I believe this to be brilliantly prescient. 
I very much doubt that scenario, but I sure would love it. 
Unfortunately, the random draw of the brackets has screwed us out of watching the four best teams go at it in the semifinals: Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and Germany.
Germany v. Argentina is definitely the match of the weekend (and possibly the tournament). Sadly, I think the German offensive attack will be too much for the Argentine defense, but look for an epic game.
Kudos for Uruguay, Ghana and Paraguay getting so far, but they are clearly outclassed at this level (lucky for them, Uruguay will probably get to the semifinals over Ghana).
So, it’s Brazil in the final against either Spain or Germany. I’ll take Germany over Brazil in a 2002 rematch, with once again the beautiful game (Germany 2010) over stodgy football (Brazil 2010).
I’m not convinced of this, yet. But I certainly hope to see some competitive matches!
They aren’t the best four remaining teams, according to FIFA rankings (I know, I know).
Looking forward to the Brazil/Netherlands match today. Should be good. Brazil look very strong. The Netherlands have a job of work to do today.
I’ll be hoping that the clogheads prevail.
I’m getting really quite nervous … If we make it to the semis (and then the finals :eek:) it’ll kill me! Still, I think we can pull it off! Go Oranje! Hup Holland Hup!
I’d love to be in A’dam today. The atmosphere must be great. Are there screens in Vondelpark and other public areas?
I’m not sure if there are screens there, because, thankfully, I’m not from Amsterdam. But the atmosphere is pretty awesome, lots of fraternizing with random strangers. I’m glad I came back for the world cup (I live in Canada but decided to align my visit back home with the World Cup). Most people do watch the match together (in a bar or at home) but authorities generally don’t want screens, they’re reluctant to gather large crowds because of riots 
Not in the Vondelpark, but there is a screen on the Museumplein. I’ll be watching in a pub in the Hague though…can’t stand the waiting!! Nervous as hell.
Appearantly more than 50% of people have taken (part of) the day off and we are having one of the earliest evening rush hours ever 
One more thing: GO ORANJE!!
Nice big area in Museumplein. I used to live just beside it on Koninginneweg. Wish I was there now.
Im calm, I am calm, I am fucking calm…
Only 1 day, 1 hour, 12 Minutes and 55 seconds for Argentina - Germany.
calm calm calm calm calm calm…
My patriotic self was cheering you on while reading your .. prediction, my mind, however, was rolling its eyes at me.
Sigh. From now on, Germany is dealing with superior teams; Erdosain’s observation that our offence could be too much for Argentina’s defence might be true – but the same applies vice versa. Yes, our offence is a good one and pretty entertaining to watch but they are not on par with Higuain, Tevez and Messi. These three combine everything an offence needs: power, will, accuracy, skills and genius. There is no better offence in South Africa than these three mosqueteros. Consider this: Argentina can afford to waste Sergio Agüero and Diego Milito on the bench! Ha.
If we compare the offence and ignore for a moment the respective tactical shapes, the advantage is clearly with Argentina.
So, what about the defence? Is ours got enough and theirs bad enough to make things equal?
Well, I think our former number 3 or 4, Manuel Neuer, is the better keeper and it’s an advantage that England made it hard for him: if past experiences are any indication, he is finally “in” the game and might get his fingers on an unsaveable or two. He is also very aware of any counterattack opportunity and quite capable of launching one of them with his powerful throws or precise goal kicks – which is precisely what Argentina’s relatively slow defence won’t like.
Segio Romero is a very good keeper, but, so far, he wasn’t challenged much and he has shown a tendency to spill the ball into the middle of the box; if we finally do something useful with corner kicks and free kicks (yeah, right), this could prove to be a fatal habit.
The full-backs are a mixed bag for both sides: Boateng is talented but he doesn’t seem to get into the tournament, Gabriel Heinze is still a great player but beyond his zenith and not as quick anymore as he used to be. Phillip Lahm is by far better than either Heinze or Otamendi; a lot will depend on his ability to exploit his advantages in cooperation with Müller; if he is willing to risk an offensive approach, he will force the offensive midfield of Argentina (that is quite probably shifted to his side anyway) away from our half, which would be a serious plus.
But we can’t afford another mediocre performance by Phillip as shown against England. And Müller has to do the more and more unlikely for such a young player and repeat his gala display from previous matches once again. It’s very unusual that a player who booted the ball a year ago against village teams is able to show so many good performances over such a long time; every game I expect him to finally slump down but I hope very much, it won’t happen for another three matches.
Surprisingly, Germany has a very slight advantage in the centre-back position due to Arne Friedrich’s unexpected strong performance – of course, the advantage turns towards Argentina if Samuel is going to play. Mertesacker has improved a bit but he is still a liability; Martin Demichelis has had some very good scenes but has also shown his well-known moments of madness. If he does us the favour and repeat one of them .. But maybe he will stack them from now on and delight us Bayern Munich fans with a geyser of them during the next season. Argh.
In the midfield, it all depends on Maradona’s tactical shape; Khedira is not (yet) on Mascherano’s level while Schweinsteiger has surpassed Veron.
So, the tactical shape. The 4-4-2 hasn’t worked well so far against Germany’s fluid 4-2-3-1; every team that couldn’t contain Özil has payed for it and usually a replica of Germany’s positional play against England should give us an advantage – but Argentina had time to counter this. One possibility is a slightly shifted defensive midfield to our strong right wing to restrict Müller’s and Lahm’s mobility and cut them off from Klose and Özil. Mascherano will certainly have an eye on that.
It depends then on our left wing, aka Podolski, to use the relative freedom to send the ball towards the goal as often as possible to force a re-arrangement of Argentina’s shape. And though Podolski isn’t strong with the ball at his feet, Otamendi could be limited enough to get into trouble without help. Unfortunately, Boateng won’t have any reason to be confident enough to join his partner in attack and force Argentina’s offensive midfield back and to our left/their right which would open the closed space in the middle to allow some of Khedira’s runs.
Now more than ever would it be useful if we could substitute our disconnected left wing with a more balanced one; The already mentioned duo of Dennis Aogo and Marcel Jansen could be a dangerous mismatch for Argentina’s weak side – but I think, it’s too late in the tournament to try something that risky. Though I wouldn’t mind to see either Jansen or Marin later in the match: Jansen could provide the passing quality and added defensive stability to help us hold or even the score, while Marin’s qualities as a dribbler and penetrator could very well lead to a penalty against tiring defenders.
All right, this sounded a bit optimistic, I’ve pretty much ignored everything that speaks against us. But I think we cannot win this one if we don’t attack and force Argentina into mistakes. They are, all things considered, better than we are, and while an offensive approach might very well lead us towards a crushing defeat, it gives us at least a chance. And I’d rather go down fighting than suffering a close defeat after a timid showing.
The players are better ready to rumble.
Yeah, GO! I’d love to see Holland win, despite past spitting incidents ;).
Btw, I had more than a laugh during Oranje’s last match when Robben repeatedly expected van der Wiel to play exactly like his partner from Bayern, Lahm. More than once he gesticulated where he should have run to or when he should have blocked the way free for him .. Well, the cooperation with Snejder is at least still spot on. And their mutual understanding might make the difference today.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your guys.
Uh-oh, Brazil look rather good here. Big surprise, I suppose. 1-0.
Come on Cloggies!
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1-0 cool goal .
Early goal hopefully makes this game interesting.
Let’s go clogboys.
Brazil look very good though.
Clog have not been eating their vla … tut tut …Vla - Wikipedia
Was that atrocious defense, or what?
I’ve seen some short corners in my time, but that bizarre effort by Robben takes the biscuit. He nudged it out of the corner triangle and then just casually trotted away. Was he hoping that Brazil wouldn’t notice he had taken it?