Hello everyone.
After a two-day break football has returned yesterday, as Germany played France and later on Brazil took on Colombia.
All eyes were trained on the first game, but it turned out to be boring. Whether it was the heat, or France inability to conjure anything up front is open to debate, however the Blues never really threatened and Germany deservedly came out on top after 90 minutes. Hummels powered a header past Lloris following a free-kick (another brilliant ball into the box from Kroos) and that was all it took to defeat Deschamps' side.
They never really found any rhythm or fluidity to their game and, every time France tried to speed things up, mistakes ensued. The Blues tried channelling the play through Valbuena, Griezmann and Benzema, but those three were effectively isolated by a capable German defence and only the latter had a couple of decent opprtunities to equalise. Neuer was, however, impenetrable.
Die Mannschaft could probably have added another, but Muller was unable to make a proper contact with the ball after Ozil split France's defence wide open. Schurrle, who didn't expect for the ball to end up at his feet, hit it straight at Lloris. In the end it finished 1-0 for Germany and they will challenge the hosts to play in the final.
Brazil, meanwhile, sent a very capable Colombian side packing. They have opened the scoring in the 7th minute already after Silva was left alone in the box and so the captain only needed to poke the ball home from close range.
Brazil continued attacking dangerously, and Ospina had to make some very good saves from Hulk to prevent Brazil from going 2-0 up.
Colombia responded well, in my opinion, and some fancy footwork from Rodriguez and Quadrado could have brought Peckerman's side back level, but Quadrado messed up the final ball.
The second half was made up of endless fouls. The ref was reluctant to show yellow cards, however, and so the fouls got nastier and nastier. Rodriquez was kicked all over the pitch, Luiz wreaked havoc everywhere and one particularly gruesome knee-in-the-back hit from Zunga ended Neymar's tournament.
On a purely human level, you can't help but feel sorry for him. Neymar is obviously a very talented player, the one to hold together Brazil's game during this tournament and, realistically speaking, his injury probably ended Brazil's hopes of winning. However, this injury looks carmic to me. Neymar, for all his talents, is just too big a diver (almost like Robben) and getting an injury may remind him of fair play rules. It's harsh on him and Brazil, I know, but it also seems fair. Don't cry "wolf" all that often.
Scolari's side will now have to take on Germany without Neymar and Silva (suspended) and that won't be pretty. I think third place is best Brazil can hope for under these circumstances.
There also was a fair bit of football involved during this second half. Luiz scored with a marvellous shot around the 70th minute to end Colombia's hopes of going through.
However, Peckerman's side has nearly turned the tables, with first Yepes scoring (from an offside position) and then Rodriguez finally pulling one back from a penalty spot. It wasn't meant to be, however. An utterly inconvincing and depleted Brazil is through.
As for Arsenal, we seem on course to fill the hole left by Sagna with Debuchy. L'equipe reports Debuchy will join Arsenal right after the World Cup, for a transfer fee around £8 million. I have to say, it's a good piece of business we've done. For such a meagre sum, we're getting ourselves an experienced full-back, who has some good years in front of him (Debuchy will turn 29 this July) and, interestingly enough, he's first-choice in France's national team. I've seen him play quite a lot during this tournament and, while he may seem a bit inferior to Sagna when it comes to actual defending, he's much better going forward. And all of this at a price of £8 million. For those of you still thinking we are wrong to choose this guy over Aurier, check this out. It's worth your time.
Today it's Belgium vs Argentine and later on Holland vs Costa-Rica. I'm all for Marc Wilmots and Jorge Pinto, as I'm dead tired of Argentine scraping through thanks to Messi only and Holland for their cheaty ways. Besides, how can you support a team with Robben and van Persie in it?
That's it for today, back tomorrow
Until then
After a two-day break football has returned yesterday, as Germany played France and later on Brazil took on Colombia.
All eyes were trained on the first game, but it turned out to be boring. Whether it was the heat, or France inability to conjure anything up front is open to debate, however the Blues never really threatened and Germany deservedly came out on top after 90 minutes. Hummels powered a header past Lloris following a free-kick (another brilliant ball into the box from Kroos) and that was all it took to defeat Deschamps' side.
They never really found any rhythm or fluidity to their game and, every time France tried to speed things up, mistakes ensued. The Blues tried channelling the play through Valbuena, Griezmann and Benzema, but those three were effectively isolated by a capable German defence and only the latter had a couple of decent opprtunities to equalise. Neuer was, however, impenetrable.
Die Mannschaft could probably have added another, but Muller was unable to make a proper contact with the ball after Ozil split France's defence wide open. Schurrle, who didn't expect for the ball to end up at his feet, hit it straight at Lloris. In the end it finished 1-0 for Germany and they will challenge the hosts to play in the final.
Brazil, meanwhile, sent a very capable Colombian side packing. They have opened the scoring in the 7th minute already after Silva was left alone in the box and so the captain only needed to poke the ball home from close range.
Brazil continued attacking dangerously, and Ospina had to make some very good saves from Hulk to prevent Brazil from going 2-0 up.
Colombia responded well, in my opinion, and some fancy footwork from Rodriguez and Quadrado could have brought Peckerman's side back level, but Quadrado messed up the final ball.
The second half was made up of endless fouls. The ref was reluctant to show yellow cards, however, and so the fouls got nastier and nastier. Rodriquez was kicked all over the pitch, Luiz wreaked havoc everywhere and one particularly gruesome knee-in-the-back hit from Zunga ended Neymar's tournament.
On a purely human level, you can't help but feel sorry for him. Neymar is obviously a very talented player, the one to hold together Brazil's game during this tournament and, realistically speaking, his injury probably ended Brazil's hopes of winning. However, this injury looks carmic to me. Neymar, for all his talents, is just too big a diver (almost like Robben) and getting an injury may remind him of fair play rules. It's harsh on him and Brazil, I know, but it also seems fair. Don't cry "wolf" all that often.
Scolari's side will now have to take on Germany without Neymar and Silva (suspended) and that won't be pretty. I think third place is best Brazil can hope for under these circumstances.
There also was a fair bit of football involved during this second half. Luiz scored with a marvellous shot around the 70th minute to end Colombia's hopes of going through.
However, Peckerman's side has nearly turned the tables, with first Yepes scoring (from an offside position) and then Rodriguez finally pulling one back from a penalty spot. It wasn't meant to be, however. An utterly inconvincing and depleted Brazil is through.
As for Arsenal, we seem on course to fill the hole left by Sagna with Debuchy. L'equipe reports Debuchy will join Arsenal right after the World Cup, for a transfer fee around £8 million. I have to say, it's a good piece of business we've done. For such a meagre sum, we're getting ourselves an experienced full-back, who has some good years in front of him (Debuchy will turn 29 this July) and, interestingly enough, he's first-choice in France's national team. I've seen him play quite a lot during this tournament and, while he may seem a bit inferior to Sagna when it comes to actual defending, he's much better going forward. And all of this at a price of £8 million. For those of you still thinking we are wrong to choose this guy over Aurier, check this out. It's worth your time.
Today it's Belgium vs Argentine and later on Holland vs Costa-Rica. I'm all for Marc Wilmots and Jorge Pinto, as I'm dead tired of Argentine scraping through thanks to Messi only and Holland for their cheaty ways. Besides, how can you support a team with Robben and van Persie in it?
That's it for today, back tomorrow
Until then
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