Here comes the last game of the quarterfinals, and having seen the results be somewhat unpredictable so far, I’m going to go with what my wife tells me. She’s picked Holland and Germany already, so let’s see what she says…”I don’t know.” Well I guess we’re S.O.L. for this one.
Spain are, well, Spain. Amazing talent. Free flowing football. Danger on the field and off the bench. Paraguay are more of a mystery, mostly because they haven’t been so drooled over by the press. They have a solid center back pairing in Antonio Alcaraz and Paulo da Silva, and of course there’s Santa Cruz up front who’ll be looking to finally put a ball in the net. Not convinced? Check out this little statistical nugget :
Spain has been widely backed to win the World Cup since it won the European Championships in 2008. But that is exactly why it will fail to do so. Winning that continental competition is the kiss of death for World Cup aspirations. Only one European champion has gone on to lift the biggest prize of all – big tournament specialists Germany in 1974, and only then with home advantage.
For those of you hanging around we’ve set up the customary open thread. See you after the bump!
What to say about today’s game but WOW. Germany appear to have that perfect blend of discipline (which we knew they’d have) and swagger, making them a fantastic side to watch. Who would’ve thought going into this matchup that it’d be 
A matchup of true heavyweights in this morning’s quarterfinal. There’s history between the sides—the 1986 final in Mexico where Maradona’s side put down the West Germans in a 3-2 display of beautiful attacking football comes immediately to mind. Never one to avoid the spotlight, the tournament’s most valuable quotable is stirring the pot before the match: