WORLD CUP 2014: AS USUALLY, THE SEMIFINALS ARE FOR THE TEAMS WITH PEDIGREE

Football is a game played by 22 players, and the Germans always win in the end. I am using again this old Gary Lineker phrase to summarize the quarterfinals of World Cup 2014.  Out of my four favorites, three made it to the semifinals, except for Colombia, which was abused and brutalized by the aggressive Brazilian team (which had to pay the price - injured Neymar - for its own brutality, when Colombians started to retort, after noticing that referee was unwilling to penalize the Brazilian perpetrators with red or yellow cards).  I have written about Brazil v. Colombia match in my previous article. There is not much to say about the France-Germany quarterfinal match, played at the famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday and won by the Germans, thanks to early headed goal of Mats Hummels. The Germans, although unspectacular this time, except for Hummels' headed goal, controlled the game to the end, notwithstanding enterprising counterattacks by the French and glorious opportunities of Valbuena and Benzema. Unfortunately for the French, German goalkeeper Neuer is indeed the best goalkeeper in the world. In the first quarterfinal played on Saturday in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, Argentina edged Belgium 1:0, also thanks to an early goal. That goal, spectacularly struck by Higuain, was made by Leo Messi, who did not allow swarming around him Belgian players to take the ball away from his feet, then dribbled through couple of them and passed the ball to Di Maria, who immediately passed it further to Higuain, and he, with his back to Belgian goal when receiving the ball, turned and beautifully volleyed home, leaving the hugely talented Courtois frozen on the goal line. Till the end of the match, Argentina showed that they can defend after all, no matter what the English funny pundits say. The Argentina's midfield, directed by Leo Messi, and supported well by Mascherano and Biglia (who was preferred this time over Gago) as the holding players, controlled the match wisely till its end. The Belgians were threatening at times, mostly thanks to De Bruyne, Mertens and Verthongen, but Eden Hazard was ineffective, and then he disappeared until Marc Wilmots, his coach, finally substituted him with Chadli. Well done, Argentina. Unfortunately, they lost Di Maria to injury and will miss him sorely in the match against Holland in the semifinals. Holland v. Costa Rica, the last of the quarterfinals, played in the hot Salvador, had to be decided on penalties, even though the Dutch enjoyed overwhelming superiority in the match, having 75% of ball possession and outshooting the modest Costa Ricans 18 to 3, with 12 Dutch shots on target comparing with only 1 by Costa Rica! Notwithstanding the advantage of the enterprising Dutch, the Costa Ricans defended wisely by playing high defense and causing the Dutch to be caught 16 times  offside. It is obvious to anyone seeing the game, that this Dutch team is not that great when they have to attack. Except for Robben, the Dutch do not have any player who could unlock teams defending with a "parked bus". Sneijder was a bit unlucky with his free kicks and shots from outside the penalty area, twice hitting the woodwork, whereas Van Persie obviously cannot play against tight defenses. However, in the semifinal against Argentina, the Dutch would not have to play offense - they will park the bus themselves and will look with hope to swift counterattacks on the break.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal as well as other community important topics. You can reach him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com