Brazil-Argentina? Not so fast
Expect to see Germans, Dutch in final
— Since this tournament kicked off on June 12 in Sao Paulo, the prospect of an all-South American World Cup final, pitting the game’s most glittering and successful footballing nation against the world’s greatest modern-day player has been the unspoken dream of many.
Argentina vs. Brazil. The bitter archrivals, vying for global supremacy at the legendary Maracana stadium in front of 77,000 live and millions upon millions more watching on television.
That’s surely worth every bit of that $11-billion expenditure, right?
Throw in the enticing little tidbit that no European nation has ever lifted the trophy on South American soil and when sizing up the semis you’ve simply got to settle on a Brazil-Argentina showdown, no?
Well, not to be a contrarian, but just for the sake of it ...
BRAZIL VS. GERMANY
(Tuesday, 2 p.m., CBC) Rallying around their fallen (Neymar) and suspended (Thiago Silva) centrepieces, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s troops face a day of reckoning in Belo Horizonte.
It is a big ask. Neymar represents their stardust, Silva their steel.
Imagine whisking, say, Thomas Muller and Bastian Schweinsteiger out of the German lineup and expecting no drop-off. Unthinkable.
The tournament hosts scraped by Colombia in a fractious quarter-final match, despite the sight of their poster boy crumpled on the pitch in tears and aided by a referee who resisted any temptation to dive into his pocket and brandish a red card for goalkeeper Julio Cesar’s rather obvious penalty takedown in the box.
The Germans, methodical if hardly mesmerizing, are far from being controversy-free themselves. The continuing gruesome form of midfielder Mesut Ozil continues to be a sore point among German partisans.
National team legend Paul Breitner, for instance, has begged manager Joachim Low to leave Ozil out altogether: “If (Low) is bold, he’ll say ‘I will not play with only 10 people’ and drop Mesut Ozil. Nine men are torturing themselves for 90 minutes and he’s going for a walk.
“That’s not what you do at a World Cup.”
Both nations enter the Estadio Mineirao laden with expectation. Now in his eighth season in charge of Germany’s national setup, Low stands squarely in the crosshairs to deliver a major title. The Brazilians, meanwhile, carry on under the crushing hopes of a country that revels in their many virtues, while turning a blind eye to all of their faults.
With Silva unavailable, it’ll be up to David Luiz to keep the marauding Muller quiet. The Bayern Munich man’s production has slowed noticeably since an opening-match hat trick and he’s overdue for a breakout game.
Given the unabated anger/ anguish of the Brazilian public over Neymar’s fractured vertebra, there’s always the underlying fear of an officiating slant, given the locale and the stakes. Such are always the suspicions in toplevel football.
The pick: If it’s on the upand-up, Germany 2-1 over the regulation 90. The absence of Neymar and Silva’s is simply too much for a good, not great, Brazil side to overcome.
ARGENTINA VS. THE NETHERLANDS
(Wednesday, 2 p.m., CBC) Lionel Messi finds himself a minimum 180 minutes from immortality; the Dutch, losers in the final four years ago at South Africa, an identical time frame away from a long-overdue World Cup breakthrough.
Both these sides, dripping with individual ability, have displayed that indispensable capacity to set up shop, grind away and embrace substance over style. Expect that sort of cagey, resolute, give-andtake in Sao Paulo.
The match also pits the two most dominant individuals remaining in the tournament, Arjen Robben and Messi head-to-head. One or the other, given their influence for their respective nations and unrivalled penchant for the dramatic, is bound to determine the name of the second finalist for the July 13 final in Rio.
Each must make due without a key component. For the Argentines, that would be influential Angel di Maria, ruled out due to a thigh injury. For the Netherlands, Nigel de Jong, the teeth of the midfield, misses his second match with a groin strain.
If any man has come to personify this Dutch side, it is indisputably Dirk Kuyt. The 33-year-old who just finished his second season at Fenerbahce in Turkey remains the Netherlands’ engine room, the one whose tenacious work rate allows Robben the freedom to shine.
“Argentina,” Kuyt concedes, “is a world-class team and they deserve to be in the last four. We want to measure ourselves against the best. Not only measure, but win. That’s why we’re here. The semifinals are fantastic but we know what it feels like to lose a World Cup.”
Within a few days, they could very well know what it feels like to win one.
The pick: In a tight, cagey affair, the Netherlands 1-0 (in extra time, just to heighten the suspense).