Colombia and Cote D'Ivoire played to potentially finish atop of Group C, while England, Greece, Japan, and Uruguay played knowing that defeat could be the end of their respective World Cup campaigns. And here's what happened:
Group C: Colombia vs. Cote D'Ivoire
Result: 2-1 win for Colombia
Goalscorers: 64' James Rodriguez (Monaco), 70' Juan Quintero (Porto), 73' Gervinho (Roma)
Bookings: 55' Didier Zokora (Trabzonspor), 90' Cheick Tiote (Newcastle United)
Significance of Bookings: Zokora's second yellow card in two matches means he will miss Cote D'Ivoire's next game against Greece
Lineups
Colombia (4-2-3-1)
David Ospina (Nice); Juan Zuniga (Napoli), Cristian Zapata (AC Milan), Mario Yepes (Atalanta, captain), Pablo Armero (West Ham United, on loan from Napoli); Abel Aguilar (Toulouse), Carlos Sanchez (Elche); Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina), James Rodriguez (Monaco), Victor Ibarbo (Cagliari); Teolifo Gutierrez (River Plate)
Changes from last match:
Exact same starting 11 but a change from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1 formation, this time Ibarbo as a left winger than a regular striker
Subs:
Juan Quintero (Porto) 53' for Victor Ibarbo
Santiago Arias (PSV) 72' for Pablo Armero
Alexander Mejia (Atletico Nacional) 79' for Abel Aguilar
Cote D'Ivoire (4-2-3-1)
Boubacar Barry (Lokeren); Serge Aurier (Toulouse), Didier Zokora (Trabzonspor), Sol Bamba (Trabzonspor), Arthur Boka (Stuttgart); Serey Die (Basel), Cheick Tiote (Newcastle United); Gervinho (Roma), Yaya Toure (Manchester City, captain), Max Gradel (Saint-Etienne); Wilfried Bony (Swansea City)
Changes from last match:
Change from 4-2-1-3 to 4-2-3-1. Gradel starts in place of Salomon Kalou.
Subs:
Didier Drogba (Galatasaray) 60' for Wilfried Bony
Salomon Kalou (Lille) 67' for Max Gradel
Mathis Bolly (Fortuna Dusseldorf) 73' for Serey Die
After defeating Greece 3-0, Colombia faced the team that took down Japan 2-1. A lot of their attacking players are well known. Toure, Drogba, Bony, Rodriguez, Cuadrado, Ibarbo, the list goes on and on. Interestingly Jose Pekerman left Fredy Guarin off the starting lineup despite him being back from suspension, likely rewarding Abel Aguilar for his solid performance against Greece. The defense is the big concern for both teams though, and for Colombia, who are starting a 38-year old in center back, on paper those concerns make a lot of sense. But Mario Yepes certainly did a good job concealing his age with a decent performance today to keep Les Elephantes at bay for the most part. Serey Die cried during his home countries national anthem, apparently because of the anniversary of his father's death, I was told. Unfortunately his giveaway led to the decisive goal Quintero scored. Both goals were caused by poor defending and carelessness on Ivory Coast's part but well deserved for Colombia. This win currently puts Colombia atop of Group C, and they will definitely stay there if they at least draw against Japan. To remove Colombia from 1st place, Cote D'Ivoire and Japan would have to beat Greece and Colombia respectively and Cote D'Ivoire would need a superior goal difference. That might be asking for a little too much from the African nation's perspective, but they'd be happy just to get out of the group stage, which they should be able to do if they have another decent showing against the Greeks in their final group stage match.
Group D: Uruguay vs. England
Result: 2-1 win for Uruguay
Goalscorers: 39', 85' Luis Suarez (Liverpool), 75' Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Bookings: 9' Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid), 68' Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Lineups
Uruguay (4-3-1-2)
Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray); Martin Caceres (Juventus), Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid, captain), Alvaro Pereira (Sao Paulo); Alvaro Gonzalez (Lazio), Egidio Arevalo Rios (Morelia), Cristian Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid); Nicolas Lodeiro (Corinthians); Luis Suarez (Liverpool), Edinson Cavani (PSG)
Changes from last match:
Change in formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-1-2. Maxi Pereira (suspended due to red card vs. Costa Rica), Diego Lugano (injury), Christian Stuani, Walter Gargano, and Diego Forlan are left off the starting lineup, making way for Gimenez, Pereira, Gonzalez, Lodeiro, and Suarez (was not fit during Costa Rica match). Lodeiro and Gonzalez appeared as substitutes vs. Costa Rica.
Subs:
Christian Stuani (Espanyol) 67' for Nicolas Lodeiro
Jorge Fucile (Porto) 79' for Alvaro Gonzalez
Sebastian Coates (Nacional) 88' for Luis Suarez
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); Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United); Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)
Changes from last match:
None. Same formation and starters Roy Hodgson used in the match against Italy.
Subs:
Ross Barkley (Everton) 64' for Raheem Sterling
Adam Lallana (Southampton) 71' for Danny Welbeck
Rickie Lambert (Southampton) 87' for Jordan Henderson
Do or die time for La Celeste and the Three Lions, and neither former World Champion (Uruguay and England currently have the longest droughts since their last World Cup victory out of all 8 nations to have won the World Cup. Uruguay won in 1930 and 1950, England in 1966, humans haven't even set foot on the moon yet) plan on dying. Both came off of defeats in their opening matches, but the managers handled those defeats differently. While Oscar Tabarez changed half his starting lineup for Uruguay, Roy Hodgson kept the same 11 that started against Italy. On paper it made sense since losing to Costa Rica is a much bigger red flag for a manager than losing to Italy. The best news for the Uruguayans going into this match was that Luis Suarez would be able to play, and they certainly hoped he would make a difference, and he did by scoring a goal near the end of the first half to put pressure on England. England for the most mart were playing well but simply not good enough, especially with Fernando Muslera having a fantastic game. But after trying and trying all game long and after 9 previous World Cup matches, Wayne Rooney finally got his first World Cup goal to potentially save England and tie it up. Unfortunately his long time international teammate Steven Gerrard would be the scapegoat for England's defeat, fans jokingly calling Gerrard's attempted header towards an offensive England player an "assist to Suarez's goal". His header went straight to Suarez to the surprise of England's back line and Suarez sealed Uruguay's victory. While Uruguay now have a chance in this group, England are nearly entirely out of the World Cup. If Italy drops any points against Costa Rica or Uruguay, England's chances are gone. Even if Italy gets all 9 points, England would have to beat Costa Rica and have a better goal difference than Costa Rica or Uruguay to advance. It's not looking good for England right now, and it could look a lot worse depending on the result of tomorrow's game between Italy and Costa Rica.
Group C: Japan vs. Greece
Result: 0-0
Bookings: 12' Makoto Hasebe (Nurnberg), 27', 38' Kostas Katsouranis, red card 38' (PAOK), 55' Georgios Samaras (Celtic), 89' Vasilis Torosidis (Roma)
Significance of Bookings: Katsouranis cannot play in Greece's next game vs. Cote D'Ivoire
Lineups
Japan (4-2-3-1)
Eiji Kawashima (Standard Leige); Atsuto Uchida (Schalke), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter); Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Makoto Hasebe (Nurnberg, captain); Shinji Okazaki (Mainz 05), Keisuke Honda (Milan), Yoshito Okubo (Kawasaki Frontale); Yuya Osako (1860 Munchen)
Changes from last match:
Konno starts instead of Masato Morishige, Okubo starts instead of Shinji Kagawa
Subs:
Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka) 46' for Makoto Hasebe
Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United) 57' for Yuya Osako
Greece (4-5-1)
Orestis Karnezis (Granada); Vasilis Torosidis (Roma), Kostas Manolas (Olympiacos), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Jose Holebas (Olympiacos); Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK), Giannis Maniatis (Olympiacos), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Giannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa), Georgios Samaras (Celtic); Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham)
Changes from last match:
Dimitris Salpingidis replaced by Fetfatzidis and Theofanis Gekas by Mitroglou in the starting lineup (Ferfatzidis and Mitroglou were substitutes vs. Colombia)
Subs:
Theofanis Gekas (Konyaspor) 35' for Kostas Mitroglou
Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham) 41' for Giannis Fetfatzidis
Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK) 81' for Panagiotis Kone
Japan narrowly lost their first match while in contrast Greece were beaten all ends up in theirs. With Kostas Katsouranis getting two yellow cards and Kostas Mitroglou getting injured in the first half, Greece were down to 10 men, used up 2 of their 3 substitutes, and it looked like it would be impossible to end the game without being the losers, especially against a team like Japan, full of quick, skillful players, and a few deadly strikers from free kicks. But that's certainly not the Japan that showed up today, especially hinted by the fact that Shinji Kagawa didn't start, stating he didn't feel confident enough to start this match. Ultimately the whole Japanese team weren't too confident as time and time again despite all the possession and chances that came their way they just couldn't pull the trigger to put the ball in the net and gain 3 points they desperately needed. The exception would be Eiji Kawashima; in the blue moon in which Greece looked like they were about to score, he was there to stop that from happening. The Greeks, especially their defenders such as Sokratis (not to be confused with Socrates) Papastathopoulos, deserve some credit for pulling this off. A 0-0 draw when you're down to 10 men for 52 minutes of a soccer game almost feels like a win. This result keeps both Japan and Greece's hopes alive but also guarantees Colombia a spot in the Round of 16. Both Japan and Greece need to win their final match though, with Japan taking on Colombia and Greece taking on Cote D'Ivoire, that would certainly be easier said than done for both these teams. Although these 4 teams seemed relatively close at the start of this tournament, so far Colombia and Cote D'Ivoire look the more likely and the more worthy to advance from the group stage.
Up next
Group D: Italy vs. Costa Rica
Group E: Switzerland vs. France
Group E: Honduras vs. Ecuador
At risk of elimination
England: If Costa Rica wins or draws against Italy, England would be out of the World Cup
Honduras: If they lose and France and Switzerland draw or Switzerland wins, Honduras is out
Ecuador: If they lose and France wins or draws against Switzerland, Ecuador is out
England fans will certainly be keeping their eyes on this match and they'll have no choice but to support Italy. If Costa Rica gets even a point from this match, England are done. The good news is though that even though they succeeded in beating Uruguay, it's still Costa Rica, and realistically Italy should have no problem beating Costa Rica. Then again, Italy shouldn't have had problems beating teams like Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia at the 2010 World Cup but they had several. Those memories of struggling to small teams are not completely banished yet for the Italians, and the Costa Ricans give off the impression that they can handle whoever comes in their way, and this has the makings of a great match.
Both Switzerland and France already have 3 points and a win here could be very important in deciding where they end up in this group. Switzerland and France were in the same group in the 2006 World Cup which ended in a 0-0 draw. Another draw would mean goal difference would be much more important and it could mean game over for either Honduras or Ecuador should a loser emerge from that match. Will it be Switzerland the seeded team or France the more well known powerhouse team that comes out on top, or will these neighboring nations be too close to call?
Plenty at stake for the bottom of the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL food chains of the nations that qualified for the World Cup. USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Colombia have all won a match already at this World Cup, the only ones that haven't are these two. And a win couldn't come at a better time for either of these two teams who desperately need points.
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