redfiona99

Brazil vs Germany:

If this was Brazil, on home turf, with Thiago Silva and Neymar, I'd have no issue with saying Brazil to win. Even without Silva, I'd still be tempted, but without Neymar, I can't see them doing it, not against what it a particularly grim and determined German team.

Argentina vs Netherlands:

Even without Di Maria, Messi might be able to drag Argentina through, especially if Higuaín has finally remembered how to play football. But this is a pretty solid Dutch team, and if anyone can think a team's way to victory it is the evil genius van Gaal.

Somehow, I fear something that was set up perfectly to produce Brazil vs Argentina at the Maracanã, is going to wind up being Germany vs the Netherlands. The death of European football may have been grossly exaggerated.

No post-mortems on England or Italy, mostly because I'm still writing those posts ;)

1 - Brazil vs Chile - I can't see past Brazil for this one. I can see it being a scrappy match and a narrow win but I think Brazil are going to win.

2 - Colombia vs Uruguay - I think Colombia are going to win. They've been a good, solid team, and Uruguay are without their main man (Cavani not having been at his best in this World Cup). But, and this is a big but, if any team are going to be able to finagle a win in these circumstances, it's going to be Uruguay.

3 - Netherlands vs Mexico - Despite wanting Mexico to win (for student P, if for no other reason), I think Netherlands are going to win. But that's only if they can win in normal time. If this goes to penalties, I think Mexico are going to win.

4 - Costa Rica vs Greece - Costa Rica ought to win. By all that makes sense in football, it ought to be Costa Rica. But I refuse to count Greece out because if ever there was a side who don't accept things like "making sense in football".

5 - France vs Nigeria - France. Too much firepower and enough of a defense to withstand Nigeria's attack.

6 - Germany vs Algeria - Germany, same logic as for France.

7 - Argentina vs Switzerland - Should be Argentina, unless Messi can't produce some of his usual magic.

8 - Belgium vs USA - You know, the US could actually do this. But then again, so could Belgium. Belgium aren't so good that they can't be beaten, but then again, neither are the US. The US have a player who can conjured up a moment of magic in Clint Dempsey but Belgium have a team who can stick to a task without deviation for 90 minutes. It's a total coin toss.