Tuesday gave us the last two teams that would be heading to the Quarterfinals of the World Cup. We saw Netherlands, Costa Rica, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France and Germany advance to the next round of the World Cup. On Friday we will see four teams go at it to see who will advance to the semi-finals and get closer to lifting the cup in Rio de Janeiro. The first two teams to play on Friday will be France and Germany, which should be an entertaining match to watch with hopes of a lot of goals and great defense by both teams and lots of attacking. The last time these two teams met up was back in February 6 of 2013 in an international friendly, which we saw Germany take the 2-1 win over Les Bleus. Both teams had great group stage competition and a tough match in the Round of 16.
France faced Honduras, Switzerland, and Ecuador in the group stage and saw them win 3-0 against Honduras, 5-2 against Switzerland and tied 0-0 against Ecuador. 7 points was all they needed to advance to the Round of 16 and face a strong Nigeria team that wanted to also advance into the Quarterfinals. But a goal from Paul Pogba and own goal from Joseph Yobo saw Les Bleus get a spot in the last 8 of the tournament.
Germany, on the other hand, was drawn into the Group of Death but didn’t seem to have a problem to get out of it. They faced a struggling Portugal team, an attacking Ghana team, and a USA team dreaming to advance to the Round of 16 as well. They defeated Portugal 4-0, tied with Ghana 2-2 and beat USA 1-0 and 7 points gave them enough to advance and play against Algeria. Germany had a tough time against Algeria who gave them a tough match and Die Mannschaft (the team) underestimated their opponent but a late goal from Andre Schurrle and Mesut Ozil gave them the 2-1 win in extra time to secure a spot in the Quarterfinal.
France is a very strong team who has impressed many of us and has done great without their star Frank Ribery. We saw them have an early exit last year in the group stage losing to Mexico, South Africa and tying against Uruguay. The last time we saw this team lift the cup was in 1998 and the last time they were in the Final of the world cup was in 2006 in which we saw them loss against Italy in penalties. But none of this has stopped Les Bleus from letting the past get to them. Karim Benzema has lead the team with goals while Mathieu Valbuena has assisted many of these goals and has also helped the team advance with his speed and wise passes. Paul Pogba has also been help with the header goals and strikers Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann have also been a strong help in the attacking. Hugo Lloris has also been a great goalkeeper, stopping many balls from going in and saving his team from disqualification. France will do anything to advance to the Semi-finals but will have to get through Germany, who is a favorite to win it all this year.
Photo by: AFP/Getty Images
Germany is also a very strong team and very young. They lost Marco Reus and Marcel Schmelzer due to injuries before the world cup but the midfield and defense have done great without their two stars. In 2010, we saw Germany take 3rd place after losing to the reigning contenders, Spain in the semi-finals. In 2006 we also saw them take third place after losing to Italy in extra time. The last time Germany lifted the cup was in 1990 FIFA World Cup, which was hosted in Italy. Germany also wants to be forgotten as being the third place team and will do anything to lift the cup in Rio de Janeiro. Thomas Muller and Miroslav Klose have helped Germany with goals and assists. Along with youngsters Mario Gotze, Toni Kroos, Andre Schurrle, Mesut Ozil, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels, Germany looks unstoppable and many of these youngsters are capable of scoring and creating beautiful plays and opportunities.
Photo by: AFP/Getty Images
Prediction: With Germany being one of my favorites in winning the World Cup, Germany will be the one advancing to the semi-finals and face either Colombia or Brazil then and there.
Starting line-ups: Germany: Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels, Per Mertesacker, Jerome Boateng, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schwinsteiger, Toni Kroos, Mario Gotze, Sami Khedira, Lukas Podolski, Thomas Muller.
France: Hugo Lloris, Mathieu Debuchy, Rapahel Varane, Laurent Koscielny, Patrice Evra, Yohan Cabaye, Mathieu Valbuena, Paul Pogba, Moussa Sissooko, Olivier Giroud, Karim Benzema.
France and Germany will face each other on Friday, 9AM PT and prepare yourself for the toughest match of the Quarterfinals.
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