Winter is comming to an end...

The War is almost over and I want to take time to talk about the Quarter Final rounds, although really there isn't much to talk about... But a man's gotta rant, so here it is.

Germany - France
People have told me that it was a boring game. Well, to be honest, the quarter finals were kind of dull in comparison with last round; but really I do not think the game was boring because it was a game that was played cautiously in which Germany went to counter everything France threw at them. It wasn't spectacular, but they both played well. 6 shots on goal for Germany, 9 for France, 50%/50% ball possession - it was a good game. However, seems to me that Germany was not playing at 100%... Maybe it was the flu, maybe they were lousy, maybe they were saving strength. We'll see.

Argentina - Belgium
Another very even match. Argentina went ahead early on with a beautiful goal by Higuain, who really needed to score a goal, because come on... He was having a pretty shitty War. Belgium showed that they are not just lucky, they're good! And what's more, they're young. Next time they'll not only be a surprise, they'll be scary.

Netherlands - Costa Rica
Good thing Costa Rica lost. Seriously, I'm glad. I was tired of having to listen to people say that they deserve this or that... They didn't deserve to win. In the round of 16, goalkeepers shone like never before! 82 saves in 8 matches - Tim Howard alone kept the ball from going in 16 times! That's a record, btw. out of those 82, do you know how many saves belong to Karnezis? None. And how many saves do you think that the Netherlands Goalkeeper scored in the quarter finals? Lemme tell you: just one. You can't win a match like that, Costa Rica got what they deserved: a tie. They go home unbeaten, boys that's something to be proud of, but van Gaal and his boys are the one that deserve to be on the next round.

Brazil - Colombia
I really didn't wanted to talk about this but... I just can't keep my mouth shut. Yes, the ref have sucked and everyone has been affected by them, but the amount of times that the referees have favoured Brazil is so high that it has stopped to seem like a coincidence, and is starting to look like a conspiracy of sorts. Since the start of the match Fernandinho was on James's back, foul after foul, and he never saw a yellow card. James on the other hand was booked when he first fouled a man, in the second half that is. Julio Cesar's foul? That's a penalty and red card! "Bye-Bye man, wish your team good luck against Germany"! But no, he "lived to tell the tale". That goal that was called of side? That is very questionable! The ref did not call it offside as the ball traveled, he did it when the ball was already on the ground with all the chaos that followed. So, if the Colombians were indeed offside, why wait? Was he really waiting to see what would happen? Because if he didn't call the offside when the ball was in the air and then the ball hit David Luis, as it did, that means that everything that followed was allowed, including Yepes's goal. That is one mystery for the ages. And as far as I've read, FIFA congratulated the referee for his great performance and is a strong candidate for the Final Match. Mighty Cthulhu, please do not let this come to pass. Anyhow, Brazil won, and even with the ref supporting the home team they might have beaten Colombia but, without Thiago, Neymar their chances against Germany are lower; and if Julio Cesar had been expelled, those chances would have been lower still... Not counting the numerous yellow cards he should have shown. So can you see why I say that it is starting to seem a bit fishy?

Round of 16

I'm an atheist, but I have no idea how to explain how fucking awesome this 8 games were! I can no longer keep cool an talk about wars and Houses and Banner men. No battle holds more glory than this, this is the World Cup! 5 games ended up having extra time, 2 of them ended in PK!

First day was:
Brazil vs Chile and Colombia vs Uruguay.
Colombia won, fair and square. Actually the only "boring" game. Columbia clearly dominated Uruguay, who felt the absence of Suarez. Great game by Colombia and James, who is as of now, and by far, the best player in the cup.
Brazil - Chile? it was the first heart stopping game. Chile gave it all.... ALL!! And, I don't want to be mistaken with a hater... I hate Brazil, but the game ended up tied to 1 only because of and own goal. The penalty kicks were terrible to watch, so much tension! Julio Cesar's great performance got Brazil ahead and now they're in the quarter finals

Second day:
Netherlands vs Mexico and Costa Rica vs Greece
Mexico fought like they're never fought, and lost like always. Very awesome game, but the decisions from Mexico's DT fucked the game for his players. You cannot score a goal, a very awesome goal I might add, and just lay back and wait for the game to end! The Netherlands on the other hand fought for it, until the end. And finally a PK decided the game.... BTW, that foul DID existed. Robben exaggerated, yes, but it was a PK.

Then Costa Rica, honestly disappointed me. I hoped to see an awesome game, but the truth of the matter is that Greece did absolutely nothing! Even when Costa Rica scored, they did NOTHING! Only like the last 15 minutes did Greece went for it, and son of a bitch, they did score... I hate these guys squeezing into everything competition. Anyhow, Costa Rica won in the PKs

Third day:
France vs Nigeria and Germany vs Algeria
France fought for it! They weren't, you know, great... they were actually kind of lousy, but they went for it; they never stopped trying and in the end they won the match.
Germany on the other hand... They pissed me off. Yes, Algeria neutralized their game, but then they forgot that there can be other options. All they did was pass the ball amongst themselves, they forgot that they could have shot from mid-distance, they could have tried to take advantage of players with great header skills such as Muller and Klose. And the line of defence sucked! How many times did Neuer had to go out of the area to kick the ball out!? Anyhow they won 2 -1 after extra time.

Fourth day
Argentina vs Switzerland and Belgium vs U.S.A.
Belgium played wonderfully, finally we're getting to see these boys play the way we expected them to play, what a game. they finished the 1st half of the extra time 2-0 over U.S.A. with a great performance by Lukaku who went in and brought fresh legs to Belgium's offence. But the Yanks never gave up, they scored one hell of a goal, one of the best so far in my opinion, and they were close to equalize the game a couple f times more. Great game.
Argentina on the other hand. Wow. What a game. The first half was kind of boring to be honest, seemed like they were sizing each other's strength, but starting on the second half we had one of the most exiting games I've ever seen in my life Argentina was pushing hard, and Switzerland made wonderful counter attacks, every time they went up against Romero all of Argentina trembled. Finally after 118 minutes of suffering Di MAria scored a goal.... Words cannot explain what I heard from Pablo Giralt, who works for DirecTV Sport... Here's the clip.

And the emotion all over Buenos Aires will never be forgotten.... Listen to this...

I really hope that these quarter finals are as exiting as the Round of 16