The Scintillating Semi-Finals

What a feast to look forward to in the clashes of the final four teams in the tournament. The Netherlands were coming in as favourites against Uruguay and would look to extend a record 24 game unbeaten run. Uruguay however, had over achieved up to this point and surely that was down to graft, guile and no lack of team spirit when the chips were down. They shouldn't be written off, but I feel they lost the support of the neutral African crowd following the way they defeated Ghana and the Orange flags would surely be waved in an African nation that where there is, of course, history of Dutch involvement politically.
The other Semi-final matched the slick, if not firing on all cylinders, Spain against an impressive Germany side who would fancy their chances after scoring 4 goals in each of their previous knockout contests.

First up was Uruguay v The Netherlands and for almost 20 minutes it was a relatively slow and settled affair with the South Americans doing the job of stifling the Dutch midfield. Then a thunderbolt out of the blue came when just past the half way line - the veteran Holland captain Giovanni Van Bronckhurst for some reason decided to unleash an almighty drive that flew into the goal like an unstoppable bullet. Following this goal of the tournament contender Uruguay were stunned and then struggled to build themselves back into the game throughout the first-half. There was joy to be had though when the ever impressive Forlan put in another impressive strike to make the game level as the teams left the field.
Indeed following the restart it seemed that Uruguay were buoyed by their equalizer and were threatening to  control the rest of the game. The European team however had shown their resilience in the previous round fighting back against Brazil and they would again rally themselves here and it was no surprise that the men to put them back on track were Sneijder and Robben. The former had a fortuitous goal to break the deadlock when a deflected shot managed to find the net - but Robben's 3rd was all the more convincing when a fantastic cross was powered in off the post from the Bayern players head.
There was still time for Urugauy to put the Netherlands under pressure with a late goal from Pareira, but it was too late and it would be the Dutch taking their unbeaten run into a World Cup final.

Uruguay 2 v The Netherlands 3

We move on to the game that was so difficult to call that we all had to turn to marine life to point us in the right direction. No I'm not making this up,  Paul the psychic octopus had correctly predicted the winer in both of Germany's previous knockout round games and was now being thought of as something  of a prophet in his home country. Unfortunately for the German mollusc he had decided to back his teams rivals for this semi-final clash - not a great decision for an edible creature you might think.

The game itself was looking like a tense and tactical affair with Germany achieving their success thus far with a controlled counter attacking game and Spain playing a patient possession minded game where they would look to pass the ball around their opponents.  The game continued throughout the first half in this manor with the two teams tactics seeming to null the play from the other. The few chances that did arrive fell for the Spanish whose game-plan was at least a more attacking and attractive one. However, for all their flair and precision the European Champions did not seem to have the finishing touch in their locker to really blow a team away - probably due to the most notable poor form of one Fernando Torres.
The game progressed in this way and worrying looked as if it was drifting towards some extra time - or even penalties and we all know the differing fortunes of the Germans and Spanish there.
But in the 73rd minute an unlikely man stepped forward to be the Spanish match winner, Centre back Carles Puyol powered one of the most powerful headers I believe that I have or will ever see into the back of the German net. The Spanish were jubilant as they played out the game by passing the ball around and frustrating the Germans. The Germans were getting the seafood sauce ready and cursing that pesky Octopus.

Germany 0 v Spain 1

There would be a new name on the World Cup as Spain and The Netherlands would battle it out to win the cup for the first time.