Re-Cupping The World Cup: The Brazil Beatdown

We are going to do a short blog each weekday about the World Cup. There will be a little more on United States obviously, but when it comes to the other games, we will talk about the different games in short recaps like we used to do with the NBA. I am no expert, don't pretend to be, but I want to compile a blog featuring some tweets, GIFs, videos and a couple thoughts from yours truly. If you hate it, let me know or think you could do it better, you know where to find me @SnoTap12 

Germany 7 Brazil 1 - When Brazil and Germany ended up meeting on the schedule for the semifinal of the World Cup, the matchup was met with great intrigue. Despite the Brazilians missing Neymar due to injury and Thiago Silva due to a second yellow card, many believed this would be a tremendous futbol match between the two winningest teams in World Cup history. That didn't happen as Germany had an onslaught of goals scoring five in a mere 20 minutes powering them ahead of Brazil and into a World Cup Final for the first time since 2002. First, it was Thomas Muller in the eleventh minute, Miroslav Klose in the 22nd and then it went downhill with Toni Kroos two goals in two minutes making it a 4-0 game in the 26th minute. (H/T @StoolMillmore for the Vine)



Simply put, Germany punched Brazil square in the mouth, and the Brazilian team did not know how to recover from it. They haven't played well all tournament with surviving against Mexico, Croatia and even Colombia in a sense and finally, they were exposed by the much stronger German side. I thought David Luiz played a piss-poor match essentially giving up after the first three goals were scored. I also think Brazil never expected Germany to be as attacking as they were early on in the game. As for Germany, this is their chance to win the first World Cup since 1990, they have been so close since then with third place finishes in 2006 and 2010. Whether Germany wins or loses on Sunday, this is one of the most impressive runs in the last 14 years.

Charlie.

Re-Cupping The World Cup: Final Four Features South America & Europe

We are going to do a short blog each weekday about the World Cup. There will be a little more on United States obviously, but when it comes to the other games, we will talk about the different games in short recaps like we used to do with the NBA. I am no expert, don't pretend to be, but I want to compile a blog featuring some tweets, GIFs, videos and a couple thoughts from yours truly. If you hate it, let me know or think you could do it better, you know where to find me @SnoTap12 

Friday
Brazil 2 Colombia 1 - This is a tough to game to recap because you want to give Brazil credit for winning this match, but at the same time, I would be remiss without mentioning the poor officiating in the game as well. It felt like Colombia got the short end of the stick on more than one occasion. Despite that, Brazil was the better club on Friday with a great free kick goal from David Luiz that gave Brazil a 2-0 advantage. James Rodriguez, the star of this World Cup, knocked in a penalty kick in the 80th minute giving Colombia a little hope, but they could not find any late magic. The win came costly for Brazil as they lost their star Neymar for the rest of the tournament with a broken vertabrae and Thiago Silva may miss the game with his second yellow card although Brazil is asking FIFA to overturn the decision.

Germany 1 France 0 - This is an obvious rivalry with these two teams sharing a border and being two of the most successful European soccer nations. West Germany knocked off France in 1982 and 1986, but there hasn't been much between the two nations since then. Yet there is still some dislike there among their fans more so than anything else. Mat Hummels nailed the game-winner early on in this one in the 22nd minute to give Germany the win. France had a couple opportunties, but it seemed to me the Les Blues run to the quarterfinals had more to do with who've they played in the tournament versus being a real solid team in this tournament.

Saturday
Netherlands 0 Costa Rica 0 (Netherlands win 4-3 in PK's) - Tim Krul became Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney of the 2014 World Cup. He came in as the goalkeeper for penalty kicks as Louis Van Vaal went with another goalie for penalty kicks. The move paid off in a major way as Krul stopped two Costa Rican attempts and making it a second straight semifinal appearance for Netherlands. This will be a rematch of the 1978 World Cup final, and can Netherlands finally win a World Cup? They have been the groomsman way too many times. At some point, they have to breakthrough, right?  

Argentina 1 Belgium 0 - There aren't many goalkeepers whom have Lionel Messi's number, but Thibaut Courtois (What a ridiculously awesome name), the Belgian keeper has The Magician in a death lock holding him goal-less in the last seven games against each other as Courtois played a year for Athletico Madrid. Courtois held him goal-less again including a great stop at the end of a game, but that didn't stop Argentina from appearing in their first semifinal in 28 years. Gonzalo Higuain knocked in a goal in the seventh minute and Argentina held on with a bruising, defensive style.

-Charlie.