World cup
So the Semi-Finals are set. Most of it going as predicted. The Colombia Brazil Game was predicted by me before the game as a Colombian Win but Brazil " woke up " and Beat the Colombians 2-1. When I saw the starting of the Game I was leaning more towards Brazil. The France Germany game was close too with Germany also " waking up ". It ended 1-0 with Mats Hummels's goal. Belgium tried hard but could not win versus Argentina. Costa Rica played like they usually did , and lost in a penalty shootout. Full descriptions will be down a bit. 4 Emperors of soccer/football in the semi-finals. 2 Europeans 2 south Americans..
Semi-finals
Brazil
Germany
This will be a great match. Brazil have 2 of their stars out. Germany has not been playing the best but they have a chance. Neymar got his back injured and will not play anymore in the world cup. Thiago Silva got two yellow cards in 2 different games and is suspended for this match. Brazil beat Germany the only time they played in the World cup so far 2-0. This was the final of the 2002 world cup. East Germany faced Brazil in the 1974 world cup. Brazil won 1-0
Netherlands
Argentina
Netherlands has been playing well. Argentina has not been playing too bad but the team has been mostly leaning on Messi and Di Maria. Di Maria got injured in the game vs Belgium so he is not playing vs Netherlands.
A bit about these teams
Brazil
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in football.
History
Brazil played their first international game in 1914 vs Argentina with a 3-0 loss .Brazil won their first world cup in 1958. One of the best all time players, Pele played here helping Brazil beat Sweden in Sweden. Since then Brazil has won the World Cup 4 more times ( 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002 ). They did lose in 1950 when they hosted it though. Brazil has qualified and played in every world cup, The only team to do this. They are considered the best team of all time with Italy right behind them. Brazil won the 2013 confederations cup. They are ranked 3rd as of July 5th. They got ranked 1st many times.
This cup
Brazil is hosting this world cup as you probably know. They have won all their games in the world cup expect one vs mexico 0-0. They have a pretty good team and are playing well. The teams they have played are ( Croatia 3-1, Mexico 0-0, Cameroon 4-1, Chile 1-1 pen win and Colombia 2-1 )
Argentina
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in football.
History
Argentina played their first international game in 1901 with a 3-2 victory over Uruguay .Argentina won their first cup in 1978 when they were the home team. After that they won one more time in 1986. They got ranked 1st in FIFA rankings in 2007. They are ranked 5th as of July 5th. They made it to the Quarter finals in 2010.
This cup
Argentina is playing medium They have Messi a great striker also they have Higuaín,Aguero and Di Maria. Di Maria is not playing vs Netherlands though. They have won every game in the world cup. But they have not been playing hard teams ( Bosnia & Herzegovina , Nigeria, Iran, Switzerland and Belgium ) And they have barley been beating these teams ( B&H 2-1, Nigeria 3-2, Iran 1-0, Switzerland 1-0 and Belgium-0). They sort of woke up vs Belgium with a defense that does offside traps.
Germany
The Germany national football team represents Germany in football.
History
Germany played their first international game in 1908 with a 5-3 loss to Switzerland .The term of Germany in the world cup has could mean many things. Their history in the world cup was a little messed up with WWII and the separation of Germany. Germany could mean east Germany, West Germany, Saarland and Germany. These teams faced each other too so it gets confusing. But needles to say Germany and all other sort of teams like it were usually a world cup power. Germany was stopped from playing in the world cup for some time because of WWII. So I will separate the 4 " German " teams into 4 different histories.
History of Saarland in the world cup
Saarland never qualified for the world cup. Saarland was a protectorate of France in west Germany. But Saarland did not play for West Germany of France they played for themselves. Saarland did not last long though in merged with west Germany.
History of West Germany in the world cup
West Germany won their first world cup in 1954. They won it again in 1974 at home. They won it the last time in 1990.
History of East Germany in the world cup
East Germany made it too the second round of the 1974 world cup. There was no brackets back then. They did not qualify for other world cups.
History of Germany in the world cup
Modern Germany had their first world cup in 1994 where they made it too the quarterfinals. Their best result was in 2002 where they made it 2nd. They are in the Semi-Finals in this world cup. The highest FIFA rankings they got is 1st.
You could categorize all these teams as Germany and say they won 3 times. Germany is ranked 2nd in FIFA rankings.
This cup
Germany is Playing well in this cup and have not lost a game and only tied once.
Netherlands
The Netherlands national football team represents the Netherlands in football.
History
Netherlands played their first international game in 1905 vs Belgium with a 4-1 victory.The Netherlands have never won a world cup but have been second 3 times ! It is called the Dutch curse.The Netherlands has a great team that deserves to win at least one world cup. The 3 times they were 2nd are 1974,1978 and 2010. They are real close to the final this year too. The Dutch invented total football in the 1970's. Total Football is a tactic that makes any player besides the goalkeeper be able to play any position besides goalkeeping. Like A defender could also play striker and midfield. They came so close in the 1970's and then they kind of slackened off until 2010 and now.
This Cup
The Netherlands are playing well in this world cup. They have won every game so far.
Here is a new bracket
Brazil_______
Chile
|Brazil _________
|Colombia
|
Colombia____|
|
Uruguay
|Brazil___________
|Germany
|
France | |
Nigeria_____
| |
| France
__________ | |
|Germany |Brazil
Germany___| |
Netherlands
Algeria |
|
Netherlands |
Mexico_____ |
|Netherlands ____ |
Greece
|Costa Rica
|
|
Costa Rica __
| |
Netherlands ______|
| Argentina
Argentina ___ |
Switzerland
| Argentina _______ |
|Belgium
Belgium_____|
USA
1 Netherlands
2 Brazil
3 Germany
This Is still really close though Germany-Brazil is close to Impossible to tell ( Neymar and Thiago Silva are not playing vs them but Germany still has to improve to beat the home team ) . Netherlands-Winner of that game is too. The good teams did not play well in the round of 16 but I think the teams have woke up in the Quarter-finals .
Quarter-final game description
Brazil
Colombia
You saw my prediction. It was favoring Colombia. But Brazil woke up. At the 7' Brazil scored with Thiago Silva The Captain of Brazil. The Brazilians played way better than vs Chile. There were many fouls and fakes in this game. 54 fouls is what happens when you put 2 South American teams against each other. Colombia won every game so far, But they were not playing the best teams. Colombia is not a bad team but I spoke to soon when I said they would beat Brazil. I spoke to soon plenty of times. Anyway back to the game. After half -time the Yellow cards started popping up. David Luiz also scored at the 69' with an awesome free kick. At the 80' James Rodriguez scored a Penalty for Colombia when Julio Cesar fouled a Colombian in the box. Brazil is now in the semi-finals.
Stats
Brazil | Colombia
Shots : 12 | 11
Shots on goal : 6 | 5
Fouls : 31 | 23
Possession : 51% | 49%
Corners : 4 | 6
Saves : 4 | 4
Offside : 0 | 3
Yellow cards : 2 | 2
Red Cards : 0 | 0
France
Germany
This game was super close. It started of with a lot of offense and attacking leaning towards Germany. They played good and scored at the 12' with Mats Hummels the man of the match. He did a header that went in. Both teams played well with Germany passing and seemingly had the advantage. There were many tumbles in the French box. Germany still did not play the best. Neuer played well. Him Howard and Ochoa have a good chance at the golden glove.
Stats
France | Germany
Shots : 13 | 8
Shots on goal : 9 | 6
Fouls : 15 | 13
Possession : 50% | 50%
Corners : 5 | 3
Saves : 5 | 8
Offside : 3 | 0
Yellow cards : 0 | 2
Red Cards : 0 | 0
Netherlands
Costa Rica
The Netherlands played hard and had many shots on goal. The Costa Rican keeper , Navas played well though. Netherlands controlled most of the game as the stats show below. The most notable chance for Netherlands was during the 92' when it hit a defender and then the crossbar. They had many chances. Costa Rica did have a breakaway that Cillessen barley saved. The Netherlands were better then the costa ricans. Costa Rica just kept doing offsides traps and faked a bit. They barley held on. It was clear they wanted a penalty shootout late in the game. This is probably because if their keeper Navas. He is a pretty good keeper. He got Injured in his nee and face. The Costa Ricans are not a bad team but they are small in combarsion to the Netherlands. They got this far with offsides traps a pretty good defense, A good keeper and Joel Campbell with 2 or 3 lucky breaks. Most world cups have a crazy team that makes it real far in the tournament only to be beaten by a great team. Anyway after long minutes ( 121 to be precise ) the whistle blew and it was up for a Penalty shootout. But right before the final whistle blew the smart Dutch made a last substitution. Tim Krul in for Jasper Cillessen. This was a rare keeper substitution. They did it because Krul was a better penalty keeper than Cillessen. Krul is tall 6 foot 4 inches. But he had not touched the ball he was super fresh. But each time the Costa Rican took penalties he talked to them and " played mind games " on them. He dived the right way each time. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. The first penalty was taken by Costa Rica. They scored with Krul almost saving it. Netherlands:
V Van Persie 1-1 . Costa Rica:
X Bryan Ruiz 1-1 . Krul dived the right way and saved it Netherlands :
V Robben 2-1 Costa Rica:
V Gonzalez 2-2 Netherlands :
V Sneijder 3-2 Costa Rica:
V Bolanos 3-3 Netherlands :
V Kuyt 4-3 Costa Rica:
X Michal Umana did not shoot it that hard and Krul once again saved it 4-3 end result ! The Netherlands had great penalties and an excellent keeper. They deserved to win and if they could not win playing they would win in a shootout and that is what they did. This Game was the first time a goalkeeper was brought on only for a penalty shootout in world cup history.
Stats
Netherlands | Costa Rica
Shots : 20 | 6
Shots on goal : 15 | 3
Fouls : 15 | 13
Possession : 64% | 36%
Corners : 11 | 1
Saves : 3 | 14
Offside : 13 | 2
Yellow cards : 2 | 4
Red Cards : 0 | 0
Argentina
Belgium
This was a close game. I expected Belgium to win but they barley lost. The first and only goal of the game was at the 8'. Argentina scored with Higuaín. Kompany ( the best defender according to me and captain of Belgium ) did not get in front of Higuaín when he was pretty close too him. The game stayed scoreless with Belgium coming close many times. Argentina played well vs Belgium. Di Maria got injured and went out early. Argentina has a better chance vs now. Messi did not score though. Argentina is in the semi finals for the first time since 1990.
Stats
Argentina | Belgium
Shots : 10 | 10
Shots on goal : 7 | 4
Fouls : 11 | 14
Possession : 51% | 49%
Corners : 3 | 4
Saves : 4 | 6
Offside : 1 | 6
Yellow cards : 1 | 2
Red Cards : 0 | 0
The 4th of July
4th of July was a few days ago, the day the declaration of independence was adopted today 238 years ago. July 4th is independence day .
History
Like I said the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4 1776. The Declaration of Independence was a article that declared Independence from Britain. I will write more about this and other things in American History my blog that will happen soon. But Britain was ruling the 13 colonies then and the colonies declared independence. Here is how people remembered it in past years:
1777
Gunshots. Dinners, meetings, fireworks.
1778
George Washington gave more alcohol to his soldiers (stupid) and Ben Franklin had a dinner.
1779
Here the celebrating was actually on July 5 because July 4th was on Sunday
1781
Here the Massachusetts General Court recognized July fourth as a holiday
1870
Congress made the fourth of July a unpaid holiday for some employees
1938
Then they changed it to a payed holiday : )
The Colonists were not happy with being ruled by Britain. So in 1774 the first continental congress got together. People who represented each state there. Except one state. They sent letters to the king of Britain king George the 3. But king George was not happy with them. War happened in 1775 at Lexington and Concord. Then in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
What we did
I changed lyrics on a song ( joy to world ) into 4th of July lyrics. Here are the new lyrics:
Joy to the US it's the 4th of July. When the U-S was born. Let every american , re-----joice and Fireworks come and fireworks come and fireworks come on this won'ful day.
We also ate crepes with blueberries and strawberries and we watched the awesome games.
sources: Wikipedia, BBC news and Brainpop.
