This World Cup has been full of surprises. None has compared to the shock 7-1 defeat of Brazil by Germany in the first Semi-Final. It is, perhaps, the most shocking result in football history. Brazil were full of energy and had a few attacks in the first ten minutes. Then, Thomas Muller opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the tournament. That was followed by three goals in 179 seconds as the Brazil defence catastrophically collapsed. There was no way back and Brazil went on to suffer their most embarrassing defeat ever. Germany are on target for their fourth World Cup crown.

The second semi-final was in total contrast to the Germany-Brazil game. There was very little excitement in the game and very few goal attempts. Argentina's goalkeeper only had to make one save in 120 minutes. Argentina perhaps had the better chances, especially in the second half of extra time. Palacio failed to head over the Dutch goalkeeper and minutes later, Maxi Rodriquez mistimed his shot with only the 'keeper to beat. The game went to penalties. Argentina's goalkeeper Romero was the hero with two penalty saves, which put his team through to meet Germany in Sunday's final in Rio.