Michael*

Woah. Time to give this guy another outing...

In which case, congratulations are in order my good fellow!

Overall, although a physical and edgy affair was probably always on the cards last night, I think both sides deserve pelters for an almost total absence of attacking intent. Regardless of tactics, players as talented as Messi, Higuain, Van Persie and Robben should really be making more of a mark on games like these. That Cillessen offered as much quality on the ball was pretty damning. While it could obviously be argued that the Dutch made the most of their resources and performed beyond all reasonable expectations, the only time they’ve consistently played anything other than stodgy, conservative football was against Spain. They squeaked past a gritty Australian side, made my eyes bleed against Chile, rode their luck to beat the Mexicans and failed to score in 240 minutes against Costa Rica and Argentina. That’s fine in a Jose Mourinho 'if we’re winning then who cares?' kind of way, but once you’ve lost, a bit of honesty should kick in. Despite the respectable results they've achieved, their approach to the last two World Cups has been mostly disappointing.

A World Cup thread making mention of Jack Colback and now Nathan Baker. Hopefully not a sign of things to come!

An occasion billed as Messi vs Robben ends up being dominated by the likes of Mascherano, Romero and Vlaar. Commiserations to the Dutch, who didn't really turn up tonight. Van Gaal's change of goalkeeper in the quarters eventually came back to bite him, you could see the pressure on Cillessen's face to somehow live up to what Krul did when he came on so unexpectedly against Costa Rica. Sending Vlaar to take the first kick of the shoot-out was no less bizarre. Argentina were pretty atrocious too - I can't honestly say there's been a more obviously deserving team in their half of the draw so it might as well be them, but on that evidence Joachim Löw won't be losing any sleep.

I'm getting such a good feeling about this movie, I hope it tears up the box office and Marvel are encouraged to keep trying new things. They seem to be nailing the humour, and Rocket Raccoon will clearly steal the show. For some reason, something about his voice just screams 'Zoolander' to me. I wonder if the shiny purple oval-shaped thing on Ronan's hammer will turn out to be another Infinity Gem?

Absolutely astonishing stuff. I feel bad for the Brazilian fans, who made such a great contribution to the atmosphere over the four weeks. To say their team let them down badly would be the understatement of the century, Luiz and co had themselves whipped up into such a frenzy amid all the passion and expectation that they had no idea what they were doing, and capitulated horribly. The gulf in class was unreal, so much so that it was actually a little hard to watch. Germany with more goals in a quarter of an hour than England, Italy and Portugal managed in the whole tournament. Words like blistering, fearless and relentless simply don't do their performance justice - it was just sheer, professional brilliance without mercy, and what impressed me most was that the players never showboated or looked smug after the goals kept coming. They fully deserve it and I’m certain that it'll be a wonderful final, regardless of who they play.

This is quite the war of attrition.

Luma Tanya Marina Malaika

Leaning towards Germany tonight. None of the heavyweights have been consistently eye-catching so far, but I've enjoyed watching them more than Brazil and I think they've had the more difficult route to the semis. The referee is going to be under intense scrutiny, if the Brazilians try to recreate the roughhousing tactics they used against Colombia, he'll need to keep a lid on things a hell of a lot better than Carballo did. This tournament can do without losing any more good players and no-one wants another disjointed game of incessant stoppages.

Impressions of Marvel’s recent 17-minute 'Guardians' preview. Spoilered as a precaution.

Thanks Shepherd. Yet another 'extended' trailer. Loads of new footage, including Zoe Saldana having a scrap with Karen Gillan.

The history of the World Cup is littered with examples of the host nation benefiting from their home advantage in one way or another. Italy did in 1938, England did in 1966, Argentina certainly did in 1978 and even South Korea did in 2002. I believe there's always an element of bias, conscious or not, to favour the hosts. But while Brazil have undoubtedly had more than a fair share of decisions going their way this year, the disallowed goal in the Chile game should really have put paid to any thoughts of widespread conspiracy. The truth is that the majority of officials are out of their depth in this kind of environment. The weight of expectation is simply more than they can handle, and for the most part, I think they have little choice but to be weak. When they send off star players or even just players from high-profile teams, they’re accused of being heavy-handed and disrupting the game. When they make mistakes, they're not only given a hammering from media, fans and managers alike, they're also not picked to take charge of the semi-finals or final. Referees know it and FIFA makes sure they know it.

True enough, although I do think the system would have given them a better chance of getting back into it after said goal. Argentina have struggled against teams who put two banks of four behind the ball with an ultra-defensive middle two in the areas Messi loves to occupy, and who play directly towards a big man up front - preferably one who can link up with a quick, technically gifted player in behind. Belgium looked to have the perfect group of players to make a decent fist of that, instead Wilmots insisted on trying to play a fluid pressing game, but without the overlapping full backs or the mobile false nine he needed to make it work.

Hello, good evening and welcome!

Looks like Marco Rodriguez, the Mexican referee who sent Marchisio off, will be in charge of Brazil and Germany. He apparently once felt compelled to ask people to stop calling him 'El Chiqui Drácula' because of his supposed resemblance to a vampire. I would have thought he need only have a change of hairstyle for that to happen, but the slicked back look is probably the only one you can manage when you can't see yourself in the mirror. If they were to somehow sneak past the Germans, I suspect Brazil would rather play Argentina in the final, and target Messi because he doesn't dive. If they were to meet Holland instead, Robben would probably already be on the floor by the time a Brazilian got near him. Personally, I’m hoping for an all-South American or all-European final, none of the other combinations appeal to me as much as Argentina and Brazil or Germany and Holland.

I actually think Belgium would have been better served by essentially putting eight men behind the ball and deploying Fellaini as an out-and-out target man, rather than starting him in a deeper role and granting him license to roam. When he tried to break forward into the second striker position, De Bruyne was expected to drop back, but he only did it half-heartedly, leaving Witsel isolated against Messi’s runs. A touch of tournament naivety perhaps.

Did anyone end up seeing this? I finally got around to it at the weekend (blame the World Cup) and it didn't disappoint. What could have been such a mess turned out to be a splendidly enjoyable comic book movie, up there with the best of Marvel's output. Great set-pieces, thrilling and funny in all the right places, terrifying future Sentinels and cool early seventies vibe. I loved the incarnations of Magneto and Xavier, and the fact that the humour was actually woven into the story, rather than the "we need a laugh, let's break the tension and throw in a misjudged joke" industry standard. Looking forward to the next one.

Thanks Maria!

The first pic of Henry Cavill's Superman in 'BvS: DoJ' has been released. 'Tis a gritty image in keeping with Zack Snyder's trademark visual style.

The closing stages were insanely gripping, although in truth the first 80 minutes bordered on mind-numbing. Holland played similarly to the way they did against Mexico and relied on a slice of luck at the end, but Van Gaal's gamble in the shoot-out paid off, thus deserving the plaudits. The romantics out there will shed a tear for Costa Rica, who were just a couple of penalties away from becoming the biggest outsiders to ever reach a semi-final.

Would have loved seeing the Colombians go all the way, they played wonderful football and were probably the most exciting team to watch. Captured my imagination in a way that I'm sorry to say England never have.

Commiserations, Hervé. When Belgium gain more experience on this particular stage, I think they’ll be a potent force. Even more so if they can learn to adapt more on a game-to-game basis. They have players skilful and intelligent enough to play a possession based style, strong and powerful enough to go direct, and quick and predatory enough to play on the counter attack. Still not an entirely convincing display from Argentina, but like Brazil they keep getting it done. The game was brightened by Higuain’s lovely rifled finish, nice of him to finally turn up. Messi should really have been carded for covering his boots in double-sided tape. For a game that was only really worth watching from about the 80th minute onwards, Costa Rica and Holland didn’t half explode into life. I suppose in all fairness the best team won, Holland having rattled the woodwork on a couple of occasions. Costa Rica rode their luck at times, but they deserved to take it to a shoot-out and will go home as one of the teams of the tournament. Too bad their penalties weren't as good as the ones against Greece. A pity as well that after all Navas's heroics, it was Mag git Krul who ended up as the matchwinner. Every time he walked up to try and intimidate one of the Costa Rican players, it made me go from simply supporting an underdog to actively wanting the Dutch to lose. Where's Fabio Borini when you need him?

I would expect Germany to handle a Neymar-less Brazilian attack with, dare I say it, relative ease now. If ever a team were tailor-made to perform amid such a chaotic atmosphere, it's them.

Carballo seems to have a pre-planned policy of avoiding all bookings until deep into proceedings (the yellow for the 'Hand of Godin' in the England-Uruguay group game is the only card he's shown in the first hour of any match he's refereed at the tournament), which is almost always a recipe for disaster. Once players sense that they're unlikely to be booked no matter how many fouls they concede, it's never long before chaos breaks out.