The time has come to celebrate the great match-ups of the World Cup - it's the stuff of dreams. Comment by George Dearnaley.

Truth be told, the only real ‘fantasy’ game (on paper) of the group stages was Portugal v Brazil. Sadly, that game never lived up to any expectations, unless your expectations were for a goalless slug-fest and a plethora of yellow cards.

Bring on knockout football to add a little something extra to any match. Sure, you can choose to sit back and be cagey, but unless your tactic is to try and win the penalty shootout, at some stage you’re going to have to commit players forward and either take the lead or get the equalizer. All of which allows the opposition the opportunity to break out and counter-attack.

‘We’ll fight them in the trenches’

The first ‘fantasy’ knockout match was England v Germany, for all the obvious reasons (don’t mention the war). The game itself was a goal-fest, but there was also so much else to observe: modern tactics versus an outdated formation; young fresh players versus older, tired players lacking confidence; everyone forward in attack versus sit-and-catch-them-on-the -counter. Throw in the odd-disallowed goal, and you have pretty much everything you need to make a great match.

African stars shine bright

Ghana v USA match was another great match. When the US equalized I thought Ghana’s ticket was up, but their never-say-die attitude, the exuberance of youth, and the sublime finish from Gyan in extra-time made it a special night for Africa.

All the other matches have pretty much gone according to plan, with the Dutch and Brazilians cruising through, although Chile put up a decent fight for the first half hour before 2 quick goals killed them off.

Argentina demolished Mexico, although they had to fight for it, and get some help from a dozy linesman.

So now we look towards the Iberian clash in Cape Town: the Spain vs Portugal game throws up all the ingredients for a classic (kiss of death!), but I’m already looking ahead at the quarter finals…

Dream match-ups

Brazil vs Holland in PE! Germany vs Argentina in Cape Town! You can’t make this stuff up!

And, okay, so Ghana vs Uruguay might not exactly set the world on fire theoretically, but Africa’s only hope adds enough spice to the match to make this the ‘must go and watch’ match of the round.

Spain/Portugal vs Japan… the rise of Japanese football has been tremendous, and they play the game the purist’s way, on the ground, into feet, running off the ball, defending as a team – what more could you want! Unless of course they get beaten by Paraguay!

The good news is that there are apparently some tickets for these matches floating around. Ask at your nearest FNB or get on to the FIFA website. Ayoba! It has to be worth it.

George Dearnaley played for Bafana in1992/93 and was top goal scorer in SA in 1992. He is loving the WorldCupbut hates players who fake being injured to get other players sent off.He also thinks half the referees are rubbish. His money is on Argentina!

George Dearnaley will be writing exclusively for Sport24 for the duration of the Soccer World Cup.

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