....Germany played like the Wehrmacht steamrolled France and the Low Countries in 1940.
Just a pure, fantastic engine of destruction out there today.
This concludes your culturally insensitive World Cup simile for the day, thanks for reading!
Die Mannschaft, die Mannschaft, die Mannschaft!
Argentina had the better of most of the game, but the Germans made the absolute most of their chances because they played much better as a team. Attackers found open teammates in front of the goal for easy strikes.
In WC play, with national teams thrown together with only limited practices, a group that plays well together has an especially big advantage. Gotta like Germany's chances right now.
KLOOOOSEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Huge day for Spain, great chance to make their first World Cup Semi-Final. Having been eliminated at this stage to Belgium and South Korea (Brazil too, in controversial circumstances) in the past it'll be interesting to see if they can finally make it happen.
...by Casillas on the Paraguayan PK! And now a PK for Espana!!! Holy cow what a turnaround.
Villa won the penalty. That was essentially the same as slowing up for an over thrown ball to draw pass interference.
But wait. It will have to be rekick. Spain players in the box.
...makes the save!!!! This is crazy.
Yes! This game just became a classic.
Wow, what a series of events! This is excitment at its finest.
WTF WOW.
So much for this being the "boring" game...
whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa you can't buy a damn penalty these days!
...going and MGoBlog wakes up.
...wake up, since we're still not talking American until the WC ends.
The consistent pressure and organization from Paraguay has been very impressive. I'll be excited to see the stats, but I don't think I've seen a team put in this much running the entire tournament.
....that was close for Xavi.
Is it just me or is Paraguay moving to a bomb it down field offense while Spain is starting to finally pass well? It makes me think Spain is just waiting to strike.
Like that.
...I'll be able to read Inferno-Canto II in about 6 minutes from now. I thought I'd have to wait an additional 30 minutes.
...on the rebound --- off both posts and in after the first shot went off the post and out.
Another crazy sequence.
What an impressive run by Iniesta, good too see he's to his best.
...would have predicted that the only South American team to make the semis would be Uruguay? No Brazil, no Argentina -- very unexpected.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL
...comes up HUGE with those two saves.
Casillas is man of the match for me.
ARGH! Wasted chance of Paraguay.
It boggles my mind how much people hate on soccer.
This game was looking like a lesson in how a 0-0 can be fantastic, but now it's just exploded.
Wow, Ramos just got kicked hard. His face looked bad.
...Ramos took that boot square in the face.
Non-contact sport, my ass.
That hurt just watching it.
Great Quarter-finals, really picked the tournament up.
...is in the books. Spain on to the semis and Paraguay goes home. A very spirited second half.
My money is on Germany.
They've looked like the best team in the tournament, and Spain has been stumbling so far, but I still think Span will beat them. Xavi-Busquets-Alonso should be able to handle Ozil-Khedira-Schwienstieger. Germany are really going to miss Muller, he would have been going at Capdevilla, Spain's worst defender. It'll be interesting to see how the Germans play if they don't get an early goal and are struggling for possession.
...are The Netherlands - Uruguay on Tue at 2:30 EDT and Germany - Spain on Wed at 1:30 EDT.
Great matchups.