Mid Quarter-Finals update

The Games

The Netherlands took revenge on Brazil for 1994 (3:2 loss in the Quarter-Finals) and 1998 (PSO elimination in the Semi-Finals) by coming back from behind to win 2:1. This makes Brazil the first CSF team to be eliminated this world cup by a non-CSF team. I think that the last time this happened was 1966.

Ghana played better than Uruguay from the 20^th minute on but except for a great long distance shot at the end of the half were unable to score. Ghana come closer than any other CAF nation to reach the semis (Cameron, 1990, lost to England 3:2 in extra time; Senegal 2002, lost to Turkey 1:0 on a Golden Goal in extra time).

On the other side, this is Uruguay first trip to the Semis since 1970. This is a team which made the Semis in 4 of its first 6 WC appearances and failed to ream the Quarters since (four appearances). From a Uruguayan point of view, this was a one man show (Forlan) until literally the last minute when in a strange twist of fate Suarez turned from a villain to a hero when Gyan missed a penalty kick in the last second of the game to become the goat of the game.

The interview

After the game we stayed to watch the Uruguayan celebrate, the joy and happiness of the fans was a site to see. The majority of the fans at the stadium supported Ghana, from signs like "The United States of Africa vs. Uruguay" to "BaGhana BaGhana" replacing the South African "Bafana Bafana". Nadav who replaced Lior in our team of four supported Uruguay and was draped in a Uruguayan flag and I had the Israeli Blue and White flag.

As we were walking outside the stadium back to the car we were approached by a man that asked us if we are willing to be interviewed by the BBC radio worldwide service as Uruguayan fans – Nadav and I did oblige. We had to wait for a while an upset Ghanaian fan was being interviewed. The interviewer than turned to us, asked for our names and proceeded to ask us about Suarez being a villain or a hero. We both expressed the view that before the miss he was a villain. The fact that he saved a sure goal and the PK was missed giving Uruguay a chance to advance made him a Hero. We were then asked if it is right for a cheat to be a hero, and my answer was that this is life. Overall, the interview lasted about 2-3 minutes – my first time on worldwide radio.

Observations

FIFA is now talking about giving Suarez a two games suspension for his hand ball/save – this is wrong!!! I don't think that there has ever been a case of DOGSO-H (Deny an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity by Handling the ball) in which a player was suspended for more than 1 game. Why even talk about a longer suspension? Because Gyan missed the subsequent PK and Ghana failed to advance? The punishment for DOGSO is already very severe: a send-off, followed by a PK following by a mandatory one game suspension.

Let's review, this WC, Khune (ZAR) and Kewell (AUS) got a red card for DOGSO, neither was suspended for more than a game. Are the rules at the WC Quarter-Finals different than earlier stages? Is there anything in the rule book which says that the punishment if the attacking team misses the PK should be more severe than otherwise? Call it cheating, call it taking one for the team or call it exploitation of the rules; it makes little difference – as far as I can recall no other player in this WC was suspended for more than a game and there is no footballing reason for this to be any different.

Two quarter-finals games are done and I'm down to two teams; Israel – didn't quality, Brazil – out in the Quarters, USA out in the Round of 16, so now I'm down to the 4^th (Netherlands) and 5^th (Spain) teams.

Arjen Robben (yes, Adam he is only 26 years old, and thanks for saying that I look younger than him) showed us how a single player can disrupt and frustrate a good defensive team by doing all the little things right. Most people will have Sneijder as the man of the match; after all he did take the shoot that turned into an own goal and he did score the winner.

As far as I'm concerned there is no doubt that Robben was the key to the game. He forced the Brazilian defense to foul him all game long (even when Brazil had control of the game). His efforts led to a yellow card on Bastos the Brazilian defender and later to his substitution which caused poor marking on the Robben corner kick which led to the winning goal. Robben was also the player who was fouled in the attacked third just before the Sneijder cross and the own goal. I don't expect most fans to notice this type of contributions, but I do which that commentators and post-game reports would highlight this type of play.

Trivia

Last time Brazil lost a WC game in the Southern hemisphere was 1950 to Uruguay in a game in which they also led 1:0 and lost 1:2.

Brazil has played in 97 WC games, Melo's own goal today was the first they have conceded.

All of Forlan 4 world cup goals were scored against African teams (first was against Senegal in 2002).

In the last 7 World Cup Penalty Shoot-Out the team to take the first penalty won the PSO. The last team to kick second and win was Spain against Ireland on June 16^th 2002 in a PSO which saw 4 PKs missed in a row and 5 of 6 – Ireland miss the second kick and both missed the 3^rd and 4^th kicks.

So far in WC history there have been 22 PSO (first in 1982); 144 out of 203 were converted for a success rate of 70.9%. Twice only 7 kicks were needed (1986: Germany 4 – Mexico 1; 2006: Ukraine 3 – Switzerland 0) and twice 12 kicks were needed (1982: Germany 5 – France 4; 1994: Sweden 5 – Romania 4)