Netherlands have made the World Cup final! Third time in their history; they only managed a best showing of 3rd in the heights of the Total Football era.
Spain has made the semi-finals for the first time with a creditable competition (they managed to be in the Top 4 in 1950 where only 13 teams participated). Incidentally, Uruguay won that edition, but this time round they are stopped at the semi-finals after a comparatively easy run of matches including South Korea and Ghana.
Compare this to Germany, who faced England and Argentina, winning both games by scoring 4 goals. Now they have Spain to contend with.
This year's World Cup seems to have proceeded extremely fast, without much positive drama. The only major positive note this time round is Germany's efficient performances coupled with some degree of flair and youthful exuberance.
Pre-tournament favourites Spain and Brazil have been far short of living up to expectations, with Brazil ousted by a Dutch comeback and Spain just sneaking past with Villa's goals and the midfield playmakers' reliability. Even Netherlands, with a scintillating lineup of attackers, have not translated their potential to convincing results.
Although the octopus predicts a Spain win (it got its 5 previous predictions for Germany all right), it should be an error like the only one it has made to date: Germany to defeat Spain in Euro 08. This time, the tables should be turned.
No comments:
Post a Comment