And now we have fun! As expected, the world championship gives us the most beautiful semifinals, the best possible in light of the scoreboard. Brazil and Germany, who will compete next Tuesday in Belo Horizonte, have been joined by Holland and Argentina, whose match will be staged on Wednesday in Sao Paulo. The favorites got through, but it wasn't a walk in the park, on the contrary... Belgium and, above all, Costa Rica played it out until the end, proving that their path to applause was by no means accidental. The applause goes in particular to the Ticos, capable of dragging the Netherlands even to the penalty shoot-out, where only the skill of Krul (and the genius of Van Gaal) forced them to raise the white flag. The quarter in Brasilia is less fictionalized, where Argentina confirmed that they don't play champagne football at all, but also that they have players of the highest level in their squad. And if, for once, Messi behaved like a mere mortal, Higuain took care of solving it by removing the chestnuts from the fire to Alejandro Sabella, the other obligatory favorite of this world cup together with Brazil, the landlord. It all happened after just 8 minutes, when Pipita transformed Di Maria's dirty ball into gold by piercing the innocent Courtois with an unstoppable right foot. Belgium, rich in talent and physicality but also inexperienced, suffers the pressure of a very important match and Albiceleste has more than one opportunity to double. The most sensational ones happen on the feet of Higuain (crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten) and Messi (stopped by a miracle by Courtois), but they are not all roses and flowers. At the end of the first half Di Maria stopped with a muscle problem which, in all likelihood, will force him to miss the semi-final and, perhaps, even the eventual final. And then Belgium, also thanks to Wilmots' substitutions (one day we'll understand why Mertens and Lukaku remained on the bench for a good hour), nearly equalized with Fellaini (just over the head) and Wilmots (shot from the edge of the 'area).
In the end, however, Argentina can rejoice: after 24 years it's semifinal again! However, the road to the final of the Maracana is far from cleared, because on Wednesday evening the Seleccion will face the Netherlands. Van Gaal's team is similar, with little choral maneuver but with some soloists (above all Robben, but also Sneijder grows from game to game) able to make the difference from one moment to the next. The exact opposite of Costa Rica, which instead makes tactical organization and sacrifice its best weapons. Yet the Ticos, erroneously presented by all of us as the sacrificial victim, give away another almost perfect game, touching a semi-final that would have forced football historians to rewrite more than one manual. There's also luck helping Pinto's boys, but that, as we know, only helps the brave. And then it won't be a coincidence if the Central Americans have conceded only two goals in five games (two of which lasted over 120'). And when the woodwork saves Keilor Navas' goal three times (two by Sneijder and one by Van Persie), many think that the god of football has a good joke in store. But the aforementioned didn't count on Louis Van Gaal, the absolute genius on the Orange bench, who invents the change for the World Cup in the 120th minute: starting goalkeeper Cilessen goes out and Krul comes in for the reserve. The move worked because the number 12 from Holland saved two penalties from Ruiz and Umana and thus took his team to the semifinals. They will be two beautiful challenges, impossible to predict. Of course, Brazil will miss Thiago Silva (suspended) and Neymar (world cup over), but tiredness and pressure will weigh on everyone's legs, without exception. In short, balance reigns supreme as never before. Worthy final phase of the "World Cup".
