Rute

The problem is that the fans in Brazil weren't happy with the disciplined ("boring") playstyle of the previous coach Dunga. They want to see samba football. And Scolari gave the team some freedom.

These days, Brazil doesn't have a distinct advantage in the intuitive portion of the game or peronal skills department, so they pretty much have to start playing more disciplined football if they want to rise up. Anyways, that's the way I see it.

I had lots of faith in Argentina's defence and predicted 1-1 for actual game time and Germany to win in penalties. I wasn't that far off in my guess. Now as for what I would have _wanted_, it was more goals. It would have been exciting to see one more goal from both teams.

I was shocked at how inaccurate shots Messi kicked in the final. What happeend to his golden touch?

I pretty much agree. To add to what Mourinho says, Ronaldo achieved his record in 3 world cups. Klose needed this 4th world cup to break even and then surpass Ronaldo.

I'm in no way accusing Neymar of being untruthful but this sounds very hard to believe... From what I understand, the vertebra was injured only in the "transverse process", which is a long and somewhat fragile protuberance on each side of every vertabral column. To my understanding, injuring the vertebra in such a way as to cause spinal cord damage leading to permanent disability would take a lot more force.

I think the special situations like corner kicks and free kicks will turn out to be really important so long as they choose correct tactical approaches considering how good defense and goalkeeping is on both sides.

Btw. one of the weirdest free kicks I've ever seen was made in the Germany vs. Algeria match:
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

I laughed out loud when the commenta...

After witnessing the Germany-Brazil game, I'm not saying anything is impossible. However, making 4 goals against Argentina would be extremely difficult. So far in this tournament, Argentina has only allowed 3 goals into their net during the actual game time and their defense has improved during the course of the tournament: nobody has managed to score against Argentina in the three tough games of the knockout stage.

My guess for the final is 1-1 for the actual game time ...

Well, i'm hoping that Argentina makes it to the final. World's greatest forward Messi vs. the greatest goalkeeper Neuer. That should be entertaining. What's more, i have this silly world cup ideal of a final where the teams come from different continents.

I was expecting a lot tighter match and the first few minutes the signs of a new classic game were in the air as both Germany and Brazil had a good energy level. Then, things just fell apart. For the bronze match Brazil will be getting Silva back so i'm expecting a lot better defense in that game compared to the utter disaster that i just witnessed.

I think Neuer is the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment.

The penalty kick shootout can be seen here:
http://www.soccer-blogger.c...

Or perhaps jak3y13oy could edit the news to include the second video.

Sure sure, the Brazil-Cameroon match that ended 4-1 was especially worrisome. Neymar made two goals but those were so ugly that the ref should have shown him a red card. Not to mention Fred's goal. Fred is such a funny name that he shouldn't be allowed to play. And don't get me started on Fernandinho, he shouldn't have been allowed on the field in the first place. With a purely fair and balanced mindset, we can deduce that the match should have ended 0-1 in Cameroon's favo...

Yeah, they've got lots of top players who can score, and even one goal might be enough. Brazil has played very well as a team in special situations like corner kicks where even the defenders have scored.

Neymar has been suffering from previous injuries, as was indicated by his rather cautious play in the match against Colombia. Yet Brazil won that match.

Outdone no one? You gotta be joking... I bet you are just mad that you lost money in betting for the wrong teams.

On the whole, the referees have done quite a balanced, if faulty job. If we were to count all offenses FROM BOTH SIDES where a card should have been shown but was not, Brazil wouldn't have any advantage in that respect. Case in point was the incident where Zuniga kneed Neymar's lower back, causing the fracture of vertebrae. That's definitely deserving ...

They still have top players like David Luiz, Fernandinho and Oscar who are more than able to score. Germany is definitely a tough opponent, perhaps the toughest of the cup, but I'm rooting for Brazil and think they have what it takes to play for Brazil and play for Neymar and beat Germnay.

And let's not forget that Brazil hasn't lost a match on their home turf for 12 years (45 matches). That's quite a feat and can be considered indicative of an advantage that ...

With such a name for a man, greatness is expected.

Judging by the expression on Chiellini's face, I bet she bit more than just his shoulder.

The way I see it is that the semi-finals will be Germany vs. Brazil and Argentina vs. Holland. I don't have clear idea which ones make it to final but I'm rooting for Brazil.

Fred Flintstone was awesome though. He was a true master back then when football was played with a ball made of rock.

Watch the slo-mo replay (the second video):
http://www.theepochtimes.co...

Hulk uses his pec. You can even see the effect the ball has on the fabric of the shirt over his pec.

And by the way, why should Chile have won the game? Were they unjustly denied of penalty kicks or goals or something?