Noone remembers who was third and fourth in the World Cup so let me tell you, Germany came third and Uruguay fourth. What do you mean that’s not in depth enough! Well to be fair it was a cracking game and deserves plenty of credit.

Uruguay 2, Germany 3

Maybe Mueller was the difference between Germany winning or losing to Spain, he was back for this game and showed what a force he is. Muslera in the South Americans goal had a mare of a night starting with the germany opener after 19 minutes. Schweinsteiger unleashed a shot from over 35 yards and the keeper spilled it leaving the alert Mueller to race in and net the rebound. Germany should have punished Uruguay and given the dodgy keeper more to worry about but they sat back and paid the price. Perez did well to rob the ball off Schweinsteiger in midfield and set off Forlan, his ball to Cavani was perfect and popped into the net to level the scores.  Suarez was back for Uruguay and causing lots of damage and even the heavy rain couldn’t dampen the Uruguayan spirit. Forlan had a great chance on the stroke of half time when a corner came flying in with his name on it but he shot over the bar.

The striker made up for his miss in the second half when he struck a great volley after good work from Arevalo. Germany were struggling to get back into the game but got a gift when Boateng put a tempting cross in and Jansen rose above the static defence to head a goal as the keeper flapped. That put new life into Germany as they pushed for the winner. Kiessling came on as sub and had a couple of decent chances but Khedira won the match with another header after Ozil had turned on the style. Even then Uruguay could have taken it to extra time with Forlan hitting the crossbar with the last action of injury time.

In 1974 I was so enthralled by  Holland’s  football I painted my Subbuteo team in their colours, but despite their sublime skills then and in 1978 they never became World Champions, Maybe now things may change. Most of San Telmo in Los Cristianos, Tenerife  was invaded by the colourful Dutch army again tonight and they will be back for more.

Uruguay 2, Holland 3

You expect some class in the World Cup semis and it shone through in this game with two well matched sides having to work hard to beat well drilled defences. Sneijder was first to catch the eye, breaking down the right and drilling in a firm cross, Uruguay keeper Muslera punched at it and knocked the ball onto Kuyt who put it over the bar. Kuyt set up Robben a few minutes later but he was blocked out at the post. Uruguay were missing the suspended Suarez but had other threats, Cavani did well on the left flank but his pass found Forlan offside. The Dutch turned back the clock to the shoot on sight sides of 1974 and 1978 as captain Van Bronkhorst hit a stonking long range goal after 17 minutes that brushed the goalies fingers.

It got a bit lively on the half hour when Uruguays Caceres made an ambitious scissor kick that caught De Zeeuw in the face. Sneijder ran over to discuss the error of his ways with him as he pushed him over and picked up a booking along with the instigator. Caceres didn’t let it ruffle him, making a strong and timely tackle on Robben in his penalty area. Cavani was coming more into the game for the South Americans but their main man levelled with a brilliant goal. Forlan picked up a long clearance 35 yards away from the blues goal and unleahed a howling curling shot that made a fool of Stekelenburg whose hand wasn’t enough to stop the goal.

Holland looked nervous at the start of the second half, Van Bronkhorst cleared off his goal line and they seemed vulnerable. Forlan was always a menace, his free kick had the keeper frantically beating the shot away. there was a touch of controversy about the Dutch goal that broke the deadlock, Sneijder curled his shot in as Van Persie stepped over the ball while trying to get back from a marginally offside position, a slight deflection from Pereira fooled the keeper and gave Holland the lead. There was no doubt about the third goal, Kuyt on the left put in a perfect cross to the head of Robben who nodded it into the net. Holland relaxed a little now but Uruguay made them sweat in injury time when Pereira cut in and stroked his shot around Kuyt and past the badly sighted Stekelenburg, but it was not enough to save the gallant Uruguay. Now where’s that little paintbrush and the tin of orange Humbrol.