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3.32pm BST
Not the World Cup: Andy Murray has just been knocked out of Wimbledon, going down in three sets to Grigor Dimitrov: 6-1, 7-6, 6-2. Ooh, you better believe, that's a paddlin'.
3.29pm BST
Karl Gibbons is here and has two hypotheses, which I must confess are the two I'd come up with.
1) Shots on target have gone up, but as we are no down to the best teams, the goalkeepers are better and thus less chance of a goal being scored
3.27pm BST
Citizen journalism (aka Do My Work For Me Dept) David Wall is first up with a potential explanation for the reduced number of goals. "Are those statistics for shots per game inclusive of shots taken during the periods of extra time?" he asks. "If so, and also taking into account that all of the teams were on their fourth game (and this might contribute even if not), tiredness might have something to do with the lower conversion rate.
"A glaring example from yesterday's second game was Kompany's effort towards the end of extra-time. Having played nearly 120 minutes, and sprinted the length of the pitch he seemed to tired to hit the shot properly and scuffed it when he should have scored."
3.22pm BST
3.20pm BST
Shenanigans in São Paulo. Police in Brazil's biggest city say they used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse thousands of soccer fans raucously celebrating Argentina's 1-0 World Cup victory over Switzerland yesterday.
A São Paulo police department press officer says the partying by close to 3,000 people - mostly Argentines - began Tuesday afternoon in the city's trendy neighborhood of Vila Madalena and only ended early Wednesday morning "when we were called in to disperse the crowd that had gotten too rowdy."
He said stun grenades and tear gas where used after many of the fans started hurling bottles at the police.
The officer said no one was hurt during the incident and no arrests were made. He spoke on condition of anonymity under police department regulations.
3.13pm BST
Good afternoon everybody. It might be a rest day at the World Cup, but I'm enlisting your help to do my work for me for a blog I'm writing. I have stats to hand which prove that, despite the average number of shots on target per game going up in the knockout stages (from nine to 11.63), the average number of goals per game has gone down (from 2.83 to 2.25). Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with plausible reasons why this might be so. Answers on an email, please. I'll publish the best.
3.05pm BST
I'm all typed out, readers, so time for you to be tickled with some fresh fingers: here comes <b>Barry Glendenning</b>.
2.54pm BST
The Ghana FA is currently giving a press conference in Accra to discuss the fall-out of their fall-out from the World Cup. Coach James Kwesi Appiah has just said: "Our main target was to try to do much better than the previous Worlds Cup and try and get Ghana to, let's say, the semi-finals. Unfortunately we didn't qualify from the group stages and I will take this opportunity to apologise to all Ghanaians ... I believe there were real good positives in the team. We can improve on the performance and make sure that in future we have players with real commitment and discipline who are prepared to kill themselves for their nation."
A journalist then asked the president of the Ghana FA "what role you played in the shame and waste of the World Cup?". The MC moved swiftly on to the next question, whereupon another journalist asked how many of the officials are going to resign. Kewsi Appiah fields the questions firest, saying "I am determined to continue" and repeating that the "young guys" he brought to the World Cup performed well and "we need to continue to build this team." Asked whether Kevin Prin-Boateng will ever be called up again, the manager replied: "When you are building the team, you have to make sure there is discipline in the team. Managing egos is always difficult but when it becomes constant, it becomes a threat to the whole team. For now, I don't think he will be part of our plans. I am concentrating on those who will be disciplined and will kill for our nation."
2.23pm BST
I've just noticed that Scott Murray did a a Joy of Six on great disallowed goals a while back. It's typically superb. Check it out.
2.20pm BST
How about this beauty from Edinson Cavani.
2.15pm BST
"Hi Paul," greets Karl Gibbons. "Two very interesting questions below about football in USA. 1) I think the USA team is more likely to win the World Cup before England. Due to the reasons highlighted in your coverage (athletic ability/resources) and the fact the sport is on the up in terms of popularity and view of it being a reasonable sport. I also feel that the additional money pouring into the MLS means that soccer will soon become a way to make mega-bucks for aspiring athletes rather than the traditional US sports. Surely, rather than the Champs league, it would be the Copa Libertadores that the USA teams would join? Really intriguing to see what happens with the sport in the good ol US of A." Well, I guess MLS would have to remove the salary controls if there to compete for the best athletes against other sports and, indeed, with the best soccer clubs in other countries. As for whether US clubs would join Uefa or Conembol competitions, I guess that too would depend on where the most money lay.
2.01pm BST
The list of player shits available to sponsor has now been updated. http://t.co/K7Eju1BKaz
1.59pm BST
@Paul_Doyle Worse part of USMNT loss is wading through the patronizing press coverage: far too much "attaboy" not enough needed critique
1.56pm BST
This quarter-final arouses memories, of course, of the nations' two epic semi-final encounters in the 1980s, both of which ended in heart-break for France 9and one of which ended in face-smash for Patrick Battiston). Even beyond those matches, French teams have not had much luck against German outfits. Remember the two superb battles between Auxerre and Dortmund in the 1990s? And this disallowed goal by Lilian Laslandes? Since we all seem to be keen on hailing things as the greatest this and the greatest that today, was that the greatest wrongly disallowed goal of all time? The ridiculously pernickety ref disallowed it for dangerous play. Maybe this one trumps it?
1.31pm BST
Let's move beyond how great or otherwise the American performance was last night and ask wider questions. If it is true, as has been reported, that this World Cup will trigger a surge in interest in football States-side, how popular does it have to become there before the US becomes one of the major forces in the game? Given the size of their population and the excellence of their athletic tradition, sports facilities and so on, could they surpass Brazil in the foreseeable future? Or is that getting carried away? How about this:
1) Who is more likely to win the World Cup next: the USA, or England?
1.17pm BST
Here, by the way, is what Marc Wilmots said last night about his country's next opponents. "[Argentina] play 5-3-2, with their four fantastic forwards and two full-backs who attack a lot. But they are a team that lack balance. .. I already know in my head what to do. I know how to take them on. But I'm wondering how they are going to try to stop us. It's going to be interesting."
1.03pm BST
A salient observation from David Wall: "How about Manuel Neuer's showing the previous night as an example of a better goalkeeping performance than Howard's (and of a very different style). Though he didn't make many saves of shots his anticipation, decisiveness and speed made up for a pretty bad performance from his defence to stop what would have been very good chances for Algeria. The Algerian players did little wrong they were just thwarted by great play from Neuer." It was not merely a great display of goalkeeping, it was nearly a re-definition of the role of goalkeeping, or at least pushing the keeper-sweeper gig to an unprecedented successful extreme.
12.54pm BST
Hello to you, and thanks to the boy Ashdown. Now, let's get one thing straight: contrary to what several folks have claimed to me this morning, last night's display by Tim Howard was absolutely not one of the great goalkeeping performances. It was a perfect example of a case where stats do not tell the full story: yes, Howard made lots of saves but most of those shots were straight at him. His positioning was competent, even if he went down too soon (and was exposed by Lukaku for the second goal). Rather than be remembered as a display of outstanding goalkeeping, last night's match should more correctly be remembered as an exhibition of dire finishing. Sure, it was top entertainment and the attitude and endeavour of the American players should stand as an example to many more talented teams, but if Belgium had had their wits about them, they would have won by four or five. If it's great goalkeeping performances you're looking for, I could give you many, many better examples, including several by American goalkeepers. Brad Friedel for Blackburn in the 2002 League Cup final, for example. Or, sticking with Blackburn keepers (but not Americans), Tim Flowers against Newcastle in the game that went a long way towards clinching the title.
12.44pm BST
Right, I notice the fourth official is holding up my number and Paul Doyle is standing on the touchline, stretching his hamstrings and having his studs checked. He'll be guiding you through the next few hours. I'll leave you with this:
12.24pm BST
How the internet reacted to Belgium's win over USA last night.
The incredible Tim Howard @TimHowardGK 16 saves World Cup record - by @SubbuteoArt #USAvsBEL #USA @ussoccer @Everton pic.twitter.com/11X8CQ9g0o
12.12pm BST
One of the pre-tournament controversies was Fifa's insistence that Brazil's ban on the sale of alcohol in football grounds introduced in 2003 to combat violence be revoked in order that World Cup sponsor Budweiser could sell its wares in stadiums.
And, wouldn't you believe it, in Brazilian newspaper O Globo today, Fifa general secretary Jérôme Valcke has given an interview in which he said he was surprised and concerned about the amount of beer being consumed by fans in the stadiums!
"I was impressed with the amount of alcohol people drank during games. The alcohol level surprised me, many people were drunk, which can increase the level of violence I was concerned about the level of intoxication, people who were not behaving well, drunk."
11.59am BST
Such was the impact of Howard's shot-stopping against Belgium that one US supporter has started a White House petition to have Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington renamed as the Tim Howard National Airport. He or she has already mustered 1,891 signatures at the time of writing just 98,000 to go.
11.56am BST
It has been a great tournament for goalkeepers and Tim Howard's display last night was up there with the finest performances in Brazil so far
As has been widely observed, Tim Howard was immense last night: pic.twitter.com/1c3wkAUgdN
11.54am BST
Here's Stuart James on Colombia's other No10 Juan Fernando Quintero:
He is a young, supremely talented Colombian No10, blessed with a wonderful left foot and already talked about in the same breath as some of the greatest footballers in the world. This is not, however, another James Rodríguez eulogy. Instead, meet Juan Fernando Quintero, the 21-year-old Porto midfielder, who is a chip off the Rodríguez block.
We have been treated to only fleeting glimpses of Quintero at this World Cup but the similarities between the second-youngest player in José Pékermans squad and Rodríguez are impossible to ignore. A gifted playmaker with an eye for a defence-splitting pass, Quintero has a penchant for backheels and nutmegs there were less than two minutes on the clock when a Japan defender fell victim to the latter trick on his only start in these finals as well as an ability to execute exquisite free-kicks. He is a star in the making.
11.45am BST
Here are a few bad viewing habits from BTL:
Bad Viewing Habits:
My mate, a US fan, kept shouting "Bad, good, BAD!!" at each touch.
Has anyone picked up any bad football viewing habits since the tournament started?
Been involuntarily heading for goal / heading clear (depending on which team I'm supporting) at corners and from good crosses.
Bad viewing habits: watching the matches in Finland with a bunch of Finnish dentists...I have never seen an analysis of a Suarez bite so convincingly demonstrated on a plate of sausages before.
11.21am BST
Got 20 minutes to spare? Feeling well rested and switched on? Fancy an incredibly in-depth analysis of Lionel Messi's performances for Barcelona and Argentina over the past four years? Well, then try this from the FiveThirtyEight blog Lionel Messi is impossible.
11.14am BST
Has anyone picked up any bad football viewing habits since the tournament started? I ask because while sat in front of the TV watching Belgium v USA! USA!! USA!!! last night I noticed that I was signalling the direction of each free-kick with an outstretched arm (perhaps a legacy of a refereeing stint in south London on the first Saturday of the tournament). Post your odd viewing habits below the line, and I'll pick a selection of the best to post up here.
11.01am BST
Anyone want a gif of all of T-Ho's saves from last night?
You got it....
11.01am BST
I have the power
10.40am BST
Here are Graham Parker's player ratings for the USA side last night. Safe to say, they're slightly more generous than L'Equipe were with theirs:
L'Equipe ratings, USA: Howard 8, Yedlin 6, Gonzalez 6, Besler 5, Beasley 4, Jones 5, Bradley 5, Cameron 5, Zusi 4, Bedoya 3, Dempsey 5. Oof!
10.29am BST
One player who must have been close to making that XI is Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas. His club Levante have told Atletico Madrid they'll need to increase their offer if they want to prise him from the club's grip. His release clause is set at 10m.
10.25am BST
Our columnist Zico has offered his team of the tournament so far:
10.18am BST
"I agree with much of what Mr Wall writes but, as with his point about tiki-taka, there's a lot of space between appreciation and commisserations and patronising a fine team," writes Gary Naylor in reply to David Wall's reply to Gary Naylor's reply to David Wall. "Contenders? In my lifetime, the only real contenders for World Cups appear to be Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain and France. Not sure any nation outside that elite can really be considered contenders, though one or two teams threaten at every World Cup."
10.04am BST
With Belgium set to meet Argentina in the last eight, you might be seeing this picture a fair bit in the coming days:
9.49am BST
Hello there. John Ashdown taking over here for a couple of hours. First of all, here's David Wall's reply to Gary Naylor's reply to David Wall:
Much as I respect Gary Naylor's opinion (and I agree with the substance of what he says, although it's a bit of leap from saying that a team should have more control of possession to saying that they should play tiki-taka possession obsessed football, it's not a binary choice there in terms of style), I don't think he's really responded to what I was saying. I'm not complaining about the USA's style at all, like I said, I thought the match was thrilling (perhaps the most exciting game of the tournament seeing as Germany - Ghana only really went at each other in the same way for the second half). The point was that it is patronising to the US team for people not to apply the same demands to them as to other, more traditionally established sides (i.e. those from Europe and South America).
Germans were criticising the lack of control of the match that they had against Ghana and Algeria despite being similarly gung-ho, the Dutch have been critical of their side for not playing in the traditional controlled passing style, and we all know how England have strips torn off them for playing in a Premier League style in international competition (even when they don't do that so much, as in this World Cup where they tried to maintain possession more). Whether or not you agree with those criticisms (and I don't know how much I do), it's patronising to think they can't be applied to the US if they can be applied to those other sides (which is what many people have been saying). It's like patting the US team on the head and giving them a rosette for effort. Klinsmann wants to win the World Cup with that team and so do the US football administrators so they certainly don't consider themselves as mere try-hards. And so they should be held to the same standards and subject to the same criticisms as other teams who are considered contenders.
9.35am BST
Here's some more reading. The talking points: Shaqiri living up to his billing; USAUSA; how Belgium are warming up; and were Argentina "clearly superior", or just lucky? Answer: just lucky. But read it anyway.
And some science. How Luis Suárez is being undone by his genes.
All competitive team sports are effectively mimicking a very intense coalitional aggression situation, says Michael Price of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Brunel. This is harking back to our ancestral environments when coalitional warfare between two tribes was fairly commonplace and your own fate was really wrapped up in how your coalition fared. Were neurologically wired to be interested in the outcome, which is why so many people attach such incredible significance and importance to whats going on between these two groups of men on a field.
9.22am BST
So there's no World Cup today. But at least next season started yesterday. In tonight's big one, it's Lincoln Red Imps v Havnar Bóltfelag. Other ways to fill the gap: speculation Mario Balotelli's off to Liverpool and Manchester United are signing Thomas Vermaelen and Stefan de Vrij and Kevin Strootman and Arjen Robben and Arturo Vidal and etc and so on. And then there's Argentina. What's wrong with Argentina? Lionel Messi doesn't know, but then he doesn't mind, either.
"We knew it wouldn't be easy. What is important is that we are through. That is what we wanted, the next stage - that is what we wanted. I was nervous towards the end because we couldn't score and any mistake could have left us out. We were suffering, but we had a special play - I passed to Angel, and now we can celebrate."
9.02am BST
#ThingsTimHowardCouldSave pic.twitter.com/mmXoMiyx44
He's playing it cool though: You just try and do all the things that have gotten me here, and gotten us here, and we hope that it all comes together. Thats what I signed up to do, stick my face in front of balls. I hope I can get more saves than I allow goals." Too modest. Here's an email from DP Gumby:
We need to show more love for goalkeepers. All this talk of Rodriguez, Messi and Neymar ignores the fact that it is the keepers that have been the stars of the tournament.
8.38am BST
Morning from London. So, last night's stars? Little bullet DeAndre Yedlin, obviously. Tim Howard. The fitness coach. And Julian Green, who scored with his first ever World Cup touch. It all made for irony.
Too bad soccer's so boring.
Good night all. Thanks for following, especially those of you who got the 'soccer is boring' joke. Kudos.
8.10am BST
Before I hand over to multi award-winning journalist David Hills, here's one last email from Elliot Carr-Barnsley:
I'm annoyed, Tom. Could at least one of the matches not followed the underdogs undone at the last narrative? In a positive way for the underdogs I mean.
All the fun and hope of the tournament so far feels pointless. I know the matches were dramatic, but somehow so predictable. The big guns feel somewhat undeserving, they've largely been below their best and yet there they are.
7.47am BST
Gary Naylor has hit right back at David Wall's USA email:
Mr Wall could not be more wrong. If tiki-taka (remember that?) taught us anything, it taught us that technically perfect football was like technically perfect art - admirable, but dull. Last night's match was like a Picasso - at times, ugly, at times childishly naive, at times simply too sprawling a spectacle to take in. But it was exhilarating! A match for the ages that explored football's potential to thrill like few others. Every man involved deserves the thanks of the millions privileged to see it.
7.40am BST
Wei Ting in Singapore emails in: "Can I trouble you to repost this article that you did before the round of 16? I can't find it but do remember it was pretty spot-on. Thanks!"
Your wish is our etc. I'll repost it, but mainly because it makes us look good. Our top eight teams were:
1) Colombia. 2) Holland. 3) Brazil. 4) Germany. 5) Argentina. 6) France. 7) Belgium. 8) Mexico.
7.31am BST
And if you want to see how USA fans feel in one picture, take a look at the poor eagle man:
We are all Sad Eagle Man: http://t.co/WlSOJwIX7j pic.twitter.com/BAgLYDRs8F
7.19am BST
David Wall has emailed in on the US game:
Some people are asking whether the Americans have been patronised at this World Cup and it's true, they have been. But it's not the patronising of the new supporters that is objectionable (everyone expects that, especially at World Cups when you always get people only interested every four years no matter which country you're from). Rather, it's the way that the USA team is being praised, or what they're being praised for, that's belittling. Taking last night's game as an example, they were out-passed, couldn't keep possession, defensively naive (Vertonghen had the freedom of Salvador along the left hand side), and only kept in the game by record-breaking Tim Howard. But they ran around a lot and put in a lot of effort. Suppose another team, say England, played like that, they'd be torn a new one (Chris Waddle's praise for the same things in the US team that he rants at England for is a glaring example).
But why shouldn't the same standards be expected of the US national team as more traditionally established and familiar European ones? The US have a longer World Cup history than most, have vast resources and playing population, especially among young people, and they've got professionals playing in top European leagues. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the game, and they were thrilling to watch. But as we're always told, that kind of approach makes for exciting games but doesn't win tournaments. Why can't the US be expected to aspire to that?
7.01am BST
TIm Howard set a World Cup record with his 15 saves against Belgium last night. Although obviously he wasn't too pleased after the match, saying the defeat "sucked". And here's what Howard was up against in graphical form:
SHOT MAP: Belgium had 39 shots vs. #USA. THIRTY-NINE. Absolute madness. What a game of football. #BEL pic.twitter.com/zBHCmv5wgc
6.36am BST
And now that the last 16 is done, we have our [calculates 16 divided by two] ... seven. No! Four! No! Nine! Our quarter-finalists:
France v Germany
Brazil v Colombia
Argentina v Belgium
Holland v Engl... Costa Rica
6.28am BST
Who's relieved this morning? Lionel Messi - that's who, after his team's narrow win over Switzerland:
I was nervous towards the end because we couldn't score and any mistake could have left us out. The minutes were passing by and we didn't want the match to go to penalties. We were suffering, but we had a special play - I passed to Angel and now we can celebrate
6.12am BST
Only eight teams remain. We'll have all the latest news from Brazil shortly, but in the meantime, here's Marcela Mora y Araujo reporting from the Rio favelas:
Theres a little football pitch up on the fifth station of the Santa Marta morro, in the Botafogo neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, where a group of Brazilian children who live in the favela are playing against some visiting Argentinian youths. The local kids hold a white ball, worn and battered, and they have challenged the Argentinians, saying if they win they will take their Fifa Brazuca football as the prize. The midday sun shines on the dry top of the morro, where the view of Christ the Redeemer on a nearby mountain top, and the undulating bays of Rio flanked by hills, literally stuns can such beauty be humanly possible?
The Argentinian group comprises 14 reporters, editors and correspondents from La Garganta Poderosa (The Powerful Throat), a co-operative magazine project carried out by a youth collective from various Buenos Aires villas (the Argentinian term for marginal neighbourhoods, or even slums), which has become one of the most interesting, disruptive and innovative media startups around. Writing in rhyme a sort of slum-rap postmodern version of cockney slang they often interview footballers and tend to get the best quotes and insights, probably because they share a history and an understanding that traditional media often do not.
Continue reading...