It’s been a fantastic world cup so far, full of drama and exciting soccer. But the best is yet to come. Through the group stage and the first two rounds of the playoff bracket, four prominent soccer nations are left standing: Hometown Brazil and bitter archrival Argentina, along with European powerhouses Germany and the Netherlands. This is ultimately a battle between South American and European soccer.
Brazil will face Germany in the first semi-final on July 8th while Argentina takes on the Netherlands in the second match on July 9th. Both of these games will be absolute nail-biters. The winners will move on to the final on July 13th while the losers will play for third place on the 12th.
With these teams in the mix, it is very difficult to predict who will make it to the final. Let’s start by taking a look at the Argentina-Netherlands matchup. The Netherlands faced surprise-of-the-tournament Costa Rica in their quarterfinal. Though they dominated possession and carried the play, they were unable to score in regulation and in extra time to send the game into a penalty shootout. Without their late keeper substitution of shootout specialist Tim Krul, the game could have gone either way. They will need to make the most of their chances in regulation in order to beat Argentina, a significantly more experienced and better team.
Like the Netherlands, Argentina has surprisingly been having a more difficult time scoring goals then we would ever have expected. They edged out Belgium 1-0 in their quarterfinal, and won their round-of-16 match against Switzerland by the same score. With phenoms Lionel Messi and Angel di Maria among others, Argentina better smarten up if they’re going beat the Netherlands in regulation or in extra time.
As for the Brazil-Germany game, it seems like it would be better if this were the final instead of the semi-final. It’s such a shame that one of these two will be eliminated, particularly given the relatively sloppy play of Argentina and the Netherlands of late. Nevertheless, such is the nature of world cup soccer.
Germany took out France in their quarterfinal 1-0. France nearly tied it up on several occasions, but just could not pull the trigger. The Germans could probably have won this one by a wider margin if it weren’t for the phenomenal play of French keeper and captain Hugo Lloris. Make no mistake about it, they will come out hungry this Tuesday having already taken a trip to the third-place match four years ago.
Hometown favourites Brazil will undoubtedly be feeling the pressure to win. Germany is the toughest opposition they will have faced thus far at this tournament, so this will be a true test of how good this team really is. After a nerve-wracking penalty shootout win in their round-of-16 matchup against Chile, they looked substantially better against fellow South American soccer country Columbia. It should be noted that fan-favourite striker Neymar is out for the rest of the World Cup after suffering a fractured vertebra in the 86th minute against Columbia. Brazil will be fired up to win this one, not only for the fans but for their superstar—but at the end of the day it will come down to whether or not they can do it without him.
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