..and the winners are: Brazil, Colombia, Costa-Rica, Holland, France, Germany, Argentina, Belgium.
While the group stage of this World Cup competition was a surprise box, the first knockout stage saw the re-establishment of world order. No more surprise, ladies and gentlemen; it is time for serious and responsible endeavors.
The challengers and the underdogs were all expelled, to the exception of Costa Rica that no one expected to still be running among the adults. But the Greeks, victims of the Costa Ricans, despite being surprise and unlikely European Champions in 2004, were never candidates to win the title.
Chile, Uruguay, Greece, Mexico, Nigeria, Algeria, Switzerland, USA are all out, and they all, at home, merit a hero welcome. All of them left with honor, with their head held high. Not a single rout. Five out of eight, yelling and kicking, dragged their victors into extra time, with two penalty shootouts. Tim Howard made a record of sixteen saves for Team USA. Four of the eight match-ups could have easily gone the other way, and fairly place Chile, Mexico, Greece and Algeria in the quarterfinals.
Experience and birthright have prevailed, save in the case of Uruguay; the two-time World Champion could not do it without Suarez.
The group stage led to the total ejection of Asia. Hereby, the inter-continental war that is the World Cup now sees the obliteration of Africa. The competition has then morphed into a simple and direct dual between Europe and the Americas, and the two continents are in parity: 4 to 4.
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On Friday, the quarter finals will bring two major fratricide conflagrations: Brazil vs Colombia, Germany vs France. Despite an air of seniority adopted by the first-named, there will be no favorite. Surprisingly enough, host Brazil seems to be the most vulnerable among the eight.. Notwithstanding, it is a heartache to know that on Saturday morning, two out of four sympathetic strikers will go away, Neymar or Rodriguez, Muller or Benzema will leave for an unwanted vacation.
These two match-ups are highly anticipated. During this competition, the only team donning a yellow shirt that plays the Brazilian way is... Colombia. Brazil has been playing more like ... Ireland, being saved twice from elimination against C
ile by the woodwork. That was a pure miracle. Yes, God is Brazilian. Will He still be Brazilian on Friday?
The France-Germany quarterfinal will be the remake, or the revenge, of the 1982 semifinal between the two European heavyweights and World Champions. That was an Homeric game played in Sevilla. It ended 3-3. France, that led 3-1, was arguably the better of the two, but lost 4-5 on penalty kicks. However, this story happened long time ago, when France used to play with a team of white guys...
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The Saturday match-ups look more original, more exotic.
Holland may think they are going to trample over a small Central American republic called Costa-Rica. The three-time unlucky World Cup finalist can sure do just that. However, sure could Uruguay (two time winner), Italy (four-time winner) and Greece. All of them were surprised and beaten by Costa Rica. All in all, this will be a game to watch and for the Orange Clockwork to lose...
By the way, everyone should enroll at that school where the Costa Ricans learned how to take penalty kicks.
At every World Cup, there seems to be that dark horse that comes out of nowhere, hops over obstacles and unexpectedly ends up among the top four. Think of Poland in 1974, Bulgaria in 1994, Croatia in 1998, Turkey in 2002, Portugal in 2006, and Uruguay in 2010. This year, it may just be Belgium.
With Courtois (best goalie in the world), Kompany, Hazard, Lukaku, the Belgians have a solid, rapid and talented team. They can be that dark horse that will surprisingly send Argentina home on Saturday and play the semi final next week against their Dutch neighbors. The Belgian team indeed has more balance and more imagination than the two-man Argentinian team. The Albicelestes were just lucky against Iran and Algeria. For sure, without Messi and Di Maria they would have been by now watching the games in Buenos Aires.
Don't bet on these ties, money will spoil your unadulterated anticipation and pleasure...
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Did you miss our World Cup Trip?
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(The Traveller, Thursday July 3, 2014)
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