Germany is the winner of Brazil’s World Cup 2014. They did it in extra time (like many games in this World Cup) thanks to a goal scored by Mario Göetze in the 113rd minute. The German side broke the norm and for the first time in football history a European national team wins a World Cup organised in South America. In a highly demanding game Argentina saw their hopes vanishing when the match got closer to a penalty shoot out. In the end Germany gets their ‘fourth star’ after winning this 2014 World Cup...

Argentina will play another World Cup Final after a long time. They needed to get to extra time and then to the penalty shoot out to eventually beat the Dutch national team. From Tuesday Germany were awaiting them after thrashing Brazil in a game that won’t be forgotten...

Despite the equality of the tournament, the successive extensions, penalty shootout’s, the teams disclosure and feelings of the championship at the end are four of the most popular selections in the two semifinals of the World of Brazil '2014. Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Argentina. These are the pairings in the light of the results from the quarterfinals. Two South American and two European teams facing each other. The rest does not count, well beyond the set that a competition like this should always have. Now see, step-by-step, how this reality came about...

There is more to football than mathematics, and in particular arithmetic and statistics. But at this point there is, without doubt, an irrefutable fact – an obvious and undeniable sign of the closeness of the teams that we are seeing each day at Brasil '14. Five knockout ties required extra time, two of those required penalty shootouts, to decide the ultimate fate of who moves forward and who goes home from the finals of an entire World Cup championship. This, as I see it, adds another competitive aspect – emotion – to an already remarkable event. France, Germany, Argentina and Belgium, three of the four from Europe, the 'old continent',joined the winning teams from the first half of the draw –Brazil, Colombia, the Netherlands and Costa Rica – for a quarter-final line-up that will be balanced four-four between European and American sides. Let us analyse the events that unfolded as these eight sides went through in this World Cup forum...

Brazil, Colombia, Holland and Costa Rica are the first to be qualified for the quarter-final’s of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. In the middle of this round, we can already see that some of the arguments that we put forth in this forum are still effective. For example, Brazil is favorite to qualify for the next round of the World Cup in which they are the host’s, but this still leaves a feeling of insecurity that leads them to win in a fashion that highlights more problems than were expected. Also, the teams from the South American continent, even with the fall of Chile, Uruguay and Mexico, still have a presence imposed thanks to their capacity for adaptation that has always been the key in the competitions on that continent. Costa Rica is the greatest revelation so far and nobody forgets the runner-up of the last World Cup - Holland, which appears ready to be the thorn in the latest World Cup. We will talk now about the first two days of round of 16 of the World Championship of 2014...

As the group stages carried on, we witnessed more of the same and added some surprises as is always the way with these stages. If Spain and England were the first to be eliminated, Italy, Portugal and Russia, among others have also fallen victim. We continue to enjoy a World Cup willing to yield many surprises and continue throw up some interesting surprises and results. We move on to offer a more or less detailed analysis of the latest games in the group stages of the 2014 tournament...

We intend to show you the surprises, although there is less than in round one and give you an insight into why some teams are on there way back home and why football continues through it's unpredictability to be so appealing and World Cup 14 is no different...

I must say I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the games so far and the tournament is making a very good impression. Brazil, in Group A, remains favourite because of their win over Croatia. Despite their controversial penalty they were good value for the win and are the best team in this group. They have special quality in Oscar and Neymar but have quality throughout their team with offensive full backs who attack repeatedly. Second place could be between Mexico and Croatia who seem well matched. Mexico has advantage after their win over Cameroon despite two disallowed goals against a good but disorganised African team...

In 1950, around 200,000 spectators attended the legendary Maracanã Stadium to see Brasil v Uruguay, a duel which, as anyone who has a minimal relationship with football history knows, ended with a victory of the 'charrua' side by 2-1 making the entire Brazilian population fall into despair. Now, 64 years later, Brazil has the chance to get even and triumph again in the majestic scenery of the Maracana...