Matchday 16

 Yay, I got the score 3-1 right! Oops, i chose the wrong winner. Of course, it had to be the other way round.

 Bravo Russia! What an amazing win over the favorites prior to this game. They ran all over the Dutch! 1st half was quite boring to be honest; it looked like both teams didn't want to concede and were happy with the 0-0. Both teams had a few chances to score mostly coming from long range with Van Der Vaart maybe having the best chance towards the end. Second half was miles better than the first. The highly rated Pavlyuchenko scored from close range after a terrific build up play by the Russians. Russia were very solid in the back as they limited the danger from Van Nistelrooy and Van Persie forcing Sneijder to settle shooting from long range. Russia looked the more likely side to score from their quick counter attacks, but they couldn't hold their nerves up front missing so many chances. Holland were attacking in big numbers and finally it paid off for them with only 5 minutes remaining when Van Nistelrooy's header found the net. You would think this would diminish the Russians' confidence but they only got better in extra-time. Pavlyuchenko and Arshavin were missing chance after chance; the closest they came to netting the 2nd was hitting the crossbar. They finally got their reward when super sub Torbinsky was on the end of Arshavin's cross from the left to put Holland back in front. The Dutch players looked extremely tired especially their defence which yesterday showed their weakness that many football experts talked about before the tournament. Arshavin capped off his brilliant performance with a deserved goal. I'm sure all big teams are after him now. I wonder how much he is worth after this game. I have to applaud the magician Hiddink. You can see what big impact he made on Russia since he started coaching them.

 With Russia's win 3 second places teams from the group stage are through the semi-finals. Will Italy make it 4? This also brings up the question: Was it smart of Portugal, Croatia, Holland and Spain to rest their key players in the 3rd group match? It doesn't seem so.

 Italy 1 - 2 Spain (After Extra-time) - Terarara (drum roll), I present to you all the useless part of my blog, my prediction! Battle of perhaps the 2 best goalkeepers in the world: Buffon and Casillas. I'm going with Spain with Torres and Villa scoring for Spain, and Luca Toni for Italy.

 Enjoy watching the most anticipated match of the tournament :)