Thank god it`s friday! Thank god it`s summertime! Shinybull will take a break and enjoy the summer, and this summer will be awesome. There is only 8 teams left in the World Cup, and later today half of them will fight. First out is Germany against France. Later today we will see Brasil against Colombia.
The quarter-final in Fortaleza between Brazil and Colombia is more like a match between Brazil`s Neymar, who has driven Brazil forward with four goals, and Colombia`s biggest star and goal-getter Rodriguez.
I will miss two big players from both teams. Colombia have cruised to the quarter-finals despite the heartbraking loss of Radamel Falcao. One of Brazil`s biggest hero Luiz Gustavo leaves a hole in the quarter-final against Colombia today as he have two yellow cards.
During four games, Gustavo ran more than a marathon. He ran 46,1 km and 6km more than Nymar. More surprisingly; Gustavo ran 16,3 km with the ball at his feet. He also recovered the ball 34 times, and that is the fourth highest total in the World Cup so far.
It is easy to understand why Brazil`s coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and the Brazilians are fretting so much about how to replace him. Scolari have an idea of bringing in Maicon for Dani Alves to make the team`s right side more robust. The playmaker James Rodriguez will need attention while Brazil will have to handle Colombia`s taste for exploring the flanks, something even more tempting when up against Brazil`s full-backs. Scolari consider to switch to a 3-5-2 formation.
Colombia have won just two of their 25 previous games against Brazil and have never defeated them on Brazilian soil. Brazil are unbeaten in 41 successive home matches. James Rodriguez has scored in each of his last six appearances for Colombia. It`s all set up for a great match today.
What will the trading activity be today as we have two big soccer matches on the screen, in addition to a BBQ party and celebrating 4th of July? The story starts in 1775 as people in New England started their fight against the British for their independence.
Then on July 2, 1776, the Congress secretly started its voting for independence from Britain. After that on July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was published. But on July 8, 1776 the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence was done. Declaration of Independence was then signed on August 2, 1776.
The first Independence Day was celebrated with parade show, games, guns fires, bells, bonfires throughout the United States. By that time, till 1791 the term Independence Day was not used. But it`s more to come.
Tour de France starts tomorrow, and I really look forward to the next three-weeks with Tour de France on the screen. The big question is; Will Team Sky win for the third time in a row? Last time the winner was Chris Froom. In 2012, the winner was the British Bradley Wiggins. Both from team Sky.
Alberto Contador seems to be in good shape, and we will probably see some wildcards we didn`t think about. It all begins tomorrow with a road stage from Leeds to Harrogate, while the peleton remains in Yorkshire the following day with a stage from York to Sheffield.
The third and final British leg of the 2014 Tour will be between Cambridge and London on July 7, before the riders proceeds to France via Eurostar. Defending champion Chris Froome will start along with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). However there is no place for Team Sky`s 2012 race winner Bradley Wiggins.
Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Marcel Kittel (Argos Shimano) and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quickstep), are expected to fight it out for the green points jersey. I expect Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) to be an outsider. Alexander`s stepfather got him interested in cycling rather than soccer. Wow! It`s headed for a great summer!
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Ket Garden
Shiny bull 