ranked #4) | Paraguay | 0-0 a.e.t. 5-3 PSO | ||
| Slovakia | Japan | |||||
| 2-1 | (July 3) | |||||
| Brazil | Brazil | Spain | Spain | |||
| 3-0 | 1-0 | |||||
| Chile | Portugal |
Pretty soon, another giant will fall as Argentina and Germany face off. My head says the former will win, but my heart yearns for Germany to pull through. They've got a lot of young players and I'm hoping they'll be quick enough to expose weaknesses in the Argentinian defense. Can't wait!
