Quarter-Freakin'-Finals.

The quarter-finals start today and I'm pretty excited. There are two decent matches and two absolute crackers (hopefully). And thankfully, the crackers are on at 7.30 while the other two are the late-night fixtures. :)

Anyway, a great thing about this year's quarters is that there are FOUR South American teams! And just three European! Which should provide for some attacking football, considering that the 3 Europeans are Germany, Spain and Netherlands. And let's not forget Ghana, still waving the African flag high in the sky. The matches themselves are interesting. Firstly we have a rematch of the 1998 semifinal, i.e., NED-BRA. That match went to penalties and there's every chance this match goes the distance too. We have last World Cup's quarter-final rematch, i.e., ARG-GER, and guess what, that also went to penalties. Then we have URU-GHA, which means that either we have ourselves a first African semi-finalist or we have Uruguay's return to former ways, with their first semifinal appearance in forty years. And finally, we have PAR-ESP, neither of whom has reached a semifinal before. (Spain finished 4th in 1950 but for that edition the final four played a round robin instead of semifinals/final)

So without further ado, predictions...

NED 1-2 BRA
Both are attacking teams that have played defensively in the tournament, but whereas the Dutch continued that in their win over Slovakia, Brazil turned up the style for a fair few minutes against Chile, so I'm tipping Brazil for this one.

URU 2-1 GHA
Luis Suarez has peaked just in time and even though Gyan has been scoring important goals throughout, Uruguay have certainly looked better than the Black Stars and should edge them out in this match.

ARG 2-1 GER
Argentina haven't been properly tested yet and they haven't been as good as Germany was against Australia and England but the Albiceleste have been more consistent than them Nazi fucks, and c'mon, the Gods have to let Argentina get revenge for 2006. They can't possibly lose to Germany on penalties again, can they? 1990, 2006... surely, third time's a charm right? Please?? And Messi'll get his first goal. Hopefully.

PAR 0-2 ESP
Simplest quarterfinal to call, though that doesn't mean Paraguay have no chance. Spain dominated Portugal and Paraguay had a tough time against Japan so they should lose to La Furia Roja. Though it's Spain, where in football, they live to choke.

So, should that happen, semi line-up...
URU vs BRA
ARG vs ESP

Good times!

Ok solidarity time... AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA! AR-GEN-TINA!