Binge Media Sports: 2014 FIFA World Cup-Semifinal #1-Brazil v. Germany
8 is now 4. Welcome back to Binge Media Sports coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. We’re really getting down to it now as the final four teams are in place, and what a four it is, as Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, and Argentina remain. The quarterfinals gave us some more exciting matches, most of them low scoring affairs with one of them going to penalty kicks as the Netherlands barely survived the Cinderalla story that Costa Rica gave the world to enjoy. Their semifinal opponent, Argentina, was able to squeak by Belgium 1-0, but I’ll get to that game tomorrow. Today, I’ll focus on Germany and Brazil. Germany was able to get by European rival France 1-0 and Brazil defeated Colombia 2-1, despite another goal by James Rodriguez. However, the Brazil victory was very bittersweet as superstar Neymar has been ruled for the remainder of the World Cup after suffering a fractured vertebra. All in all, the quarterfinals provided soccer fans with more great action, more great drama, and more great storylines moving forward. So let’s get into it with the first semifinal of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
TV BROADCAST: Tuesday, July 8th-4:00 Eastern/3:00 Central-ESPN
QUARTERFINALS:
BRAZIL- def. Colombia 2-1
GERMANY- def. France 1-0
QUARTERFINAL POLL RESULTS:
80% voted for Brazil to advance
60% voted for Germany to advance
MATCH PREVIEW:
As two of the world’s best teams prepare to meet in this first semifinal, the big story coming in is obviously the loss of Neymar for Brazil. Due to a fractured vertebra suffered against Colombia, one of the world’s best and most popular players will be forced to miss the biggest game of his young career. With a spot in the finals on the line, Brazil will now have to regroup.
Even with Neymar, the Brazilians didn’t look as dominant as everyone thought they would early on, but the real Brazil showed up against Colombia. But with Neymar out, they’re going to have to rely on Fred and Hulk to try and create scoring opportunities against a stubborn German defense. David Luiz has scored a couple of surprising goals in this World Cup as well, including what turned out to be the deciding goal in their 2-1 win against James Rodriguez and Colombia.
To make matters even worse, one of their best defenders, Thiago Silva, is out as well after too many yellow cards. After finally putting things together, the Brazilians now face an uphill battle and will need every single player’s best to keep hope alive of winning the World Cup on home soil.
Now in their fourth straight semifinal, Germany looks to take the next step and win a big tournament for the first time in nearly two decades. Although only winning 1-0 , the Germans looked in complete control as they eliminated France. In fact, they’ve looked to be in control for most of this World Cup, minus the Ghana match. Otherwise, Thomas Muller and company have looked almost boring some of the time, yet dominant in controlling the tempo. They’ve pressured when they needed to (think the 4-0 beatdown of Portugal), or just laid back and getting the goal that they need and hanging on, as they did in their quarterfinal against France.
The goal by Mats Hummels was good enough for a 1-0 victory and that goal came very early. The rest of the way, Germany just controlled the pace and saved some energy for this semifinal, and I think they’ll use that energy to attack early against a depleted Brazilian team. Brazil may surprise everyone and use the home crowd to their advantage, but I look for Germany to take this one.
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Check back tomorrow as I preview the second semifinal of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Netherlands v. Argentina. And later in the week, keep your eyes open for the preview of the third-place game and the championship game. This has been one of the most exciting World Cup tournaments in recent memory and Binge Media Sports has been with it every step of the way, and I’ll be there until the end. If you’d like to defend your vote, or just have any thoughts on the World Cup in general, use the comments section below or follow me and tweet @THElukenorris.