Matchday 16 - Ghosts of '66

Germany 4 (Klose 20, Podolski 32, Mueller 67,70) - England 1 (Upson 37)
Argentina 3 (Tevez 26, 52, Higuain 33) - Mexico 1 (Hernandez 71)

The ghosts of Wembley in 1966 haunted the 2010 World Cup on Matchday 16, as England controversially had a goal dissallowed for not clearing the line as they were again eliminated by Germany, this time on the receiving end of a 4-1 thumping. History repeated in the late match as for the second tournament in a row Argentina eliminated Mexico in the round of 16 following a controversial 3-1 win.

But 44 years after 'the goal heard around the world', Germany will be feeling redemption this morning. In 1966, Geoff Hurst's goal was controversially judged to be over the line, giving England a 3-2 lead in the final. In 2010, Frank Lampad's wasn't – despite being a clear 2 yards over the line. Had it been allowed, that goal would have drawn England back level at 2-2, in a game they clearly deserved to trail in. Instead, they went into the break 2-1 down, were forced to chase the game in the second half, and were cut to shreds by a clinical German counter attack led by Mesut Oezil and Thomas Mueller, the final score 4-1. Germany deservedly took an early two goal lead through World Cup specialists Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski who scored a goal a piece. England reduced the deficit to one against the run of play through a powerful Matthew Upson header, before Lampard sent a cracking short crashing off the underside of the bar, and over the line. However, without help from his linesman the referee waved play on – and with it went England’s last hope. While the German’s looked trouble in defence at times, once England had to take the game to them in the second half their counter-attacking play was beautiful. A Thomas Mueller brace in just 3 second half minutes was enough to seal the game and send Germany on the quarter finals.

Germany will now face Argentina in the quarter-finals, a repeat of their match-up at this stage four years ago in Germany. As was the case for years ago, Argentina advanced by defeating Mexico, this time 3-1 in a game not without its own controversies. After a bright start Mexico dropped their bundle after Carlos Tevez gave Argentina the lead when he clearly looked to be in an offside position. Higuain added a second less than 10 minutes later, and when Tevez smashed in a superb long range effort early in the second half the game was as good as done at 3-0. Javier Hernandez produced a quality individual effort to drag Mexico bag to 3-1 with 20 minutes left but it was never going to be enough as Argentina closed out the game to cruise through.

Quarter Final Matches – Argentina ($1.73) v Germany ($2.34)

What We Learned – That England were simply not good enough at this tournament. An inexperienced pairing in the centre of defence once Ferdinand was ruled out and a hopelessly out of form Wayne Rooney were just the start of the problems. Rumours of team disunity and a number of poor displays on the pitch saw the English sent packing with their tails well and truly between their legs.

The Falcon’s Spud of the Day – Sepp Blatter (FIFA) – If ever there was overwhelming evidence for video replays for goal mouth incidents the England – Germany game was it. Blatter wants the game to be the same wherever it is played but lets face it, entire nations do not hold the breath over every kick of an Under 6’s game in Guatemala. Lampard’s shot could have been ruled a goal in seconds and may have changed the picture of the entire tournament. Hang your head in shame Mr Blatter.

Tonight’s Games – The bottom half of the top half of the draw is on display as the Netherlands take on Slovakia in a European derby. The Netherlands should be way to good here. The late game will see the first South American nation eliminated from the tournament as Brazil takes on Chile. The samba boys should also be far too good.

Suggested Investment – We are on a bit of roll at the moment with backing teams to advance but Brazil and the Netherlands are too short for that tonight. So instead we will take them both to win in normal time, which they should.

Prices courtesy of Betfair.