Saturday July 3rd Quarter-finals Germany tear Argentina apart Germany 4 Argentina 0 (Cape Town) Germany demolished Argentina 4-0 to power into the semi-finals. Thomas Müller opened the scoring in the 3rd minute when he got a slight header to a Schweinsteiger free-kick to guide the ball past Romero in the Argentina goal, and in the 24th minute he squared the ball to Klose in the box who lofted it over the bar. With 10 minutes of the half remaining Higuain twisted and turned in the box but didn't trouble Neuer with his weak shot, and in the 68th minute Germany doubled their lead when Podolski delivered the ball on a plate for Klose to tap in. Schweinsteiger waltzed into the box like a hot knife through butter in the 76th minute before pulling the ball back for Friedrich to score his first international goal for Germany, and with a minute left Podolski crossed the ball onto the foot of Klose who side-footed it in for the fourth. Messi who was anonymous in this match found himself space just inside the box and tested Neuer with the last kick of the match as he and Argentina bade farewell to South Africa.

Friedrich gets on the score-sheet for Germany

Spain pip Paraguay at the post Spain 1 Paraguay 0 (Johannesburg) In a game of missed penalties and a disallowed goal Spain left it late to scrape past Paraguay. Xavi hit a delightful ball just over the bar in the 29th minute of an otherwise unattractive first half which also saw a Paraguay goal by Valdez disallowed for offside, but second half produced more excitement and talking points. Paraguay were awarded a penalty for pulling by Pique in the 57th minute but Casillas saved Cardozo's poor spot kick and a minute later the referee pointed to the spot for a foul at the other end from which Xabi Alonso scored but saw his retaken penalty saved and scrambled away. Iniesta had his curling shot from the inside left of the box parried by Villar in the 63rd minute but with 7 minutes remaining he played the ball to Pedro who slid it past the keeper and off the post for David Villa to knock in off both posts. Paraguay came close in the last minute when Santana broke through and Casillas failed to hold onto his shot, but the Spanish keeper was quick to block the follow-up from Santa Cruz and in the 90th minute Spain counter-attacked resulting in Villar saving from David Villa.

Villar keeps out Spanish penalty

Go to World Cup 2010 index