Day 31 - Netherlands v Brazil

Pre-Match Thoughts
To which, the most pointless game of the whole affair. Neither teams wants to be here, both would prefer to be chilling out, reflecting on getting so near to the final. Or, in Brazil's case, trying to forget abject humiliation.

Some panic-mongers predicted mass riots after the German game, which don't seem to have happened. Perhaps the scale of defeat made it simply too absurd to be angry about - a 4-0 may have brought a different outcome. But 7-1? That's just silly.

The Spain game apart, the Dutch did well to get so far without ever being fantastic. Van Gaal picked his tactics right in the main, but I think he showed a lack of adventure against Argentina. This is his last game in charge before taking over at the Greatest Club in the World, so I'm hoping he'll want to go out with a bang. Let's say 2-1 to der Orange Boys.

Drink?
Well, I did spend most of the afternoon boozing with my main man Simon... but why not?

First Half
Perhaps my prediction was too easy on Brazil! Within a minute, the Dutch had a penalty. It wasn't a penalty, as the foul was outside the box. But then, the defender should have walked for the foul, when he only got a yellow. Robin van Persie didn't need to ask twice to slot it away - his fourth goal in a tournament in which he's rarely been at his best.

Not long after, David Luiz once again threw his odd shapes to head a simple clearence into the path of Daley Blind to finish in style. Ouch.

Since then, Brazil have made some attempts to resolve some pride, to no results.

Second Half
Slight non-event in which the best part of sod all happened until the last few minutes, when the Dutch decided to see their boss off in the style and score another. Not many happy campers in the stadium there.

Result
3-0 to Netherlands, who are the third best team in the world, presumably.

In Honour of Tommy....
Hey! Ho! Let's go! Hey! Ho! Let's go!