Germany Rout Argentina While Spain Scrape Through To Semis

Game 59: Argentina 0-4 Germany

This has got to be one of the most shocking scorelines in this World Cup. Most people had expected this match to be close but it was far from it. Germany once again proved they have a perfect game plan against any opponent. England and Argentina have very different football styles but Germany trashed both of them. They kept Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez very quiet throughout the game and displayed best counter attacking football and their clinical finishing once again. The early goal settled any nerves and they never looked back. Argentina got outplayed in every department and had no chance whatsoever to display their fluid passing. The Germans now have an incredible record of having reached the semi finals of the World Cup in 6 of their last 8 appearances. Man of the Match: Bastian Schweinsteiger (was absolutely brilliant in midfield - kept the Argentinian midfield quiet and had 2 assists during the game with one of those coming after a magnificent run into the opponent's penalty box)

Game 60: Paraguay 0-1 Spain

This was probably as ugly as it can get for Spain. They struggled badly in the first half to even string passes together especially in the final third of the pitch. The second half wasn't much better as Paraguay came up with another disciplined performance in defence and perhaps could have gone ahead themselves during the first half. Eventually, Spain found a way through and it was Pedro's introduction, replacing Xabi Alonso who had a surprisingly poor performance, that contributed to Spain's winner and once again, it was David Villa who scored it. This result now means that there's only one South American team (a lucky one at that) in the semi finals after showing so much promise with 4 teams in the quarter finals. Spain are up against in-form Germany in the semis and have to come up with their best football especially defensively if they are to realise their dream of winning the World Cup for the first time. Man of the Match: Iker Casillas (Spain's goalkeeper more than made up for the error in the first game against Switzerland with a penalty save when it was still 0-0 and a brilliant double-save in the dying minutes of the match)