Whether we believe in the crystal ball approach to predicting winners of the four quarterfinal matches in the World Cup or not, much of what is expected will confuse even this historically popular gadget which is well known for looking into the future.
The normal way of assessing football matches will also be difficult to reach a very definitive result.
So let us go with the teams based upon their performances in the first four matches. The two European powerhouses, Germany and France, could have brought out the best in them.
Here were two teams, filled with the magical formula of experienced players, being rather constant in their early matches but maybe not at the level which their fans expected.
The Frenchmen were not faced with any team in the group which was gifted enough to provide strength both in defence and attack. Switzerland may wish to differ as they tried to take the battle to their opponents but were unable to find any areas of vulnerability. Their most challenging opponent was Nigeria, a team with much better organisational competence and with an urge to be positive and aggressive when they approached the French goal. This encouraged some midfield conflict through some tough tackles, some robust and with illegality. I understood the referee being somewhat confused, because of the number of occasions which he had to make a judgement call, some of which appeared to be sort of the correct assessment.
While the French looked superior in terms of finesse and creativity in midfield, they were faced with the swift movement of the Nigerians, which often appeared to have offered the odd chance at goal.
If anything benefitted France in that game, it was the stern competition which Nigeria brought to the game and the opportunity to recognise the deficiencies which needed to be corrected. Admittedly, the general quality of France did not lend a strong thought towards being moving ahead. They will need to look deeply in their attacking players to seep through a defense which has been marshalled by Merte Sacke, with good communication skills among Mats Hummels, Benedikt Howedes and Jerome Boateng.
Can the French swing the quality of penetration of Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud, and the youthful Paul Pogba into some potency which will send Germany home. Honestly, I would have doubted this comfortably, but after seeing their two moderate performances against Ghana and Algeria, this game may well go to the wire for a result. I still give Germany the edge.
Brazil and Columbia will travel to Fortaleza to battle for the semifinal place. Having seen some areas of improvement by the Brasilians following a very tough group, and a sturdy display of good football against Chile, the team seems to be heading for the final after seeing their first round matches.
Columbia will produce the picture of their top Technocrat Jose Pekerman, the former Argentina coach of Germany, and the strategy which is given them could lead to a good performance. having actually seen the Brasilians at practice, it would not surprised me if some essential changes are made.
Fred and Hulk have been given many chances and the returned insufficient attacking flair, and while Luis Scolari may still go with Hulk, I believe that the introduction of Oscar working with Neymar and a midfield packed with Paulinho, Ramires, Willian Borges da Silva and a deeplying Fernandinho, could bring the result to take the host into the semifinals. But, can I humbly suggest that they pay close attention to Frank Rodriguez, a striker who seems heading for the winner of the individual prizes.
Argentina and Belgium are well matched with the ingredients of going for an open type of game. The Belgians were so much better than the USA, they were able to test their fire power against Tim Howard, easily the best goalkeeper in the tournament so far. Argentina were not quite as effective against Switzerland in attack, but they still had the higher percentage of possession. The defence line lead by aPablo Zabaleta and Javier Mascherano have shown stability while the difference between the two teams will be Lionel Messi and Angel di Maria against Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaka. This one will not surprise me if they go to the penalty spot for a result.
Many believe that Costa Rica does not have the class to beat the Netherlands. I humbly disagree and although Joel Campbell looked jaded at the end of his last encounter, I am banking on Christian Bolantes and himself to make the Dutch defence bring a few midfielders deep infield in order to gain possession.
Already we have seen Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder retreating more than they should, Costa Rica may force that type of defensive play before sending Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie on their attacking mode. These two dutchmen need to have opponents who will understand that they like traveling from the right side across the centre towards the middle of the goal for their shots. Mexico provided the method to be used and maybe Costa Rica will follow. However, Holland may just have the edge, experience wise and I expect them to stop the brilliant run of Costa Rica.
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