The Queens of the Quarter Finals

And so it came to pass, after the quick fire round of 16 the last eight teams stood toe to toe. It pitted continent against continent. There were footballing superpowers and surprises amongst them. The potential for tension was awesome.

We started with the Netherlands against Brazil. Two legendary heavyweights, the inventors of Total Football against the kings of Samba Futebol, something had to give. The South Americans were the favourites, but had taken a while to engage their powers against the North Koreans and then showed a distinctly uninspired effort against Portugal. Despite that they still had the silky skills of Robinho and Kaka to call on while relying on the assuredness of Lucio and Juan at the back. Meanwhile the men in orange had so far swept all before them with solid play and the occasional flash of brilliance, combining Marc van Bommel with Wesley Sneijder had proven jolly effective. The teams had some awfully tight recent history too. There was the excellent quarter final of 1994 where five second half goals resulted in Brazil edging through 3-2 followed by a tense affair in the semis of '98 when Brazil snuck through on penalties.

The stage was set for an epic and I was enthralled from start to finish. The Brazilians took an early lead via young Robinho and then proceeded to dominate the first half, Stekelenburg in the Dutch goal earnt his stripes, in particular with saves from Maicon and Kaka. Then just eight minutes into the second half the tables turned back as Julio Cesar of Inter Milan, touted as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, completely missed a Sneijder free kick after colliding with team mate Felipe Melo. Now the match was evenly poised, both teams had a clear threat in attack but retained an admirable toughness in defence. As the pendulum swung it was the Netherlands who proved the smarter, Robben whipped in another cross on 68', the industrious Kuyt flicked it on and the wee man Sneijder got his head on it. The incident level did not drop, the five time champions threw everything they had into it, Melo even put his leg through Robbens which resulted in a red card and still there were chances to score at both ends. This match was all I hoped it would be, a dramatic affair with quality football in the style of their previous encounters but this time the Dutch triumphed and their steam train gathered speed.

The Netherlands 2 v Brazil 1

The second of the quarters featured two teams few would have predicted to be at this stage. Ghana carried the weight of a continent on their shoulders while Uruguay were rediscovering their World Cup form after several tournaments in the shadows. The Black Stars had proven themselves talented by reaching the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations final and resilient having qualified from the group stages despite only scoring two goals, both penalties. The winners of the first ever World Cup, Uruguay, had only got to the finals courtesy of a play off win against Costa Rica however had shown plenty of forward momentum in seeing off South Africa while standing firm against the French and Mexicans. For either of them the semi finals would be an incredible achievement.

It turned out to be another tense affair with chances at both ends as two evenly matched sides went head to head. Ghana took the lead with a spectacular Sulley Muntari goal in the second minute of first half injury time, his 40 yard hit took everyone by surprise. The Uruguyans hit back ten minutes after half time with an excellent Diego Forlan free-kick, the blond with the hairband was continuing the great form he had demonstrated with Atletico Madrid and making Alex Ferguson look a fool, which was nice. The second half was livelier than the first as opportunities were missed, bookings handed out and men chucked themselves in front of the ball. As extra time wore on the Ghanaians were in the ascendency, their opposition tired and the ball got closer to creeping in. In the dying seconds the ball was headed in thanks to Adiyah, only for Suarez to block it with his hands. A red card and penalty followed, the latter missed by Gyan and the former celebrated by the South Americans as they cruised through the shoot out thanks to the most cynical of cheating which had provided the most dramatic of conclusions. It certainly had me on the edge of my seat but alas, the final African team were out and their adventure over.

Ghana 1 v Uruguay 1, aet, Uruguay win 4-2 on penalties

The following day and we started with another European v South American clash of the titans. Germany v Argentina, both had been scoring freely in their first four games, both had attracted media attention thanks to the men on the sidelines and both have an enviable World Cup pedigree. Indeed pre tournament neither side had been given much of a shout, the Germans were lacking in stars and considered a team in transition while the Argentines had plenty of incredible players but a manager who appeared to be lacking in tactical awareness. Those criticisms had been proven definitively wrong by results and performances, this was shaping up to be a classic.

It turned out to be a game full of goals, but they all went one way. Muller scored within 3 minutes and it ding donged for the next hour before Klose got the second and the Germans added another two in the last fifteen minutes to add a sheen to the victory. The three time champions over ran the two time champions with a breathtaking display of clinical finishing and speedy counter attack which had been so effective against England. Although Argentina had shots they failed to impose themselves. In particular the superstar Messi was shackled by the mighty Schweinsteiger and Mascherano missed the support of Veron. The game demonstrated that the bearded Maradona did indeed have a lack of understanding when up against it while also serving notice that the Germans had the potential to knock four past two former World Cup winners.

Germany 4 v Argentina 0

Finally European Champions Spain had a relatively easy looking match against Paraguay who had only won one of their first four matches having drawn with Italy and New Zealand and knocked Japan out on penalties. On paper the Europeans had a spectacular team but had failed to light the red touchpaper quite yet. Their passing game was as excellent as expected but the lack of a cutting edge might cost them dear against a feisty South American team, the performance against Slovakia had shown a decent attacking verve with the ability to score when necessary.

In the end the game was the most disappointing of the quarters. It was cagey stuff that had its moments, a missed penalty each around the hour mark meant both sides had at least one golden chance. Indeed Paraguay felt aggrieved by a disallowed goal in the first half when Valdez, the scorer was onside but his strike partner Cardozo appeared offside. However ultimately Spain's superior skills told the story, albeit only just. An 82' goal from David Villa, his fifth of the tournament, was enough as it rolled off the post and in. They'd failed to be as amazing as they could be but a third consecutive single goal win was enough. Whether it would be against the attacking potency of the Germans made for a potentially intriguing semi.

Spain 1 v Paraguay 0