It was a fine day for Bo as I got 4 out of 4 correct results yesterday to land a 10/1 4 fold, as Germany beat the USA, Portugal beat Ghana, Algeria held Russia to a draw and Belgium overcame South Korea with 10 men which also saw me land my group winners selection which came home at 7/1 and I got the added bonus of a 10/1 winner as well in tipping up Algeria not to lose with the other 3 winners as mentioned. Thomas Muller continues to show his quality and he is now tied with Neymar and Messi on 4 goals and obviously my preference is for him or Neymar to win this market. What a tremendous piece of movement it was for his winning goal and the finish itself was of the highest quality. This man was born to score goals in the World Cup as he emulates his name sake Gerd. Perhaps in 4 years time he can challenge Ronaldo and Klose as all team leading scorer. The football itself was not especially exciting yesterday in most cases but Algeria’s qualification was more than deserved and sets up a grudge match with Germany which is bound to be feisty. The Algerians entered the World Cup finals for the first time in Spain in 1982, and caused an upset in their opening group game with a 2-1 win over West Germany - then the European champions. They finished with two wins and a defeat from their three matches, which they completed before West Germany and Austria met in the final group game. A 1-0 win for the Germans would take both sides through at the expense of Algeria, and that was how the match turned out with both sides shamelessly refusing to attack. The Algerians were absolutely furious as you can imagine as they launched a protest, claiming the match was fixed, but the allegations were never proved and the result stood. However, as a result of the controversy, the final round of World Cup group fixtures now kick-off at the same time and this year the Algerians will have their chance for revenge...not that I would expect them to take it, however it should be another fine clash of styles in what is shaping up to be a fabulous knock out tournament. The first phase has proved to be truly fabulous and if the 2nd phase can match up to it in terms of goals and drama then we will have one of, if not the finest World Cup in history and for that, we have to be thankfull. Russia and Qatar awaits for the next 2 tournaments so in my own head, this is pretty much the last World Cup. Sorry, FIFA, but this is it... I will post an extended preview of the knock out phase matches for the weekend which are as follows: Saturday, 6pm – Brazil v Chile Saturday 10PM – Uruguay v Chile Sunday 6pm - Holland v Mexico Sunday 10pm – Costa Rica v Greece Comments are closed.
|
Categories |