Just under a month on since 32 teams arrived in Brazil to contest the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, now just four remain as one of the most memorable tournaments of recent times reaches the tension of the semi-finals.
On Tuesday at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte and on Wednesday at the Arena de Sao Paulo, the semi-finals will kick off to decide who makes it through to Sunday’s final at the iconic Maracana and which teams have to make do with the compensation of the third-place play-off the day before in Brasilia.
BBC One and ITV will be screening one live semi-final each from Brazil, with the BBC taking first pick of the semi-final clashes, chosing to show exclusive coverage of Brazil’s highly-anticipated encounter against Germany live from Belo Horizonte.
The host nation will be without their talismanic striker Neymar after the forward was ruled out for the rest of the tournament with a broken bone in his back, following his side’s 2-1 win against Colombia.
A narrow 1-0 win against France in Friday’s quarter-final ensured Germany’s place in the last four, with coach Joachim Loew believing the South American side will have an important advantage in being at home, despite the hosts relatively unimpressive showing so far.
The second semi-final between the winners of Netherlands and Argentina takes place on Wednesday, July 9, broadcast live on ITV.
In a sensational finale to their quarter-final against Costa Rica, Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul came off the bench late in extra time and saved two penalties as his side beat the plucky Central Amercian oufit in a shootout to set up a World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
Lionel Messi’s team, like the hosts, have delivered fairly unspectacular performances so far in reaching the last four, though they have qualified for their first World Cup semi-final since finishing as runners-up in 1990, after victory over Belgium in Brasilia in their quarter-final.
Both semi-final encounters kick off at 21:00 BST and fans across the world will be hoping to watch two thrilling matches unfold as the 2014 tournament draws to its conclusion.
The host nation will be hoping that their boys roused themselves from a relatively sluggish start to the campaign and now find themselves in top gear for the last push towards the summit.
Germany’s display against Portugal in their very opening match showed that their preparations allowed them to hit
the ground running and they will be hoping for a similar showing when it matters.
But by far the best display so far this tournament came from the Netherlands, who put five past reigning world champions Spain, while an Argentina spearheaded by Lionel Messi can never be written off.
All four teams will be playing for the right to contest the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final, to be staged at the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, July 13, which be broadcast live on both BBC One and ITV, while the dreaded 3rd place play-off the day before will be shown, as in 2010, by ITV.
Visit our dedicated World Cup page – sport-onthebox.com/worldcup – for a full rundown of both channel’s comprehensive coverage of the tournament.
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SEMI FINALS
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| Tuesday 7 July LIVE: 8.30pm-11.10pm Venue: Belo Horizonte |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via BBC iPLAYER
Without Neymar, their leading scorer and talisman and without suspended captain Thiago Siva, Brazil are going to have to do it the hard way if they are going to make the final of their own World Cup.
Neymar’s controversial tournament-ending back injury has unsurprisingly dominated the build-up to their semi-final at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte against the impressive Germans.
The host nation have only faced European opposition once en route to the last four, that being a 3-1 victory in the opening fixture against Croatia, and this time they face arguably the strongest team that continent has to offer, and will have to do so without the services of the injured Neymar and suspended Thiago Silva.
Billed as the World Cup’s poster boy for so long, 22-year-old Neymar has absolutely lived up to expectations, with his four goals and decisive penalty in the shootout win over Chile arguably carrying his country this far.
Now it is up to Luiz Felipe Scolari to conjure up a Plan B from within his squad as a nation once again draws a collective breath for 90-minutes in another tense semi-final.
The Germans reached this stage courtesy of a hard-fought 1-0 victory over France in the quarter-finals, with centre-back Mats Hummels scoring the only goal of the game.
In reaching this stage, the Germans have set a World Cup record in reaching the semi-finals at four consecutive tournaments, but they will look to improve on each of those performances having finished as runners-up in 2002, and failing to progress beyond the semi-finals in 2006 and 2010.
Will Germany shock the hosts and finally make it back to a World Cup final, for an eighth time, or is an unwanted hat-trick of successive semi-final eliminations about to befall them?
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| Wednesday 8 July LIVE: 8.30pm-11.15pm Venue: Sao Paulo |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via ITV PLAYER
The line-up for the biggest match in football will be confirmed on Wednesday night as the Netherlands and Argentina contest the second semi-final at the Arena de Sao Paulo.
Of the four teams to have reached the semi-finals, the Dutch are the only nation not to have previously won the World Cup, though they have reached the final on three occasions, most recently in South Africa four years ago.
Despite being the top goal scorers during the group stage of this tournament, Louis van Gaal’s men had to rely on penalties to overcome Costa Rica last time out, having squandered a host of opportunities in normal and extra time to see the contest finish 0-0.
The Dutch needed a dramatic performance from substitute goalkeeper Tim Krul after failing to break down the Costa Ricans and Robin van Persie has failed to perform so far in the knockout stages, so it might take another Van Gaal tactical surprise to negotiate Lionel Messi and co.
Argentina are appearing in their first semi-final since finishing as runners-up in 1990, and are still to find their best form at this tournament, but that hasn’t prevented them from winning all five of their previous matches, and only conceding three goals in the process.
In Lionel Messi they have arguably the most talented player in world football, and should he help lead his country to their third World Cup victory he is likely to be considered one of the all-time greats at international level, alongside his fellow countryman Diego Maradona.
Despite not reaching the peak of their powers at this tournament so far, Argentina are in their first World Cup semi-final since 1990, and in Messi they have a player on a personal mission to rubber stamp his place in the pantheon of greats.
Previous encounters between the two nations have provided some epic moments in the tournament’s history that will hopefully be repeated in Sao Paulo.
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SPORT ON THE BOX’S COMPLETE WORLD CUP TV GUIDE
Tuesday 7th July BRAZIL v GERMANY Semi Final – Belo Horizonte | Kick-off: 21:00 LIVE: 8.30pm-11.10pm BBC One Match Replay: 1.20am-3.05am (Wed) BBC Two Wednesday 8th July Match of the Day: World Cup Highlights – BRA v GER 7.10am-7.45am BBC Two NETHERLANDS v ARGENTINA Semi Final – Sao Paulo | Kick-off: 21:00 LIVE: 8.30pm-11.15pm ITV Match of the Day: World Cup Highlights – NED v ARG 11.45pm-12.20am BBC One Match Replay: 1.20am-3.05am (Thu) BBC Two Thursday 9th July Match of the Day: World Cup Highlights – NED v ARG (rpt) 7.15am-7.50am BBC Two In the event of extra-time and penalties, TV times are subject to change.
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You commentator stated almost at the end of normal time in the Holland v Argentina game that the ball at the corner kick should only be over hanging the quadrant area. This is wrong the ball should be on the line or inside it. He should know the rules of the game!
When will this correct rule be broadcast to the public?