Germany Champions of the World!

Germany were crowned as World Champions early this morning after winning their match against Argentina at the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro.

It might have taken the Germans 112 minutes to break the deadlock but it turned out to be the decider and that certainly what mattered.

Argentina were presented with at least two excellent opportunities to score but Gonzalo Higuain wasted one early in the first half by failing to hit the target after a misplaced header by Toni Kroos had him clear with just Manuel Neuer to beat.

Higuain managed to get the ball into the Germans' goal and he celebrated like crazy before realising that it was in futility as the referee assistant had raised his flag for a clear cut offside offence.

Then in extra time, Alex Sabella's men was presented with another opportunity when substitute Rodrigo Palacios was sent clear but he could not control his lob which went wide of Neuer's goal.

Perhaps it was meant to show the efficiency of the Germans when they took the most clear cut chance that came their way when substitute Mario Goetze chested the ball wonderfully from an Andre Schurrle cross from the left before slotting the ball past Sergio Romero.

The win was the fourth for Germany but the first as a unified country (The three titles prior to this were won as West Germany). Joachim Low's men also became the first European team to win the trophy in South America with Holland coming close in 1978 in Argentina.

Neuer was named as the Best Goalkeeper, an award which I think he fully deserved with his efficient and calm goalkeeping, making saves looked easy when they were not the case at all.

However, the choice of Lionel Messi as the Golden Ball winner was a bit off the mark in my opinion as Thomas Muller or Bastian Schweinsteiger was the more deserving recepient.

Colombia James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot award as the tournament topscorer with six goals to his name.


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Dutch Took Third Place

Things got worse for Brazil after suffering their worst ever defeat during the last four match against Germany, Brazil now equaled another unwanted record when they lost for two consecutive matches on home soil, something that had not happened since before the second World war.

Brazilians who thronged the Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha, Brasilia could be forgiven for thinking "Here we go again!" after seeing the Algerian referee, Djamel Haimoudi pointing to the spot after just two minutes after Arjen Robben was deemed to be fouled by the returning skipper, Thiago Silva.

A former Arsenal player slotted the ball past Julio Cesar and soon to be Manchester United manager, Louis Van Gaal rejoiced by the sidelines.

As much as the host tried to make a game of it, they looked like a bunch of players who were just playing for the first time with misplaced passes and not reading each other's game.

It went from bad to worse when David Luis attempted header to clear the danger fell to Daley Blind who slotted the ball past Cesar.

However, credit to Luis Filipe Scolari's men, they attempted to make a comeback in the second half and saw much of the ball as they attempted to break down the Dutch defence.

Ironically though, it was the Netherlands scored again when Georginio Wijnaldum ended a move he started with a sweet strike past Cesar to make it 3-0 in added time.


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Arsenal Confirm Sanchez Signing, Unveil New Puma Kits

Two big names in football made their appearance at Arsenal yesterday.

Firstly of course the new Puma kits for the 2014-15 season.

With the deal started on the first day of July, many images have appeared on the internet on how the new kits going to look like.

The biggest shock was to see the teaser which showed the three Arsenal players modelling the kits which were white.

WHITE?! I almost sh*t in my pants. Luckily common sense prevailed and it turned out just the frame without any colour on.

When they were finally revealed, they were enough to make me drool.

Then the announcement by the club that one of the most speculated about transfer since the 2014 World Cup started has been confirmed.

Chilean striker, Alexis Sanchez has joined The Gunners from Barcelona, making it one of the rare occasions when the movement is from The Catalan club to North London rather than the usual direction.

The fee was not disclosed but it is believed to be in the region of GBP30 million (RM163 million). His contract is reported to be for four years which will see him spending the best years of his career at The Emirates.

It is good to see Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are concluding tranfers early and frankly I was quite fed up with the rumours that linking us with almost every available players on the planet.

Despite they made my mouth water with expectations I do not welcome them as they tend to be just page fillers with no chance of coming true.

I welcome surprises though, good ones such as the one with Mesut Ozil last season. Sanchez was also a surprise and a few more surprises like this are most welcomed.


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Lucky Argentina

So it is Germany versus Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final.

The two time world champion could not find their way past the Dutch during regulation play and only booked their place in the final via a penalty shootout.

Their goalkeeper, Sergio Romero was the hero when he first stopped Ron Vlaar's attempt and then denied Wesley Sneijder.

With The Abiceleste finding the net through Lionel Messi, Eziquel Garay, Sergio Aguero beforehand, it was left to Maxi Rodriguez to put the ball past Jasper Cillessen.

The match itself was cagey, with both sides probing each other trying to find any weakness but could not really find the telling pass that would open up the defence.

For me, it would be great if The Dutch could win because of my long time dislike for Argentina. However, it was not meant to be and now it is up to Joachim Low and his players to win the title for Germany.


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Germany Demolish Sorry Brazil

It was something totally unpredicted.


Brazil 1 Germany 7.

in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

A World Cup semi final match.


Perhaps many have predicted a win for Germany but not with such scoreline. It was a total annihilation, not just to the host's World Cup hopes but to their pride as a footballing nation.

The defence was in total shambles with the German players carving chances at will. Nobody in a yellow shirt was really defending, as if they were saying to their opponents: "There you go sir, have a pop at our goal and don't forget to come back."

It seemed like losing Thiago Silva was a bigger factor in this defeat than losing Neymar. Perhaps the presence of their influential skipper could have a given the defence more confident, something that was lacking in the partnership between David Luis and Dante.

However, against an efficient German side the a win for Brazil also seemed unlikely but at least the defeat would not be as demoralised as this one.

I for one could not believe that the scoreline read 5-0 by the half hour mark.

Thomas Mueller came in unmarked to open the score from a corner and Miroslav Klose put himself as the player with most world cup goals with a strike in the 23rd minute.

A minute later Toni Kroos notched the third before helping himself to his second and Germany's fourth in the 26th minute. Sami Khedira then made it five three minutes later.

With the camera zooming on the Brazillian crowd, their faces were all sort of emotions from disbelief, sad, stunned, everything but happy.

Brazil restored some sort of stability in the second half and had a go at Manuel Neuer's goal a few times but the goalkeeper stood firm.

The Germans meanwhile looked like they were embarrassed to score with chances being missed on a few occasions.

However Andre Schurrle had no such problem when came on as a second half substitute to score a brace. His club-mate Oscar meanwhile ruined Manuel Neuer clean sheet by scoring a consolation goal as the match entered the final minute.

It is Germany that will contest the 2014 World Cup final, with Argentina and Holland playing today to determine who will win the right to face the three times World Cup winner in Maracana on Sunday.



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Into The Last Four

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil has to be one of the has many football fans dreaming of, seeing four top teams in the world battling it out for the most coveted trophy in football (the real one and not of the American kind).

Host and five times winner Brazil saw off another South American rival in the form of Colombia in the quarter final but their passage had to be paid with a high price indeed.

They lost charismatic captain, Thiago Silva who received his second yellow card of the tournament but the biggest cost would be the loss of the influential Neymar who suffered a fractured vertebra after a challenge by Colombian defender Juan Zuniga.

Early goals by Silva just after seven minutes gave them the lead which came under threat quite a number of times from Colombia. What Jose Pekerman's men lacked this time was the final pass that would open up the Brazillian defence.

David Luis's fantastic free-kick from 30 metres out gave them a two goal cushion but James Rodriguez reduced the deficit ten minutes before time.

It was his sixth goal of the tournament, making him the leading scorer so far. However it was not enough as Brazil held on for a place in the last four while keeping their dream of winning the trophy on home soil alive.

The host are now will take on three times winner, Germany in Belo Horizonte.

In an entertaining last eight clash between the Germans and France at the famous Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Mats Hummels headed goal in the thirteenth minute turned out to be the only goal of the match.

There were three Arsenal players turning out for their respective countries with Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud coming on as substitutes for France while Mesut Ozil played over eighty minutes for the Germans.

The next day saw Argentina taking on Belgium in Brasillia. Gonzalo Higuain's instinctive strike after seven minutes separated both sides at the end of ninety minutes halting Marc Wilmots' men's dream of repeating their 1986 success in reaching the last four in Mexico.

The win set up the fifth meeting between the Argentines and Holland in the World Cup after Louis Van Gaal's team secured their place through a penalty shootout win over Costa Rica.

The match between both sides was the first one that failed to yield a goal during regulation and extra time of play.

Van Gaal's decision to replace his usual goalkeeper, Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul paid dividends after the Newcastle goalkeeper stopped two Costa Rican penalties to give his side a 4-3 win.

Costa Rica were going home with their heads held high, unbeaten in their five matches in Brazil and caught the imagination of many football fans with their display.

For me of course, there was Joel Campbell who based on his performance during the tournament could find himself in the first team squad when he report back for training later.

Indeed, the semi-finals promised to be a mouth watering affair for many football fans.


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Into the Last Eight Now!

This morning saw the completion of the round of sixteen fixtures of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Brazil as expected qualified for the last eight but they had to work hard before seeing off a determined Chile side which took them all the way to the penalty shootout.

David Luis put the host in the 18th minute but Alexis Sanchez made the most of a mistake in the Brazil defence to level the score just after the half hour mark.

The host could have gone out when in the last minute Sanchez played through Mauricio Pinilla but his shot came off the bar, much to the dismay of Chilean travelling supporters.

There was no more goal and the match had to be settled through penalty shootout. Julio Cesar saved the first two Chile penalties but their opponents quickly levelled the score again when Willian missed and Claudio Bravo saved Hulk's effort.

Brazil Neymar put his side in front again which put the pressure back on the Chileans. Their next penalty take, Gonzalo Jara beat Julio Cesar with his effort but much to his horror the ball hit the post and went out.

It will be another South American side in the last eight for Luiz Filipe Scolari's side in the form of Colombia.

Jose Pekerman's boys saw off Uruguay which had to play without their talismanic Luis Suarez, banned for four months after the biting incident during their last group match against Italy.

Two wonderful goals from James Rodriguez sealed their place in the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

Holland meanwhile booked their place in the last eight with a dramatic finish to their match against Mexico. The north american team had gone ahead when Geovani Dos Santos scored three minutes into the second half with a well taken shot from outside the box.

Mexico goalkeeper, Guillermo Ochoa performed heroics again to put the Dutch at bay but he was helpless when Wesley Sneidjer's volley from a set up by Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar levelled the score two minutes from time.

Then in stoppage time a controversial incident involving Arjen Robben saw referee awarding Holland a penalty which Huntelaar converted to break Mexican hearts.

Louis Van Gaal's men now are going to take on surprise package, Costa Rica in the last eight after the Central Americans knocked out Greece.

Bryan Ruiz put Costa Rica ahead seven minutes after the start of the second half and they looked set for a win as the match entered stoppage time.

However the plucky Greeks kept on trying and scored the equaliser when centreback Sokratis Papastathapolous took full advantage of a spill by Costa Rica goalkeeper, Keylor Navas.

Extra time did not produce further goal and penalty shootout was required to settle the match. The first three penalty takers from both sides were successful before Joel Campbell slotted the fourth one for Costa Rica.

Navas then saved Theofanis Gekas' effort and when Michael Umana converted his, history was created as his country became the first Central American side to qualify to the last eight at the world cup.

France were made to sweat by Nigeria but they put out an efficient performance but were kept out most of the time by the Nigerian goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama.

However it was his single mistake that led to France opening the score when his weak touch from a corner saw the ball fell to Paul Pogba who calmly headed the ball into the goal.

From then on it always looked like the French which going to qualify and to add further salt to their injury Joseph Yobo accidently put the ball past Enyeama as he tried to prevent substitute Antoine Griezmann from getting it.

The Germany versus Algeria clash would always had their Gijon encounter in 1982 as the backdrop. This time around the Algerians also managed to push the German to the limit, forcing the match into extra time.

However, two minutes into the added period Andre Schurrle's improvisation broke the deadlock as he adjusted himself to get to a Thomas Muller low pass into the box.

Algeria pushed hard but they conceded again as the match entered its last minutes of extra time through Mesut Ozil who took the second bite of the cherry after the first one by Schurrle was cleared of the line.

Then to add to the drama, Algeria managed to score one at the death through substitute Abdelmoumene Djabou but it was too late. Thus it was a mouthwatering clash between the French and the Germans at the Maracana on 4 July.

The last day of the fixtures saw both matches went into extra-time. Switzerland did not bow to Argentina as expected but a defensive lapse saw the ball went to Lionel Messi and he took full advantage by setting up Angel Di Maria who finally put one past the Swiss goalkeeper, Diego Benaglio.

Then the clash between Belgium and the USA also saw no goals scored during normal time but it was indeed the most entertaining match between the eight.

It was an inspired substitution by Belgium head coach, Marc Wilmots who sent on Romelo Lukaku for the hard working but tiring Divock Origi.

It was his running that opened up the Yankees defence that allowed Kevin De Bruyne to score three minutes into extra time. Lukaku himself scored the second in the 105th minute.

Jurgen Klinsmann then sent his own substitute, Julian Green at the end of the first period of extra time. The Bayern Munich youngster who will turn twenty this month reduced the deficit in the 107th minute but the USA could not find their way past Thibaut Courtois again to force the match into penalties.


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