Brazil are out!! The World Cup is starting to heat up

The Quarter-Finals have been full of surprises, eliminating the idea that the South Americans were having a better World Cup than the Europeans.

Best Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas - He did everything asked of him including saving a penalty. When he made his only mistake of the game by mishandling Barrios' shot but he saved the rebound by Santa Cruz.

Best Defender: Joan Capdevilia - He was perfect from a defensive stand point and attacked fantastically. He used possession wisely and ran off the ball enthusiastically.

Best Midfielder: Bastien Schweinsteiger - This was a phenomenal performance, with his defensive abilities on show for everyone. On top of this he picked up a couple of assists and always looked assured on the ball.

Best Striker: Miroslav Klose - The World Cup veteren was at his best, with Inzaghi-esque movement and finishing to work two tap-ins. He knows where the best attacking positions are and took full advantage of his experience.

Best Match: Uruguay 1_(p) - 1 Ghana - This was a fun game with fantastic goals and contraversy galore. Uruguay felt they should have had a penalty in extra time courtesy of Pantsil but then in the last minute of extra time Ghana had a shot saved on the line by Suarez who was duly sent off. The ensuing penalty was missed by Gyan and Uruguay won the following shootout to go through to the Semi-Finals.

Worst Match: Paraguay 0 - 1 Spain - It is tactically interesting to watch opponents try to counter Spain's possession and talent but it was still the worst game to watch out of the four available.

Surprise Player: Arne Friedrich - Played much better than I thought he could and even capped his performance off with a goal. Played a big part in keeping Argentina to a clean sheet.

Best Manager: Jogi Löw - Showed why international football teams should choose a proper manager rather than a football legend. El Diego was clearly out of his depth and whilst the players seemed to want to play for him, the team was very unbalanced.

Team of the Round:

---------------------------- Casillas ---------------------------------

Veron----------Friedrich------------ J. Boateng ---------- Capdevilia

Müller---------Khedira-----------Schweinsteiger-------K.P. Boateng

------------------Forlan-----------------Klose-----------------------

Predictions

Golden Boot: David Villa (Unchanged) - David Villa's Golden Boot challenge is starting to wane as Spain just aren't scoring anywhere near enough goals. Torres has been awful and defenders are starting to concentrate more on Villa despite the fact that he is playing down the left meaning that he cannot get as open as usual. Forlan, Klose and Müller could quite feasibly overtake Villa to take the crown.

Player of the Tournament: Schweinsteiger (Previously Özil) - Schweinsteiger put in the performance of the tournament against Argentina overshadowing players such as Podolski, Özil and even Klose. If Forlan put's in a good performance against Holland, I think he will win the Golden Ball as he has led Uruguay on an unlikely charge towards the Semi Finals.

Winners: Spain (Unchanged) - This year's World Cup will be decided in the Semi Final between Spain and Germany. I think Spain will win but I would prefer Germany to win it.

Surprise Team: Netherlands (Previously Ghana) - I thought that Brazil were quite poor but the Netherlands have given themselves a fantastic opportunity to get to the final here as they are a more talented team than the Uruguayans and should have enough to see themselves through.

Overperformers: Paraguay (Previously Slovakia) - I think that many people had tipped Uruguay to go far in this tournament but no one thought that Paraguay would be here in the Quarter Finals and be so close to knocking Spain out of the competition. They missed a penalty and an easy chance at the death but gave a good account of themselves and should be proud.

Underperformers: Argentina (previously England) - Argentina were abysmal against Germany and never looked like they had a chance. At least England mounted a comeback of sorts and were foiled by the linesman but Argentina just looked out of their depth. They made an average German backline look very, very good.