Brazil V Netherlands Fifa World Cup 2014 3RD/4TH PLAY-OFFS 

After match synopsis in red!!

                             Pregame bets:

                             One pound left!
W Sneijder to score direct from a free kick in 90mins play @ 20/1 

                                                                   Odds with PP

                                                      Read here for full betting history

Not likely as he was benched in the warm up after pulling his hamstring, ha!

Beers: Beer 3rd/4th place play off:

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-final-n-3rd4th-play-offs/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Nomade from Chile has done surprisingly well to get to the last four of our beer World Cup and was unlucky in its endeavor against a formidable German trio of beers, but today it might have a chance of getting third place when it goes up against Samuel Adams, from Boston, who have made it this far by beating beers from Portugal, Korea, and Nigeria, but were unlucky to lose out narrowly to England’s London pride in the other semi finals. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

Nomade V Samuel Adams, 2-1 to Nomade: I went with the Nomade Blonde Ale this time around and boy I wasn’t disappointed. It was tasty and sweet, very sweet. On pour there was quite a large head that settled very nicely with some lacing. The colour was golden and the aroma had a very strong sweetly smell of yeast and some fruit, particular orange. The ale had a very balanced taste that included grains, yeast, citrus and fruit flavours. Quite an interesting mix for an ale but it was damn easy to drink and overall a very enjoyable ale experience. Recommended.  Samuel Adams Lager, was also a great drink that scored well on taste, smell and appearance. The appearance was great, a brilliant dark golden colour with a good sized frothy head that hangs around a while leaving decent lacing. It has the look of a real beer. I got faint smells of malts and a bit of floral hops. The smell was pleasant and not overbearing. The Samuel Adams taste had a variety of strong flavours from the hops and malt which were well balanced, all tingling away at my taste buds. Caramel was one taste that stood out. The finish is strong with a long lasting heavy aftertaste. Overall a nice solid beer and a great delicious taste.  Samuel Adams is a beer that you will remember. Two beers, both recommended, but I give the victory, just slightly mind, to Nomade for having really good fruit flavours that stuck out in an ale that surprised. 

PreGame:

Brazil have a chance tonight to restore some pride for the nation in a game that few really in their hearts care about. Brazil will have captain Thiago Silva back from his suspension to marshal a defence where he was so badly missed against Germany.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, in what could be his last game as manager, is expected to make several changes to the Brazilian team. I’d expect that Jo and Bernard will start up front, while Paulinho and Fernandinho will feature in the centre. It remains to be seen if Brazil will once again revert to attack from the off. Its what undid them in the last game, since their defenders attacked but didn’t cover each other or track back, or defend. They played like 10 forwards and no defenders. Schoolboy stuff. I do feel a little sorry for Luiz and Marcello as they cant be expected to attack on one hand and defend with the other, while there is no midfield or forwards to chip in and hold up the ball or help them out in defence when under pressure. 

At the end of the game against the rampant Germans, the Brazilian team were roundly booed off the pitch as you would expect and Fred, in particular, got a good bit of abuse as he was walking off. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for Fred. I mean its not liked he even moved or worked up much of a sweat in any of the games I have seen, but surely Scolari must also accept some blame for assembling such a rubbish squad of Brazilian players. Surely down on Copacabana beach there would be a better 11?

While Brazil hope to restore some teeny bit of pride against the Dutch for the 3/4th place play off, Fred probably wont be seen tonight, or ever again in a Brazilian shirt. Pity for him.

Netherlands: Dutch coach Louis van Gaal believes the fixture is an irrelevance. Nice to get that in just in case he loses. He is right that in the grand scheme of things its a nothing game, but I would have thought he might like to exit the tournament with a win against Brazil? Since his ego was deflated I guess he doesn’t care any more. 

It is worth remembering that the master tactician set up a Dutch team against a not so brilliant Argentina where in 120 minutes of pretty dour football they only managed ONE shot on target!!  So it remains to be seen what team will enter the pitch today. Will he go with a Robben and van Persie attack force, or try out a few of the lesser known players? Who knows what the grumpy o.b will do.

I don’t generally find these games interesting but it will be worth a look to see if Brazil have recovered to at least claw back some respectability. Will the Brazilian public even turn up in big numbers to cheer them on? I do expect a lot of goals though, these games generally are goal fests. God couldn’t Scolari just bring on Fred for at least one goal?

So much for Thiago Silva’s great return. The game barely lasted three minutes and he gave away a silly penalty, and was lucky to only get a yellow card, after dragging back Robben who was clean through on goals. Van Persie scored the penalty to put the Netherlands one up, as the Brazilian fans had just enough time to recover from another rousing anthem rendition. Maybe the players should reserve their energy for the actual game?

Fifteen minutes later it was 2-0 as a very weak header from David Luiz went straight to Danny Blind who had all the time in the world to pick a shot to the top corner of the net, for his first international goal. This was beginning to look like another meltdown by Brazil, letting in two goals under twenty minutes. 

Brazil did rally for a while, but also it could be said that the Netherlands played out the rest of the game at half pace. Oscar was bright in periods, but I was astonished to note that Jo was playing all game, and Paulinho had just under an hours football, both players not mentioned once in commentary. Were they actually playing? I am still not sure.

The referee gave Oscar a card for diving which was a shock to everyone considering not one player all tournament got a yellow for cheating (not “simulation”, call it what it is!). Not sure if Oscar did dive as well, wasn’t clear. How did Robben manage a whole tournament without getting a card for diving!

The game went flat in the second half but just before it was all over, Wijnaldum got a third goal for the Dutch in stoppage time. Nice goal and all but if Wijnaldum can score against your defence then you are in real trouble! 

So overall Brazil conceded 10 goals in two games and 14 all tournament, which is an embarrassing stat for any team let alone from a team of expensive players as Brazil. I have already listened to commentators suggest they might struggle for qualification for Russia 2018 if they don’t quickly sort out the mess that appears to be Brazilian football at the moment. Luiz Felipe Scolari wont be around for that, as he lost his job as coach of the team, and it remains to be seen what Brazilian players in this world cup will we ever see again in the future in a yellow shirt of the Canarinho’s. And it all started with such optimism……

         Music to get you in the mood

             4 Strings  V Cidadão Instigado

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Argentina V Netherlands Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Pregame bets:

If the Dutch play it right tonight they can do to Argentina what the Germans did to the Brazilians, albeit with fewer goals. Argentina are a very poor team, and with di Maria out of action and Messi their only player of true class, I cant see how they can get to the final. I hope they do but I cant see it. 

Messi to score a/t and Holland to win 12/1
Robben a/t scorer 13/5
Holland to win 9/4
and a cheeky bet Holland to win 4-1 80/1

All odds with PP

Read here for full betting history

Well got that one totally wrong! Oops

Beers: Semi Finals Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-semi-finals/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? London Pride from England has made it to the last four beating beers from Italy, Costa Rica, Colombia and Australia. LP now goes up against a an American craft beer specialist, Samuel Adams, from Boston, who have made this far by beating beers from Portugal, Korea, and Nigeria. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

London Pride V Samuel Adams: 2-1 to London Pride in this battle between two famous beers that represent their respective cities, London and Boston, very well. Samuel Adams, is a very good looking beer, that pours a dark golden colour with a nice sized frothy head that hangs around a while, leaving a good amount of lacing left on the glass. The smell was also top quality. I got a good earthy smell of malts and some floral hops. The Samuel Adams taste had a variety of strong flavours from the hops and malt which were well balanced, all tingling away at my taste buds. The finish is very strong with a long lasting heavy aftertaste. Overall a nice solid beer and a great delicious taste that is both memorable and enjoyable. I like this beer! But London Pride gets the win, just about. As I really do enjoy the complexities of flavours that it has going on inside the bottle. It pours a lovely amber reddish colour with some white head that doesn’t last too long. Unlike Samuel Adams, London Pride isn’t much of a looker. The aroma, though, has a nice sweet smell to it of some biscuit malts and earthy hops with hints of caramel. Nice. Its the taste that is the most important factor to this drink. A lovely refreshing flavour which hits the taste buds immediately. It tastes of light caramel, some earthy hops with a mild bitter aftertaste. It has a different, subtle, complex taste to it than what you can expect from a lot of beers, which has to be appreciated. I also found it a bit strong in the taste which I enjoyed, more of a kick to it than other ales and regular beers. It was also a better session drink so I gave the victory to London Pride and into the final they go.

PreGame:

Argentina got through against Belgium in the end in their quarter final game. Another one nil victory for them in a pretty dour game, where both teams managed to muster only three shots on target, the lowest tally in a World Cup knockout game since the dark days of Italia 1990. And it was also back in 1990 the last time the Argentinians had made it as far as a World Cup Semi final. Then they had Diego, now they have Messi, and the similarities don’t end there.

Like Maradona, Messi is carrying his team as far as possible. He was once again brilliant, showing great agility and skill to outwit four Belgian defenders who did their best to bring him down, to play 40 yard passes with pinpoint accuracy, and to help set up the move for the only goal of that game. His forward pass was deflected onto the path of Higuain, who brilliantly volleyed it past Courtois in the Belgium goal. 

Argentina now go on to play the Netherlands tonight, a game which might be their first true test in this years World Cup.  They will be without di Maria, who does provide width and pace to their attack, and they might need to score more than one goal if they want to be able to beat the Dutch and get to their first final in 24 years. One good piece of news for them is that Sergio Aguero is available to play and might get a place in the starting line up, which would further ease the pressure off Messi’s shoulders. I would love to see Messi grace a World Cup final, but I really don’t think its going to happen tonight, unfortunately. 

Netherlands: I really fancy the Dutch to come out top in this game, they have the fire power to cause that weak back four of Argentina problems, and Messi wont get the same luxury he has had so far in the competition when he goes up against a pretty solid Dutch defence. 

Robben has proved a real handful to all the teams he has come up against. His electric pace and agility has got a few defenders into trouble in this World Cup, be it a card or two, or a last minute penalty decision. He really is a nightmare to defend against, and I am looking forward to seeing him make all sorts of difficulties for the Argentina defence. 

Will the 120 minutes of football and penalties have affected the Dutch? I guess they might be a little tired in the legs, but the euphoria of getting to a World Cup Semis, might just be enough to energise their batteries. 

Also curious to see if van Gaal has any more tricks up his sleeve tonight. There are early reports that van Persie might not be playing as he has a stomach bug, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make an appearance sometime in the game. Is this more funny tricks from the manager? 

This game was a battle between the tactical “master” van Gaal and the brilliance of Messi, team work v the individual , who would win? Well in the end neither particularly shown any greatness, as van Gaal messed up his tactics, and Messi didn’t play at all well. 

The game was pretty rubbish and very disappointing considering the talent on show. Why then did van Gaal set up his team to defend first attack second. An awful plan considering the attacking players at his disposable and how the game eventually did pan out to a nil nil stalemate. If he had only instructed his team to attack with more passion they could have easily won this game. Once again negativity blows the ego of van Gaal. Never forget the mess he did against Ireland in 2001 when he took off Overmars who was causing the Irish problems all day, and ended up with 5 strikers and no one to give them the ball. Same result, the Netherlands lost. 

I perhaps could give him some credit for the rejuvenation of Kuyt, who had a magnificent game, but in reality if you are looking to a player like Kuyt for good through balls and sublime forward passes then you are already in trouble. Kuyt is a workhorse that tried his damnnest but he isn’t the next Xavi or Iniesta. 

The Netherlands played very negative football, always looking to pass it back first rather than forward. It was very disappointing to see. One example was when they had the ball on the edge of the Argentine penalty box, and with a few moves play ended up back to the Dutch goalkeeper. Shocking and not the first time the Dutch have done that kind of boring football in this tournament. Master tactician my arse! 

Another example of this style that was encouraged is Wijnaldum who was allowed to stay on the pitch for the whole game. He did nothing and played like he was wearing clogs. He never showed for the ball, despite playing as an inside forward, yet he looked like a defender out of position. Terrible for a semi final to see such bad play.

This was a game where defenders came to the fore, that’s true, but were they really tested throughout the full 120 minutes of football? For Argentina Zabaleta once again did the business, and also was useful for a while in the first half going forward. But it was Mascherano who really stepped up in this game, and played a man of the match performance. I guess when the tough games arrive the best players do the job. Mascherano was a rock in defence and shut out Robben all game. He pretty much saved his team when he put in a phenomenal last ditch tackle to deny Robben, at the far post, whose position had goal written all over it. The tackle of the tournament. That’s how you do it Rafael Marquez! 

Must also give a mention to Vlaar on the Dutch team, who also had an immense game, and pretty much had the better of all the Argentinian forwards and Messi all game. Pity he missed the penalty but it shouldn’t take away from his performance. 

Argentina are in a World Cup final, and I hold my hand up I really didn’t expect it after watching some of their performances. I mean Switzerland, Nigeria and the Netherlands could have beaten them if they had got their act together. But its good to see Messi in a final and I would love to see the best player in the world lift the cup, but them Germans are hard to beat!

         Music to get you in the mood

Attaque 77  V   Alamo Race Track

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Brazil V Germany Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Semi Finals Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-semi-finals/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Nomade from Chile has made it to the last four beating beers from Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain and Japan. Nomade now goes up against a trio of tough German beers, Friedenfelser, Lowenbrau and Karlskrone, who have made mince meat of their competitors so far. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

Nomade Scotch Ale V Friedenfelser Pils 1-2 to the German Pils. The Bavarian beer wins in this close contest. The pils isn’t much to look at but more than makes up for that with its good aroma and great smooth taste. An appearance of a golden yellow colour on pour with a thin white head that doesn’t last, but the aroma, on the other hand, is lovely and it smells like a true German style Pils that you can’t wait to start on. The aroma has notes of bread, grain, malt and grass with some citric hop notes. A good smell. The taste was nice and balanced, with flavours which had a light sweetness and notes of malt, bread, straw, with a hint of citric hops and the bitter finish is moderate. It’s a very good Pilsener, with a light body and one that I could drink all night. Another top beer from the Friedenfelser collection. In opposition, Nomade Scotch Ale, was good and had a gorgeous aroma that smelt of fruit and malts, and a taste that was also very smooth and full of great flavours. The taste was a sweet malty flavour with notes of grapes and smoked malts. It also had a small bitter aftertaste that wasn’t overwhelming. One disappointment was that the colour didn’t appeal, looked a little flat, but overall a solid ale that I found quite strong to drink with a kick in the end of each mouthful that did the business. Both brews I enjoyed, the ale was more flavourful, while the Pils was smoother, so I just gave the victory to the Pils for the fact that it was the brew I wanted to continue watching the game in extra time with, but only just. A tight victory.

PreGame:

Germany is like a machine when it comes to playing in the World Cup. This is their 13th appearance at this stage of the competition. They only had three shots against France, scored and shut up shop, limiting the French to speculative efforts that never looked like going in. I can see them easily doing the same tonight against the Brazilians. Score from a set piece, contain the Brazilian midfield in the centre of the pitch, and watch Fred and the Hulk from afar.

To beat the Germans you have to run at their defence. Both Ghana and Algeria showed that they can be beaten if attacked down the wings, with pace. But then if you do manage to get that far, there is also Neuer in the nets to worry about. He has had a great World Cup so far, stopping shots nonchalantly and with ease. 

Schweinsteiger, the general dogsbody of the team, is back to form from his niggly injury and if Lahm is starting in his old true position of left back, he will also be worth looking out for tonight. 

The big advantage for Germany is the quality of their squad. If something isn’t working out they can spring Shurle, Kroos, Gotze or Klose, depending on who is starting, from the bench. That might come into play if the game is at a stalemate near the end, or if extra time is required, where a fresh player with quality can have a huge impact on the game. 

Germany really should beat Brazil tonight, they have the players, and the self belief, but lets see anyway. 

Brazil are without Neymar, their top scorer and figurehead, and without the suspended Thiago Silva. These two players are a huge loss to the team. Neymar has done a Messi here, and dragged Brazil this far in the competition, scoring four goals and getting things going for the team when the chips are down. Silva is a decent defender that has solidified the Brazilian back four and is the inspirational captain of the team. Two huge losses for the team. Can they cope with out them? I don’t think so. Take two good players out of that team and it looks very bare. Sure David Luiz stepped up in the last game, and Hulk and Marcello show some moments of great skill and creativity, but the team looks weak without Neymar especially, and I worry that Brazil’s World Cup dream might come crashing down tonight.

Germany, in my opinion, are the first real test that Brazil will have in this tournament. Gone are the South American teams that play to a predictable pace and are manageable. Lets see how Brazil do against a German team that can boss the midfield, and will be more than a physical match for any shenanigans that Scolari might have in mind (Muller n Mertesacker excepted). But lets have a good look and see tonight what exactly Fred brings to this Brazilian team!

Where do we start in what was an amazing annihilation of Brazil by a German team who put seven goals past them in a match that saw several records smashed. Klose finally got Ronaldo’s record, Brazil suffered their biggest World Cup defeat of all time, and their first competitive home defeat in 39 years. This defeat is as equal if not more damaging to Brazil than the infamous 1950 World Cup Final defeat by Uruguay in Rio. Some of the Brazilian players might not ever appear in the famous yellow Brazil shirt again, and it could take some time for the nation to recover. 

Pre game the players held up Neymar’s shirt in a display of mourning and remembrance, but in reality it was the absence of their captain Thiago Silva that was a bigger loss as nobody took command and control of the back four who were playing without much idea of what they were meant to be doing, i.e how to defend!

Still the Germans were brilliant and were 5 goals up after half an hour, without working up too much of a sweat. Amazing. It was all too easy for them. Thomas Muller, unmarked, gave them an early goal from a Kroos’ corner, stepping up to put the ball in the back of the net, with a smart finish. You could have heard a pin drop such was the shock from all around the stadium. But it was about to get worse, a lot worse. Klose scored at the second attempt to set a new World Cup record of 16 goals, and go down in history as the best penalty box player of all time, or goal hanger as we say! Still, take nothing away from his achievement, its truly a great record to have.  

And as we were about to digest all this record breaking, Toni Kroos scored not one goal but two in the space of 179 seconds, and just before half time Khedira, who had a cracking game, strolled up, and from a lovely lay off by Ozil, calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner to make it five nil.

Brazil came out at the break a little more livelier but when they did finally get behind the German defence the man mountain Manuel Neuer was equal to their efforts, pulling off two quick saves to keep the Brazilians at bay. 

Super sub Shurrle came off the bench and promptly added two more goals to the Germany tally. One of his goals was a real cracker, in off the near post from a tight angle. 

Was a little disappointed to see a good few of the German team trying to get Maicon carded for a dive, as if cheating is alien to that German squad. Just look at Muller shouting and raving at the ref ever ten minutes. He will never be a top superstar, because he is quite simply a cunt. Pity because he is probably is a decent skin off the pitch. 

Ozil had a great chance to make it 8 nil but he fluffed the chance from a one on one with the goalie. From the resulting clearance Brazil pulled a goal back from Oscar. It was quite comical to see Neuer get angry after letting in a goal. Now that’s dedication and professionalism!

At the end the Brazilian team were roundly booed off the pitch as you would expect and Fred, in particular, got a good bit of abuse as he was walking off. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for Fred. I mean its not liked he even moved or worked up much of a sweat in any of the games I have seen, but surely Scolari must also accept some blame for assembling such a rubbish squad of Brazilian players. Surely down on Copacabana beach there would be a better 11?

As for the Germans they get an extra day off and will have not used up too much energy while they rest and can look forward to playing Argentina in the final of the World Cup on Sunday, while Brazil hope to restore some teeny bit of pride against the Dutch for the 3/4th place play off. Fred probably wont be seen for that game, or ever again in a Brazilian shirt. Pity for him.

         Music to get you in the mood

Kraftklub  V  Thiago Thomé

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      Netherlands V Costa Rica  Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Quarter Finals Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-quarter-finals/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? VB Bitter came top out of a very tough beer group which included beers from the Netherlands, Chile and Spain, and beat Corona from Mexico to make it to the last eight, while London Pride also came first in their beer group and beat Club Colombia to make it this far. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!         

VB Bitter V London Pride. 1-2 Win for London Pride. The Ale from England’s capital city gets victory in a very close battle with VB of Australia. London Pride pours an amber reddish colour with a very good sized head. The aroma of some biscuit malts and earthy hops with hints of caramel sweetness, is all pretty great on the nose. While the taste is of light caramel, some earthy hops with a mild bitter aftertaste. I also found it a bit strong in the taste which I enjoyed, more of a kick to it than other ales. Australia’s famous VB with its iconic brown stubby, and the famous aftertaste, pours a dark golden color, clear, topped with a thin white head with good retention.The aroma is mostly of faint grains, sweet malts and low hops. It has a sweet malty taste, and the expected creamy aftertaste hits you pretty quickly. I have gotten to appreciate VB over the course of these few weeks, and its now a beer I can definitely say I have developed a taste for, but London Pride gets this victory as its taste is more subtle and complex, having a lot of interesting flavours that make the beer easy to enjoy and strong enough to give me a good alcohol buzz. 

PreGame:

Netherlands The Dutch definitely used their get out of jail card against the Mexicans. For the whole of the first half and a bit of the second, Mexico totally dominated them. Mexico must be wondering how they didn’t get through that game. The Netherlands scored two goals in about two minutes late on to qualify for the last eight. Truth be told the Dutch deserved it as Mexico did nothing after they scored and sat back to wait until the final whistle. Well done to the Netherlands and their never give up attitude.

Did Arjen Robben dive in the penalty box? I really dont think it matters that much to be honest. Yes it looked like a dive but Robben was fouled all throughout the game, and deserved about three penalties before this incident. But the ref will definitely be alert to any of his shenanigans today, so he better watch out!

The Mexican goal stirred the Dutch into action and the Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa kept them at bay, pulling off a point blank save to deny an equaliser. Memphis Depay came on and made more of an attacking threat towards the Mexicans, as the Dutch began to come more into the game. Mexico pretty much stopped playing after their goal. Funnily enough it started to look like the Mexicans were beginning to suffer with the heat and not the European team.  

But boy did they leave it late, the 88th minute in fact. Sneijder who did more in the last ten minutes than the whole tournament up to that point started to play some good football and from a loose ball fired an unstoppable low straight shot, that even the great Ochoa could not save, into the corner of the net. Brilliant technique and a great goal. 

So it was left to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the late Dutch sub, to keep his nerves steady, score and put Netherlands through to the last eight. You play to the end, and never give up, and that’s why the Netherlands are tonight looking forward to playing Costa Rica while the Mexicans go home ruing the decision not to take the Dutch by the jugular. It will be very interesting to see what kind of threat Costa Rica will have for the Dutch. This game could go both ways for the Dutch, play brilliantly and win easy, or just struggle and go out to a late goal. Hard to say, but they do like scoring goals and that’s what generally gets you through, especially with seven different goal scorers to date, and Robben and van Persie on top form. Even though Costa Rica haven’t let in a lot of goals so far this might all end tonight, and I expect the Dutch to book their semi finals spot in style. 

Costa Rica are into the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history after beating Greece 5-3 in a penalty shootout in Recife. But they fully deserve to be this far, they play with heart, skill and determination, and they are my team of this years World Cup. 

Well done to Costa Rica you continue to entertain and surprise. I fully expected Greece to win the penalty shootout, but then I should have expected that under their wily old manager, Jorge Luis Pinto, the Los Ticos had put in a massive effort on the training pitch for penalties. And it showed as all their penalty kicks were expertly put away, calmly and without doubt. Brilliant, considering their legs must have felt like logs they were that tired.

Navas was to be busy all night against the Greeks, performing save after save. He pulled off about 5 or 6 amazing saves, particularly one in the last minute of extra time where he somehow got a touch to superbly tip over the bar Mitroglou’s late shot. Was one of the stand out player performances of the this years World Cup. Navas saved pretty much everything that was thrown at him. .

Will their journey stop tonight against what looks on paper a very strong Dutch team? Probably so, but they have already rewrote the history books, and for that I say Thank you Costa Rica. I will have my fingers crossed for you! 

The last few games of the World cup were a bit dour so we needed a game to reignite the excitement of the early rounds. This was the game to do it. Who would have predicted that Costa Rica would have lasted the full 120 minutes of football keeping the Netherlands at bay and be within a penalty shoot out chance of making the World Cup semi finals. It didn’t happen in the end, but boy did they give it one heck of a go. 

To add to all the drama and excitement van Gaal puled of a master substitution with less than a minute left on the clock to bring on a Goalkeeper Tim Krul just for the penalty shootout. He could have had egg on his face, but it worked and Krul dived correctly for every one of the penalties, saved two and helped the Netherlands beat Costa Rica to set up a World Cup semi-final showdown against Argentina. A pressure and inspired substitution from the next Manchester United manager whose ego can be seen presently orbiting space. 

The Dutch had a good few chances to put this game to bed, but Navas in the Costa Rican goals was on fire, and his defence also put their bodies on the line to stop the rampant incessant Dutch, particularly impressive was Gonzalez at the back. Navas gave a display that will live long in the memory, he saved everything that was thrown at him, and it looked like he could not be beaten. He saved on numerous times from van Persie, put a magnificent Sneijder free kick, that looked to be going into the top right hand corner, over the bar, and kept his team in it right to the end. 

When Navas was beaten the post stopped the Dutch from taking the lead. Sneijder had another great free-kick effort that bounced away off a post. Then there was a moment of complete madness and farce as three Dutch attackers couldn’t get a shot in on target, with van Persie’s finally hitting a shot that amazingly Tejeda manged to clear off the line with it hitting the crossbar on the way out. It was really backs to the wall stuff here for Costa Rica. Van persie also missing a gilt edged chance that he should have really put away easily, but he missed totally.  And if that hadnt of shot the nerves, there was still enough time in the end for another Sneijder strike that came crashing off the crossbar. How the hell did Costa Rica manage not to lose this game. Amazing. 

And the funny thing with all of that is Coast Rica could easily have nicked it in the end! Marcos Urena, forced Cillessen in the Dutch goals to make a smart save. I wonder if Campbell was still on the pitch would he have done better with some of the scraps that Costa Rica were getting late on in the game. Was a strange substitution to take him off at around the hour mark but we have to trust the manager, maybe Campbell was tired. 

A few more observations: What does van Gaal and his team be writing all the time. Anytime it pans to the Dutch bench the whole staff are writing away. Strange. 

Robben cleaned up his act a bit better, he looked dangerous every time he got the ball, and it took two Costa Rican’s too hound him out at all times. Díaz Campbell could easily have gotten a red card for the amount of dodgy tackles he did on holding back Robben.

Just knew Brian Ruiz would miss his penalty, as he had a stinker of a game, giving the ball away every time he got onto it. Should have got taken off in the game, but I guess the Costa Rican bench is light enough. And definitely should not have took a peno, his mind wasn’t focused enough and he didn’t look confident either. 

How many times was van Persie called for offside? Must be a World Cup record surely?

Next up for the Dutch is a tie with Messi’s Argentina. I fancy them to come out top in this game, they have the fire power to cause that weak back four of Argentina problems, and Messi wont get the same luxury he has had so far in the competition when he goes up against a pretty solid Dutch defence. 

         Music to get you in the mood

Aux Raus V  Café con Leche

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 Argentina V Belgium Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Quarter Finals Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-quarter-finals/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Guinness Export topped their group and beat Feldschlosschen from Switzerland in the last 16 to make it this far, while Samuel Adams came second in their group and beat Hite Lager from Korea to get into the last eight of my beer world cup. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

Guinness Export V Samuel Adams. 1-2 Win for Samuel Adams in a close battle, that both beers held up well in. Guinness Extra Stout has its unique taste, with its famous black colour and tan whitish head, that smells of, well, Guinness! The smell is very strong on the nose, and is of dark cocoa, coffee and roasted malts. The taste is also quite strong, with a long bitter aftertaste, that had a bite to it. Overall a good strong stout, tasting of roasted malt with traces of coffee. Samuel Adams, on the other hand, had a great appearance, of a nice dark golden colour with a good sized frothy head that hangs around. The look of a decent beer. The smell was pleasant and not overbearing, of malts and a bit of floral hops. The Samuel Adams taste had a variety of strong flavours from the hops and malt which were well balanced, all tingling away at my taste buds. Caramel was one taste that stood out. The finish is strong with a long lasting heavy aftertaste. Overall a nice solid beer and a great delicious taste. I gave the victory to Samuel Adams for two reasons. One it had better flavouring, and the other factor was that it was much smoother, so hence more enjoyable than the strong stout. 

PreGame:

Argentina were extremely lucky that they were playing a very poor Swiss team in the last round, as they played so bad they deserved to go out. A half decent team with some passion would have easily kicked them out for their performances in the last game. 

Argentina played awful and they were so lucky that Switzerland were even worse. The game should have just had Messi and Shaqiri, one v one. Keep the goalies and ditch the rest. 

Apart from di Maria and Messi, they had no one else showing for the ball or trying to win the game. Di Maria got some awful criticism from the BBC but I thought he played well. He tried all game, and he did get the goal in the end. I will even forgive his showboating, which was criminal, but if he scored the winner, he is allowed a pass. But Argentina don’t have a plan B. Plan A is easy, give it to Messi, and he will win the game for the team. He did that again, picking the ball from deep midfield, running right up to the box, skipping over a half hearted tackle, and picking out Di Maria on the edge of the box. Brilliant. And fair dues to Di maria for a nicely taken goal that nestled into the bottom corner giving the goalkeeper no chance. 

Argentina play Belgium today in a game they might not win. Belgium have looked vary good in parts and could give the Argentinians a really good go of it. They have the players to cause that defence real problems. Other players on that Argentinian team will have to step up to the plate and at least try and relieve some of the pressure off Messi’s shoulders. It is getting beyond a joke now how much he is expected to save them time and time again. But I doubt we will see any difference today. 

Belgium came up against the might of Tim Howard in their last game against the USA. He saved a grand total of 15 shots that made the Belgians having to go into extra time to finally get the better of him.

That match was basically the Howard V Origi show. Origi getting many good shots on target, Howard effortlessly saving them. What a great game, with what seemed like hundreds of chances both ends, in a match that went right to the wire. Brilliant stuff from both teams, Belgium with that extra piece of skill, the USA with that never say die attitude. 

Origi had got off to a good start when he shot from a tight angle early on. Howard making the save. This was to be a regular theme for the next hour and an a half. Origi had many chances to win that game, but he came up against a player who was having one of those special nights. Howard saved everything that was thrown at him. Origi header: saved. Origi low shot: saved. De Bruyne from a 4v2 attack: saved. Hazard to Origi who magnificently puts Mirallas in. He must score: saved! Brilliant run from defence by Kompany, can he score? No: saved. That was pretty much how it went for Belgium in the 90 minutes of the game. Without the brilliant Howard in the nets, the Belgians would have ran up a cricket score against the USA. Get those chances today and they should progress. 

The substitutions made a big change against the USA. Once again Wilmot did his thing, and brought on the temperamental Romelu Lukaku, who had an immediate impact in extra time. First, his amazing burst of speed brought him down the right side of the pitch, taking a shot which was blocked but De Bruyne pounced on it to fire in a shot into the corner of the net. Within a few minutes Belgium were two up and it was that man again, Lukaku, who this time got on the score sheet, with a brilliant finish in off the post. 2-0 and the USA looked buried. 

With the way the Belgians have played so far in this world cup I put them favourites for the game today against Argentina. They are unbeaten, have scored some well taken goals, have the players to do some damage, and play well as a team. They also have Wilmots, a coach who isn’t afraid to make the tough decisions and so far in all of Belgium’s games he has shown some inspiring substitutions, that seem to work with immediate effect. They definitely can beat Argentina, and as good as Romero is in goals he isn’t Tim Howard. If they can get half of the chances they got against the USA they will go through today. And don’t forget to double mark Messi!

Argentina got through against Belgium in the end. Another one nil victory in a pretty dour game, where both teams managed to muster only three shots on target between them, the lowest tally in a World Cup knockout game since the dark days of Italia 1990. And it was also back in 1990 the last time the Argentinians had made it as far as a World Cup Semi final. Then they had Diego, now they have Messi, and the similarities don’t end there.

Like Maradona, Messi is carrying his team as far as possible. He was once again brilliant, showing great agility and skill to outwit four Belgian defenders who did their best to bring him down, to play 40 yard passes with pinpoint accuracy, and to help set up the move for the only goal of the game. His forward pass was deflected onto the path of Higuain, who brilliantly volleyed it past Courtois in the Belgium goal. 

That early goal should have set up the match for an all out attack for Belgium. But it didn’t. They huffed and puffed and didn’t really threaten the Argentinian goals too much. Sergio Romero had a save to make, one from Kevin de Bruyne but it was shot straight at him, comfortable in the end. Belgium also had a few near misses, Mirallas heading just wide from a Jan Vertonghen cross and late on Fellaini also headed just over again from another Vertonghen cross. And at the very death, Lukaku passed the ball across the goal but no one could get on the end of it. And that was about it from Belgium. Yet Wilmots in his post match press conference was criticising how bad Argentina were! Thanks for telling us the blind bleedingly obvious. Buffoon. Argentina did very little in the game, Belgium did nothing!

In fact Argentina did have two other great chances in the game. Higuain nutmegged Kompany and hit a shot that rebounded off the crossbar, and Messi somehow managed to miss a one v one against Courtois, who to be fair did pull off a great save, but you would have bet your money on Lionel scoring from that position. He is human after all!

Argentina now go on to play Netherlands in the semis, a game which might be their first true test in this years World Cup.  They will be without di Maria, who does provide width and pace to their attack, and they might need to score more than one goal if they want to be able to beat the Dutch and get to their first final in 24 years.

         Music to get you in the mood

Tren Loco V  Köhn

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 France V Germany Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Quarter Finals Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-quarter-finals/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Quilmes came second in their group to Guinness Export but did beat Kronenbourg of France to make the last eight, while Germany has a solid team of Lowenbrau, Karlskrone and Friedenfelser, a winning combination that will be hard to beat. They topped their group and beat a strong Russian contender Baltika Porter to make it this far. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

Quilmes V Friedenfelser Hefe-Weizen. 0-2 Win for Friedenfelser as its taste was delicious and left me wanting more! A lot of carbonation but that’s normal for a German wheat beer. Once it settled the colour was of a very clear orange beer with a nice frothy head, that looked very appealing.The aroma was quite strong with notes of sweet banana, yeast and wheat.But it pulled way ahead of Quilmes due to its fantastic taste and was very nice, very easy to drink. It tasted very sweet, and contained flavours of yeast and wheat, with a strong fruity banana aroma, and the aftertaste, was very manageable. Overall it was a good, pure and clear well balanced drink with a nice strong feel to it. Quilmes was also a decent beer, drinkable and does the business, i.e quenches the thirst. It has a very interesting taste of a little corn and grain sweetness to open it up, a kind of sickly sweet, with a bitter aftertaste in the end. A nice beer, enjoyable, but no match for a Bavarian master brew. Again Freidenfelser pull out a winning beer from their vast collection. 

PreGame:

France got lucky in the last game against Nigeria as they were under the cosh for long periods of time, and they could easily not be here today playing Germany. Nigeria just couldn’t get the final ball to work for them, and they wilted badly in the second half.

France played very well when Antoine Griezmann came on, and it looks like he will get a starting position today. Him coming on means Benzema can play more central, which works well for France. 

This game today is a mouthwatering tie, for the right to advance to the last four of the World Cup. What a clash that will be from the two border rivals.

Germany came out of a very tough tie against Algeria, in a strange game where Neuer was man of the match despite using his feet more than his hands! He had to bail out his defence on numerous occasions so it will be interesting to see if the Germans get away with that ploy today against France, especially with French attackers as fast as Benzema, Griezmann and Valbuena.

What game will Germany play today? Will they bring the game to France or sit back and counterattack? Its hard to predict as in one way both teams are quite similar, strong midfielders and good attacking players, and both teams have top class goalkeepers. My heart says France but my head goes with Germany. It should be a cracking game though. Enjoy.

Germany get through to another semi finals, while France, rather timidly, exit the tournament. Wasn’t the best of games, as Germany scored early then shut up shop. France did not have anything to danger the Germans in defence and that was about that. Even though the bag of laughs that is Joachim Low, the German coach, said that the game “was an incredibly exciting match” but he is a fool of man, that should never be taken too seriously. 

To tell you how boring the game was Germany had three shots in total on target and scored with their first, with Mats Hummels’ early header proving enough to beat the French in a tepid match.

France did play well in parts, doing well in midfield with Griezmann running as a free player covering both sides of the wing, they had a lot of the possession. Benzema, Pogba, Valbuena and Griezman all had good chances to score, but Neuer wasn’t going to be beaten today. The German defence also kept the French at arms length, restricting them to long range efforts or fluffed hurried shots on target. In short, it was a very easy match to win. Schweinsteiger, again had a good game, the general dogsbody of the team, while Lahm looked much better back in his old true position of left back. Hummels, even not taking into consideration his very well taken goal, was a standout performer for me in defence, as very few chances fell to the French from inside the penalty box. 

Shurle looked a bit lively coming on, and should have doubled the lead with a relatively simple chance. But it does show the strength of the German bench that you can bring on a player as decent as Shurle and he can have an immediate impact. 

France did raise their game a little in the last half hour of the game as the Germans retreated even more into a defensive shell, and you could argue all their build up play deserved a goal. Their final chance came when Giroud set up Benzema who burst free and fired off a hard shot on Neuer who calmly fisted it away, when probably a simple pass into the box might have gotten better results. Last chance gone as Germany move into the semi’s to face Brazil, while France go home with a squad that might come good in two years time for the European championships in their home country. 

Two players that didn’t live up to expectations for me were Ozil who again was disappointing and had a very quiet game. In fact he has had a very quite season full stop. Very curious to know how and why his season is so poor especially from a player that we all know can perform and has the true ability to change games. And Pogba also disappointed. He played ok, but I haven’t seen much from him in this tournament to suggest he would be one of the players to watch, as he was touted on many media platforms pre World Cup.  Perhaps the occasion got to him, and he will be stronger in four years time?

A word on the ref Néstor Pitana from Argentina who had a decent game. Well done. 

         Music to get you in the mood

Kraftwork V  Bob Sinclar

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 Brazil V Colombia Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Quarter Finals Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-quarter-finals/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Nomande came second in their group to the Australian beer VB, but did beat Skol Lager of Brazil to make the last eight, while Kirin Ichiban came first in a close enough Group C and beat Imperial Beer of Costa Rica to make it to the last eight. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

 Kirin Ichiban V Nomade Scotch Ale: 0-1 to Nomade. Looked good, nice fruity and malty aroma, with a taste that was of a sweet malty flavor with notes of grapes and smoked malts. The expected aftertaste wasn’t overwhelming, and the flavours kicked in near the end. It wins out as it was a stronger drink with stronger tastes. Kirin is a nice light pale lager that goes down easy and smooth. On pouring, the appearance was of a pale yellow colour with a very big creamy head that lingers for some time, and leaves a bit of lacing on the glass. Had a nice look to it. Kirin also had a sweet smell of a light grain and malt aroma. The taste also had some initial sweetness followed by a very enjoyable bitter aftertaste of hops, kind of creamy. Tastes of hay, wheat, and light floral hops. A good clean, crisp beer, smooth, I liked it. Nice but its the quarter finals and I go for the ale this time around, the stronger the drink and alcohol content the better chance of progression at this stage of my competition!

PreGame:

Brazil are unbeaten in 41 successive home matches, with their last defeat coming against Paraguay way way back in August 2002. Will that record be broken today? It is hard to say. Colombia have looked amazing so far, but its really difficult to discount Brazil. On home turf, with Neymar, with the crowd behind them, they will always be difficult to beat.

Against Chile I actually thought they played well for long periods of the game. They neutralised a very attack minded Chile team, and with a bit more luck they could have won the game without it having to go to penalties. Having said that though, they were within a few inches of going out, and also Julio Cesar had to pull of some good saves to keep them in the tournament, not least his penalty save. To come out of that game was a big plus in my book for Brazil, and they overcame that Chilean hurdle with their heads held high. 

The team look shattered though, emotionally drained. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has even had to asked a sport psychologist for help, to calm their nerves and get them in tune. You can see it when the national anthems ring out. The Brazilians sing it with gusto but it also appears to affect them as they their mind isn’t totally fit for a game of football. And the pressure of penalties in the last game, with the whole of Brazil looking on, wow! But I guess they must have had time now to get their shit together. You would hope so. 

A lot of players dramatically improved their performances against Chile. David Luiz, got the goal, but his overall game was commendable. And Marcelo was darting forward at all times, searching for a way through, and I love his never give up attitude. A trier. While the same can be said about Hulk, who took on the task of getting the winning goal against Chile, and was a tad unlucky with the disallowed goal, he also never gave up.

Neymar had an alright game by his standards, but to be fair to him was marked very tightly by Silva who held him up a few times, and also thwarted a few of his shots on goals, getting his neck, legs, body in the way in his battles with Neymar. Neymar did have those chances though, so it will be interesting to see how he does today against a very similar defence in Colombia. 

Fred was still rubbish though. And if he gets a world cup medal I don’t think I will ever watch football again! So Brazil could win today, but they will once again put their supporters through the mill, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this game went to penalties again.

Colombia have reached the last eight for the first time in their history by playing attractive attack minded football, showing great skill, scoring brilliant well worked goals, and generally making as many friends along the way as possible. All positive, take a note Greece, Russia and Switzerland, this is how football should be played.

In the last 16 , James Rodriguez showed an amazing piece of skill and vision, volleying a peach of a goal in the first half to put Colombia in the driving seat against a spirited Uruguay.  A superb team move for the second goal crowned off a brilliant night of football for the Los Cafeteros.  James Rodriguez is now the current top scorer of this years World Cup with five goals, and looks like he also might get the Golden Ball for best player of the tournament. That would be an amazing achievement for a player on a team that many didn’t give much thought to pre competition. His magnificent first will be talked for many a year to come, while his second, which was as equally great, showed that Colombia play as a team, all pulling in the right direction. All throughout the game,  Zuñiga and Cuadrado were particularly dangerous down the wings, and Rodriguez kept up the pressure in the middle of the park. They have the players that can cause Brazil serious problems today. 

But its not just the strikers and midfielders we should talk about. They also have a mean defence overlooked by a top class goalie, David Ospina, who looks to be another top keeper at this years World Cup to look out for. Safe hands should be his nickname.  

I grew up watching Valderama, Rincon and that crazy keeper Higuita play in Colombian teams of the past that had great skill but just never really did it on the World Stage. Even Pele famously predicted a World Cup victory for them back in 1994. So it’s fantastic to see, finally, we have a Colombian team that is going to be pretty hard to knock out of this years World Cup. All in Brazil’s court now to see have they got what it takes to dislodge the Colombians as everybody’s new favourite South American team. Hosts against the most exciting team in the World Cup. Neymar versus Rodriguez. A place in the last four of the World Cup beckons. Cant wait!

But I will leave you with a word of warning my Colombian friends. Colombia have NEVER beaten Brazil on Brazilian soil. (Penalties it is so!)

In an extremely physical encounter Brazil came out victorious, but not without consequences. They have lost Neymar, who was cynically kneed in the back by Juan Zuniga, and so will miss the rest of the tournament. And Thigao Silva picked up another yellow card that will leave him out of the semis against Germany. Two players that will be sorely missed for Brazil.

That game itself wasn’t the prettiest but a lot of credit must go to Brazil for taking it on to the Colombians from the very start. People expected Colombia to do the early pressing, but in fact it was all Brazil who were attacking early on.

They scored a very early goal from a Neymar corner that was allowed to drift to the back post where Thiago Silva followed it up and scored an easy enough tap in. Brilliant start for Brazil. 

Colombia came back and Cuadadro thought he had scored when he whipped in a shot that was only inches wide. Close

Hulk then went up the other end and forced a great save from the Colombian keeper Ospina who had to be alert a few times to stop the left footer, also pulling off a nice save against Oscar. 

Brazil had most of the chances and play, but occasionally Colombia broke with pace, and when James Rodríguez glided past four Brazilians effortlessly passing to Cuadrado, suddenly it was a 3 v 1 situation, but the chance was fluffed. Bad play by Cuadrado, who didn’t live up to his equal billing with Rodriguez, and was overall very disappointing on the night. 

One thing that was starting to emerge was the constant fouling and how the referee was letting a lot of cynical challenges and fouls go unpunished, from both teams, but mainly by Brazil. James Rodriguez was particularly getting very rough treatment from the Brazilian defence, and Paulinho was lucky to still be on the pitch after a few shocking tackles that at least deserved a yellow. Amazing to think he survived the whole game without picking up a single card! 

The highlight of the first half for me was when David Luiz went on a mazy run. Well I say run but it was more like a jog, at half pace, as he managed to get by a few Colombians and take the ball deep into the oppositions half. Luiz had another cracking game to remember, huge effort and determination at all times. 

Colombia had a goal by Yepes’ correctly ruled out for offside, but it was close, and they were very unlucky not to get back into the game. 

But then Brazil got their second when David Luiz struck a superb 25-yard free-kick that left Ospina with no chance as it flew high with speed to his left. It was what Luiz deserved for all his endeavor in the game. This was his chance to shine and bask in the glory. 

Colombia did get back into the game. Rodriguez managed to avert the tackles and brilliantly passed to Carlos Bacca in the box who was eventually taken down by Julio Cesar. From the ensuing penalty Rodriguez’s cored his sixth goal of the tournament to set up a tense final ten minutes of the game for Brazil to hang on. 

And they did, just about, but as mentioned without Neymar on the pitch, who had to leave in a stretcher. So when Colombia talk about the tackles of Brazil perhaps they could also show some humility and admit that at least none of their team had to go to casualty with a serious back problem. Yes the referee was lax all game, but they let it affect them too much, and overall Brazil did enough to win the game as they had shown more heart and creativity to come out on top. Hard luck Colombia, thanks for the goals and the memories, but it just wasn’t to be.

Next up for Brazil is a clash with Germany, the first real test they will have in this tournament. Gone are the South American teams that play to a predictable pace and are manageable. Lets see how Brazil do against a German team that can boss the midfield, and will be more than a physical match for any shenanigans that Scolari might have in mind. Muller excepted, he has a soft head. 

         Music to get you in the mood

The Monas V  Chico Science

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 USA V Belgium Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Round of 16 Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-last-16/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Samuel Adams came out of Group G while Hite Lager pulled of a shock to come out of Group H. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

Samuel Adams V Hite Lager: 2-0 to Samuel Adams. The American craft beer classic beats the Korean lager comfortably enough. Strong flavours, from the hops and malt, well balanced, with hints of caramel that lingers in the tongue. This is a delicious beer that looks great, golden with a good sized frothy head. Smell of malts and a bit of floral hops. This is a good all round package, good taste, smell and, of course, taste. Easy to like and enjoy. Hite lager is a nice, pleasant tasting beer, but I am looking for more than session beers at this stage of my beer world cup. Sweet, clear and crisp is all good but it will need a bit more to beat Samuel Adams. Hite is perfect as a session beer, as it goes down well, is pleasant and refreshing, and I would recommend it as a beer when having a nice meal.

PreGame:

USA: Jurgen Klinsmann, has a very tough choice to make today. Keep with the team that got him this far, or bring back Jozy Altidore after his two-match absence from a hamstring injury. It really is a very tough choice, and if I was in his position I don’t know what I would do. Difficult. I guess Altidore does offer more options up front and he is great at keeping the ball, but then you could argue the team are bonding together into a strong enough unit, and to change it now might disrupt the rhythm. It looks like Jurgen Klinsmann will go with the unchanged choice, but I wouldnt be surprised if he springs Altidore sometime during the game.

Against Germany the USA played poor, offering very little, and had no chances at all in the game, but there might be excuses to that. The weather was awful, and the team were virtually assured of going through so maybe the performance levels dipped a bit. The USA are the type of team that plays when they are under intense pressure, no pressure then not so good. They don’t dictate games, better at chasing down a result. 

Tonight they can make some history, with a huge TV audience back home watching, lets hope they do, as anything that makes football (real football) more popular in the States should be welcomed, that and the fact they are a decent honest hardworking team. Go USA!

Belgium have yet to perform as well as expected in this years World Cup. They have won their games, yes, but only after relatively poor performances and getting late winners.  For a team that was seeded its disappointing stuff, also when you take into consideration they have only score four goals in a very weak group. 

Will they miss captain Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen who are both a solid defensive unit in the team? 

At the last game it was another late late show from Belgium who scored with about a quarter of the game left. Vertonghen striking the rebound in the 77th minute after Kim Seung-gyu couldn’t hold onto Origi’s shot. Another win, another average performance. Belgium trundle on, without dropping any points. They say if you are winning ugly, you are still winning, so I guess once they do hit a purple patch in a game they might actually start showing us why they are the dark horses of this tournament. But I haven’t seen anything as of yet to suggest that will prosper in this competition.

Belgium now have a second round tie against the USA, in a game where both teams look evenly matched, and to be honest it could go either way. The two teams have a very laboured approach going forward, and don’t seem to have that striker that can pick a goal at will. Can see this match going all the way to extra time and penalty kicks.  

This match was basically the Howard V Origi show. Origi getting many good shots on target, Howard effortlessly saving them. What a great game, with what seemed like hundreds of chances both ends, in a game that went right to the wire. Brilliant stuff from both teams, Belgium with that extra piece of skill, the USA with that never say die attitude. 

Origi got off to a good start when he shot from a tight angle early on. Howard making the save. This was to be a regular theme for the next hour and an a half. Origi had many chances to win this game, but he came up against a player who was having one of those special nights. Howard saved everything that was thrown at him. Origi header: saved. Origi low shot: saved. De Bruyne from a 4v2 attack: saved. (should have scored though, as George Best once said, good players don’t miss simple chances, ever!). Hazard to Origi who magnificently puts Mirallas in. He must score: saved! Brilliant run from defence by Kompany, can he score? No: saved. That was pretty much how it went for Belgium in the 90 minutes of the game. Without the brilliant Howard in the nets, the Belgians would have ran up a cricket score against the USA. A memorable performance, that will be talked about for years to come. 

The rest of the USA team, were also very hardworking, but unlike Howard they lacked skill and composure. Bradley was poor going forward, and it looked like he had lead in his boots. Had a great chance near the end when on his left there were 4 American players, but he turned right and tried to beat the Belgian defence on his own, didn’t work of course! Fool. He did set up the goal to be fair, but that’s the law of averages in a game that lasted 120 minutes. Dempsey, likewise, had a lot of decent chances that he fluffed throughout. And when it was 3 v 3 he did the glory and messed up the attack. Also had an excellent opportunity near the end but his first touch was very heavy and Courtois in the Belgium goal made an easy save. Remember, I always bang on about the small percentages in games, well……? And what about Wondolowski’s miss in the end? Wow, he wont live that down for a while. He should retire really, as if you cant hit that on target, give up ffs. Wasn’t offside, and even though the linesman had his flag up, the ref didn’t blow for the free. So it could have stood!

The substitutions made a big change in this game. Once again Wilmot did his thing, and brought on the temperamental Romelu Lukaku, who had an immediate impact in extra time. First, his amazing burst of speed brought him down the right side of the pitch, taking a shot which was blocked but De Bruyne pounced on it to fire in a shot into the corner of the net, This time Howard didn’t have a chance to save it. Within a few minutes Belgium were two up and it was that man again, Lukaku, who this time got on the score sheet, with a brilliant finish in off the post. 2-0 and the USA looked buried. 

But the USA didn’t give up. They came back magnificently, and got a goal back when Green scored with a lovely volley with his first touch of the game from a clever chip into the box by Bradley.  The USA were right back in it. But alas it was too little too late. 

Belgium will now play Argentina on Saturday in a game where they might conceivably be favourites judging by both teams previous games. The USA go home with their heads held high, a good World Cup considering the path they had to take to get to the last 16. They will come back from this stronger, and in four years time they wont be the team that people will dismiss so easily. 

         Music to get you in the mood

Madonna V The Glimmers

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 Switzerland V Argentina Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Top bets on today’s game: Germany V Algeria

Messi V Shaqiri, two great players in two woeful teams. Both teams have no real idea how to defend, at least going on the performances so far, with only Zabaleta and Romero the only plus points in that regard for Argentina. Swiss goalie has had a shocking World Cup so far and appears very nervous in between the sticks, can see Messi testing him with frees all over the park today.

All four teams to score today 7/2
Messi a/t scorer 8/13
Shaqiri a/t scorer 4/1 and 60/1 to score two or more.
Messi to score from a free kick is 9/1

Hopefully claw back some money

All odds with PP

Well that didn’t work out at all! Tut Tut

Full betting previews, read here>

Beers: Round of 16 Beer World Cup: 

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-last-16/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Guinness Export came out of Group F, winning it on the last day, while Feldschlosschen came out of Group E. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

Feldschlösschen Original Pale Lager V Guinness Export: 2-0 to Guinness Export as the stout beats the light tasting lager. Feldschlösschen is a good beer, with a nice taste and easy to drink. The appearance is of a pure clear yellow colour, bright and clean with a good big frothy head on top that stays. Looks refreshing and tantalisingly good. The aroma is light and malty, on the grainy side but with a little sweetness. The taste is of a classic lager style, nice crisp and a smooth refreshing drink. Grain dominates the taste with very little bitterness. Not complex, well balanced, and very easy to drink. Could drink these all day long. Could, but up against Guinness Export it wont win. Simply because of the flavouring, or lack of it in the Feldschlösschen lager. Guinness Export is the complete opposite, full of exciting and interesting flavours, that had a very powerful aftertaste. It pours the expected pitch black colour with a tan whitish head. A very strong aroma of dark cocoa, coffee and roasted malts. The smell is quite strong on the nose. It was a very strong tasting stout, with a long bitter aftertaste, that had a bite to it. Overall a good strong stout, tasting of roasted malt with traces of coffee. As you would expect with a Guinness stout the flavours are complex and well balanced, making it one of the worlds richest tasting beers, and no contest for a nice, very nice, but bland Swiss lager. 

PreGame:

Switzerland won their last game 3-0 but their performance wasn’t anything to get too excited about. Against a very poor team they gave away numerous chances at the other end of the pitch, and if it wasn’t for such bad Honduran forward play, and the wonderful Shaqiri up front, Switzerland could just as easily be heading home. A lovely hat trick from Xherdan Shaqiri, well deserved for the Bayern Munich hit man, who looked lively throughout.

At the back things were not so rosy for the Swiss. Djourou played one of his worst games for Switzerland. Pretty much every time the ball went into the Swiss central defence he was at fault for giving away chance after chance. He was a big hole in the central defence of Switzerland and luckily for him the always reliable Rodriguez had to bail him out on a few occasions. Benaglio in goals also looked very dodgy, and seemed to be missing a lot of simple crosses. Very worrying for the Swiss, and something I hope they have worked on in training as Argentina and Messi will not be as forgiving today.

As I have mentioned before, I think that Swiss team is carrying a lot of passengers. Xhaka is a dead loss, little movement, not much creativity. Inler another that offers very little, and I would even be critical of Drmic, apart from the two assists excellent as they were and all, he looked like he would never score himself. Weak, and not going to trouble too many defenders. Shaqiri bailed out his team big time.

Will be a tough game for them today but the only thing going for them is that Argentina have an equally awful defence. They have an outside chance at most.

Argentina: The most important thing to say about Argentina is that Lionel Messi has scored 24 times in his last 23 games for Argentina. If he clicks again today then Switzerland go home. Simple. No one else on the Argentinian team will cause much grief for the Swiss defence, just the golden boy Messi. He has got his team out of trouble in all their games so far, and without him Argentina are toothless in attack.

Nigeria, and even lowly Iran, cut open once the Argentina defence relatively easy. If Shaqiri can continue his excellent form, he might cause problems. 

To be a little fair, Di maria was much more livelier in the Nigerian game, and was creating many opportunities from midfield. A much better performance. Zabaleta, also put in a good shift, stopping a few certain goals with some last ditch tackling. Pity the few around him in Argentinian shirts didn’t play as well. Mascherano was playing, but I wouldn’t have guessed as I barely heard his name mentioned. First time I heard his name talked about in three games, wow. That’s some skill to hide on such a big pitch!

But they have topped their group and a win is a win is a win. That doesn’t hide over the cracks in their defence, and that without Messi they are an average team at best. They take on Switzerland in a game that might be a bit tricky for a while until Messi pops up to get them through again, possibly with another unstoppable free kick.

I HATE teams like Switzerland, HATE them. Get to a World Cup and do diddly squat. Have a very good chance to knock out Argentina, but couldn’t be bothered to do it. Just try for goodness sake. Boring, just like your beer! Have some heart, some passion, some balls, some pride. Nah, they dont care about it enough.

Argentina played awful and they were so lucky that Switzerland were even worse. The game should have just had Messi and Shaqiri, one v one, Keep the goalies and ditch the rest. 

Lest go through the Swiss team. Inler, four on one attack and he goes for the glory: sh*t. Drmic, one and one with Romero and passes to him, predicted he wouldn’t score, was right: sh*t. Mehmedi, good for getting the ball, bad for giving it away five seconds later, all the time: sh*t. Xhaka, missing in action and as of yet to be found:sh*t. Seferovic comes on for the final few minutes, and walks, not runs, but walks around the pitch refusing to help his team mates:sh*t! So frustrating. Where are the Swiss style players of yesteryear, like the great Alain Sutter, or Bregy or Kunp. Men who didnt fanny around, got the job done. Not these players, too many egos, not enough skill, or balls. Man up, take the game by the scruff of the neck and score!

But to be fair to the Swiss, in defence they played very well. Rodriguez had the beating off Di Maria for most of the day, and was solid throughout. He has had a cracking World Cup. Lichtsteiner had Messi well marked up to a point, which must be one of the hardest jobs in world football, to try and keep Messi quiet, but he did up to the last fifteen or so minutes. And even Djourou had his part to play in defence. I was very critical of his previous performance, but against Argentina he was brilliant. Well done. It’s such a pity that both behind them and ahead of them the Swiss defenders had a very frustrating afternoon. Once they got the ball out from defence it was immediately returned as the midfield could not hold onto it, while Benaglio was nervous behind them. He still hasn’t figured out how to catch a ball after all these years as a professional. Maybe he isn’t a goalkeeper at all, perhaps he is the kit man?

Switzerland only had Shaqiri as any real threat but he was marked out of the game, and got zero help from his teammates. He played well, and he did produce some great passes, putting in Drmic for his chip/pass, and generally holding the ball up well. 

The worst thing was when the Swiss had so much possession in extra time, that they were passing it around for fun, with cheers from the crowd, loving it. But why do that stupid stuff when you could just as easily attack the tired Argentinian defenders, who could barely walk, and score a goal. Stop the messing and just go and win the damn thing! Weak!

Argentina themselves were not much better. Apart from di Maria and Messi, they had no one else showing for the ball or trying to win the game. Di Maria got some awful criticism from the BBC but I thought he played well. He tried all game, and he did get the goal in the end. I will even forgive his showboating, which was criminal, but if he scored the winner, he is allowed a pass. But Argentina don’t have a plan B. Plan A is easy, give it to Messi, and he will win the game for the team. He did that again, picking the ball from deep midfield, running right up to the box, skipping over a half hearted tackle, and picking out Di Maria on the edge of the box. Brilliant. And fair dues to Di maria for a nicely taken goal that nestled into the bottom corner giving the goalkeeper no chance. 

Argentina now go on to play Belgium in a game they might not win. Belgium have looked vary good in parts and could give the Argentinians a really good go of it. They have the players to cause that defence real problems. And don’t forget, just double mark Messi. 

Switzerland go home, and it is a sad end for their coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, a legend of club football, who did an amazing job in getting a poor Swiss team this far. 

Just one more thing. The millionaire ref Jonas Eriksson, of Sweden, had a good game, and let the match flow. Take a bow.

         Music to get you in the mood

Gustavo Cerati  V  Mike Candys

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