We’re still in a bit of shock after last night’s German demolition of Brazil, but we think tonight’s game will be much tighter.
The World Cup road-show lands in Sao Paolo tonight with the meeting of Argentina and Holland, a repeat of the 1978 World Cup Final. Both sides come into the match with realistic expectations of winning. The Messi-led Argentina were probably the most impressive side in the quarter-finals with their comfortable win over Belgium, but the Dutch will be buoyed having come through against Costa Rica in a tense penalty shoot-out.
The fitness of Robin van Persie was a real concern for the Netherlands tonight with Louis van Gaal stating that he will give his captain every chance to make the starting line-up. It seems that patience has paid off as the Manchester United man starts the game. Somehow, the Dutch will need to try and stop the Messi influence over the game. If they can nullify his threat, and it’s a big if, they stand a great chance to making it to their second successive World Cup Final. The Argentinian defence has come in for some criticism and the Dutch will fancy their chances of having a right go at them.
Argentina seem to be growing in confidence and their performance against Belgium in the previous round was easily their best performance of the tournament so far. Should Lionel Messi get on the ball and do what he does, you can only see one winner tonight, but we are not convinced. After last night’s avalanche of goals, we are expecting a very tight affair tonight which could go all the way and knowing big Tim Krul is waiting in the shadows for the penalty shoot-out, the Netherlands to win on penalties at 9/1 is just too tempting to ignore.
As a footnote, for either team to win 7-1 tonight, you can get odds of 500/1. Just saying.
