As a Brazil backer, I'm happy to retain Fred. Dante may not be Silva but he holds down a place at Bayern so he should know how to handle the German forwards. I'm hoping that the only other change in personnel from the Colombia match will be the return of Gustavo in place of Neymar, allowing Oscar to stay up field and giving more cover when the fullbacks bomb on. Willian can come on after an hour or so, either for Oscar or Paulinho depending on the match situation. Germany have had an easy run through and, while I was confident that they would take care of France, I'm not convinced that they're up to beating the hosts.
If they had a fully fit Aguero and Di Maria, Argentina would be a confident selection. As it is, Di Maria is out and it looks like they may be tempted to play a half fit Aguero in his place. I've said all along that Higuain and Aguero like to occupy the same space and I much prefer Aguero but after his goal against Belgium, Higuain's confidence will be high and I'd be inclined to start with Aguero on the bench to come on later if necessary. Argentina's defence has improved as the competition has gone on, protecting what looks to be a slightly dodgy goalie, and that has been mainly due to my player of the tournament so far, Mascherano, who has been superb sweeping up across the front of the back four. The Netherlands are dangerous on the break but it seems unlikely that Argentina will over-commit and a low scoring match looks inevitable unless there's an early goal. Argentina to shade it for me.
