I started Friday thinking it was a bit of a shame that the Dutch would probably go out at the quarter finals. Yet first they beat Brazil, and now this.
And to think there was some cretin on the box a week or go saying that England were sure to win because very few German players could even get into the England side.
It would still be kind of funny if Uruguay ended up winning though.
Well, about halfway through the second half of England-Germany, I thought: These guys are going to win the World Cup. They looked even better against Argentina.
Kinda embarrassing that they're using exactly the same formation England did in the qualifiers before going back to good ol' straight up the middle.
Posted by: Alex | July 04, 2010 at 01:07 PM
No Mueller in the semi, though. Spain aren't playing as they can (it can't help that Torres is obvously crocked, not to mention Fabregas) but they still don't give the other side many chances. Interestingly - and perhaps because of Mueller's absence - the betting markets still have Spain as slight favourites for that match and indeed for the tournament.
Posted by: ejh | July 04, 2010 at 01:27 PM
I think in terms of their players the Dutch have the worst group that I can remember (going back to Euro 1988). With players such as Kuyt, De Jong and Heitinga they're clearly far from Total Football. On the other hand, their star teams of the past 20 years were often a bit suspect in terms of temperament, 1990 and 1996 coming to mind, and a well-organised side can win the World Cup without being the best team.
I'd love Uruguay to do it, but they look like they're running out of steam a bit, and they'll miss Suarez in the semi.
Posted by: Igor Belanov | July 05, 2010 at 11:18 AM