The semi-final stage

The World Cup is sadly reaching it's end, and this week, we saw the last 4 teams attempt to reach the pinnacle of World football that is the World Cup final at Soccer City Johannesburg on Sunday 11th July. The stage was set for Holland-Uruguay and Germany-Spain, the 4 best teams of 2010.

Tuesday saw the clash between two times winners Uruguay and two times beaten finalists Holland. Could the Dutch get to a third World Cup final where they would have the chance to break their World Cup duck?? Or would the Uruguayans again reach the final and attempt to join the likes of Germany, Italy and Brazil by winning their 3rd World Cup?? The Uruguayans have been the surprise package of this World Cup, winning a tough group containing the host nation South Africa, former champions France and the excellent Mexicans to set up a last 16 match against South Korea. Having won that, they then knocked out the last African side, Ghana, having narrowly survived an Asamoah Gyan penalty towards the end of extra-time and then winning through 4-2 on penalties. The Dutch had come through tough encounter's with Slovakia and Brazil to get to the semi-final against Uruguay and with all their brilliant attacking players, it looked like it would be an overly entertaining tie. As a stat before the game, no World Cup semi-final had ever been won by more than a one-goal margin and many critics didn't expect that to change during this tie. The Dutch looked to hit out early, and that they did as Gio Van Bronckhorst smashed in a long-range effort in the 18th minute that Muslera had no chance of getting to. That goal was perhaps the goal of the tournament and unlike many long-range shots at this World Cup, the Jabulani didn't seem to deviate in any way, shape or form and perhaps that is indicative of how good a strike it was from the experienced defender and Dutch captain. The Uruguayans managed to get back level just before half-time when Diego Forlan curled in a brilliant effort from outside the box that Maarten Stekelenburg perhaps should've saved, but unfortunately for him, he took a step to the right having not anticipated the flight of the ball correctly. The Dutch then went and scored 2 goals in the space of 2 second-half minutes after first Wesley Sneijder (70 minutes) and then Arjen Robben (73 minutes) pretty much made the game safe for the Oranje Army. Or so the Dutch thought. Having indicated that there would be just 3 minutes of injury time, the Urguayan right-back Maxi Pereira curled in a delicious finish from just outside the box. After that, the referee seemed happy to let the Uruguayans attack for a few more minutes before blowing up and sending the Dutch into Sunday's final at Soccer City after a 3-2 win over their South American rivals. Having talked so much about how the South American's were dazzling us all at this World Cup, it seem's ironic that for the 2nd successive World Cup, Hollands victory confirmed that we would once again have an all-European final as Germany took on Spain in the second semi-final. Incidentally, it is also the first time there has been an all-European final outside of Europe and so once again, the World Cup of 2010 throws up a first.

Tonight then we got to witness the combined brilliance of Germany and Spain as they duelled for the second place in the World Cup final in the brilliant setting of Durban. Both teams will have been going into this game thinking it was a game that they could win and would have been confident of making Sunday's final. The Germans had the advantage of their extensive experience at this stage of the World Cup, whereas this was the first time the Spanish had gotten to a World Cup semi-final having finally broken their quarter-final duck against the Paraguayans in the previous round. The Germans has illuminated the tournament with their excellent incisive play and mechanical attitude and the fact that they scored 4 goals in 3 games during this tournament, all against quality opposition. The Spanish however, dominated large periods of the game and the European champions always looked the more likely to score the winning goal throughout the game. The eventual winner came as Carles Puyol headed in a Spanish corner after 73 minutes, hardly a goal that was circa Spain 2008. But that goal was enough to win the game even though the Spanish should've sealed the game late on after Pedro failed to find Fernando Torres in an advanced position, but luckily for the European champions, the Germans simply weren't strong enough to craft the opening that could get them back into the semi-final and hence they go into Saturday nights 3rd place play-off with Uruguay, and Spain will meet Holland at Soccer City on Sunday night for the right to be called the World champions. That win not only means that there will definitely be a new name on the famous trophy, incidentally the nation that wins will be the 8th nation to have ever won the title, but also that the stat stated earlier stands: no nation has ever won a World Cup semi-final by more than a one goal margin.

So then, we have the 3rd place play-off on Saturday, and then the final on Sunday night. I will cover both of those games and then next week, I will bring my bests and worsts of the World Cup 2010. I've really enjoyed this brilliant World Cup and I hope you've enjoyed it aswell. I've loved covering it, and I'm glad that you guys have enjoyed reading this blog as usual. Having said all that, see you Saturday, and have a great Thursday and Friday. Cheers guys