2010 World Cup: Quarter-finals

2010 FIFA World Cup: Quarter-finals

Before I start with World Cup update, I would like to wish the admin and my good friend Yusuf a very happy birthday, cheers!!!

Netherlands v Brazil
This is the perfect way to start the quarter-final stage of the World Cup. These two sides have such a great history that many would have liked to see this as a possible final. Though Netherlands have never won a World Cup they have produced some of the best players and they have always played beautiful football. They haven’t played with their usual style this time, but the results have been positive. Four wins so far and a 23 match unbeaten run, Netherlands face their toughest opponent now. There have been reports about rift between Van Perisie and Sneijder but both have denied those and have assured that the Dutch camp is united like never before. Van der Vaart will likely return to the bench and Robben will start again that will be a boost for the Dutch. On the other hand Brazil also have not shown their usual flair and are using different tactics under Dunga. Kaka and Robinho are in good form, but Elano, Melo, Baptista are all out with injury and Ramires is suspended. But still Brazil have lots of options and tey are still the favorites while the Dutch will go into a match as underdogs for the first time. It is a pity that one of them have to go out and myself being a Netherlands fan this time I am hoping to see them go all the way and win the World Cup.

Uruguay v Ghana
This is the only one match in this World Cup’s quarter-finals that doesn’t involve any favorites and that in no way means this won’t be an interesting match. Uruguay have got a wonderful team and I don’t think it is a surprise to see them in quarter-finals. They did face slightly weaker opponents in the previous rounds and even now they aren’t facing any of the big teams. They will be without their defender Godin though who is out with a thigh injury. Forlan and Suarez will have a tough time to find their way past the physical Ghana side. Ghana meanwhile have done a great job carrying the hopes of entire AFrican continent. They were the only African country to survive from elimination and played very well to beat USA. There are few injury scares but all of them are expected to be fit for the match. However two of their players- Dede Ayew and Jonathan Mensah are suspended. But with other key players like Gyan and Boateng on the field, they should be able to play well. To predict the winner of this match is a tough call, but I would go with everyone’s choice Uruguay as they really have a better team.

Argentina v Germany
The second of the quarter-finals also begins with a big match. And yet again it is sad that one of these two giants have to bow out eventually. This will be a replay of the 2006 World Cup quarter-final which Germany won in penalty shoot-out.That match was high temper one which saw players fighting at the end. neither teams would have forgotten those scenes. Argentina will be seeking revenge. They have fine set of players who can beat any team on any day. Higuain has been scoring, Messi is yet to start firing yet he has done a lot of work in getting the ball past opponents defenders. But the only concern for Argentina is Maradona. Tactically Joachim Low is a much better coach but he doesn’t have the high quality players which Maradona does. The young Germans have done well in the previous matches, except the one against Serbia. Their match against England proved their quality and earned them a deserved place in quarter-finals and of course the disallowed England goal did play a part in that. Again a tough call in guessing who the winner will be. Though I don’t like Maradona, I feel Argentina just have little bit more in them to take them to semi-finals but may just fall because of Maradona.

Spain v Paraguay
Some might call this as one-sided but considering Paraguay’s determination to win and Spain’s little bit lacklusture performance so far, this match can turn out to be close. Its all about how they play on saturday night and anything can happen. Spain were the favorites to win the World Cup and they still are. After opening game loss to the Swiss, they have been better but not at their best. Torres hasn’t been good up front. Playing Busquets instead of Cesc doesn’t make much sense. Other than that Del Bosque has a great squad who are just not performing to the expected level. Against portugal they were much better, they had lots of shots on target, had possession, but unless goals are scored there will be no point in doing all the hard work but the opponents get one chance, score and win. Paraguay had to do things things the tougher way, especially against Japan when they had to play for 120 minutes and then win it in shoot-out. This is the first World Cup quarter-final and they should put up a good fight against Spain. They were good in the first two matches but in the next two they weren’t that good. Certainly repeat performance like against japan wont be enough to stop Spain. Unless Spain do badly and Paraguay find the intial form, it must be a comfortable win for Spain.