Quarter Final Predos

This year’s Round of Sixteen gave us some mouth-watering matchups with rivals Germany destroying England 4-1, neighbours Spain crushing Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugual with a 1 – nil win, while the Brazil gave a lesson in football to Chile in a 3 – 0 thrashing.

I went a dismal 3/8 in the last round with my predictions, only correctly sending through Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina.

If you need a reminder you can find my predictions for this round right here, but here we go with my Quarterfinal Predictions:

Netherlands 1 – 3 Brazil

With Arjen Robben back in the line-up, the Dutch had much more movement against Slovakia and will look to exploit the attacking nature of the Brazilian players to try and pounce on the counter attack.

Look for Wesley Sneijder to make runs to open up the back for of Brazil, while his forwards create problems in the box. However, their attacking prowess will not be enough to get past an inspired defence-first Brazilian side.

Look for Kaka and company to once again dominate the game, allowing another late goal after controlling the match for much of the full ninety minutes.

Key Player For Netherlands – Arjen Robben

Key Player For Brazil – Kaka

—

Uruguay 3 – 2 Ghana

This match is the one that I personally look forward to the most in this year’s Quarterfinals.

It offers us an African nation with the possibility of making it into the Semi-Finals, but also a chance for Uruguay to announce their return to the top of the football world.

Ghana will off early attacking pressure, but once again the counter-attack will be key to this match with Uruguay pegging them back time, and time again. Asamoah Gyan will attempt to get the win for his team and will be the catalyst for the Ghanaian attack but it just won’t be enough.

Look to Diego Forlan to hit the back of the net twice and lead his team to an inspired 3 – 2 victory, booking the Uruguayan’s place in the Semi-Finals.

Key Player for Uruguay – Diego Forlan

Key Player for Ghana – Asamoah Gyan

—

Argentina 1 – 2 Germany

What a matchup this is!

It’s tough to choose a winner between this two teams, with both being heavy favourites before the tournament to life the Jules Rimet trophy, it is unfortunate that this will not be the final matchup.

Both team’s feature very young goalkeepers, with a combined age under 45 and just 19 caps between the two, but both teams have full confidence of making it through to the final four. Germany has relied on the inspiration of youngster Mesut Ozil, while Diego Maradona’s side will focus their movements forward through Lionel Messi.

The pace and creativity in the German side will win out, as they will sit back and wait to hit back on the counter attack, causing havoc on the Argentina back four.

I’m predicting a dominant performance from Germany, on their way to a 2 – 1 victory.

Key Player for Germany– Mesut Ozil

Key Player for Argentina – Carlos Tevez

—

Paraguay 0 – 2 Spain

With Paraguay lucky to squeeze by a resilient Japan side in their last match, I make Spain heavy favourites to pick apart their South American opponents.

I had thought that Portugal would be able to exploit the Spanish side going forward but their players showed control, and efficiently pulled apart their opponents game plan.

I look for David Villa to be key in this matchup and for the Spanish defence to provide a masterclass performance, giving Spain a clean sheet and a place in the Semi`s.

Key Player for Spain – David Villa

Key Player for Paraguay – Roque Santa Cruz

—

Well, there you have it, going through to the finals will be: Brazil, Uruguay, Germany and Spain.

Throw me your comments, concerns or your own predictions and let me know how wrong you think I am!

We`ll be back with match-day recaps this week and will keep you updated with all the football news!