Day 23 - France v Germany

Pre-Match Thoughts
Into the Quarter-Finals then: eight teams left, with a fair few (six, I reckon) who have a decent shout at being the champions. Two of them in this game.

France have maintained a steady approach up to this point, with only two goals conceded so far - and those came after they were 5-0 against the Swiss. Paul Pogba in midfield has impressed with Karim Benzema up top will be hunting for more goals to push his claim for the Golden Boot.

The German struggled for large parts of their last game against Algeria and have made some tactical changes. Miroslav Klose, 34 years old, makes his first start of the tournament - the first time his team have played with an out-and-out striker so far. One more goal for Klose will make him the all-time top scorer in World Cup history. Not many bigger motivations than that!

On balance, I think the French look the stronger outfit and I'm having them down to win 2-1.

First Half
The Germans have livened up themselves since the Algeria game, as they put on all the early pressure and it paid off when Hummels headed home a well-taken free kick for his second goal in this World Cup. Their failure to take further advantage may come down to Klose being well off the pace - it'll be a surprise to see him last much past the hour mark.

The French are far from out of this game, but they need to move faster if they're going to survive.

Second Half
The term "damp squib" springs to mind regarding the rest of the game. France rarely seem too urgent with their play and their lack of aggression made any attacks they had easy to pick off. As it was, the Germans missed the best chances to increase the scoring, though they were squandered. I only hope the rest of the games in this round are better!

Result
1-0 to Germany

Summertime?
Not in Northern England. Constant rain all day from Southport to Manchester tells it's own story.