Sports Ladder (15th - 21st July)

UP - Germany - It seems like weeks ago that the World Cup came to an end but alas it was just last weekend that Germany claimed their first trophy as a unified state. They were hardly inspiring from start to finish but when it mattered they came up with the goods, stuffing Brazil in the semis before grinding out a narrow 1-0 victory in the final. It won't go down as a classic final but Goetze and co won't care one little bit.

UP - Rory McIlroy - It's been coming for a while. It may well have taken over a year for the Northern-Irishman to sort himself out, both on and off the course, but his marvelous display on the grass of the Royal Liverpool ensured he cements his position as one of the top golfers in the world. Rory led from day one after some scintillating golf and managed to conquer his phobia of Fridays which has consumed him throughout this year. Onwards and upwards for the new world number two.

UP - Nico Rosberg - The German Grand Prix had it all. Crashes on turn one, Hamilton storming through the field, collisions and overtakes left, right and occasionally centre. Yet the forgotten man from the weekend was the actual winner Nico Rosberg. The German, at his home Grand Prix, drove such a calm, cool and collected race that he barely made it onto our screens on Sunday. Now fourteen points ahead of Hamilton, Nico will be relishing this weekends Hungarian Grand Prix.

UP - Kylie Walker - In all the excitement of this weeks British Open a magnificent golfing record went very quietly under the radar on the Ladies Tour. Scotland's Kylie Walker made history this week with the lowest ever score after 54-holes of a tournament after she shot three consecutive 64s to end 24 under par going into the final round. Amazingly after a final round of 71 she needed a play-off to beat promising youngster Charley Hull but she did eventually prevail to win the German Open. Yes, Germany gets another mention.

UP - Takuya Eizumi - Okay, so if you have actually heard of this Japanese mixed martial arts fighter then award yourself a gold star because I certainly had not. To be honest, his sporting achievement wasn't even that impressive as he simply won a fight. But that isn't why he makes this weeks ladder. Clearly it is the absolutely stunning troll face that he pulls after the victory. I just don't understand how he has contorted his face in that position but would love to see this in other sports. Perhaps Rory should have tried this when he sunk his final putt on Sunday.

DOWN - Blackburn Rovers - So the football season is nearly back upon us (its only been away a week!), and domestic clubs have started to reappear on twitter. This week potentially the worst promotional video appeared from the murky depths of Blackburn depicting superfan Alan Birkbeck and his journey to get the new kit. Entitled 'Birdy's Date' the poor fan is seen dressing up appearing to go for a date before it emerges his only date is with a rather hideous new blue and white kit. Haven't Blackburn embarrassed themselves enough in recent years? To watch the video go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2692169/Blackburn-launch-new-home-strip-strangest-kit-advert-time.html.

DOWN - Katarina Johnson-Thompson - Britain's new athletics superstar will be absolutely devastated this week as she learned she could not compete in this years Commonwealth Games. The young heptathlete has leapt out of Jess Ennis-Hill's shadow as she set the best score of the year last month. She was heading into the Games as one of the favourites but a last minute foot injury has left her watching agonizingly from the sideline. Remember her name though. She will be the next big thing.

DOWN - Tiger Woods - There has been a lot of talk recently about who will replace Tiger Woods as the big name at the forefront of golf but Woods was determined to prove that he is not done just yet. Unfortunately he proved absolutely nothing as he barely made the cut at the British Open, eventually finishing 23 shots off Rory McIlroy's winning score. The veteran looked well off the pace and barely cracked a smile all weekend. Plenty of work is needed if he is to win another major.

DOWN - Felipe Massa - The poor Brazilian just cannot catch a break at the moment as, once again, he was wiped out of another Grand Prix before being able to complete a lap. Massa did not help himself by blaming Magnussen as it was a pretty obvious racing collision but nevertheless the Williams driver just seems to have run out of luck. With his team mate, Bottas, winning his third consecutive podium, Felipe will really be hoping to have a good weekend in Hungary. Or at least finish the first lap.

DOWN - Alastair Cook - Dear Alastair. On behalf of the Nation could we please ask you to resign as England cricket captain? Yours sincerely, every Englishman everywhere. That is all.

Dutch Courage or Krul Antics?

So there we have it. Holland's penalty shoot-out triumph over Costa Rica last night confirmed a star-studded semi-final against Argentina whilst in the other match hosts Brazil play Germany. Europe vs South America is the theme and we are in for an a couple of cracking matches. But it could have been completely different were it not for the mind-boggling decision of Louis Van Gaal to bring on substitute goalkeeper Tim Krul solely for the penalty shoot-out.

The rest is history. Krul dived the correct way for all five of the Costa Rican penalties, saving two and ultimately sending his team through to the semi-final, as well as ensuring the first Dutch penalty shoot-out success in five attempts. However, there were two consequential outcries following the game; 1) that Tim Krul's antics before each kick were unsporting and disgraceful and 2) that Louis Van Gaal is a tactical genius.

Let's start with the latter. So the incoming Manchester United manager is supposedly a tactical wizard. There can be little question that the introduction of Krul was a masterstroke. Clearly his height and preparation gave him an edge over Jasper Cillessen although his Premier League record of just two saves in twenty attempts leaves a lot to be desired. However, for me the real stroke of genius was the message it sent to Costa Rica. Van Gaal basically said, 'We've got this weapon on our bench. We're going to use it. What have you got?'. The simple answer was that they had nothing. Keylor Navas, unquestionably one of the goalkeepers of the tournament, failed to even get his fingertips on any of the four Dutch penalties whilst his Dutch counterpart did the business.

So undoubtedly Van Gaal made the correct decision in bringing on Krul and must be applauded for that. Yet it would be foolish to ignore the other 120 minutes where the Dutch failed to break down Costa Rica. In their defense neither did Italy or England but a team with Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder leading the line should realistically pick apart a Costa Rican side ranked 27th in the highly accurate and credible FIFA rankings. When you consider that Van Gaal also threw Huntelaar and Lens into the fray later in the game then questions have to be asked as to how outstanding the tactical nous of this man actually is. Surely a fully fledged tactical genius would have finished this quarter-final match in regulation time rather than having to rely on a penalty shoot-out to complete the job. So Van Gaal reacted to the situation well, but don't be too quick to hurl praise at him. We'll see if he deserves that praise if they're still around this time next week.

So what of Tim Krul. Well in my opinion the only crime he is guilty of is theft. His penalty heroics stole the headlines from another remarkable performance by Keylor Navas but it was his gamesmanship which received the most criticism during his brief stint on the pitch. The wily substitute ensured he patrolled the box as the Costa Rican players wandered from the half-way line, demonstrating his control of the box and sending a message that 'I'm in charge'. Then when they reached the penalty spot he walked right up and told them that he knew exactly where they were going, going right up to the faces of each individual player.

Now this is the part that garnered criticism and I ask you what he actually did wrong. As an ex-goalkeeper myself, (albeit for the third team in my college - a high standard indeed), I can only applaud the Newcastle man for getting inside the mind of the opponent. He told them where they would go and ultimately got all five right, even if he didn't save each and every penalty. But the main question is whether his behaviour was sporting. Is it fair to go towards the penalty taker and talk to them before they take it? Well I don't really see the harm. Players do it all the time around the pitch for free-kicks and just generally in open play so why when it happens in a penalty shoot-out did it receive such negative criticism. It's not like he committed a deliberate handball to prevent a last minute winner or bit someone (hint: a certain banned Uruguayan footballer). Also, its in the World Cup quarter-final. You want to do absolutely everything within the letter of the law to distract your opponent and as the referee did nothing about it then clearly it was within the confines of the law.

So I abhor you to reassess your praise and criticism and actually just have a think about last nights action. I am by no means saying I don't understand the argument behind Krul's criticism and Van Gaal's praise, I'm just saying perhaps a bit more thought and perspective ought to go into both circumstances. All of that said, a special mention to the much unfancied Costa Rica who did not actually lose a single game in normal time during this World Cup. Who had money on that before the tournament? Yeah I thought not.