Holland won, and Ghana fell at the last hurdle yesterday. Today will be tough to match yesterday in terms of ecstasy and agony, but it shouldn’t want for drama – particularly this afternoon.
Argentina and Germany are engaged in mind games and trash talk. The bitterness and lack of love is no surprise, since they came to blows four years ago, before Germany beat knocked them out in a penalty shoot-out.
I think I’m pulling for Germany – I like the free-flowing style of their young team. But Argentina, coached by crazy and crazy-good Maradona and built around Messi, the new Maradona, are a force of nature. Either way, it’ll be a brilliant match.
In the evening it’ll be Spain vs Spain. I mean, Spain will be playing against Paraguay, but really Spain are overwhelming favourites, and they just need to not fuck it up. That’s not to say Paraguay are pushovers – they’re not – but only that the expectation is for Spain to win. That’s the kind of expectation that has caused teams (especially Spanish teams) to falter. But I expect the Euro title holders to advance comfortably (by a score of 2-0) and face a battered Germany or Argentina in the semis.
Let the drama unfold.
