World Cup 2014: Lawro's predictions - semi-finals

BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson is predicting the outcome of every game at the 2014 Fifa World Cup.

Lawro chose the correct winner in three of the four quarter-finals, wrongly backing Belgium to knock out Argentina, who were his pre-tournament pick to win the final on 13 July.

He picked the correct winner in each of the eight last-16 ties and enjoyed a 50% success record in the group stage, correctly guessing the outcome of 24 of the 48 games.

The only group he failed to get a single correct result in was Group D, which was surprisingly won by Costa Rica as England finished bottom.

Before the tournament, Lawro chose 11 out of the 16 teams that went through to the first knockout stage.

Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.

LAWRO'S SEMI-FINAL PREDICTIONS

Games	Score	Lawro's prediction
Tuesday, 8 July
Brazil v Germany	x-x	1-0
Saturday, 5 July
Netherlands v Argentina	x-x	1-2

Tuesday, 8 July

Brazil v Germany (21:00 BST)

I initially thought Brazil were in big trouble once we found out that Neymar's injury had ruled him out of the tournament, to go with Thiago Silva's suspension for this game.

But now I have got a funny feeling that Brazil might win, partly because I think the whole nation no longer expects them to.

I think the players who come in for that duo will have a point to prove and Neymar was very, very quiet in the quarter-final against Colombia anyway.

Home advantage will again count for them and remember Germany have not looked that convincing either.

Why the World Cup is still wide open
I have been saying since the knockout rounds began that this World Cup is wide open and it still is.
You only had to watch the quarter-finals to see that there is still not an outstanding team - Germany and Argentina won because France and Belgium petered out and the Dutch were far from free-flowing against Costa Rica.
The best performance was Brazil's first half against Colombia, when they went for it. At half-time I was thinking they can win the World Cup.
By the end of the game, and with Neymar injured and Thiago Silva suspended, I was thinking they might not.

Germany did look better at the back against France but they did not create many chances. In midfield Toni Kroos has been quiet and Mesut Ozil has been extremely average.

I understand why they are trying to play in Thomas Muller all the time, because he looks the real deal, but it does not always work for them.

Germany are in the semi-final without having played a team of real quality yet, because the French were so disappointingly flat in their last-eight match and I do not think Brazil will look at them and think they are the team to beat.

The Germans know that as well - they are not a great team, but are very functional. That has got them this far but it will not get them to the World Cup final.

Lawro's prediction: 1-0

Wednesday, 9 July

Netherlands v Argentina (21:00 BST)

Belgium manager Marc Wilmots called Argentina "ordinary" after his side were beaten in their quarter-final, and I think he was right.

I understand why Wilmots was so disappointed, because Argentina did not do a lot in that game, other than score a very good goal and hit the bar. Apart from that, there was no real threat.

But the Dutch still have the brilliance of Lionel Messi to contend with and maybe the Netherlands' schedule is catching up with them, because they looked very leggy against Costa Rica.

A World Cup to remember?
I had hoped the quality of the knockout games had been a little better. We have had drama at the end of quite a few of them - including the Dutch beating Costa Rica on penalties after substituting their goalkeeper, which I thought was a really smart move - but we have not had a really open end-to-end match yet.
Yes, teams tighten up when they get further into a tournament but I also think that, defensively, they all know they are not great. So the mindset is 'let's not take any risks' rather than 'let's really go for it'.
The games are not going to get any better because of the fear of failing now. When you get to this stage, teams think they can nick a win and get through to the final, which is all that counts now, not playing well.

Messi has been so instrumental in every game so far and they will look to him to do it again, but he cannot do it all on his own. When Diego Maradona dragged Argentina to their last World Cup final in 1990, the rest of that team were average by the standards of the day, but they are still better than this team.

Even so, I see Argentina getting through. Part of their problem has been up front, with Sergio Aguero injured, but Gonzalo Higuain ended his wait for a goal against Belgium and Rodrigo Palacio has been effective when he has come on.

Playing in a World Cup final at the Maracana is a massive incentive for them, and they will have huge support again to help them in Sao Paulo.

Lawro's prediction: 1-2

LAWRO'S QUARTER-FINAL PREDICTIONS

Games	Score	Lawro's prediction
Friday, 4 July
France v Germany	0-1	0-2
Brazil v Colombia	2-1	2-0
Saturday, 5 July
Argentina v Belgium	1-0	0-2
Netherlands v Costa Rica	0-0 (4-3 pens)	2-0

LAWRO'S LAST 16 PREDICTIONS

Games	Score	Lawro's prediction
* Belgium to win on penalties
Saturday, 28 June
Brazil v Chile	1-1 (3-2 pens)	2-0
Colombia v Uruguay	2-0	2-1
Sunday, 29 June
Netherlands v Mexico	2-1	1-0
Costa Rica v Greece	1-1 (5-3 pens)	2-0
Monday, 30 June
France v Nigeria	2-0	2-1
Germany v Algeria	2-1 (aet)	2-0
Tuesday, 1 July
Argentina v Switzerland	1-0 (aet)	2-0
Belgium v United States	2-1 (aet)	1-1*

Source : bbc[dot]com