I can't help feeling that Brazil's lack of quality attacking options will be what derails them. Very little interplay going on between the front four. Neymar has offered flashes of individual brilliance and the somewhat-less-than-incredible Hulk at least grew into the game yesterday, the rest look anything but assured. Fred is a shadow of the player who bagged five goals in the Confederations Cup last summer and Jo, when called upon, hasn't improved things. Oscar in particular, I expected so much more from. Obviously, someone's got to beat them and nobody has yet, but this is a far cry from the classic Brazilian sides of old.

The main problem is the total lack of creativity in the middle of the park. Really no more than one of Fernandinho, Luiz Gustavo and Paulinho should be starting at the same time. Not all three at the same time!

Holland- Mexico was very intense, or should I say, the 2nd half. Seems like none was really attacking in the first half, maybe the weather conditions didn't help much?

 

Wow and the Mexican goal keeper was quite good, he caught so many shots, but couldn't handle Sneider's goal. It was just an empty corridor on the left of the goal, so it was inevitable.

But I didn't expect the penalty. It was deserved yes, but what a stupid decision from the Mexican player who fouled Robben. It was a very strong attack from Robben, yes, but it wasn't certain that it will end with a goal. But getting a penalty garantees you a 99% chance to have a goal. So he shouldn't have risked it.

 

I'm happy Holland moves on but I also have to give it to Mexico for playing so well. Their defense and their goal keeper were the best imo.

ORANJE 

Cometh the hour, cometh the man who had done precisely sod all for the rest of the tournament. You have to hand it to Van Gaal, what looked like a massive gamble to leave Sneijder on and replace Van Persie with Huntelaar didn't half pay off. Whether that was down to incredibly good judgement or pure luck, it takes the Dutch into the quarter-finals. Rough justice for Mexico, though. Minimal contact for the penalty, maximal histrionics from Robben Hood.

Very well done to Costa Rica. The penalty taking from the five players who stepped up was pure perfection, and they defended like their lives depended on winning the game.

Do you think France will win tonight? I'm still unsure as to who I want to advance onto the next stage.

The main problem is the total lack of creativity in the middle of the park. Really no more than one of Fernandinho, Luiz Gustavo and Paulinho should be starting at the same time. Not all three at the same time!

Of all the central midfielders Brazil have used over the four games, I would say Luiz Gustavo has been the only adequate performer so far. Behind Gustavo and Fernandinho in the pecking order they essentially have two lesser versions of the same player. Scolari clearly sets his team up to bypass the middle three, and I can only assume this is because he believes (mistakenly I think) that his front four are good enough to see them right. I suppose to be fair he probably envisaged Diego Costa wearing the number nine shirt when he took the job, but there's still such a lack of flexibility throughout the squad and their ‘Plan A’ simply isn't good enough for it not to be an issue.

Do you think France will win tonight? I'm still unsure as to who I want to advance onto the next stage.

I'm hoping for a cracker from this one, wouldn't mind seeing Nigeria sneak it. Having racked up eight goals in their first two games, expectations will be higher now for France, but you wonder whether they could be caught napping a bit after going through the motions against Ecuador. The 30c heat might prove to be something of a leveller too.

ORANJE

Yeahhhh ORANJE did so wel, we won all games so far hope we made it too the finale and be world champion 4years ago we were second....so fingers crossed !! Btw now France is playing also fingers crossed but they will probably win from Nigeria !

^I have to say I want Nigeria to win so bad. And Algeria tonight. I always root for the underdogs.

The game wasn't as interesting as I expected it to be until sometime mid through the second half. Lots of wrong passes between the French players but then they had some amazing shots and all of the caught by the goal keeper.

Also, France's 1st goal was a result from the Nigerian goal keeper's mistake. He should have stayed and guarded his goal instead of going all the way near the penalty kick. I bet if he had stayed, he would have caught the shot that turned into a goal.

France's second goal was thanks to the knee of the Nigerian, so it was an own goal.

 

Basically, both goals were not impressive and were handed to them by the other team. I'm happy France continues of course, all Euro teams are welcomed to advance and in the end it's all about the final score, but somehow it wasn't well deserved. 

 

 

^

 

Enjoyed France and Nigeria. Plenty of action, especially in the first half. If it wasn't for bad luck, you suspect the Nigerians would have no luck at all. A marginal offside decision goes against them for the disallowed goal, Matuidi commits what was arguably the worst challenge of the tournament on Onazi in full view of the referee, then Enyeama, who almost single-handedly kept them in the game towards the end, drops a rudimentary clanger that effectively dumps them out of the tournament. Such is the life of a goalie. Very strong finish by France, although they looked decidedly average before Deschamps introduced Griezmann.

Not happy for Germany neither France,Algeria and Nigeria deserved more,very impressed by the Algerians performance.

Compelling stuff again. Algeria deserve every plaudit going for pushing Germany to the limit. They wasted good chances by executing their final passes poorly and shooting from oblique angles, but they looked superb on the counter at times. As for the Germans, it's hard not to admire their resilience in the face of adversity. I can't recall seeing a sweeper/keeper performance as good as the one turned in by Manuel Neuer tonight. Not only is he better in goal than Joe Hart, he’s a better defender than Gary Cahill. Probably even a better striker than Wayne Rooney.

Muller's pre-planned stumble/dummy (stummy?) for the free kick was something else, absolutely hilarious. If it was Robben he'd have been rolling around in mock agony afterwards.

Sad to see Mexico and Chile go, IMO both deserved to win instead of Holland and Brasil, Robben is a an idiot and I hope Holland gets eliminated in the next round even tho I doubt it because they will have an edge over the exhausted Costa Rica players. Brasil i think, it's out, no way in hell they can beat Colombia ... I say Colombia is a strong contender to make it to the final.

 

WTF at Germany o.O I thought they had this in the bag but Algeria was actually pretty damn close to beat them. It ain't looking good for Germany, that match against France should be an interesting one.

 

 

Argentina is playing tomorrow!! I hope we can beat Switzerland smoothly and go to the next round ... It seems already like my love Lavezzi will be in the initial 11 which makes me happy, I think he + Messi are one hell of a duo.

Cmon guys, I'm tired of reading all this 'diving' comments about Robben online. It was a penalty, fair and square.

Friday 07/04/2014, RIO, Brazil.

 

France - Germany

 

:dance:

Ouch! Chile's Mauricio Pinilla gets a tattoo of his last-minute shot against Brazil hitting the bar.

 

Cmon guys, I'm tired of reading all this 'diving' comments about Robben online. It was a penalty, fair and square.

 

As disheartening as it was seeing Robben flop about like a freshly caught salmon, the referee would have made the same call at least nine times out of ten, even with the advantage of video evidence. I was sad for Marquez because he had a superb tournament, but his reaction afterwards said it all. Despite the pointlessness of remonstrating with officials, you don't see players meekly accepting decisions like that unless they know they've done something wrong.

The Argentina vs Switzerland game left me breathless!!!

 

All I can say is Bravo to the Swiss!!! They fought so hard untill the end!!!!

 

I couldn't believe they hit the bar, I was like Nooooooooooooooooooo, their goal keeper deserves a gold medal for all the shots that he saved, and he fought like a lion in the end, coming to support at the other goal.

 

I am really so sad that the Swiss are going home. For a change it would have been nice to to see Messi and his team go home and the Swiss continue.

 

I think this was Swtizerland's best ever performance at a WC! They so deserved to stay :(