So we have completed our semi finals, two games I am unlikely to forget for a long time. Booth games are historic for very different reasons but only one of them will probably be a monumental match remembered throughout football history. We all know which game that was.
Brazil 1 – Germany 7
Yes. I still blink every time I see it on screen or on paper, I still shiver every time I remember it, I still cannot quite believe what I witnessed. I can’t remember if I was still sleepy when I got out of bed and was watching the first 20 minutes (and eating my wheatabix of course), but I most certainly jolted awake after the next 10 minutes.
To say Brazil were poor would be a great disservice to the poor. Zee Germans were of course clinical, disciplined and all things we associated them with, but to be perfectly honest I don’t think they played as well as they did against Argentina and England in 2010. Do not get me wrong the Germans played well, in fact very very well, just not as well as I feel they can play, definitely not as well as I have seen this group of players play.
This only further illustrates how incredibly poor Brazil were. There has been much soul searching about what to do with the Brazilian game, several other writers have gone at length about it. I am not. Brazil will learn from this and return, maybe even as early as 2018 in Russia. But will Brazil come to grips with the problem of their domestic game which has so many issues? Or will this be like how the government and FIFA dealt with the various social issues that the Brazilian people have been marching for before and throughout the tournament: ie largely miss the point altogether.
Argentina 0(4) – Holland 0 (2)
A semi final at the World Cup that was actually played like a semi final at the World Cup. Both teams came to the game feeling very edgy and neither of them really got over it. I almost wonder if the game the day before had played something on their mind. Neither team wanted to give space to the other, but both teams came to pounce on the last 15 minutes to try and sneak a result through.
It was both tiring for both players and viewers to watch. This is the sort of game a football fan should love to watch, it was tactical, it was competitive, it was not overly brutal. The Dutch did not play like they had in 2010 against Spain, and the Argentines were in a similar frame of mind.
In the end I think the better team did win, but as a Dutch fan, I must say I am not at all unhappy with my team’s performance. Louis Van Gaal has taken one of the least talented Dutch sides I have ever seen and got them through undefeated in qualifying, and they went all the way to the semi finals, when several people were thinking they may not make the group stage. They managed to keep Lionel Messi and co, from scoring for 120 minutes, and no one can take that away from them.
A lot has been said from the players and the coach about how meaningless the next 3rd/4th place playoff game is. I hope this is all just psyche out talk, and this young unheralded team go on, show the pride they take in wearing the Oranje Jersey and take at least a bronze medal home. I will be there to cheer them all the way.
NineSixFourTwo 