With the finish line in sight, we made our way to Belo Horizonte on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s oepning semi final, Brazil vs Germany. The hosts were without the injured Neymar and suspended Thiago Silva and faced a tough ask to beat the efficient Germans.

Before the match the atmosphere was once again electric with the Brazil fans optimistic their team could progress to the final in Rio despite missing arguably their two best players. Stand in captain David Luiz showed his support for Neymar by holding his shirt as the national anthems were sung.

With priority given to the Brazilian and German photographers, I was left with a position down the side of the pitch – not ideal and to add insult to injury, Germany put in a sensational first half performance to lead 5-0 at half time – all goals scored at the other end. Without Neymar Brazil looked short of ideas in attack with Fred and Hulk both looking out of place, and Scolari looked fairly perplexed at the entire situation. The atmosphere worsened as each goal went in and bar the section of Germany fans in the top tier, the stadium was silent until half time when boos rang out from the home support.

With the match as a contest now dead, the second half lacked the intensity you’d expect from a World Cup semi final. The Germans continued to create chances and added another two goals from Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle before eventually the Brazilians grabbed a very small consolation through Oscar.

After the match the German supporters were kept behind and for about 30 minutes they didn’t stop singing, whilst the Brazilian supporters filtered out rather quickly as they tried to forget what had just happened. A few stayed behind and struggled to comprehend what they’d just seen – myself too not really appreciating that everyone at the stadium had just witnessed history being made – the highest scoring World Cup semi final, the hosts humiliated in their own backyard.

After finishing up it was time to head back to the hotel where we managed to get 4 hours sleep before heading to the airport once more, this time bound for Sao Paulo and the second semi final, Netherlands vs Argentina.

The longer their side have stayed in the tournament, it seems the more Argentinians have made the trip up to Brazil to possibly witness a fourth World Cup triumph. They considerably outnumbered their Dutch counterparts and were the louder of the two and took great pleasure in reminding everyone of the previous night’s scoreline.

It was the first opportunity I’d got to shoot the Argentinians so was looking forward to getting some stuff on their star man Lionel Messi. As one of the best players to have ever played the game, the interest is in him is huge so it’s important to get a variety of content on him.

The match itself was fairly boring. Some decent action in the middle of the pitch but very little in the goalmouths with neither side creating clear cut chances. Down the side again as last night, you can sometimes get a bit tighter than you would be behind the goals.

As the time wore on, the rain started to fall and I had a feeling it would go all the way to penalties, and lo and behold, it did. They made their way to the end I was at, so I stayed put, with Ben moving behind the goals to make sure we had all angles covered. Netherlands took first, and Ron Vlaar saw his penalty saved by Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero, diving in the opposite direction to me and celebrating in the opposite corner, so I focused on Ron Vlaar as he realised he might have just cost his side a place in the final.

The Argentinians one by one held their nerve and after Wesley Sneijder had his effort kept out by Romero, it was left to Maxi Rodriguez to put away the winning spotkick to send his players into delirium as they realised they had qualified for the final vs Germany in Rio.

Another two matches down, and with the final domestic flight back to Rio safely negotiated, I took great pleasure in gloating to Ben that I’d managed to go 5 weeks without losing anything. This came back to bite me in the arse as after getting back to the flat – I’d realised my passport had fallen out of my pocket in the taxi. A nightmare situation but thankfully it’s happened at the end of the trip where I only have one flight left – my return to Heathrow. A trip on Monday morning to the British Embassy will hopefully help me sort out an emergency travel document meaning I can get home – I don’t fancy spending any more time in Brazil!

Tomorrow is the final and it should be a great game. It’s a shame it hasn’t ended in the Brazil vs Argentina fixture that we all wanted but the fact Messi has made it is great. I’m going to be positioned up in the tribune whilst Ben is pitchside so hopefully between the two of us we can get some good stuff that will be relevant for years to come. Pictures of Messi with the trophy would be a photographers dream but I personally think the Germans will be too strong for a team that is overly reliant on one player.

I’m now back in Rio, a whole 24 days after leaving for Sao Paulo and the opening fixture. In that space I’ve covered 12 matches and I now only have 3 left before my first World Cup comes to an end.

The last two fixtures I’ve covered were Belgium vs USA in the last 16 and Brazil vs Colombia in the Quarter Finals. Both games thrilling with great atmospheres, both with the main incidents away from where I was sat.

First up was a last trip to Salvador and the Arena Fonte Nova, one of my favourite stadiums I’ve visited. Around the ground there is plenty going on meaning before kick off it was nice to have a wander outside and soak up the pre match atmosphere, some weird and wonderful supporters on show as they have been throughout the tournament.

The USA did well to progress from their group and there has been a lot of talk that the people back home have finally taken to ‘soccer’. Their fans at the stadium were in good voice and the Brazilians seemed to get behind them too.

Neither side created any clear cut chances in a pretty dour first half, and with Belgium seeing most of the play I struggled to get much action. It gave me a chance to focus on the eccentric hairstyles on show from the Belgians.

Belgium began to take control in the second period forcing USA goalkeeper Tim Howard into a string of fine saves. It wasn’t until after the match it was reported he had made the most saves in a single World Cup game. He single handedly kept the Belgium attack at bay and USA almost stole victory in the last minute but a glorious chance went begging and the match went to extra time.

Romelu Lukaku was introduced at the end of the 90 minutes and made an instant impact, laying on a goal for Kevin De Bruyne before scoring himself (unfortunately at the opposite end) to give his side a 2-0 lead at half time in the extra period, with the USA looking tired, down and out.

Hoping for a third Belgium goal and a celebration in my corner, I was optimistic at half time but the USA found an extra ten percent from somewhere as soon as the whistle blew at the start of the second half. They started to create chances and were energetic once again, eventually clawing one back through a fine strike from Julian Green. They dominated the final few minutes but Belgium hung on for victory meaning Juergen Klinsmann’s side headed home with their heads held high.

Next up was a trip to Fortaleza for the tasty looking Brazil vs Colombia. Again the Estadio Castelao is one of the better grounds I’ve visited with more going on in the surrounding areas than some of the other stadiums on show here in Brazil.

Arriving at the ground early it was apparent there was going to be a big home crowd and one fan stood out straight away arriving by bicycle.

Inside the ground before kick off the sense of anticipation was great but some fans seemed nervous, the Colombia team earning many plaudits throughout the tournament and many felt today might be the day the hosts got sent packing.

Some fans mocked their rivals Argentina with a blow up doll wearing a Lionel Messi shirt and women’s underwear.

Before kick off I focused on the Brazil line up, with David Luiz and Neymar, both providing nice images before and during the national anthems.

Brazil haven’t been at their best during their previous matches but have done enough to progress this far and they started brightly with Neymar once again providing the main spark, but even he was frustrated at an early missed chance.

David Luiz brought out a good old fashioned Stone Cold Stunner on Cristian Zapata…

Neymar’s opposite number James Rodriguez struggled to have an impact with Brazil nullifying his attacking play. Thiago Silva scored the opening goal, and ran to the opposite corner providing me with another moment of frustration for me. With the amount of photographers I had to stay in my position and shoot the Colombia attack second half, and annoyingly for me David Luiz popped up with a stunning free kick and a great celebration picture for all those at the other end in the corner he ran to. Colombia were handed a lifeline when Julio Cesar fouled Carlos Bacca and Rodriguez stepped up to get one back from the spot. Colombia pushed hard for an equaliser and they were helped when Neymar went down with an injury after a challenge from Juan Zuniga. At the time it looked bad but it wasn’t until after full time it became apparent that the injury was serious enough to end the poster boy’s World Cup with a fractured vertebrae.

Despite a couple of late chances Brazil held on and celebrated progressing to the Semi Finals where they’ll meet Germany. It was nice to see a real moment of sportsmanship match winner David Luiz take the time to console a tearful James Rodriguez as he left the pitch.

Like I said I’m now back in Rio but tomorrow me and Ben fly to Belo Horizonte for the first semi final, Brazil vs Germany before heading to Sao Paulo for the second, Argentina vs Netherlands. Hopefully with a bit more luck than the last few matches.

After staying in Recife following the USA vs Germany game, I managed to go an entire 5 days without an internal flight, meaning I was refreshed ready for my first round of 16 match, Costa Rica vs Greece.

I arrived at the ground early to avoid any delays on the road incase of a repeat of the bad weather during the last match, I chose my position behind the goal that Costa Rica would attack first.

Fans of the two teams were there in small numbers, with neither of them expected to progress past the group stages, meaning the majority of supporters were from Brazil. One Greece fan couldn’t handle the heat…

The game started and as expected it lacked the quality of some of the other R16 matches on offer, but I had the opportunity to get some stuff on Arsenal striker Joel Campbell, expected to finally play a part this year after playing on loan elsewhere for 2 seasons.

Thankfully the weather was much better than my last visit here, with no rain at all and nice clear skies as the sun set. Good weather makes our job so much easier.

Costa Rica took the lead early in the second half through Bryan Ruiz, unfortunately at the other end from me but I soon had some action in front of me as Oscar Duarte committed a second bookable offence and was shown a red card, leaving Costa Rica to play the majority of the second period with ten men. Greece took control of the match and began to create chances but couldn’t find a way past goalkeeper Keylor Navas until the 90th minute when Sokratis Papastathopoulos scored a dramatic equaliser, sending the game into extra time.

Both teams appeared to struggle with fatigue during the extra time but it was Costa Rica who went closest to scoring a winning goal with an acrobatic effort by Giancarlo Gonzalez, but alas no further goals arrived and the match went to penalties.

With a FIFA official coming round during extra time notifying us that the penalties were to be held at our end of the stadium, I chose to stay in my seat whilst other photographers moved to the other side of the goalmouth.

The first 7 penalties were all dispatched with aplomb but there’s always a hero and a villian and up stepped man of the match Keylor Navas to keep out the strike from Theofanis Gekas.

Penalty shootouts provide great reactions from teams as they watch on the halfway line, and it was no different on this occasion, the Costa Ricans choosing to kneel as a team provided something different. Their reactions as they waited for the final penalty to be taken was great, with none of them watching the goalmouth.

Whilst the Greek team looked like they knew the writing was on the wall…

It was left to Michael Umaña to score the winning spot kick and send the Costa Ricans through to a quarter final meeting with the Netherlands…surely a step too far for the minnows?

Meanwhile the villian of the piece Theofanis Gekas showed how much his miss meant to him, his team mates having to comfort him as he left the field afterwards.

Another match down and I’m now in Salvador having flown in this morning ready for Belgium vs USA…hopefully more drama awaits.