World Cup Update - 4 games left!

As expected, the level of intensity was cranked up a notch for the quarter final stages. Tournament favorites, Brazil, showed that you need to be able to defend against good teams...by not marking the shortest man on the field at a set play and letting him score with his head and suffering an unexpected lost to a talented Holland side! Congratulations to the Dutch for a great performance. Same goes to the Germans, who annihilated the Argentinian defence, and ran out easy 4-0 winners. It was like watching a hot knife ease through butter! We also need to thank the Argies for making England's performance in the previous round look a LOT better, and for not starting a punch-up at the end of the game! The 2 other ties provided the most edge of the seat action, with Spain and Paraguay trading saved penalties before Spain wrapped up a semi-final place with a goal that hit the post 3 TIMES on the way to the net! The most amazing game had to be the Uruguay-Ghana match, with all of Africa pinning it's hopes on a talented Ghanaian side. Tied at the end of regulation 1-1, the extra time built to a frantic crescendo, with Uruguay's star forward acting as goalkeeper in the dying seconds to deny Ghana a goal. With the last kick of the game to be a penalty, the Ghana striker missed, hitting the bar! The ensuing penalty shootout saw the striker redeem himself, only to see 2 countrymen miss and his team go out on penalty kicks, capped by one of the coolest penalty kicks you will ever see under pressure. Possibly one of the cruelest twists in a teams fortunes I have seen. At least the Ghanaian team arrived home to a heroes welcome despite their loss. After the so-called South American dominance, it is the European teams that have shown the better lasting power, leaving Uruguay to fly the Latin flag. The sensible money now has to be on the young German team, although both Spain and Holland will have something to say about that. If you want to root for someone, root for the Dutch...great team to watch and they are LONG overdue a World Cup trophy.....