UEFA 3 CONMEBOL 0

So much for the draw! The most one-sided Quarter-Final since the new format started in 1986 saw an extremely solid win for Germany 4-0 over Argentina. After all the talk of South American domination, no European team has lost to a non-European team in the knock-out stage, and are again on course to fill three of the semi-final places as per usual, comprising the top three in the betting as well. And the other quarter of the draw had no European team in it.

As I wrote before the World Cup started, Argentina looked too short, and Netherlands looked the best value. With the lay of Argentina now in the bag, and the Netherlands at 10.0 looking good, down to 3.35, the month is off to an excellent start.

As an Englishman, I'm a little confused about who I want the eventual winner to be. I don't particularly want to see a first-time winner and have the 'importance' of England's place as a former winner diluted, but that leaves just Uruguay and Germany.

Nothing against Uruguay, 1954 was before my time, but as a European I suppose it has to be Germany, but I'm English, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all if the Netherlands won it after all. They were a little unlucky in the 70s, losing twice in the final, both times to the host nation.

So we should see a repeat of the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain next week. Spain's price v Paraguay has come in to 1.46 as I write this, and the 1.53 is looking even better.