^{Spearhead: Lionel Messi is in near-unstoppable form for Argentina}

Culture and education still play a part in the make-up of all 44 contestants
in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte. Each player is a product of his country’s
technical education. But it never made sense to think Europe’s duck in Latin
America World Cups would automatically go on waddling across Brazil. Aside
from wildly varying conditions – English winter in Porto Alegre, Amazonian
oven in Manaus – there is nothing in a Brazil World Cup to stop this
supremely intelligent German squad adapting to the demands, though the Nationalmannschaft
and Holland will both confront delirious home support.

Argentina’s followers turned Brasilia into Buenos Aires on Saturday. After the
victory they teemed into a local shopping centre and sang the roof off. They
are a legion pushing their team along. “This is amazing,” Messi said.
“Argentina have gone a long time without doing this, and it was us who
crossed the frontier.” They achieved it through Messi’s genius and by
finally waking up Gonzalo Higuain before a textbook Argentina defensive
siege saw them home with yet another 1-0 win.

“An ordinary side,” sniffed Marc Wilmots, Belgium’s coach, whose reversion to
a long-ball game and failure to inspire his side to turn pressure into goals
showed him to be a less gifted coach than he might think. Across the border,
Holland are managed by a hardened sage who is using this World Cup as a
personal showreel for his own tactical nous. Just about everything Van Gaal
has tried late in games has worked as Dutch unity and strength sets up a
rematch of the 1978 final in Buenos Aires, which Argentina won, and the
Marseille quarter-final of 1998, where Holland prevailed.

^{On top of his game: Louis van Gaal keeps transforming games with his
changes}

With sports science to the fore – Dutch ice vests are an example – this
tournament is a pseudo Champions League with flags in which the historic
South American advantage has levelled off. European television money (and
therefore player wages) has globalised the game to a point where the
overwhelming majority of the 44 players on show are part of one elite
culture.

Germany and Brazil, though, are the sides under most pressure. The pain would
nag for decades if this generation of German players were to end their
international careers without a trophy. Brazil face an even heftier weight.
Without Neymar for the rest of the tournament, and their suspended captain
Thiago Silva in Belo Horizonte, the hosts have lurched from excessive
emotionalism (crying, with relief) to the more belligerent stance we saw in
the Colombia game. This looks a smart change of emphasis by Scolari, the
coach, who is from gaucho country and knows Germany will not be washed away
by Brazilian tears.

History’s crutch for Scolari is that Brazil lost Pele in their second game in
1962 but still won their next four games. “I was out for the rest of the
tournament,” he says, “but God helped Brazil continue on to win the
championship.” The world football landscape is unrecognisable from 1962,
however, and a Brazilian weakness now is a shortage of the kind of ingenuity
they displayed from the 1950s through to the 1980s before European
pragmatism took hold. A German full-back, Philipp Lahm, is officially the
best passer of the tournament, not a shimmering Brazilian midfielder.

Along with Holland, Argentina have the best, or happiest bandwagon. They
conceal their weaknesses cleverly and Messi has the mark of destiny. But
they too have lost a star: Angel Di Maria, who limped out of the Belgium
game with an injured thigh. The Messi-Di Maria link has been Argentina’s
calling card. Holland could aim to flood the central midfield area where
Alejandro Sabella, Messi’s manager, sometimes leaves a glaring gap.

Any permutation from the four semi-finalists would offer a fitting climax on
Sunday at the Maracana, with a South American derby the most resonant, but
an all-European tie better illustrative of how the world game looks now.
Brazil is the setting, but globalising money is the context. But either way
the soul of South America will show itself in the final week of this
magnificent World Cup.