Onward to the Semi-finals

Nestor Lorenzo battles Jurgen Klinsman in the

Italia 90 World Cup final ©Jon van Woerden

My good friend Mick Finn and I enjoyed watching the Netherlands advance to the semi-finals in a historic win over Brazil. Mick who had just recently returned to Atlanta with his wife Cindy after living in Den Hague is a devout fan of Oranje. Now comes tomorrows Argentina vs Germany match, which could become one of the classic meetings of this tournament, unlike their dreadful meeting in the Italia 90 final, that Germany won on a penalty kick in a game marred by two Argentine red card expulsions. The winner of this quarter final match-up may well be the Netherlands opponent in the final of South Africa 2010, provided both prevail in there semi final match-ups.

Today we are also reminded of one of soccer's tragic moments, as it is 16 years since Andrés Escobar was murdered in Columbia in retaliation for his inadvertent own goal in the 1994 World Cup game against the US which Columbia lost, contributing to their elimination from the tournament. It was in the quarter finals of these games that Brazil defeated the Netherlands 3:2 in Dallas on July 9th. and continued on to win in the final against Italy.

R.I.P Andrés Escobar

Photo ©Jon van Woerden