As the final quarter-final matches were played today I started to think about the four countries that are left in the World Cup.

I will start with a World map that shows where the visitors to my blog come from. I have had visits from 158 countries.

I have been to each of the four countries that are still playing in the World Cup.

The four teams left in the World Cup are Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Netherlands.

Two of the teams are from South America and the other two are from Europe.

What I found even more interesting is that the countries on each continent shared borders with each other.

I will start with Germany as it the country that I have visited the most and also has the most visits to my blog of the four semi-finalists. The other countries will be covered in the order of blog visits.

The company that I work for is based in Germany and I have been to our headquarters there many times in the past. There are quite a few Germans who work in our office here in California. You can imagine the atmosphere when the USA played Germany in the World Cup.

I also have German ancestry through several branches of my family.

Here we see the Netherlands and see that they share a long border with Germany.

I have only been in the Netherlands once. Many years ago I taught a course near Amsterdam. I had been teaching a course in Germany so arrived by train and then flew out of the Schiphol Airport.

Amsterdam was an interesting city and I hope to go back someday for another visit. I would also like to see more of the country.

I also have Dutch ancestry. My Grandmother had a Dutch surname, but the family has been in the Americas since the 1630’s in New Amsterdam.

I have been to Brazil only once. Again, it was to present a training course.

I was in Sao Paulo for two weeks with a Saturday visit to the beach at Santos.

While I was in Brazil it was interesting to see how football affected the people there. I was there during several big matches and the streets would literally clear as everyone found a TV to watch the match.

You can read a bit more about my trip to Brazil in my post: Brazil Memories

Finally, we come to Argentina. You can see that it shares a short border with Brazil.

I have been to Argentina twice, once for work and once on vacation. It is the only one of the four countries that I have visited on vacation unless you count passing through the airport in Germany on my vacation to Turkey.

One of the things that I remember most from my first trip to Buenos Aires is the food. We had some of the best beef dishes that I have had while traveling. Of course they weren’t better than Nebraska beef 🙂

My sister and I went on an Antarctic cruise that also included visits to three ports in Argentina.

You can see a few pictures of Argentina in my post: Once in a Blue Moon…

So, who will win the World Cup?

Will it be an all South American or European final?

My personal favorite is the Netherlands. I would like to see them win it all, but I have a feeling that Brazil will be the champion of the World Cup.

Steven