Quarter finals part II

June the 30th 1986 was the day I was inducted into the army. It was also the day that W Germany were due to play Argentina in what was expected to be a very good game and one that I was not going to see. Well in the end it was a very good final with the Argentineans coming out victorious 3-2 after extra time. I was also fortunate enough to see the whole game as the bus drivers taking us to our base refused to move until the game was finished. It was painful to see Maradona lifting the trophy as this was the world cup of the hand of god incident as I have mentioned previously.
In 1990, a now unified Germany and Argentina again met in the final, with the Germans winning a terrible game with a late penalty, thankfully sparing the watching world the agony of another 30 minutes of dross.
In 2006 also in the Quarters, the Germans ran out victorious on penalties. In fact the 1986 game is the only occasion that the Argies have won in 5 attempts.
This year, these two teams have played the most exciting football and are the top scorers to date. They both have young goalkeepers with little experience so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. Although it is hard to admit it, as I loathe Diego Armando, the best final we could probably see is a clash between Brazil and Argentina.
In the 2nd game tomorrow, we see Spain against Paraguay. As I was growing up I remember Spain and Paraguay as countries both ruled by fascist dictatorships, and they have both come a long way since then. Spain is one of the favourites and on paper should be far too strong for Paraguay, who was appalling against Japan, but football is a funny old game and the Spanish temperament is fragile. Let us hope that this will be a good game worthy of a world cup quarter-final.

Wiggi