The moment has come. The moment is to decide who will take the World Cup home—Argentina or Germany? Who will have the final smile— team with a superstar or an all star team?
The Orange humiliation could have been harsher even. Thanks to the pulled-hamstring of Sneijder, Brazilians could get some sort of respite. The margin of defeat could have been more humiliating if not the No. 10 Dutch had to sit out the match.
Here comes a game that no one wants to be involved in. What glory two losers can achieve from a third-placing deciding game? For teams, nothing but the Cup matters. It’s just cruel to ask one of the losing semifinalists to lose again.
A tragedy, bigger than Maracanazo, has consumed Brazil Wednesday. Brazil were thrown out of the World Cup; a heart-break that the hosts could get over with. But a 7-1 thrashing by the Germans? No way! Brazil would never be able to swallow the insult.
Two 22-year-olds are all set to fight it out. But which one of the two is going to be the king tonight? Will Neymar outshine Rodriguez? Or is it Rodriguez who will have the last laugh? The fate of two South American rivals -- Brazil and Columbia -- will depend on how these young but hugely gifted footballers play their games.
...From 32 countries, the World Cup comes down to eight. It's a D-Day for four teams-- Brazil, Colombia, Germany and France. And two of the four will head home when the daylight breaks in Bangladesh Saturday.
It was too much to take for Argentine fans. No match is easy and no opponents are weak in a World Cup. Yet, it may seem unfair for Argentine fans to go through a nerve-wracking, nail-biting win once more against a not-so-fancied opponent.
...Whew! What a surprise Algeria had saved for the match against Germany. It was supposed to be a contest between underdogs and hot favourites. But in reality, it were Algerians who played like hot favourites and almost knocked fancied Germans out of the World Cup.
...Germany and France, the two strong World Cup aspirants from Europe, will appear in two different matches to book their quarterfinals berths.
...It’s incredibly unbelievable the way fortune fluctuated in the last eight minutes of the match between the Netherlands and Mexico. Sure winners turned losers. Happy faces suddenly became horrified with heart-breaks. What a turn of events! The World Cup certainly unfolded one of its best dramas in Brazil.
As expected, it turned out to be a spill-thrill contest. Brazil barely prevailed in an epic match against Chile, who fought neck and neck till the end of 120 minutes at 1-1 before going down in the shootout 3-2.
...Stage is all set for teams to knock others out or get knocked out. Like the group phase, Brazil again feature in the opening match of the round of instant elimination Saturday against the team they prefer to avoid.
...Christiano Ronaldo's World Cup is over as well Portugal's. His hands were on his hips, eyes a bit watery and lips quivering. His expressions said it all: the quest of the world's best footballer ended in a whimper. At 29, Ronaldo knew well that his best chance to win a World Cup for him and his country as well just slipped away.
...Lionel Messi is now relaxed. He is scoring and smiling, just the way he does those for his club Barcelona. This time at the World Cup, Argentina's jersey of white and light blue in vertical stripes agrees well with him. His nightmare with the national team seems to be over.
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