Another four matches in the books. The four matches in question being the debuts of the Group C and Group D teams.
Group C: Colombia vs. Greece
Final Score: 3-0 win for Colombia
Goalscorers: 5' Pablo Armero (Napoli), 58' Teofilo Gutierrez (River Plate), James Rodriguez (Monaco)
Bookings: 26' Carlos Sanchez (Elche), 52' Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), 55' Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK)
Lineups
Colombia (4-4-2)
David Ospina (Nice); Juan Zuniga (Napoli), Cristian Zapata (AC Milan), Mario Yepes (Atalanta, captain), Pablo Armero (Napoli); Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina), Abel Aguilar (Toulouse), Carlos Sanchez (Alche), James Rodriguez (Monaco); Victor Ibarbo (Cagliari), Teofilo Gutierrez (River Plate)
Subs:
Alexander Mejia (Atletico Nacional) 69' for Abel Aguilar
Santiago Arias (PSV) 74' for Pablo Armero
Jackson Martinez (Porto) 76' for Teofilo
Greece (4-5-1)
Orestis Karnezis (Granada); Vasilis Torosidis (Roma), Kostas Manolas (Olympiacos), Jose Holebas (Olympiacos); Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK), Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Giannis Maniatis (Olympiacos), Giorgos Samaris (Celtic); Theofanis Gekas (Konyaspor)
Subs:
Giannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa) 57' for Dimitris Salpingidis
Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham) 64' for Theofanis Gekas
Giorgios Karagounis (Fulham) 78' for Panagiotis Kone
A team that boasted a lot of offensive fire power vs. a team that has become famous for being organized and disciplined off the ball, the biggest question was who from Colombia would step up in Ramadel Falcao's place? The answer turned out to be just about everyone. From top to bottom their team looked in sync and they grabbed a lot of goals, spreading the wealth between a defender, striker, and a midfielder to show the world that they have plenty of attacking options. Sure, Greece isn't the strongest team in the World Cup, and considering they started a 34 year old as their lone striker up top that wasn't a promising sign for people who were hoping Greece could grab many goals. Every game in this group will be a test. So far Colombia pass and Greece flunked this one. If Colombia consistently play well in this fashion and the South American weather continues to take its toll on the foreign teams, they definitely look like the likely winner of this group and their slim chance of winning the World Cup after a 16 year absence would seem a bit more likely. Greece have to rethink their strategy fast unless they want to keep their record of never making it out of the group in a World Cup. Also, shoutout to Mark Geiger, the American MLS referee who was the ref of this game who did a good job unlike some of the other referees so far.
Group D: Uruguay vs. Costa Rica
Final Score: 3-1 win for Costa Rica
Goalscorers: 24' Edinson Cavani penalty (Paris Saint-Germain), 54' Joel Campbell (Olympiacos), 57' Oscar Duarte (Club Brugge), Marcos Urena (Kuban Krasnodar)
Bookings: 50' Diego Lugano (West Brom), 56' Walter Gargano (Parma), 81' Martin Caceres (Juventus), 90+4' Red Card Maxi Pereira (Benfica)
Lineups
Uruguay (4-4-2)
Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray); Maxi Pereira (Benfica), Diego Lugano (West Brom, captain), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid), Martin Caceres (Juventus); Christian Stuani (Espanyol), Egidio Arevalo Rios (Morelia), Walter Gargano (Parma), Cristian Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid); Diego Forlan (Cerezo Osaka), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain)
Subs:
Nicolas Lodeiro (Corinthians) 60' for Walter Gargano
Alvaro Gonzalez (Lazio) 60' for Diego Forlan
Abel Hernandez (Palermo) 76' for Cristian Rodriguez
Costa Rica (5-2-2-1)
Keylor Navas (Levante); Oscar Duarte (Club Brugge), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew), Michael Umana (Saprissa), Cristian Gamboa (Rosenborg), Junior Diaz (Mainz 05); Celso Borges (AIK), Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa); Bryan Ruiz (PSV, captain), Christian Bolanos (Copenhagen); Joel Campbell (Olympiacos)
Subs:
Jose Miguel Cabrero (Herediano) 75' for Yeltsin Tejeda
Marco Urena (Kuban Krasnodar) 83' for Bryan Ruiz
Michael Barrantes (Aalesund) 89' for Christian Bolanos
At least I didn't write Costa Rica off entirely like most people did. I knew Costa Rica were capable of causing problems and maybe sneaking away with some points before making an "inevitable" early exit. But now Costa Rica have transformed from 23 dead man walking to the biggest X factors of this World Cup? They played against Uruguay like they belonged, and that's a crucial part of any team's mentality. Whether you're Brazil, Germany, Costa Rica, or Honduras, if you make it to the World Cup you deserve to be there, and playing in the biggest stage tends to bring out the best in players, and it did just that for Costa Rica. Each of their goals in this match were a thing of beauty. Uruguay took the early lead thanks to a Junior Diaz foul, but Costa Rica were also denied a penalty after Lugano touched the ball with his hand in the box a few minutes after Uruguay were up 1-0. Fernando Muslera took a lot of heat in their defeat, not even moving during the first two goals from Los Ticos. The notable omission was Luis Suarez, the Liverpool star who couldn't recover completely from injury in time and could only sit by and watch as the unthinkable happened. It's a win that does wonders for CONCACAF's reputation that was already slowly on the incline, and it's a win that have at least 5 million people in Central America believing that their team can succeed in this World Cup. Players like Joel Campbell and Keylor Navas at their very best was incredible to watch. Well, I think success has already been achieved by obtaining 3 more points than most people expected them to at this World Cup (3 more than they earned against Ecuador, Poland, and Germany in Costa Rica's most recent prior World Cup, back in 2006), but they will want more. I think we've seen enough to be able to sanely consider Costa Rica a contender to make it out of Group D but the road ahead of them still remains a difficult one. Although La Celeste's morale will be very low after that loss, Oscar Tabarez's men will certainly not give up. They're down but not out, but it doesn't look good either.
Group D: England vs. Italy
Final Score: A 2-1 victory for the Azurri
Goalscorers: 35' Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), 37' Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Mario Balotelli 50' (AC Milan)
Bookings: Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 90+2'
Lineups
England (4-2-3-1)
Joe Hart (Manchester City); Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Leighton Baines (Everton); Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, captain), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool); Danny Welbeck (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United); Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)
Subs:
Ross Barkley (Everton) 61' for Danny Welbeck
Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) 73' for Jordan Henderson
Adam Lallana (Southampton) 80' for Daniel Sturridge
Italy (4-3-1-2)
Salvatore Sigiru (Paris Saint-Germain); Matteo Damian (Torino), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Gabriel Paletta (Parma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus); Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain); Andrea Pirlo (Juventus, captain); Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Mario Balotelli (AC Milan)
Subs:
Thiago Motta (Paris Saint-Germain) 57' for Marco Verratti
Ciro Immobile (Torino) 73' for Mario Balotelli
Marco Parolo (Parma) 79's for Antonio Candreva
The heat and humidity of the Amazon took its toll on both Roy Hodgson and Cesare Prandelli's teams but Italy were the ones who adapted more effectively. Both evenly matched but strong teams (even if England haven't been convincing as of late and Italy did self-destruct pretty badly in 2010), it was surely a tactical battle, but it was a chess match that Prandelli and the Azurri came out on top thanks to brilliant goals from Claudio Marchisio and "Super Mario" Balotelli, cancelling out the other half of the Liverpool strike duo Daniel Sturridge's impressive goal as well. Due to Gianluigi Buffon (who also got injured at the last World Cup, but thankfully was a part of the 2006 World Cup squad that won Italy's 4th World Cup) getting injured in training, it was a rare opportunity for PSG's star shot-stopper Salvatore Sigiru to take the stage, carrying the flag for other great Italian goalkeepers from Christian Abbiatti to Federico Marchetti who have been unable to make a name for themselves in international football due to Gigi Buffon's awesomeness. And he did not disappoint. Both teams definitely with a fresh look as collectively only players in these squads played in 2010 South Africa (Johnson, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Milner, and Hart for England, Buffon, Chiellini, De Rossi, Marchisio, Pirlo, and Bonucci for Italy), and 4 Italian players remaining from the 2006 Champions of Germany (Buffon, De Rossi, Barzagli, and Pirlo). England didn't play bad but they didn't play smart. Italy did and that was enough to give Italy the 3 points. However if England can get results against Costa Rica and Uruguay in their remaining matches, all is not lost. However, much to the agony of English fans, that is still quite a big if. One thing's for sure: if England can score more goals, let it be scored by Sturridge, because he could use more practice dancing.
Group C: Cote D'Ivoire vs. Japan
Final Score: Les Elephantes coming out on top with a 2-1 victory
Goalscorers: 15' Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), 64' Wilfried Bony (Swansea City), 66' Gervinho (Roma)
Bookings: 23' Maya Yoshida (Southampton), 54' Sol Bamba (Trabzonspor), 58' Didier Zokora (Trabzonspor), 64' Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo)
Lineups
Cote D'Ivoire (4-2-1-3)
Boubacar Barry (Lokeren); Serge Aurier (Toulouse), Didier Zokora (Trabzonspor), Sol Bamba (Trabzonspor), Arthur Boka (Stuttgart); Cheick Tiote (Newcastle United), Serey Die (Basel); Yaya Toure (Manchester City, captain); Salomon Kalou (Lille), Wilfried Bony (Swansea City), Gervinho (Roma)
Subs:
Didier Drogba (Galatasaray) 62' for Serey Die
Constant Djakpa (Eintracht Frankfurt) 75' for Arthur Boka
Didier Ya Konan (Hannover 96) 78' for Wilfried Bony
Japan (4-2-3-1)
Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege); Atsuto Uchida (Schalke 04), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter); Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Makoto Hasebe (FC Nurnberg, captain); Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Shinji Okazaki (Mainz 05), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United); Yuya Osako (1860 Munchen)
Subs:
Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka) 54' for Makoto Hasebe
Yoshito Okubo (Kawasaki Frontale) 67' for Yuya Osako
Yoichiro Kakitani (Cerezo Osaka) 86' for Shinji Kagawa
Both are better teams than most people give credit for, but unlike the best teams like Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, and Brazil who have a wealth of talent, teams like Japan and Cote D'Ivoire rely heavily on a few star players to carry most of the load. But Cote D'Ivoire coach Sabri Lamouchi didn't follow that script and left both Didier Drogba and Kolo Toure on the bench, preferring to keep the Trabzonspor center back duo of Zokora and Bamba together and going with in-form Swansea striker Bony. However, the nation that created Pokemon and made Pikachu their mascot this tournament went in front early on with some classic brilliance from Honda, the player that was instrumental in taking Japan as far as they did in South Africa. However Cote D'Ivoire had the bulk of possession and chances, which didn't mean much when Japan were focused, handling everything that came their way and with Kawashima making decent saves when needed. Then Didier Drogba came on. He didn't get on the score sheet but just Drogba's presence seemed to make a positive difference as minutes after him coming on his teammates Bony and Gervinho scored the goals Cote D'Ivoire needed to come from behind and claim victory. 100 seconds between the two goals made them the fastest scoring of two goals in World Cup history. After this impressive win, Cote D'Ivoire's hope of finally making it out of the group stage seems a bit justified but I doubt that they will be able to afford another slow start like that again. Unfortunately despite a great effort, Japan is unable to come away with anything from that game and their chances of getting out of the group stage for the third time in their World Cup history seem slim. But in Group C, every team looks like a threat (yes, even Greece, did we not learn anything from the Costa Rica-Uruguay game?) and things are certainly far from settled. It'll take more than Poke Balls and Badges for Japan to prove their worth in their next game.
Day 4 Matches
Group E: Switzerland vs. Ecuador
Group E: France vs. Honduras
Group F: Argentina vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Considered one of the weaker teams from their respective regions that qualified for the World Cup, this is a chance for Switzerland and Ecuador's players to make a name for themselves and also to get a good start to their World Cup campaigns, as the winner of this match should on paper be the runner up of Group E. However, Honduras will be looking to emulate the upset their Central American rivals pulled off, and the French will certainly have to be on their toes, as they, like Italy, are hoping to put the 2010 memories away for good. And the only debutantes in this World Cup couldn't have received a more fit welcome to the world's biggest stage than one from one of the world's best players. Lionel Messi for Argentina, Edin Dzeko for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and several other talented players along side them promise to make this match the best one of the day. But so far I don't think any of the matches have disappointed. Goals, drama, and tension galore, along with the passion of representing your nation, that is what the World Cup is all about.
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