I would say Cakir will make the semis but definitely not the final, my candidates for the final match are either Kuipers, Rizzoli, Webb or Williams. I don't see an African officiating any matches, except maybe for Doue.

Finally we have soccer again! Germany-France about to start.

France vs Germany is underway.

At 12', Germany scores!

France 0-1 Germany

At halftime,

France 0-1 Germany

The second half is underway.

At 77',

France 0-1 Germany

Garmany beats France 1-0 and is the first semi-finalist.

At 7!, Brazil scores!

Brazil 1-0 Colombia

Happy Birthday Lpez!

Some great football today.

Thank you!


At 70', what a goal by David Luiz!

Brazil 2-0 Colombia

Happy Bday Lpez!

Brazil won, but I don't have a good feeling about them winning any more...with Neymar out with a broken vertebrae in his back...ouch! The hit looked brutal, but not brutal enough to break something. What a loss for Brazil.

Really pleased that Germany got through, I've enjoyed watching them ever since 2006 and it would be nice if they got their reward. I did think France were going to cause them a problem but it turned out that they just didn't have it in them.

The match I watched yesterday though was the Brazil game. Brazil are totally caught up in the emotion of their home World Cup and it seems to be giving them something extra in terms of spirit. They are a mess though, luckily for them Colombia got caught up in it yesterday and got involved in a very fractured and ridiculously quick game. The Germans will not be so obliging. Pleased that Rodriguez got another goal to try to hold on to the golden boot.

Brazil need to be more organised to beat Germany, but they can do it especially with the crowd behind them.

Agreee Nasty, on their own park, in front of their own fans, when looking for a probable winner, it is hard to see past Brazil.

CRC 0-0 NED and we have penalties!

Well the Semis will be as I predicted on previous page.........still reckon on a Brazil v Holland final.

Belgium were just as limited as I expected, so much for the media building up their so-called golden generation. Great strike from Higuain, they must make the final.

What a game in the second semi. Another fantastic game served up by this World Cup. A typical attack versus defence match but with a twist, the defence came alive during extra time while the dutch were piling forward. This game built and built and is exactly the type of game I was talking about earlier in the tournament. I'm sure some were thinking how dull the game was in normal time but I love to see the action build as defenders gain more confidence from successes and strikers start to doubt whether they can succeed. Navas beaten more than once but the woodwork being hit instead. I loved this game! Then the twist in the tail, the introduction of Krul to face penalties. Had Van Gaal noticed how confident the Costa Ricans had been at penalties in the previous game and decided to out psych them? It seemed to work and the Dutch took four unsave-able penalties.

Holland vs Argentina could be the game of the tournament.

It was quite a game, Nasty-liar, wasn't it. This whole Cup has been the most interesting in my memory, with lots of firsts and surprising results.

It certainly is interesting. This World Cup has the distinction in my mind as being one that has had so many exciting and incredible games and some great individual moments from the tournaments big stars. But it has shown the lack of any quality teams around he world right now. I don't think any of the teams left would have beaten any previous champions in my memory. The standard is generally quite low but that seems to have made for an excellent spectacle.

Hope the semi finals are good.

Heh heh ...nice to see someone finally feeling something akin to what I wrote 5 days back (see post #1051113 on previous page) ... But I somehow don't think the quality of football has been any great shakes after the first round. Not actually looking at number of goals scored alone, but in this very World Cup, I can recount at least 8 matches that have been really good and exciting to watch.

Netherlands-Spain, France-Switzerland, Germany-Portugal, Germany-Ghana, Australia-Netherlands, Argentina-Nigeria, USA-Portugal, Netherlands-Mexico

Any other match I missed?

I remember your comment from a few days ago and I wanted to wait and see whether the hosts, Argentina or Germany turned the style on in the quarter finals before agreeing. It's true though.

Well, I'm finally back, and with important news!

At 11, Germany scores!

Germany 1-0 Brazil

Mexican Marco Rodriguez is officiating the match.

Extraordinary: 3-0!

Was about to say the same thing!

4-0!!