No big upsets, nothing nearly as exciting as the first two days of the second round. Just two displays of old-school attacking teams playing far less exciting football than their legacy implies, but doing so with enough force and quality to relatively easily put away their challengers.
I have very little to say, actually. The Dutch looked slightly more dangerous than in their group games but still haven’t really impressed. Robben’s goal was beautiful, sure, but you have to feel like the Slovak defense really ought to have dealt with it. He didn’t do anything unexpected or surprising. Still, four wins in four games is pretty impressive–particularly for a team that supposedly isn’t playing very well.
As for Brazil, well they scored three goals and conceded zero. They didn’t do a ton on the attack, but created some good chances and finished them expertly when they were provided. On the other side, the defense looked pretty damn impregnable. I see no reason to change my prediction for them as tournament winners.
That said, if anyone can beat them it may well be the Dutch. We’ll see in a few days, and I’ll try to provide a full preview then. Still, for now let me just say that I tend to think that game will go poorly for the Oranje, mostly because they are going to get caught on the counter. They’ll over-commit and get burned. That might all change if they can get an early goal which would allow them to play a more cautious game. And they have enough attacking brilliance to make a goal out of virtually nothing. Still, the Brazilian back line is fast and strong, and is not going to get turned around like the Slovaks did by some fancy (or not so fancy) running from Robben.
The real x factor has to be whether Robin Van Persie is actually any good. I was convinced before the tournament started that he was going to destroy some people, but so far he has looked utterly lost and useless. If he manages the sort of game that made Arsenal fans shiver last fall, the Dutch might have a good chance. If not, they’ll soon join the rest of Europe back home.
Predictions for tomorrow:
- Paraguay 2 – 2 Japan (Paraguay to go through on penalties)
- Spain 2 – 1 Portugal (1-1 at full time)
I really have no business predicting the first game. I’ve got both of those teams wrong pretty much across the board. So I’m playing it safe and calling penalties. The second one is the really tasty one. I see Portugal giving Spain a really hard time, but I think it’ll end in a bit of a whimper–much like the US game with Spain scoring early in extra time and Portugal not doing a ton to trouble them after that.
Final thought: after all the low-scoring group games, every knockout game has had at least 3 goals. That’s been fun. Hope I haven’t jinxed it now.