Knock-out!

I wish someone would knock-out my heart from its current residence, keep it there till the end of Brazil's game and return it to its home after they win. That I believe is the state of many Selacao fans (not the average fan;The REAL one's) The nerves are here to stay. As much as it is absolutely exciting, today's game is going to be a tough one for Brazil, and even tougher for fans. Sigh! For now thinking about how far this football show has progressed is more pressing...and relaxing!

48 matches and 136 goals scored; two weeks of play, and only one round done! That's an average of 2.83 goals (if we are to be mathematically correct), or 3 goals a game. Suffice to say, "What a world cup!" In fact it is a record breaking world cup, in terms of number of goals scored in the preliminary round. 

The goals have definitely lead to the surging excitement of the football fiesta, and the week that has passed has had a number of fascinating twists & turns; good and bad. 

I'd like to start with the Italy - Uruguay game. I personally feel that it was a football tragedy. Not only because of some dull Italian football, but predominantly because of bad referee calls and one, Luis Suarez. The jokes on the internet have provided fantastic entertainment, but at the back drop of a sad event in football - That a player can blatantly attack and bite another on the pitch and still finish the match is disappointing. For all his talent, Suarez's biting problem really ruined the game, and the magic of football. He not only let himself down, he let his team and country down! Regardless, Italy failed and are headed back home accompanied by an unaccomplished English team. 

Netherlands had a tough game against Chile, which does come to show that while they are playing some good football, they can be stopped! Spain apparently redeemed themselves with a win over a rather rough Australia (a return to their game of yore?) Colombia thrashed their Japanese counter parts and I believe they are a team to watch - for me they are more thrilling than the Chile squad. There is something very new and daring about the Colombian side (Hopefully we see more of this in their next game) 

The Greece - Ivory Coast game fluctuated constantly between being boring and exciting. At the end of it, Ivory Coast were a disappointing team that evening and Greece exploited that. Ghana and their off the pitch domestic drama were tossed out of the world cup (Disappointing that the African teams are always surrounded by such issues!) As a saving grace for Africa, Nigeria & Algeria are through to the knock-out stages! And what final games they both had! Nigeria held their own versus a star studded Argentina team - kudos! The Algeria - Russia game was fast paced, had movement across both sides of the pitch and was fun to watch! In contrast the other game in group H was truly boring. A 1 -0 win for Belgium was the only good thing about it. Otherwise, it was dull enough to have me switch over to the Algeria game. 

The US - Germany game was special. Mostly because the Germans won it with another moment of accurate and precise Muller action! What a goal that was! To be fair, the US team played a good game and you can see that Klinsmann has had a very positive influence on the team. Beasley has the ability to feed Dempsey with stunning passes and it must be said that Dempsey is still one of the most dangerous forwards, to date. He still maintains his uncanny way of running through the opposition's defence line leaving supporters screaming their lungs out, and non-supporters holding their breath. Germany played a reasonably good game but there were many worrying moments at midfield where they lost the ball carelessly. Something that they definitely cannot afford to do in their next games.

The stage is set now for the round of 16! Who will make it through? How many fans will be celebrating, and how many will be braving the world after heart wrenching disappointment? How many goals will we see? What magic moments will Brasil 2014 offer this week?