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Log on to this page after each round of games for the lowdown on how each team fared. He’s harsh, but fair and you won’t find anything quite like it elsewhere. Enjoy our Chairman’s pithy post match analysis of the overpaid heroes and goats that make up the “Happy Band” of the EPL. If you're in the prawn sandwich and skim latte club, or part of the "Dippy Darling" brigade this column is not for you!!

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World Cup 2nd Round.... World Cup 1st Round Pt 3.... World Cup 1st Round Pt 2.... World Cup 1st Round Pt 1.... Round Thirty-Seven

World Cup Diary Part Five

Quarter Finals

The Netherlands come from behind to eliminate Brazil. It was largely one-way traffic in the early stages of the game as the Brazilians over-ran the Dutch and they took a deserved lead after only ten minutes. Felipe Melo was able to receive a ball out of defence in the middle of the park and, under no pressure whatsoever, simply threaded a ball through the middle that Robinho ran onto to beat Maarten Stekelenburg with the Dutch defence nowhere. Stekelenburg kept his side in the game during the first half, doing well to palm away a curling Kaka effort and also needing to be sharp to turn round a trademark Maicon stinger at his near post. Having backed the Dutch at the start of the tournament, I was very close to tearing up my betting slip during the interval but Holland regrouped and came out for the second half determined not to go out with a whimper. They perhaps needed a bit of fortune and got it when a Julio Cesar howler ten minutes in allowed them back in the game. Wesley Sneijder whipped in a cross from the right and the keeper missed the line of the ball completely when coming to punch, the ball glancing into the net off the unfortunate Melo, instead. With ten minutes left, more poor Brazilian defending saw the Dutch take the lead. The Stakhanovite Dirk Kuyt managed to dart in front of Luis Fabiano to flick Arjen Robben's corner across the face of the goal and Sneijder, unmarked, nodded the ball into the corner of the net. Melo then capped an eventful performance by getting sent off for a ridiculous stamp on a prone Robben and Brazil's chance was gone.

Controversy at Soccer City as a late Luis Suarez handball helps Uruguay defeat Ghana on penalties. Sulley Muntari put the Black Stars ahead on the stroke of half time, blasting in a low effort from forty yards that somehow eluded Fernando Muslera. It had been a fairly fractured first-half, with numerous half-chances for either side, but the goal ensured the second period was a more open affair. La Celeste pushed hard at the start of the second half and were rewarded on fifty-five minutes when Diego Forlan fired in a dipping, swerving free-kick that gave Richard Kingson absolutely no chance. The Africans, led by the dangerous Asamoah Gyan, had several good opportunities to reestablish their lead, only to frequently misplace the final ball, whilst Suarez had two chances for the South Americans but was able to convert neither. All square after ninety minutes, the game went to extra time and as the minutes ticked by, it was clearly Ghana finishing the stronger. Right at the death, Steven Appiah was denied by a Suarez block on the line, the ball wasn't cleared and when Dominic Adiyiah fired in a second effort, the Uruguayan instinctively put out his hands to prevent in going in. Gyan, with two penalties already to his credit this World Cup, stepped up to take the kick but saw his effort clip the top of the bar and go over and the referee blew for time shortly after. Gyan did make some amends when converting his spot kick during the shoot-out but, with Adiyiah and John Mensah seeing their efforts saved by Muslera, it was left to Sebastian Abreu to showcase his balls of steel and brazenly chip in the deciding penalty. Tough on Ghana and we've no doubt not heard the last of the fall-out but Uruguay reach the last four for the first time in forty years.

Argentina become the latest side to be put to the sword by Germany, who storm into the last four on the back of another hugely impressive performance. The Germans were ahead as early as the third minute, with Thomas Mueller stealing in ahead of a flat-footed Argentine defence to glance a header from Bastian Schweinsteiger's free-kick and should have been two up inside the first twenty minutes, only for Miroslav Klose to fire over after being set up by Mueller. As half-time approached, Argentina attempted to wrest control and for the first twenty minutes of the second half they enjoyed plenty of possession, though simply couldn't get close enough to the German goal to create any serious chances. The Mannschaft have proved to be devastating on the counter attack and, helped by more cumbersome Argentine defending, they were soon at it again. Mueller, though grounded, was able to hook the ball on into the box for Lucas Podolski, who in turn held his pass until Klose had found room for himself to be able to tap the ball in. The Abiceleste were now pretty-much out for the count and with quarter of an hour left, Schweinsteiger embarked on a jinking run in from the left that took him past three men to the byline and when he pulled the ball back, Arne Friedrich was on hand to bundle the ball into the net. The cake was iced with a minute remaining, as another rapid raid ended with Mesut Oezil dinking over an inch-perfect cross that was met with a controlled volley from Klose that brought the striker level in the all-time World Cup goalscorers' standings with the legendary Gerd Mueller. All in all, a very satisfactory day at the office for Joachim Loew's side.

Spain ride their luck against Paraguay to stagger into a semi-final confrontation with Germany. Confounding the pundits, it was the Paraguayans who started the stronger, closing the Spanish down quickly high up the pitch and looking the more dangerous in front of goal. Iker Casillas was called into action in the first minute, though Jonathan Santana failed to really catch hold of the ball when he could have done better. The same could be said of Nelson Valdez, who failed to hit the target after losing Carles Puyol with ease. Valdez did have the ball in the net shortly before the break, only to see the linesman's flag raised against team-mate Oscar Cardozo and his goal harshly ruled out. The Spanish improved in the second half as their opponents started to tire but Paraguay were given the perfect chance to open the scoring after Gerard Pique had embarked on an extraordinary bout of wrestling to prevent Cardozo getting to a corner. The striker took the kick himself but found Casillas willing to stare him down and could only deliver a mid-height attempt to the keeper's left that he had no trouble holding. Within a minute, Spain were given a penalty at the other end, after David Villa went down under a challenge from Antolin Alcaraz, depressingly but inevitably triggering the usual busy flurry of Spaniards flourishing imaginary red cards. Their demands, happily, were ignored by referee Carlos Batresa and Xabi Alonso despatched the penalty with little fuss. However, the ref had spotted Spanish encroachment, ordered a retake and Justo Villar kept out Alonso's low second effort before appearing to foul Cesc Fabregas in the subsequent scramble, as Paulo da Silva cleared Sergio Ramos's follow-up effort off the line. Spain finally got the breakthrough with just eight minutes left on the clock. Andres Iniesta, helped by an Alacaraz slip, set off on a weaving run before squaring to substitute Pedro. His effort cracked back off the post but fell to the ultra-reliable Villa, who took a touch to get the ball out of his feet before curling in an effort that hit both posts before crossing the line. There was still just time enough for the Guarani to almost force the game into extra time, only for Roque Santa Cruz to drive his effort straight at Casillas after the keeper had spilled Lucas Barrios's low attempt. It's the Spanish, then, who are next up in trying to stop the Germans.

Semi Finals

The Netherlands reach their first final in thirty-two years after edging out Uruguay. The game started cagily, with neither side looking particularly interested in taking any chances, before Giovanni van Bronkhorst fair spanked a screamer into the top corner from all of thirty five yards to give his side an eighteenth-minute lead. The South Americans initially failed to react but the Dutch dropped deeper as the half progressed. Diego Forlan was ultimately given far too much time and space in which to smash in an effort, that the flumoxed Maarten Stekelenburg could only help into the net, and brought Uruguay level four minutes before the break. La Celeste threatened again early in the second half, forcing van Bronkhorst to head Alvaro Pereira's effort off the line after Stekelenburg had stranded himself out of the area. With twenty minutes left, however, it was Oranje who made a fortunate breakthrough, as Wesley Sneijder's shot deflected in off Maxi Pereira and the post with the offside and oblivious Robin van Persie luckily unable to get a touch as the ball flashed past him. Three minutes later and Holland were two goals up, with Arjen Robben outjumping Diego Godin to produce a centre-forward's header from Dirk Kuyt's cross and seemingly put his side in the final. The Uruguayans, staring at elimination, finally threw caution to the wind in the game's closing stages and pulled a goal back through Maxi Pereira in extra time; the full-back turning substitute Eljero Elia before finding the bottom corner with a controlled finish. There wasn't enough time left on the referee's watch for Oscar Tabarez's side to scale a full-on comeback, though, and the Dutch weathered the last few shaky minutes to progress. Will it be third time lucky for Bert van Warwijk's men, or does heartbreak await them once more in Johannesburg?

Spain finally start to look something like the side that won the European Championships as they post a comfortable, if narrow, win against Germany. The Germans again sat deep but found the Spanish far less eager to offer opportunities on the break than either the English or Argentines had in previous rounds. Spain's approach of playing keep ball can be easy on the eye but all-too often leads to stultifyingly dull matches if their opponents sit deep and most of the game limped by with neither side creating much in the way of chances. When Vincente del Bosque's side did up the tempo, however, they looked threatening but so in turn did Yogi Loew's team, whenever they were able to get hold of the ball. The ennui was finally broken with a quarter of an hour left, as Carles Puyol steamed in onto Xavi Hernandez's corner and thumped a powerful header past Marcel Neuer. Once in front, it's hard to get the ball off this side and, inevitably, the game ran out with a desperate Germany unable to exert any concentrated pressure on Iker Casillas's goal. Irrespective of Sunday's result, then, the World Cup will see a new winner this year, which has to be welcomed. I'm not, in all honesty, expecting a feast of football but would be chuffed were I pleasantly surprised.

3rd/4th Place Play-Off

Germany beat Uruguay to take the bronze medal. In an entertaining game, the Germans capped their early dominance with a goal from restored-again Thomas Mueller, after Fernando Muslera mis-read the movement of the ball from Bastian Schweinsteiger's drive from distance. No damp squib this, the Mannschaft could already have been down to ten men at that stage, after Dannis Aogo's awful challenge on Diego Perez and the Uruguayans were happy to snap into tackles themselves. It was Perez who disposessed Schweinsteiger with a sliding tackle on the half-way line just before the half-hour, before feeding Diego Forlan. The striker found Edinson Canavi on the overlap down the left and he in turn found the bottom corner past Hans Joerg Butt. The South Americans were now in the ascendant and went ahead five minutes after the break, when Egidio Arevalo refused to give up on a ball down the right and his cross was volleyed into the ground and past Butt by Forlan. La Celeste's lead didn't last long. Five minutes later, Muslera was at fault again when he missed Jerome Boateng's cross and allowed Marcel Jansen to head home. The momentum had shifted once more, now it was Germany back on top and Sami Khedira headed what proved to be the winner with eight minutes left after the Uruguayans had failed to deal with Mesut Oezil's corner.

Final

Spain are the new world champions after edging past the Netherlands in a gripping, if not classic, final. The Dutch came out with a rugged approach to try and disrupt the Spaniards' passing game. With the Spanish players milking challenges for all they were worth, the start of the match saw yellow cards, both imaginary and real, waved with gusto by both referee Howard Webb and most of Vincente del Bosque's eleven. Maarten Stekelenburg did well to keep out a flashing Sergio Ramos header within the first five minutes but, aside from a fairly regulation save by Iker Casillas from a low Arjen Robben effort, chances were thin on the ground and only the free-kick count continued to rise. Both Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong had their hands full in containing the canny and simulation-prone midfield of their opponents and both could be quite thankful to make it through to half time; de Jong's drop-kick on Xabi Alonso, in particular, a potential straight red card offence. The second half started in much the same vein as the first but Robben was given a glorious chance to put his side ahead when Wesley Sneijder found him galloping into space. Bearing down on Casillas, the winger put the keeper the wrong way but saw his effort clip Casillas's boot and spin agonisingly wide. Ramos then put a free header over the bar at the other end when he should have done better, before Webb made the first of a series of contentious calls that would ultimately infuriate the Dutch. Robben was put through on goal once more and Carles Puyol, struggling with the Dutchman's pace throughout and already on a yellow card, put an arm across him that put him off his stride. Perhaps remarkably, given both his record and the general tenor of the game, Robben stayed on his feet but the chance was gone, the ball bobbled through to Casillas and all the Bayern Munich man got for his troubles was a yellow card for protesting the decision not to give the free kick. Shortly afterward, substitute Cesc Fabregas could have won it for his side, only for Stekelenburg to produce an excellent save with his feet to deny him and the game went to extra time. It was the Spanish who started to look the more threatening during the extra period and Bert van Marwijk took the defensive decision to replace the tiring Giovanni van Bronkhorst with Edson Braafheid, rather than hook the, again, woeful and ineffective Robin van Persie for a striker with a cursory understanding of the offside law or a general awareness of where to locate the penalty area. Spain gratefully accepted the invitation to push on. David Villa, who'd earlier been denied by a last-ditch Johnny Heitinga block after the defender had initially made a complete cods of a routine clearance, was replaced by Fernando Torres, only for the substitute to break down with another injury at the death. By that time, their opponents had already been reduced to ten men, with Heitinga receiving a second yellow for pulling down the equilibrially-challenged Andres Iniesta on the edge of the area, and the Spaniard had already put his side ahead. More Dutch grumbling, as a Sneijder free-kick had clearly clipped the Spanish wall on its way past the post, only for the officials to award a goal kick. The ball was sped upfield, Fabregas slipped a ball inside to Iniesta, being played onside by Rafael van der Vaart in the absence of Heitinga, and the little midfielder bombed an effort into the far corner beyond the helpless Stekelenburg. Iberian thespianism, then, wins out over Lowlander thuggery and I'm not sure which result is or would have been "better for football" and, frankly, could care less. It's a new name on the cup and we'll do this all again in another four years.