World Cup 2014 : Getting Serious

The World Cup is now down to the quarter finals – things are starting to get serious. The group stages have exceeded all expectations with lots of goals and open attacking football. The last 16 have been more of a mixed bag: some good matches, some poor, fewer goals and more cagey tactics. Some of this may be down to the knockout format of the latter stages but I suspect that playing a game in hot, humid conditions every four days is eventually going to take its toll. Of the teams that played only Columbia really looked convincing .

If the group stages were dominated by free-flowing play and free-for-all goal scoring then the last 16 has been notable for some remarkable goalkeeping displays. Normally this would indicate dull defensive matches but the games with good goalkeepers have been amongst the best. The first notable performance was from Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa who did incredibly well to keep a rampant Netherlands team at bay for much of the 90 minutes. It was only in the dying minutes that the Netherlands managed to make a breakthrough and then “win” a penalty to send the Mexicans home. It’s a pity as I’ve enjoyed this Mexico team and I would have liked to see more of them (and my wife would have liked to have seen more of Ochoa who is a bit pretty, apparently.)

The next notable goalkeeping performances were in the same game where at one end Algeria’s Adi Mbolhi acted a single man brick wall against Germany’s front line whilst at the other end Manuel Neuer performed the role of both goalkeeper and sweeper keeping the Algerian breaks under control and spending much of the game hanging around the half way line. The last game of the round saw Everton’s Tim Howard give a career defining performance for the USA against Belgium and breaking the record for World Cup saves in a single match. All of this was exceptional stuff.

The round did have its downside, though. Brazil won but disappointed again against a decent Chile side who will be a loss to the tournament. Costa Rica ground out a win on penalties against a dull Greece team and France won in workmanlike fashion against Nigeria in normal time. Worst game of the finals so far must be the Argentina vs Switzerland game which was so dull I was ruing the fact that they couldn’t both lose. Argentina did score eventually thanks largely to the work-rate of Lionel Messi who was the only player on the pitch deserving any credit at all.

We now have a few days break until Friday when France and Germany kick off the quarter final stage. It’s difficult to call who will make it through to the final but I suspect that later kick-offs and fitter players will help no end. There are only 8 matches left and the finalists are going to have to play 3 games in as little as 8 days in the Brazilian heat and humidity. We did see refreshments breaks in the Netherlands vs Mexico game and I think this should be a permanent fixture rather than the exception when slogging in the sun.