Suarez thrusts his head back and screams, “Lord, why have you forsaken me!” Surely if divine intervention filled him with volleyball spirit and guided his hand in that last moment against Ghana as he claims, then God has now abandoned Uruguay.

The Dutch banged three past them – including a contender for goal of the tourney by the unlikely Van Bronkhorst. Uruguay were flattered by 3-2 with a second in junk time though their first via Forlan was a belter, even if aided by some questionable keeping. (Aside: why did Tabarez take Forlan off? Madness.)  The Dutch looked good, compact and tenacious, and their two most potent weapons in Sneijder and Robben still have the capacity to step it up.

The other result was a bit more of a surprise. A towering header by everyone’s favourite centreback, Puyol, was all that separated Spain and Germany at the whistle. Defensive organisation did for the Germans in the end as the Spaniards denied them the space they had against us, England and Argentina. Without that space Ozul, Schweinsteiger and co suffocated. Spain haven’t been great this tournament, beaten in their first hitout, scrappy against Paraguay in the quarters better against the Germans, but far from brilliant. They have some momentum though and being La Furia Roja – The Red Fury – they have science on their side: : http://tinyurl.com/2es9sbw. It’s science!

Surprisingly, at the death it’s two European teams. The hopes of an African nation taking the Cup are dashed and despite filling four of the eight spots in the quarters, the Latin Americans are home. Neither Spain nor Holland has held the cup aloft before, it’s going to be a cracker on Monday morning.

Side bets: Love when the golden boot is to be decided in the final, Villa and Sneijder go in locked on five each.

Dear Del Bosque re: Torres Del Pine – keep him on the bench, Pedro is great.

Att: Van Persie – the ball is the round thing.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed or follow us on Twitter at Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com for sharing this theme.