Agreed on Manuel Neuer's performance so far, it's interesting to note that even though he's a keeper his idol is the ultimate sweeper; Franz Beckenbauer (who played for the Metrostars before you repeat it Foot ) .

There's a German comedian in Britain right now that some may be familiar with called Henning Wehn, alot of his jokes are told in an exaggerated German accent and usually include the (positive) stereotypical view of germans as an efficient machine stemming from WW2. That pretty much describes the Germans IMO, they've looked mediocre since the Portugal game but have worked their way to the semis yet again. It's difficult to bet against them and if you look at the first page of this thread me and Yogi picked them .

I'm hoping for a Germany - Holland final. Holland have been the most consistent imo followed by Germany, and Argentina and Brazil have barely scraped into the semis. Holland may've been fortunate to have beat Mexico, but they dominated their group and should've beat Costa Rica by two or three goals.

I completely agree about the officials here too . Usually there's 2 or 3 controversial matches during a WC at most, pratically every match here has had a terrible decision. It's also telling that the two teams who have benifited from them the most is Brazil and Argentina . Foollowed by Holland who didn't deserve that PK against Mexico imo.