Tuesday, July 6, 2:30 p.m. ET – Netherlands vs. Uruguay at Cape Town
Could this the year of the Boers ... sorry the Dutch?
If there is a substitute home team in South Africa (and yes, we know the Afrikaners really love rugby) it has to be the men in Orange, whose Boer ancestors are part of the nation's history.
No, this semifinal isn't going to be played in the Orange Free State — that would be rich, however — but now that Bafana Bafana and Ghana are done, Holland is the home team. That’s a big boost and Tuesday's semifinal looks set up for Holland to reach the World Cup final for the third time in its history.
This Netherlands team has been methodical and smart, saving injured ace Arjen Robben in the first two games, allowing them to get plenty from him when it mattered most. The Dutch also have more firepower than Uruguay and are a team on a mission to rewrite history. The infighting and the implosions seem to be a thing of the past, and even a minor flare-up involving Robin van Persie and manager Bert van Marwijk was tamped down.
The Dutch have shown a tremendous work rate, even from guys you sometimes wonder about. How many Liverpudlians were shaking their heads in the quarterfinal match when they saw Dirk Kuyt chasing, working, probing, changing positions and, well, making a huge difference? Has anybody at Arsenal seen van Persie in his own penalty area diving to block shots? Ever?
You can argue that Uruguay is the greatest over-achiever of this competition. They don't have a bunch of guys who play for the highest profile teams and they don't wow you with their speed. But you have to admire the way that Diego Forlan has stepped forward to be the man and how so many of them are willing to run forever.
Uruguay got here because of Luis Suarez, who became the hero of the quarterfinal when his deliberate handling on the goal line kept Ghana from an extra time win and set up the Uruguayan penalty shoot-out triumph. Of course, the red card he took means he’s suspended, and we’ll see how smart his decision looks on Tuesday evening.
Young goalkeeper Fernando Muslera has grown with every match, guys like Jorge Fucile and Mauricio Victorino have done their jobs and veteran boss Oscar Washington Tabarez has been able to keep his side working at a high rate. You may think of Tarabez as one of those journeyman (he had Uruguay back in 1990, after all, and has coached all over Latin America) but he did once handle AC Milan and he's no newcomer to the big occasion.
His challenge now is to cover the loss of Suarez and to manage a defensive game without allowing the Netherlands to completely dictate the tempo of the match. Forlan needs to be able to take a free kick or two and that means that Uruguay will have to attack to some degree. There is a question about the South Americans' defense since captain Diego Lugano suffered a knee strain in the match against Ghana and could be a game-day decision for the semifinal.
Uruguay last reached a semifinal in 1970 and was outclassed by perhaps the greatest Brazil of all time, the Jairzinho-Tostao-Pele-Carlos Alberto edition that ruled Mexico.
The Netherlands was last a semifinalist in Marseilles back in 1998. There, they played Brazil dead even but lost on penalties.
This time it will be different for the Dutch.
Hup Holland Hup.
Wednesday, July 7, 2:30 p.m. ET – Germany vs. Spain at Durban.
Which Spain will show up? The current European champions who can play some of the best passing football in the world or the bunch that has slogged its way to this point in the World Cup without looking anything close to a “best team in the world?”
Memo to Spain: Find your “A” game immediately.
The Spain that we've seen to date could be shredded by Germany, clearly the quickest, best-balanced, most attractive team left in the Cup. There is a serious caveat to that claim, however: Joachim Loew's team must play this semifinal without Thomas Mueller, shown a particularly picky yellow card for "hand ball" after he was hit by a rebound rolling off Lionel Messi's arm in the quarterfinal. That decision could cost Germany dearly because their well-oiled machine has depended very much on Mueller's wiles, quickness and his finishing touch.
We do know that Spain is capable of very good stuff and maybe, just maybe, they are starting to emerge from all the pressure that their World Cup under-achievement puts on their shoulders. Against Paraguay, when they were lulled into a too-slow approach by the negative South Americans, they did show the resolve to get things done. Even Xabi Alonso's missed penalty failed to deflate them. (He did have to take it twice, of course.)
Nevertheless, this young German team has been the revelation of the Cup and if history offers any leads they are the team to watch. Lately, defending Euro champs don't win World Cups but emerging teams that win World Cups do go on to capture the next European title. And that's what Loew has this German team on course to do.
If Spain is to change that pattern they must get something from Fernando Torres because you know that Germany will shut off David Villa just they way they kept Messi and Gonzalo Higuain from bothering them in the quarterfinal.
Germany appears to have too many weapons and that most-precious commodity of all, confidence.
Welcome back to bell-bottoms and Beetles. It’ll be 1974 all over again with a Germany vs. Netherlands final.
