 Well the quarter finals are upon us with a cracking game between Germany and Argentina kicking us off, which is all the people are talking about here today.
The hosts have been unbelievable so far, the performances that Jurgen Klinsmann have got out of his side have been fantastic.
Michael Ballack has been inspirational, while Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski have been outstanding up front and the whole squad have lifted their game.
Argentina became most people’s favourite for the tournament following their sensational 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro, but teams that peak as early as that rarely end up the winners.
Jose Peckerman’s side will find it tough, as Germany won’t allow Juan Roman Riquelme time on the ball to pull the strings. They never seem to start with Lionel Messi, deciding to bring him on to use his talents when other teams are tiring and they may cost them.
I fancy Germany to continue their run in front of a passionate home support in Berlin, although it will be tight. Klose, currently the tournament’s top scorer, could prove to be the hero again and I think he holds the key to success for the hosts.
Friday’s second quarter final tie sees Italy go head-to-head with Ukraine in Hamburg.
Ukraine are very fortunate to have got this far in the tournament after struggling in several of their games.
Andriy Shevcheko is yet to hit the heights expected and we have seen plenty of strikers who look a lot, lot better.
Italy have improved as the tournament continues and their thrilling win over Australia in the last 16 will have boosted confidence in the Azzurri camp.
The fact that they played the majority of the second half with ten men and that Totti held his nerve with the last-gasp penalty, will have lifted belief in the squad.
Marcello Lippi has been hit with defensive problems, with Nesta still missing through injury and Matterazzi suspended.
But they should not have too many problems containing Ukriane and have shown enough to suggest they will make the last four.
I fancy the Italians to win by a couple of goals and Luca Toni’s pace and power up front is likely to be too much for Oleg Blokhin’s defence to cope with.
The atmosphere is building ahead of England’s clash with Portugal on Saturday and I can’t wait now to see if Sven’s men can make the semi-finals.
That’s all for now, I’ll have more tomorrow.
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