Quarter Up!!!

So eight teams now remain to slug it out and get their grips on the beautiful world cup trophy. As I said in my last post a few names have been surprising. But that’s a cause for celebration rather than worry. It could also mean new entries into the record books. If Uruguay wins their match against Ghana, it would be the first time in three decades that they would make a semi-final appearance. It would be nice to see this team achieve this feat, since after being the initial superpower at world football, the Uruguay national football team lost its footing at the international stage. So much so that they could not qualify for four world cups since then!

In Uruguay’s way stand Ghana. The black stars are the only team representing Africa with millions of hopes pinned on them. They should probably have a chat with the Indian cricket team on how that feels like. Honestly, the initial hype surrounding the African teams before the World Cup turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. Out of 6, only 1 managed to wriggle its way to the final 16. Anyway, if they do put up the greatest show on earth and do manage to make it to the semi-finals, Africa will erupt with joy.

It’s funny to think now that this could have easily been England’s semi-final spot. All they had to do was get top spot in Group C. And they would have had to deal with teams like Ghana and Uruguay and Germany and Argentina would have been U.S.A’s headache. But what’s not is not. Chokers are chokers and England bottled it!

Over to the next match-up, and it’s Brazil who look like the stronger semi-final contenders rather than the Netherlands. News of internal strife and ego clashes between top players (Read Van Persie and Robben) has not helped their cause. I may be wrong but throughout the tournament, Brazil though far more technical than we’re used to seeing them, have been very confident in their execution of play. However, the fact remains, that the team who wins this round, is definitely strong enough to defeat both Uruguay or Ghana and make a dash for the finals berth.

At the next fixture, Argentina and Germany have started playing the pre-match mind games. Play between these two teams has always been exciting. Even though I’m an Argentina fan, I do admit than the Argentineans do tend to play a rough match. And who can forget last world cup’s bust up between the two teams. That doesn’t seem to go well with the refined Germans. The Germans have been playing all guns blazing this summer. The worry for Argentina would be its defence and back line. No matter how could their front three (Messi, Tevez & Higuain) are doing, teams like South Korea & Mexico did exploit Maradona’s defensive line. And Germany is a way bigger threat. It’s a tough match to call, but this one’s gonna be an absolute cracker!

I’m not at all excited about the penultimate match of the quarters. Spain would not be worried against a side like Paraguay’s, but they would be definitely prepared. The South Americans lukewarm show against Japan only reinforces my view that Spain might have it easy. Paraguay better attack right from the start if they are to get anywhere close to bothering Spain.

So my verdict? Most probably it’s a Brazil vs Uruguay and Argentina vs Spain semi-final round-up. Let’s kick the tyres and light the fires!