What a Krul exit for Costa Rica...
06/07/14 02:27
Day 20 in the Footcall house...
After the exhaustion of discovering I wasn't to be the Vuvuzela Award winner, thankfully FIFA gave us a couple of days off before the Quarter Finals started. As it happened I got the opportunity to photograph some of the acts at the Hop Farm Festival and so I didn't watch the Germany France match live but I had my Footcall back room staff feeding me live updates of how it unfolded. France had an early chance with a Benzema free kick but it was the rock solid centre back Mats Hummels who put Germany one up with a nicely clipped header. The French pushed for an equaliser but came up short and the Germans are past masters at keeping the lead, they certainly performed much more competently than they did against Algeria. Finally it finished one nil and Germany were through to a record breaking fourth World Cup semi-final in a row.
You'll be pleased to know that I forewent the performances of Echo & The Bunnymen and Ray Davies to get back and watch Brazil take on Colombia in the second Quarter Final. By all accounts with what has gone before, this was set to be a corker with a Bounty of goals with the likes of Neymar and James Rodriguez on either side. Well it didn't take long for this match to ignite as on the seventh minute Captain Thiago Silva found himself unmarked at the back stick from a Neymar corner. Juan Cuadrado went mighty close at the other end. Soon after that Brazil had two golden opportunities to put the match out of sight were it not for the wonders of the keeper, Ospina - how many times have we said that this tournament? The atmosphere in the ground was electric and Hulk went close and soon after the Captain Silva didn't set a good example as he tackled the keeper whilst he was attempting to kick the ball upfield, the silly little boy got himself booked and would miss the next match should they win. In the second half Colombia had a scrambled goal disallowed for being offside and their heartache was compounded moments later when Chelsea boy David Luiz (you know the one with the crazy hair) scored a stonking free kick with the instep of his boot, I think even the great Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink would have been proud of that. I still maintain that Ospina would have given himself a better chance of saving it if he didn't have the wall in his way obscuring the view - but hey, don't get me started on that now!
Now it was two nil and the Colombian were right up against it. In the 80th minute they were given a lifeline as they were awarded a penalty and the boy wonder James (or is it Hames) Rodriguez stepped up to make it five in five. What was bizarre about this penalty was not the fact that he was putting himself in line for the Golden Boot but the canny cameraman had noticed there was a grasshopper clinging to the sleeve of James' shirt as he took the pen. Now these little green critters in the UK are about the size of matchstick but this one was the size of walking stick! It was effing huge, so big in fact it looked one you might have bought as a kid from the joke shop to scare your mates. It really didn't look real but as the Colombian team celebrated we were left open jawed at how a grasshopper can not only get a full size football under it's arm but also carry it all the way back to the centre spot!
Sadly time was running out but in the competitive spirit of the game Juan Zuniga went up for a challenge that saw him come down and plant his knee right in the back of Neymar. The Brazilian hero went down like a sack of Ferrero Rocher and lay face down motionless. Now we know when players are faking an injury and this time we could see he was in real pain. The stretcher men came out and carted him off the field and was rushed to hospital with a fractured vertebra. Not long after the full time whistle blew and the Brazilian dream continued but for Neymar the World Cup is over time will tell if a new hero can step forward into the limelight. If Oscar fancies putting in an Oscar winning performance, now's the time to step up. There were two world class stars on the field, one in red (James), one in yellow (Neymar), the sad fact is both of them will return home today in tears!
The third Quarter Final saw Messi and co return to see if they too could overturn the Belgians. Well the set their stall out early doors as Higuain turned on a Dime to tuck the ball in the bottom left corner. They were one nil up and cruising and fortunately they were up against a decidedly out of sorts Belgium. This wasn't the best match of the tournament and all the best opportunities went the way of the South Americans. Higuain nearly put his nation two up when he beat the offside trap lifted the ball over the keeper only to see it glance off the top of the crossbar. Mr Messi (not the one by Roger Hargreaves) went one on one with the keeper but the man in the gloves stopped him from making it three. Whilst Argentina were not setting the world alight, Belgium deserved to lose so the right result for the Cup and the fans in the end.
Finally we saw Holland play Costa Rica in the last of the Quarter Final duels. The quality of this match was far better than any of the other three games. The first half was packed with drama at both ends with more of the opportunities falling for the Orange Army. Time and again one man kept the match alive, that man was the Costa Rican keeper Keylor Navas. Having been the hero in the penalty shoot out against the Greeks he was donning the cape one more time and save after save came from his gloves. Astonishingly the first half finished goalless but what was even more amazing was the second half did as well. Into extra time we went and it was really compelling to watch. The 120th minute approached and still we the score sheet was blank. Then Louis van Gaal the Dutch manager did something we'd never seen before, he substituted his keeper, Jasper Cillessen for Newcastle's Tim Krul (pronounced Cruel). Now you have to balls like a set of Baci to have the nerve to bring on the sub keeper but that's exactly what he did. Penalty takers we've seen but not a new keeper. Well the final whistle went and it was indeed crystal meth time again, the dreaded penalty shootout. Was van Gaal's gamble going to pay off? Or was superstar Navas going to carry on where he left it in normal time?
The first Costa Rican penalty was scored by Borges which wasn't to the Dutch plan. Fortunately RVP levelled it and then we clearly saw Krul have a little word with Bryan Ruiz, who knows what was said but the crafty Dutchman saved it and gave them the advantage. Goals from both sides were converted and then Tricky Timmy started pacing about and wandering out of the penalty area to deliberately unsettle the penalty taker. His devious tactics worked as when it came to the decisive shot Krul saved from a fairly weak penalty by Umana. The Holland team screamed with joy and all ran over to congratulate Krul's efforts and it's clear that the Manager had put him on for the shootout just because he's more mouthy than Cillessen. Poor Costa Rica and poor old Navas commiserated, they were distraught but the Netherlands were delighted.
And so the Footcall league...
Once again all the favourites on paper have qualified for the Semi Finals and once again all the Footcall front runners had picked them so we are now getting down to the business end of the competition. There is still so much to play for and depending on who they have picked to win will potentially determine the winner. But who will rise up from the chasing peloton?
Thomas Baus may have slipped a little today as Harry Hitch, Tim Jennings, Nick Rowland, Darryl Farmer and Dan Wilks all put in a solid performance over the Quarter Finals.
These next two matches are worth 4 points each so let's see what that's going to do to the state of play, if I was Richard Goodwin right now, I'd be praying at the alter of Jules Rimet that the next matches go my way. I promise not to text you during a game as that will be a certain kiss of death for your chances!
This World Cup is one of the best we've ever seen and this Footcall is likewise, the next game is on Tuesday so we are just going to have to wait and see the next chapter is going to be.
Over and out.
David