My second favorite team is out of the World Cup. The Dutch played valiantly against Argentina, contained Lionel Messi, and dominated long stretches of the second half. But, as happened against Costa Rica, all the hard work produced no goals. Ron Vlaar was huge in defense and it was unfortunate that he missed his penalty kick. Nobody thought the Netherlands would advance as far as they did. Losing via penalty kicks is always hard to accept. You battle an opponent to a deadlock after 120 minutes of football, and then roll the dice with PK's and come up short.
I wasn't that impressed with Argentina. I think Messi and Company will have their hands full against Germany.
I'm still digesting Brazil's shocking dismantling by the Germans. I've never seen a team in a major competition defend so poorly and look so lost. The Germans had acres of space to play in, and it appeared that Brazil was afraid to close them down. That 18-minute stretch when the Germans ran riot is etched in World Cup lore now. Germany laid an epic whipping on Brazil, one that won't be forgotten for a long time.
Congratulations to the Netherlands for going farther than anyone thought they would. The players did their nation proud.
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