Its all Football fever catching up here in India. The four semifinalists have battled it out on the lush green ground to get a place in the top four. Both of the semifinal games are expected to be more competitive, aggressive and challenging. The Dutch face Uruguay on 6th July while the second semifinal will see the favorite Germans take against the Spaniards on 7th of July. Both Netherlands and Uruguay have bounced back strongly into the tournament winning against big teams to the likes of Brazil and Africans respectively whereas the Germans and the Spain have always stayed top favorites in any game.
The Netherlands came from a goal behind to the mighty Brazil to seal a victory 2-1 in their quarter finals. It was indeed a much deserved victory for the amount of football played by the Dutch. The first half was a tightly fought affair with just a goal from Brazil’s Robinho. The second half which saw an equalizer from Dutch’s favorite player Wesley Sneijder. And later in the 68th minute, which belonged to the Netherlands, saw yet another power scoring goal from Sneijder. Double strike for the man in orange and yeah.. also a place in the top 4. Dutch did build on their lucky break! But, the sad news for the Dutch from that quarter final game will be the yellow cards picked up by Gregory van der Wiel and Nigel de Jong which mean they will miss the semi-finals. Watch out for an obvious Sneijder raring to pounce and bounce.
Uruguay’s performance in the World Cup has been exciting and their win against Ghana in the quarter final, saw the last African team being knocked out of the world cup. Ghana pulled up their sock and was in full spirits for the first half; saw a lovely strike from Sulley Muntari just before the half time to take a 1-0 lead against Uruguay. Shortly into the second half, both the teams were pressing hard and the equalizer came in the form of an absolute beauty of a freekick by Diego Forlan. 1-1 beamed the giant scoreboard. As the clock ran down, the jabulani kept whizzing around on the ground until the final whistle and then the extra time followed. No goals again. Penalty shootout came in. This saw a 4-2 win for the Uruguay. The yellow card that Jorge Fucile picked up in this game means he will also miss the semi-final. Another awesome footballer in the form of Luis Suarez proved a real Uruguay hero in the Round of 16, scoring twice to give them a 2-1 win over South Korea. Watch out for Fiery Forlan from any corner of the ground!
The second semi final between Germany and Spain is what we are expecting to be a cracker of a match. The much comfortable victory Germany had against the much fancied Maradona’s Argentina will have them on a high beyond doubts.
This German side is buzzing everywhere on the ground. This young side is beginning to look unbeatable and undisputed champions. In the quarter final game against Argentina, and when the game was just 3 minutes old, came the destruction from Thomas Müller, who headed in a freekick from the man of the game, Bastian Schweinsteiger. Müller is showcasing great football skills but still this man will miss the semifinal game as he picked a yellow card later that game. The second half of the game made things worse for the Argentina stars, as Germany went on to score three more of which two came from Miroslav Klose and one from Arne Friedrich. As a matter of fact, this is the third time Germany has scored four goals in this tournament. And Germans for sure will find it hard to replace their magic star Thomas Müller but two good players to watch out for will be Klose, Schweinsteiger.
The other semifinalist, Spain’s 1-0 victory over Paraguay in the quarter finals saw a lot of drama. And it was a very very tight game. The Spaniards found it tough to get the going, it was obvious from their ball possession, passing and control. The South Americans pushed themselves that extra mile to pose as strong contenders for the Spaniards. Antolin Alcarez can consider himself lucky not to have been given a red card when he fouled Spain’s David Villa in the penalty box. The jabulani hit the post 3 times so hard before going into the net giving Spain their much needed breakthrough and a win seven minutes from time. Spain started the tournament as favorites but once they succumbed to Switzerland 1-0, and their “favorite tag” went out of the window. Spain also has an impressive disciplinary record, so will be playing their best players as none of them are suspended and going out for the semifinal. All eyes will be on their lead striker David Villa to get an early breakthrough.
My Prediction goes with Netherlands from the first semifinal and Spain with the second semifinal and I foresee the underdogs Netherlands clinching the lady in gold, the WorldCup 2010. But, let’s keep our fingers crossed, and get ready for the overnight action with their jerseys and skull caps. Hail Football.. Adios Amigos!!
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