If we’re going to have an entertaining final, it will be down to Germany or Spain. So who will it be? Paddy Power’s World Cup blog has the answers.
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Like most neutral observers I found myself cheering for Uruguay at the end of last night’s match, if only for the fun of the last second comeback. Why Forlan was taken off I don’t know, saving him for the third-fourth play-off are we? The right team went through but after watching Holland throughout the tournament I can’t help but think that if we’re going to have an exciting and entertaining final on Sunday, the winner of tonight’s semi-final will be the one to thank.
So who will it be? Some pundits are saying that Germany’s opposition have made them look better than they are. Well, considering the referees and linesmen have helped Holland all they way into the final and Spain’s players have been doing a decent job of making themselves look worse than they are, criticising the one side which has provided us with entertaining football seems a little begrudging to me.
Ha, here I am talking about Giles, Dunphy and co, and I’m acting surprised that they’re being grumpy curmudgeons. At least learn the player’s names before you start talking about how they need to work harder and do the simple things right. Sheesh. If I wanted to listen to grumpy old men rambling on vaguely about something they used to understand, I’d watch politics.
It’s also rare for Germany to be on this end of injustice but we’ll leave that jocular minefield the hell alone.
If Germany continue to play as they have been in the knock-out stages then they deserve to win the 2010 World Cup. Of course there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to do that. Tonight’s opponents have been first or second outright favourite throughout the competition but they’ve only shown snatches of what we know their individual components are capable of. Torres looks a long way off being match sharp, Xavi and Iniesta haven’t been able to replicate their Barcelona chemistry and Casillas has looked a little shaky at times. They also suffer from a lack of width, which has allowed their opponents to make it difficult for them to pass through midfield, hence they’ve only managed to win their last three games by a single goal. Thankfully for them they have David Villa. The Barcelona-bound striker is one of the best finishers in the game and no matter how you think this game is going to go he has to figure in to your thinking. There’s no surprise that he’s the 4/1 favourite to score first.
Which has created something on an anomaly in the goalscorer markets. Despite the match prices being so tight, Miroslav Klose (right) is the shortest priced German to score first at 13/2, which means he’s a more than tempting 2/1 to score anytime in 90 minutes. If you fancy a midfielder to break the deadlock then Ozil at 16/1 or the more likely Podolski at 9/1 could be profitable picks.
One market which has made me a few shillings over the last few weeks has been the over/under goals total market. Over 2.5 goals in this game is 6/5, if Uruguay and Holland can provide us with five goals between them, then surely Spain and Germany can manage at least three?! The 0-0 draw is 7/1 just in case I’ve jinxed things. Again both sides are 9/1 to go through after a penalty shoot-out but I think the football gods owe us another exciting, entertaining and courageous display from Germany. Spain have the players to cope but do they have the team? We’ll find out tonight who’ll have the pleasure of trying to avoid being kicked in to submission by the enforcers in orange in Soccer City this Sunday.
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