Lionel Messi came into the World Cup with the expectation that he would light up the tournament, but the Barcelona superstar leaves empty-handed and without a goal.
It is not something the world footballer of the year and Argentina’s talisman is used to.

History repeated itself as Germany dumped Argentina at the quarterfinal stage of the World Cup for the second edition in succession, here on Saturday.
Cheered on by their ever-smiling chancellor Angela Merkel, Joachim Loew’s young team demolished a clueless Argentina by a massive 4-0 margin.

Injured German captain Michael Ballack predicted on Friday that Germany would beat Argentina 3-1 in Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final.
The 33-year-old midfielder, who was ruled out of the finals after injuring his right ankle in the FA Cup final in May, told Bild that he had no advice to give to the predominantly young side that has produced some electrifying football twice scoring four goals.

Germany coach Joachim Loew on Friday cooled down an escalating war of words with Argentina, saying his team respected their World Cup quarterfinal opponents.
Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger launched a tirade against the South Americans as he recalled the 2006 quarterfinal between the two teams, which ended in an u

Asia’s World Cup may be over with Japan’s agonising elimination in a penalty shoot-out, but the Asian Football Confederation teams did enough to reaffirm the region’s growing stature.

The win over Portugal was enough to put Spain into a last eight showdown against Paraguay on Saturday. Whoever gets through that match has either Argentina or Germany awaiting them in the semifinals.

Red-hot David Villa scored his fourth goal of the World Cup to fire European champions Spain past Iberian arch-rivals Portugal 1-0 on Tuesday and into quarterfinal clash against Paraguay.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque takes no pleasure in avoiding Brazil in the World Cup second round, with Iberian rivals Portugal an equally tough hurdle for the European champions on Tuesday.

The saliva is already pooling on the floor in Cape Town as mouths water ahead of the first ever World Cup match between neighbours Spain and Portugal, who meet on Tuesday evening in the final Round of 16 match.

The Netherlands reaffirmed their status as one of the World Cup favourites on Thursday by beating Cameroon 2-1 to set up a knockout round clash with Slovakia.
Bert van Marwijk’s team only needed a point to secure top spot in Group E but took all three with goals from Robin van Persie and substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar cancelling out a Samuel Eto’o penalty.