Colombia and Costa Rica already qualified and England were already up a creek without a paddle, while 5 teams fought for the remaining 2 places in the Round of 16 between Groups C and D today, the Pirate Ship, the Blue Samurai, les Elephantes, the Azzurri, and La Celeste.
Group D: Italy vs. Uruguay
Result: A narrow but decisive victory 1-0 that went Uruguay's way
Goalscorers: 81' Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid)
Bookings: 22' Mario Balotelli (AC Milan), 46' Egidio Arevalo Rios (Morelia), 59' red card Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), 77' Mattia de Sciglio (AC Milan), 90+1' Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray)
Significance of bookings: Balotelli and Marchisio would've been unavailable for Italy's next match if they had progressed to the knockout stages.
Lineups
Italy (3-2-3-2)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, captain); Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus); Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Marco Verratti (PSG); Mattie de Sciglio (AC Milan), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Torino); Ciro Immobile (Torino), Mario Balotelli (AC Milan)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-5-1 to 3-2-3-2 formation. Ignazio Abate, Daniele de Rossi, Thiago Motta, and Antonio Candreva replaced by Bonucci, Verratti, De Sciglio, and Immobile.
Subs:
Marco Palolo (Parma) 46' for Mario Balotelli
Antonio Cassano (Parma) 71' for Ciro Immobile
Thiago Motta (PSG) 75' for Marco Verratti
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
Same formation and starters from their encounter with England
Subs:
Maxi Pereira (Benfica) 46' for Nicolas Lodeiro
Christian Stuani (Espanyol) 63' for Alvaro Pereira
Gaston Ramirez (Southampton) 78' for Cristian Rodriguez
Literally a do or die match. Italy needed a draw, Uruguay needed a win. PSG and Juventus teammates may have reunited but it certainly wasn't a friendly affair because for both nations their spot in the next round was on the line, which is interesting because a fair amount of people expected both teams to finish on top of Group D, but in fairness no one expected Costa Rica to be shockingly good. Things were getting nasty quick, and even though it's not abnormal for Mario Balotelli to pick up a yellow card here and there, it only made things more nerve wracking for Italy given his unpredictability and the fact that he'd miss out on the Round of 16 match if Italy made it there. So Cesare Prandelli decided now was not the time to roll the dice and put Marco Palolo in for Balotelli, but this is where things turned south for the Italians. Claudio Marchisio's foot, meet Egidio Arevalo Rios's shin, and meet his friend, a red card. Italian fans were not happy, felt it was undeserved, and it wasn't the most straight forward of red card instances, but even if people hate me for thinking this, cleet meets shin, not safe at all, reckless challenge, a red card was fair game but maybe a yellow would've been enough. Definitely a tense moment that caused both teams to go to the next gear and things got more and more interesting until the man who scored his side's only goal in Atletico Madrid's 4-1 loss to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final this season came to Uruguay's rescue. Smartly taken from the Southampton man Gaston Ramirez's corner kick, Godin broke the dead lock and gave Uruguay the win they needed to become the 5th South American team (and probably the last unless Ecuador comes up big in their closing match) to qualify for the next round. This meant Italy were out in the group stage for the 2nd tournament in a row following their 4th World Cup title in 2006. But what will bother Italy more than losing will be the fact that they lost to a piranha. Or a vampire. Or Pacman. He's something of that sort, Luis Suarez. In the 79th minute, Luis Suarez bit Giorgio Chiellini, the 3rd time he's bitten a player. 1st in the Eredivisie, then the Barclays Premier League, and now at the World Cup. Dude what is wrong with you? At least your hand ball against Ghana, which was a huge dick move, had something to do with helping your team, but what was he thinking? Luis Suarez in a 2 second span turned millions of neutrals into Colombian fans for Uruguay's next match, and many hope that Suarez gets a ban immediately for that kind of behavior. And fair is fair, if Marchisio's incident was punished, so should Suarez's. Aside from that, Uruguay will be quite happy they're moving on.
Elimination Analysis: Italy
Over the span of the history of the sport, Italy are one of the all time greatest soccer/football nations. Over the span of the last 8 years though, they've cracked in some tournaments since then. Out in the group stage in 2009 Confederations Cup, 2010 World Cup, and now the 2014 World Cup, but also quarterfinalists in Euro 2008, runners up in Euro 2012, and 3rd place in 2013 Confederations (all 3 instances losing to Spain), it's been the best of times and the worst of times for the Azzurri. Italy join the ever growing group of European nations heading home from Brazil after 3 matches and this means both finalists of the Euro 2012 are out already. It's a bittersweet way to say goodbye to legends Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo, who guided Italy to their most recent World Cup trophy but who retired from international soccer on this day. The days are numbered for the other two remaining members of the 2006 World Cup winning squad, Andrea Barzagli and Daniele de Rossi. Italy had made so much progress in the past 4 years that even when drawn into a difficult group they were expected to have a strong showing at the World Cup in Brazil, potential semifinalists, maybe just maybe finalists or even champions once again. And even in defeat to Costa Rica and Uruguay, Italy played like a team that you'd think, without looking at the score board, they'd be going places. It's back to the drawing board for the once European powerhouses. Or maybe they are still. Time will tell, the possibilities are plentiful for this team.
Group D: Costa Rica vs. England
Result: 0-0 draw
Bookings: 53' Ross Barkley (Everton), 57' Adam Lallana (Southampton), 60' Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew)
Lineups
Costa Rica (5-3-2)
Keylor Navas (Levante); Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew), Oscar Duarte (Club Brugge), Roy Miller (New York Red Bulls), Cristian Gamboa (Rosenborg), Junior Diaz (Mainz 05); Celso Borges (AIK), Bryan Ruiz (PSV, captain), Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa); Randall Brenes (Cartagines), Joel Campbell (Olympiacos)
Changes from last match
Changed from 5-2-2-1 to 5-3-2 formation. Michael Umana and Christian Bolanos left on the bench allowing Miller and Brenes to start.
Subs:
Christian Bolanos (Copenhagen) 59' for Randall Brenes
Marco Urena (Kuban Krasnodar) 65' for Joel Campbell
Michael Barrantes (Aalesund) 78' for Celso Borges
England (4-2-3-1)
Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion); Phil Jones (Manchester United), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Southampton); Frank Lampard (captain), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal); James Milner (Manchester City), Ross Barkley (Everton), Adam Lallana (Southampton); Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)
Changes from last match
Joe Hart, Glen Johnson, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck, Raheem Sterling, and Wayne Rooney on the bench to let 9 other players start in nothing more than a potential consolation game in England's perspective. Lampard acts as captain in Gerrard's absense.
Subs:
Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 62' for Adam Lallana
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 73' for Jack Wilshere
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 76' for James Milner
Roy Hodgson decided to completely change the starting lineup, giving some younger players like Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling a chance as well as some lesser used veterans like Frank Lampard and James Milner a chance. For Jorge Luis Pinto, he was well aware that a point would secure 1st place for Costa Rica, so he relied on mostly the same players who beat Uruguay and Italy. And turns out it was a goalless affair with not much going on. For Costa Rica it was "Mission Accomplished". They got the point they needed to win a group they were expected to be trampled by and finishing in last. For England, they don't have to worry about leaving Brazil without a point: they finish their run in the tournament with one. First time since 1958 they didn't get out of the group stage and also the least amount of points earned by England in a World Cup ever. Even considering the lack of high expectations surrounding the Three Lions this time around, this is surely a bitter pill to swallow. For Costa Rica though, they move on to the Round of 16 and hope to continue this historic run going as long as they can.
Elimination Analysis: England
England: creator of this very sport, home to arguably the best football/soccer league and league system in the World, with clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea practically their own brands across the globe, and the homeland of many of the commentators we listen to. But suddenly the national team has fallen into a rut that will take some work to get out of. At the turn of the century England's future looked bright with players like David Beckham, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, Joe Cole, Sol Campbell, and Rio Ferdinand, supposedly England's golden generation. They failed to live up to their expectations and now all that remains of them are the trio of Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, and Frank Lampard. We see these players playing in some of the most iconic stadiums and for some of the most well known teams in Europe, and the world, and we're left wondering why this team isn't doing better? Expectations were thought to be a factor, but they can only go so low for a team with so many individually talented players. And then that's when the light bulb goes off. This isn't about individuals, it's about one team. They simply haven't found a way to reach their potential as a team yet. With virtually all their players (the exception being Celtic's Fraser Forster) playing in the same league but in different clubs, it takes some getting used to and strong mental power. One day Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart go head to head in a Manchester derby, the other they must be on each other's side. You'd think and you'd hope that sooner or later this group of players, or whatever group of players is deemed necessary, will find away to make their nation proud again.
Group C: Japan vs. Colombia
Result: 4-1 victory for Colombia
Goalscorers: 17' penalty Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina), 45+1' Shinji Okazaki (Mainz 05), 55', 82' Jackson Martinez (Porto), 90' James Rodriguez (Monaco)
Bookings: 16' Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), 63' Fredy Guarin (Inter)
Lineups
Japan (4-2-3-1)
Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege); Atsuto Uchida (Schalke), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter); Toshihiro Aoyama (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Makoto Hasebe (Nurnberg, captain); Shinji Okazaki (Mainz 05), Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United); Yoshito Okubo (Kawasaki Frontale)
Changes from last match
Hotaru Yagamuchi and Yuya Osako are replaced by Aoyama and Kagawa in the starting lineup
Subs:
Hotaru Yagamuchi (Cerezo Osaka) 62' for Toshihiro Aoyama
Yoichiro Kakitani (Cerezo Osaka) 69' for Shinji Okazaki
Hiroshi Kiyotake (Nurnberg) 85' for Shinji Kagawa
Colombia (4-2-2-2)
David Ospina (Nice, captain); Santiago Arias (PSV), Carlos Valdes (San Lorenzo), Eder Balanta (River Plate), Pablo Armero (West Ham United); Alexander Mejia (Atletico Nacional), Fredy Guarin (Inter); Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina), Juan Quintero (Porto); Adrian Ramos (Hertha BSC), Jackson Martinez (Porto)
Changes from last match
Juan Zuniga, Cristian Zapata, Mario Yepes, Abel Aguilar, Carlos Sanchez, James Rodriguez, Victor Ibarbo, and Teofilo Gutierrez left on the bench making way for 8 other players to start. Change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-2-2-2 formation
Subs:
Carlos Carbonero (River Plate) 46' for Juan Quintero
James Rodriguez (Monaco) 46' for Juan Cuadrado
Faryd Mondragon (Deportivo Cali) 85' for David Ospina
Colombia knew that if they kept things up from their performances against Greece and Cote D'Ivoire, they should definitely at least draw but preferably a win against Japan. Japan needed a win against Colombia to have a shot at getting out of the group stage and they couldn't rely on Pikachu's Thunder Wave attack to paralyze the Colombians. Aside from Yasuyuki Konno giving away a penalty which Juan Cuadrado put away, Japan got off to a good start, especially with Shinji Okazaki scoring right at the end of the 1st half. But then James Rodriguez came in and completely change the game, allowing every to see how much of a difference Falcao's right hand man at Monaco makes for this Colombian team. 3 second half goals gave Colombia a thrilling win that makes them 3 for 3 in the Group Stage. A lot of critics will ding Colombia style points for being in a "weak group", but they're playing well so far and they'll have to continue that against Uruguay in the Round of 16. For Japan though, it was always going to be difficult for them but many people expected them to do better, especially with the strong midfielders they have. Another historic moment: Colombian legend Faryd Mondragon, who had a terrific tournament in the 1998 World Cup, became the oldest player to play at a World Cup at 43 years and 3 days old.
Elimination Analysis: Japan
Video game fans were excited when Japan made Pikachu their mascot going into this World Cup but Japan were exciting for more reasons than just the most popular Pokemon out there. More and more of their players playing in Europe, the emergence of Shinji Kagawa in Borussia Dortmund and then moving to Manchester United, and Japan were an exciting team to watch. Even though they lost all their matches in the 2013 Confederations Cup there were positives to take from that experience, which included an exciting 4-3 loss to Italy. But I guess they just couldn't break the trend. This is Japan's 5th straight World Cup appearance. 1998: Group stage, 2002: KO Stage (16), 2006: Group Stage, 2010: Top 16, and here we are and Japan fail to make it out of the group again (if they qualify for 2018, looks like then they would make it out of the group). Japan still have much work to do before becoming a higher profile team in the soccer world. They'll be disappointed with the points they gave up against Cote D'Ivoire and Greece.
Group C: Greece vs. Cote D'Ivoire
Result: 2-1 win for Greece
Goalscorers: 42' Andreas Samaris (Olympiacos), 74' Wilfried Bony (Swansea City), 90+3' Georgios Samaras penalty (Celtic)
Bookings: 37' Didier Drogba (Galatasaray), 62' Salomon Kalou (Lille), 70' Serey Die (Basel)
Lineups
Greece (4-5-1)
Orestis Karnezis (Granada); Vasilis Torosidis (Roma), Kostas Manolas (Olympiacos), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Jose Holebas (Olympiacos); Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham, captain), Giannis Maniatis (Olympiacos), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Georgios Samaras (Celtic); Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK)
Changes from last match
Giannis Fetfatzidis, Kostas Mitroglou, and Kostas Katsouranis (suspended due to red card against Japan) left off starting lineup allowing Christodoulopoulos, Karagounis, and Salpingidis to start this time.
Subs:
Andreas Samaris (Olympiacos) 12' for Panagiotis Kone
Panagiotis Glykos (PAOK) 24' for Orestis Karnezis
Theofanis Gekas (Konyaspor) 78' for Giorgos Karagounis
Cote D'Ivoire (4-2-3-1)
Boubacar Barry (Lokoren); Serge Aurier (Toulouse), Kolo Toure (Liverpool), Sol Bamba (Trabzonspor), Arthur Boka (Stuttgart); Cheick Tiote (Newcastled United), Serey Die (Basel); Salomon Kalou (Lille), Yaya Toure (Manchester City), Gervinho (Roma); Didier Drogba (Galatasaray, captain)
Changes from last match
Didier Zokora suspended due to yellow card accumulation and Max Gradel and Wilfried Bony move to the bench allowing Kolo Toure, Kalou, and Drogba to start
Subs:
Wilfried Bony (Swansea City) 61' for Cheick Tiote
Ismael Diomande (Saint-Etienne) 78' for Didier Drogba
Giovanni Sio (Basel) 83' for Gervinho
Neither Greece nor Cote D'Ivoire had gotten out of the group stage at a World Cup before, but one of these two teams were almost certain to with one game left to play for. And to make things even more interesting but a lot more tragic, the Toure brothers had gotten news that their younger brother Ibrahim Toure lost his battle with cancer and died a few days prior. Cote D'Ivoire looked the more likely side to progress since they only needed a draw, and Greece hadn't scored a goal yet in the tournament. An interesting decision made by the manager Sabri Lamouchi was to start Didier Drogba instead of Wilfried Bony, which didn't quite make sense. Bony has had a good tournament so far, having scored a goal against Japan, and Didier Drogba had been doing just fine as a super sub and not being as young as he once was, it was a huge question if he was fit to start. Cote D'Ivoire had this in the bag but two bad moves resulted in two Greek goals that cancelled out Wilfried Bony's goal and eliminated Cote D'Ivoire from the World Cup. Greece had their backs against the wall once again when a Jose Holebas effort hit the crossbar and fatigued and injured Greek duo Karzenis and Kone had to be subbed off early. But Greece carried on and Samaris got a goal that was gifted to him from a bad giveaway by Cheick Tiote. And then in the dying minutes (probably minute) of the game, with a draw being enough for Cote D'Ivoire to advance, Giovanni Sio's poor challenges gives Greece a penalty that Samaras gets right to give Greece one of their most important victories ever.
Elimination Analysis: Cote D'Ivoire
We've been saying good by to a few golden generations lately. Australia, Spain, England all must move on from their players that held so much promise years ago, and Cote D'Ivoire are in the same boat. Looks like the end of the line for Didier Drogba and company, but they still have players like Serge Aurier, Gervinho, and Wilfried Bony that look to have bright futures ahead of them. Disbelief for the Ivorians. Their 3rd World Cup in a row and for the first time they were given a reasonable group. But they couldn't make this work. They will probably hate the referee for giving Greece that penalty, but even if that wasn't rightfully a penalty kick you can't excuse Cheick Tiote's giveaway. Cote D'Ivoire remains one of the strongest teams in Africa, for now at least. Their window of opportunity looks all but shut but can be opened once again if the next wave of Elephantes step up. Didier Drogba is a tough act to follow, a good man and a talented footballer, known for his actions on and off the pitch, most notably when he asked the people of Cote D'Ivoire for a ceasefire in their civil war which was successful. This will be a bitter pill to swallow given their expectations but this team will be motivated to reach higher and work harder.
Eliminated: Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, England, Italy, Japan, Spain
Round of 16 Matchups and other Qualified: Netherlands vs. Mexico, Costa Rica vs. Greece, Brazil vs. Chile, Colombia vs. Uruguay, Argentina, Belgium
Still looking: Algeria, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Germany, Honduras, Iran, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, United States
Up next
Group F Finale: Nigeria vs. Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Iran
Group E Finale: Honduras vs. Switzerland, Ecuador vs. France
Nigeria and Argentina aren't unfamiliar opponents and the roles are certainly familiar with Argentina being favorites and Nigeria being underdogs. Argentina had to work hard and use the skill of Lionel Messi to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iran. Can Nigeria go one further and upset the Argentines with a win or draw, or will this be the 2nd 9 point group stage performance for Argentina in a row?
Bosnia and Herzegovina may be out but they will certainly look to give Iran a good fight in this match. Iran have been impressive so far but only 1 point to show for it, and they'll need a win and for Argentina to beat Nigeria by 2 goals to advance. Can Carlos Quieroz lead Iran to another strong showing or do they have nothing left in the tank for a formidable Bosnia and Herzegovina looking to exit the World Cup on a high note?
Honduras need a win plus a few other stars to align to advance but THEY ARE NOT OUT. That alone will give Honduras belief, and it'll be another 2010 rematch. Last time Honduras drew 0-0 against Switzerland and cost Switzerland their spot in the Round of 16. Switzerland do not want history to repeat itself and will hope to finish what they started and this time beat the Central Americans.
France have been steam rolling their opposition in Group E and Ecuador look like just part 3 of France's journey to 9 points. France certainly look like one of the strongest teams in the tournament and also one of the few European teams to advance unless they should lose to Ecuador, Switzerland beats Honduras, and they have the worst goal difference. But after 2 wins by 3 goal margins, that looks very unlikely. Are Ecuador screwed or do they have an ace up their sleeves to surprisingly get them through the group stage and make South America 6 for 6 in this World Cup?
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
2014 FIFA World Cup Day 12 Review Day 13 Preview
This is where things get interesting. The last batch of group games. 16 teams will be playing their last games at the World Cup. For them it's better luck next time 4 years from now in Russia. Even though 3 of the 4 eliminated teams were known after their 2nd games, we'll go over where the 4 teams that qualified from their groups stand and who joined Australia, Cameroon, and Spain in the loser's circle today.
Group B: Australia vs. Spain
Result: 3-0 win for Spain that couldn't come soon enough
Goalscorers: 36' David Villa (Atletico Madrid), 69' Fernando Torres (Chelsea), 82' Juan Mata (Manchester United)
Bookings: 62' Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), 88' Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace)
Significance of bookings: None; both teams would be eliminated after this game regardless of the result.
Lineups
Australia (4-3-3)
Mathew Ryan (Club Brugge); Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng Taishan), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Jason Davidson (Heracles Almelo); Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace, captain), Oliver Bozanic (Luzern); Mathew Leckie (Frankfurt), Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets), Tommy Oar (Utrecht)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 formation. Tim Cahill is suspended from this game from yellow card accumulation and Mark Bresciano was left off the starting lineup as well, allowing Bozanic and Taggart (who appearance in the last game as subs) to fill in those vacancies
Subs:
Ben Halloran (Fortuna Dusseldorf) 46' for Adam Taggart
James Troisi (Melbourne Victory) 61' for Tommy Oar
Mark Bresciano (Al-Gharafa) 72' for Oliver Bozanic
Spain (4-2-3-1)
Pepe Reina (Napoli); Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, captain), Jordi Alba (Barcelona); Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Koke (Atletico Madrid); Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), David Villa (Atletico Madrid); Fernando Torres (Chelsea)
Changes from last match
Iker Casillas, Cesar Azpilicueta, Javi Martinez, Sergio Busquets, David Silva, Pedro, and Diego Costa (7 of the 11 that started against Chile) were left on the bench for Reina, Juanfran, Albiol, Koke, Cazorla, Villa, and Torres respectively. (Torres, Koke, and Cazorla made substitute appearances in previous matches while the others were making their debut in this tournament). Ramos was named captain instead of Casillas.
Subs:
Juan Mata (Manchester United) 56' for David Villa
Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona) 68' for Santi Cazorla
David Silva (Manchester City) 83' for Xabi Alonso
All this talk about Spain's golden generation coming to a close after 6 years has over shadowed the fact that Australia are going through the same thing, by their standards. You could see it in their lineup. Both of Australia's remnants of their golden generation (which included Australian soccer legends such as Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill, and Mark Schwarzer) Tim Cahill and Mark Bresciano were not in the starting lineups, the only player in Australia's starting 11 that was in the last World Cup was Mile Jedinak, who along with Cahill, Bresciano, and Mark Milligan are the only survivors from the class of 2010 South Africa. Vicente Del Bosque also made numerous changes to his side (something he doesn't normally do, as we remember from the Spain/Chile match). Both these teams, even though one is a former World Cup champion and the other is still a growing soccer/football nation, will be looking for new players and new ideas to lead them to greater journeys in the future, and the future has the potential to be bright for both teams. Enough about the future talk, in today's match Spain finally got a win by beating Australia 3-0. None of Spain's goalscorers in this game started in either of Spain's first two matches. Spain is a very stacked nation. They have 40+ decent soccer players, many of which didn't make it to Brazil (Jesus Navas, Roberto Soldado, Fernando Llorente, Gabi, to name a few). When you have that much talent at your disposal and one result goes horrible wrong like Netherlands beating Spain 5-1, you can't be afraid to shuffle the deck and try something new. Coulda woulda shouda. But it was a remarkable day for David Villa: who else to open the scoring for the Spanish? He scored in what would be his final match for Spain, 97 appearances and 59 goals later from making his debut in 2005 in a 5-0 victory over San Marino in a 2006 World Cup qualifier. I doubt on that day he'd foresee the succeed he would have playing for Spain. Despite Australia holding its own against eventual group winners the Netherlands better than Spain did, Australia couldn't get much going without Tim Cahill but despite the loss, Australian fans will be proud of their team for not being a dormat. They still didn't get a single point but the 3 points each of their Group B rivals earned from those matches were far from automatic.
Elimination Analysis: Spain
They didn't want to be a part of this trend, but Spain join 2002 France and 2010 Italy as the 3rd defending World Champions to go out in the group stage in the 21st century. It's always exciting stuff when champions are dethroned, like when the San Antonio Spurs prevented the Miami Heat from getting their threepeat, no one can take away what they did before coming to Brazil. Back to back European championships and winning their first ever World Cup in 2010 South Africa with a common core of players (Casillas, Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Ramos), it truly is incredible. And many will still argue that the Spanish team between the 2006 and 2014 World Cups is one of, if not the, best teams of all time in soccer/football. But now it's time for new chapters to be written and new stories to unfold. Whichever players and coach shows up for Euro 2016, they will not want to repeat what happened in 2014 Brazil.
Elimination Analysis: Australia
As soon as the draw Australia was doomed. I'm a firm believer of anything can happen, not anything WILL happen. Despite getting to the round of 16 before falling to eventual champions Italy in 2006 and getting edged out of the group stage by goal difference in 2010, it was very unlikely Australia could get 4 points again with this kind of group. But credit to them for giving it their best shot and actually losing with style. 3-1, 3-2, and 3-0 losses to go out of the World Cup sting but it probably could've gone so much worse for the Socceroos. This team was definitely in transition. Schwarzer and Neill are gone, Cahill and Bresciano soon will be too, hopefully Jedinak stays a while longer and some of Australia's younger players like Davidson, Ryan, Bozanic, McGowan, Leckie, and Taggart continue to grow and lead Australia to more incredible moments.
Group B: Netherlands vs. Chile
Result: Netherlands win 2-0
Goalscorers: 77' Leroy Fer (Norwich City), 90+2' Memphis Depay (PSV)
Bookings: 25' Francisco Silva (Osasuna), 64' Daley Blind (Ajax)
Lineups
Netherlands (4-3-1-2)
Jasper Cillessen (Ajax); Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord), Daley Blind (Ajax); Georginio Wijnauldum (PSV), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahce); Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray); Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich, captain), Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kyiv)
Changes from last match
Change from a 5-3-2 to 4-3-1-2, likely partially due to Bruno Martins Indi being injured. Robin van Persie would also be absent due to yellow card accumulation. Those two along with Jonathan de Guzman would be replaced by Wijnauldum, Kuyt, and Lens in the starting lineup. Robben acts as captain in place of van Persie.
Subs:
Memphis Depay (PSV) 69' for Jeremain Lens
Leroy Fer (Norwich City) 75' for Wesley Sneijder
Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord) 89' for Dirk Kuyt
Chile (5-3-2)
Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad, captain); Gary Medel (Cardiff City), Francisco Silva (Osasuna), Gonzalo Jara (Nottingham Forest), Mauricio Isla (Juventus), Eugenio Mena (Santos); Charles Aranguiz (Internacional), Marcelo Diaz (Basel), Felipe Gutierrez (Twente); Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona), Eduardo Vargas (Valencia)
Changes from last match
Only change is Gutierrez replacing the injured Arturo Vidal.
Subs:
Jean Beausejour (Wigan Athletic) 46' for Felipe Gutierrez
Jorge Valdivia (Palmeiras) 70' for Francisco Silva
Mauricio Pinilla (Cagliari) 81' for Eduardo Varges
2 games, 2 wins and 2 impressive showings of entertaining soccer are what Netherlands and Chile have brought to the table so far in this World Cup. And now they go head to head to determine who will finish in 1st in Group B. It was quite the chess match as both sides tried to get at the other but had a response for everything thrown at them in the first half. Then the subs came in and that's when the dice started rolling. Even though Louis van Gaal put in Memphis Depay, he made a defensive minded substitution in bringing in Leroy Fer, who is sort of like Netherlands's Jermaine Jones or Kyle Beckerman. After all, Netherlands only needed a point to win the group while Chile needed 3. Looks like Fer believes in "the best defense is a strong offense", as he scored for Netherlands late on to all but certainly seal the top spot for the Oranje. And Memphis Depay keeps his goal scoring streak alive as Netherlands's subs get the job done. Although Jorge Valdivia got a warm welcome from Brazilians who are used to seeing him play in the club he captains in Brazil, that's about as close to an impact Chile's subs made in this game. But regardless both Netherlands and Chile deservedly go through to the next round and will definitely be a handful for Mexico and Brazil respectively.
Group A: Cameroon vs. Brazil
Result: Brazil winning 4-1
Goalscorers: 17', 35' Neymar (Barcelona), 26' Joel Matip (Schalke), 49' Fred (Fluminense), 84' Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Bookings: 11' Eyong Enoh (Antalyaspor), 76' Edgar Salli (Lens), 80' Stephane Mbia (Sevilla)
Lineups
Cameroon (4-5-1)
Charles Itandje (Konyaspor); Allan Nyom (Granada), Nicolas N'Koulou (Marseille, captain), Joel Matip (Schalke), Henri Bedimo (Lyon); Landry N'Guemo (Bordeaux), Stephane Mbia (Sevilla), Eyong Enoh (Antalyaspor), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Mainz 05), Benjamin Moukandjo (Nancy); Vincent Aboubakar (Lorient)
Changes from last match
Mbia and Matip play in different positions than in the previous match. Aurelien Chedjou, Assou-Ekotto (likely due to his behavior against Croatia), and Alex Song (red card against Croatia) do not appear in the starting 11 with Nyom, Bedimo, and N'Guemo filling in the vacancies.
Subs:
Edgar Salli (Lens) 58' for Benjamin Moukandjo
Pierre Webo (Fenerbahce) 72' Vincent Aboubakar
Jean Makoun (Rennes) 81' for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Brazil (4-3-3)
Julio Cesar (Toronto FC), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Thiago Silva (PSG, captain), David Luiz (Chelsea), Marcelo (Real Madrid); Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Paulinho (Tottenham), Oscar (Chelsea); Hulk (Zenit), Neymar (Barcelona), Fred (Fluminense)
Changes from last match
Hulk back in the mix after recovering from injury to force Ramires back onto the bench, change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3.
Subs:
Fernandinho (Manchester City) 46' for Paulinho
Ramires (Chelsea) 63' for Hulk
Willian (Chelsea) 71' for Neymar
Cameroon certainly looked like a team that couldn't wait to get this game over with. They were already eliminated, arguably their best player Alex Song couldn't play because he foolishly got himself a red card against Croatia, and there was a very unlikely chance of Brazil not beating them. Mexico would've loved Cameroon to at least draw against Brazil though, and it looked like that when Joel Matip's goal cancelled out Neymar's earlier skillful effort. That lasted nine minutes before lightning, excuse me Neymar, struck twice and brought his tally up to 4 goals in this tournament, currently ahead of everyone else (closest to him are the following players tied with 3 goals: Karim Benzema (FRA), Thomas Muller (GER), Arjen Robben (NED), Enner Valencia (ECU), Robin van Persie (NED)). Even though Fred looked offside, he piled it on the Indomitable (I really need to start calling them just the lions, do these guys look indomitable to you?) Lions, and then Fernandinho, the Manchester City star, makes it 4. So realistically this kind of a dominating performance over Cameroon prevented any chance Mexico had of winning this group. Brazilian fans love it when their team not only wins but scores a crap ton of goals and Scolari's side did exactly that to go to the knockout stage in style. But they want to see A Selecao play 4 more games at the World Cup, and if they thought the Group Stage was tougher than they initially anticipated (Croatian fans will not remember their game against Brazil fondly after going out in the group stage, and Ochoa was a beast against Brazil), wait until the group stage, starting with a new and improved Chile side looking for more 2010 revenge. They got Spain, can they get Brazil back too?
Elimination Analysis: Cameroon
7 appearances at the World Cup, this makes Cameroon 6 for 7 in being eliminated in the group stage. Once again their inspiring 1990 Italy run to the quarterfinals remains the only time they got out of their group, and unfortunately 24 years later it hasn't been enough to inspire the future generations of Cameroonian football players to do better. Samuel Eto'o would like to be the next Roger Milla and be around for the next World Cup in a nation familiar to him when he played for Anzhi Makhachkala in the Russian Premier League, but his limited involvement in this World Cup could be the clock is ticking quite fast for the prolific and legendary player. Their fans would have hoped they at least performed a bit better in this group but it wasn't even close. Brazil, Croatia, and Mexico might've been a tougher trio collectively than Denmark, Japan, and Netherlands in 2010, but it still wasn't pretty for Cameroon. From being scored on 9 times in 3 games, an ugly red card for Alex Song, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto headbutting Benjamin Moukandjo, they were a mess, and there's major sorting out to do if they want to not only have a better showing at the next World Cup but even qualify for it. There will be plenty of other decent African nations like Egypt, South Africa, and Burkina Faso that would cherish a World Cup experience that Cameroon didn't make the most of, even given their realistic expectations.
Group A: Croatia vs. Mexico
Result: El Tri win by 3-1
Goalscorers: 72' Rafael Marquez (Leon), 75' Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen), 82' Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (Manchester United), 87' Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg)
Bookings: 9' Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla), 39' Rafael Marquez (Leon), 66' Jose Vazquez (Leon), 89' red card Ante Rebic (Fiorentina)
Significance of Bookings: Jose Vazquez will miss Mexico's Round of 16 matchup against Netherlands
Lineups
Croatia (4-2-3-1)
Stipe Pletikosa (Rostov); Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk, captain), Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Dejan Lovren (Southampton), Sime Vrsaljko (Genoa); Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla), Danijel Pranjic (Panathinaikos); Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg); Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich)
Changes from last match
Pranjic moving from full back to central midfielder, Sammir left off the starting 11 with Vrsaljko returning as a starter
Subs:
Mateo Kovacic (Inter) 58' for Sime Vrsaljko
Ante Rebic (Fiorentina) 69' for Ivica Olic
Nikica Jelavic (Hull City) 74' for Danijel Pranjic
Mexico (5-3-2)
Guillermo Ochoa (Ajaccio); Francisco Rodriguez (America), Rafael Marquez (Leon, captain), Hector Moreno (Espanyol), Paul Aguilar (America), Miguel Layun (America); Jose Vazquez (Leon), Hector Herrera (Porto), Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen); Giovani dos Santos (Villarreal), Oribe Peralta (Santos Laguna)
Changes from last match
Same formation and starting 11 that took on Brazil
Subs:
Javier Hernandez (Manchester United) 62' for Giovani dos Santos
Carlos Pena (Leon) 79' for Oribe Peralta
Marco Fabian (Cruz Azul) 84' for Andres Guardado
In their first two games, Mexico and Croatia have delighted the world with great football considering they were supposed to be OK teams but just stepping stones for Brazil. They were certainly anything but. Croatia gave Brazil a thrilling opening encounter and after a match full of controversial moments Croatia were unlucky not to get anything from that. Mexico did one better and succeeded in denying Brazil some points with an epic performance, especially by Guillermo Ochoa, who's most impressive save denied Thiago Silva a goal from point blank range. Now these two teams were ready to lock horns. Mexico needed a draw to advance, Croatia needed a win. Croatia started out strong with long spells of possession but without really testing Ochoa too much. Then the pendulum swung in favor of Mexico, then back and for, and believe it or not we went 70 minutes without a goal despite the offensive focuses and the desperation of both teams (Mexico needed a draw, but a goal would've been an excellent safety net). Well who better than Mexico's captain to lift the Mexicans to a victory, starting with his goal from an Andres Guardado corner kick. Then shortly afterwards Guardado and substitute Chicharito made it 3-0 for Mexico and all hope seemed lost for Croatia. Ivan Perisic did deny Ochoa a clean sheet, something Cameroon and Mexico both failed to do, but it was too little too late. And to add insult to injury, the rising star of Fiorentina Ante Rebic had a clumsy challenge on Carlos Pena and got a red card. It didn't mean much since Croatia were going out anyway but at least try to go out fighting respectfully. Ultimately Mexico kept pushing and pushing and got a victory they deserved, especially when the ref inexplicably didn't call a handball on Croatia twice, most notable the clear one from Darijo Srna in the box. Miguel Herrera, who was entertaining to watch as he joyously celebrated each Mexican goal, has certainly worked his magic and turned Mexico into a force to be reckoned with. But will they be able to withstand the Dutch in the next round?
Elimination Analysis: Croatia
Croatia missed out on the 2010 World Cup after finishing in 3rd of their qualifying group behind England by 7 and Ukraine by 1 point, but they bounced back, and made it to Euro 2012 where they narrowly got eliminated in the group stage to Italy and Spain (the eventual finalists of that tournament). They couldn't overcome Belgium though and had to get past Iceland (which turned out to be harder than they anticipated) to get to Brazil. This team may not have too many superstars but you start with a UEFA Champions League winner like Luka Modric, a UEFA Europa League winner like Ivan Rakitic, an experienced captain like Darijo Srna, and suddenly more and more pieces fall into place. A run to 3rd place like in 1998 France was always wishful thinking but Croatia is a team more people should keep an eye on because they are closer to repeating a feat like that than you think. The match against Brazil, the goal that wasn't allowed, the bs penalty called on Dejan Lovren, it's going to haunt the Croatian fans and players for a while but they still had their chance to redeem themselves by beating Mexico. They certainly didn't lack confidence as head coach Niko Kovac and Luka Modric talked a little bit of crap about Mexico going into the game, and they got blindsided. If they learn their lesson from this experience, the next major tournament we see Croatia in (which hopefully is Euro 2016) we'll see them get out of their group and they'll go from there.
Eliminated: Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Croatia, England, Spain
Qualified: 1A Brazil, 2A Mexico, 1B Netherlands, 2B Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Belgium
Still in the hunt: Algeria, Cote D'Ivoire, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iran, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay
Up next
Group D Finale: Italy vs. Uruguay, Costa Rica vs. England
Group C Finale: Japan vs. Colombia, Greece vs. Cote D'Ivoire
For Italy, a draw will send them through to the KO Stage, while Uruguay need a win, and will likely, once again, turn to Luis Suarez to make it happen. For Italy, as always the experience of the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, and Andrea Pirlo, plus the youth and talent of players like Mario Balotelli will be the key to their success.
Costa Rica are no longer underdogs. The way things have gone, they look more than likely to beat England, especially with Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell and the gang looking as threatening as ever. Can the Three Lions regain their roar for a lifting send off to this tournament or is more disappointment on the menu for the English players and fans?
Japan couldn't get the points they needed from other games, and face long odds to advance to the KO Stage, especially when one of the prerequisites now is to beat a Colombian team that's been unstoppable so far in this group. Colombia need just a point to grab hold of 1st place in Group C, and a performance identical to either their 3-0 win over Greece or 2-1 win over Cote D'Ivoire will surely do the trick. From Mario Yepes in defense to Teolifo Gutierrez in the front and everywhere in between, this looks like the best Colombian team we've seen in a long time.
It's a shield vs. spear encounter between a sturdy defensive team, Greece against a team with lots of attacking power, Cote D'Ivoire. Can the Elephants sink the Pirate Ship or will the Pirate Ship find 3 points hidden somewhere. If they don't, Greece will be out. As long as Japan don't beat Colombia, Cote D'Ivoire just need to not lose to Greece and they'll be fine.
2 teams already qualified! 6 teams looking to qualify! 2 will succeed, 4 will head out!
Group B: Australia vs. Spain
Result: 3-0 win for Spain that couldn't come soon enough
Goalscorers: 36' David Villa (Atletico Madrid), 69' Fernando Torres (Chelsea), 82' Juan Mata (Manchester United)
Bookings: 62' Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), 88' Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace)
Significance of bookings: None; both teams would be eliminated after this game regardless of the result.
Lineups
Australia (4-3-3)
Mathew Ryan (Club Brugge); Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng Taishan), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Jason Davidson (Heracles Almelo); Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace, captain), Oliver Bozanic (Luzern); Mathew Leckie (Frankfurt), Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets), Tommy Oar (Utrecht)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 formation. Tim Cahill is suspended from this game from yellow card accumulation and Mark Bresciano was left off the starting lineup as well, allowing Bozanic and Taggart (who appearance in the last game as subs) to fill in those vacancies
Subs:
Ben Halloran (Fortuna Dusseldorf) 46' for Adam Taggart
James Troisi (Melbourne Victory) 61' for Tommy Oar
Mark Bresciano (Al-Gharafa) 72' for Oliver Bozanic
Spain (4-2-3-1)
Pepe Reina (Napoli); Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, captain), Jordi Alba (Barcelona); Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Koke (Atletico Madrid); Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), David Villa (Atletico Madrid); Fernando Torres (Chelsea)
Changes from last match
Iker Casillas, Cesar Azpilicueta, Javi Martinez, Sergio Busquets, David Silva, Pedro, and Diego Costa (7 of the 11 that started against Chile) were left on the bench for Reina, Juanfran, Albiol, Koke, Cazorla, Villa, and Torres respectively. (Torres, Koke, and Cazorla made substitute appearances in previous matches while the others were making their debut in this tournament). Ramos was named captain instead of Casillas.
Subs:
Juan Mata (Manchester United) 56' for David Villa
Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona) 68' for Santi Cazorla
David Silva (Manchester City) 83' for Xabi Alonso
All this talk about Spain's golden generation coming to a close after 6 years has over shadowed the fact that Australia are going through the same thing, by their standards. You could see it in their lineup. Both of Australia's remnants of their golden generation (which included Australian soccer legends such as Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill, and Mark Schwarzer) Tim Cahill and Mark Bresciano were not in the starting lineups, the only player in Australia's starting 11 that was in the last World Cup was Mile Jedinak, who along with Cahill, Bresciano, and Mark Milligan are the only survivors from the class of 2010 South Africa. Vicente Del Bosque also made numerous changes to his side (something he doesn't normally do, as we remember from the Spain/Chile match). Both these teams, even though one is a former World Cup champion and the other is still a growing soccer/football nation, will be looking for new players and new ideas to lead them to greater journeys in the future, and the future has the potential to be bright for both teams. Enough about the future talk, in today's match Spain finally got a win by beating Australia 3-0. None of Spain's goalscorers in this game started in either of Spain's first two matches. Spain is a very stacked nation. They have 40+ decent soccer players, many of which didn't make it to Brazil (Jesus Navas, Roberto Soldado, Fernando Llorente, Gabi, to name a few). When you have that much talent at your disposal and one result goes horrible wrong like Netherlands beating Spain 5-1, you can't be afraid to shuffle the deck and try something new. Coulda woulda shouda. But it was a remarkable day for David Villa: who else to open the scoring for the Spanish? He scored in what would be his final match for Spain, 97 appearances and 59 goals later from making his debut in 2005 in a 5-0 victory over San Marino in a 2006 World Cup qualifier. I doubt on that day he'd foresee the succeed he would have playing for Spain. Despite Australia holding its own against eventual group winners the Netherlands better than Spain did, Australia couldn't get much going without Tim Cahill but despite the loss, Australian fans will be proud of their team for not being a dormat. They still didn't get a single point but the 3 points each of their Group B rivals earned from those matches were far from automatic.
Elimination Analysis: Spain
They didn't want to be a part of this trend, but Spain join 2002 France and 2010 Italy as the 3rd defending World Champions to go out in the group stage in the 21st century. It's always exciting stuff when champions are dethroned, like when the San Antonio Spurs prevented the Miami Heat from getting their threepeat, no one can take away what they did before coming to Brazil. Back to back European championships and winning their first ever World Cup in 2010 South Africa with a common core of players (Casillas, Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Ramos), it truly is incredible. And many will still argue that the Spanish team between the 2006 and 2014 World Cups is one of, if not the, best teams of all time in soccer/football. But now it's time for new chapters to be written and new stories to unfold. Whichever players and coach shows up for Euro 2016, they will not want to repeat what happened in 2014 Brazil.
Elimination Analysis: Australia
As soon as the draw Australia was doomed. I'm a firm believer of anything can happen, not anything WILL happen. Despite getting to the round of 16 before falling to eventual champions Italy in 2006 and getting edged out of the group stage by goal difference in 2010, it was very unlikely Australia could get 4 points again with this kind of group. But credit to them for giving it their best shot and actually losing with style. 3-1, 3-2, and 3-0 losses to go out of the World Cup sting but it probably could've gone so much worse for the Socceroos. This team was definitely in transition. Schwarzer and Neill are gone, Cahill and Bresciano soon will be too, hopefully Jedinak stays a while longer and some of Australia's younger players like Davidson, Ryan, Bozanic, McGowan, Leckie, and Taggart continue to grow and lead Australia to more incredible moments.
Group B: Netherlands vs. Chile
Result: Netherlands win 2-0
Goalscorers: 77' Leroy Fer (Norwich City), 90+2' Memphis Depay (PSV)
Bookings: 25' Francisco Silva (Osasuna), 64' Daley Blind (Ajax)
Lineups
Netherlands (4-3-1-2)
Jasper Cillessen (Ajax); Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord), Daley Blind (Ajax); Georginio Wijnauldum (PSV), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahce); Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray); Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich, captain), Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kyiv)
Changes from last match
Change from a 5-3-2 to 4-3-1-2, likely partially due to Bruno Martins Indi being injured. Robin van Persie would also be absent due to yellow card accumulation. Those two along with Jonathan de Guzman would be replaced by Wijnauldum, Kuyt, and Lens in the starting lineup. Robben acts as captain in place of van Persie.
Subs:
Memphis Depay (PSV) 69' for Jeremain Lens
Leroy Fer (Norwich City) 75' for Wesley Sneijder
Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord) 89' for Dirk Kuyt
Chile (5-3-2)
Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad, captain); Gary Medel (Cardiff City), Francisco Silva (Osasuna), Gonzalo Jara (Nottingham Forest), Mauricio Isla (Juventus), Eugenio Mena (Santos); Charles Aranguiz (Internacional), Marcelo Diaz (Basel), Felipe Gutierrez (Twente); Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona), Eduardo Vargas (Valencia)
Changes from last match
Only change is Gutierrez replacing the injured Arturo Vidal.
Subs:
Jean Beausejour (Wigan Athletic) 46' for Felipe Gutierrez
Jorge Valdivia (Palmeiras) 70' for Francisco Silva
Mauricio Pinilla (Cagliari) 81' for Eduardo Varges
2 games, 2 wins and 2 impressive showings of entertaining soccer are what Netherlands and Chile have brought to the table so far in this World Cup. And now they go head to head to determine who will finish in 1st in Group B. It was quite the chess match as both sides tried to get at the other but had a response for everything thrown at them in the first half. Then the subs came in and that's when the dice started rolling. Even though Louis van Gaal put in Memphis Depay, he made a defensive minded substitution in bringing in Leroy Fer, who is sort of like Netherlands's Jermaine Jones or Kyle Beckerman. After all, Netherlands only needed a point to win the group while Chile needed 3. Looks like Fer believes in "the best defense is a strong offense", as he scored for Netherlands late on to all but certainly seal the top spot for the Oranje. And Memphis Depay keeps his goal scoring streak alive as Netherlands's subs get the job done. Although Jorge Valdivia got a warm welcome from Brazilians who are used to seeing him play in the club he captains in Brazil, that's about as close to an impact Chile's subs made in this game. But regardless both Netherlands and Chile deservedly go through to the next round and will definitely be a handful for Mexico and Brazil respectively.
Group A: Cameroon vs. Brazil
Result: Brazil winning 4-1
Goalscorers: 17', 35' Neymar (Barcelona), 26' Joel Matip (Schalke), 49' Fred (Fluminense), 84' Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Bookings: 11' Eyong Enoh (Antalyaspor), 76' Edgar Salli (Lens), 80' Stephane Mbia (Sevilla)
Lineups
Cameroon (4-5-1)
Charles Itandje (Konyaspor); Allan Nyom (Granada), Nicolas N'Koulou (Marseille, captain), Joel Matip (Schalke), Henri Bedimo (Lyon); Landry N'Guemo (Bordeaux), Stephane Mbia (Sevilla), Eyong Enoh (Antalyaspor), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Mainz 05), Benjamin Moukandjo (Nancy); Vincent Aboubakar (Lorient)
Changes from last match
Mbia and Matip play in different positions than in the previous match. Aurelien Chedjou, Assou-Ekotto (likely due to his behavior against Croatia), and Alex Song (red card against Croatia) do not appear in the starting 11 with Nyom, Bedimo, and N'Guemo filling in the vacancies.
Subs:
Edgar Salli (Lens) 58' for Benjamin Moukandjo
Pierre Webo (Fenerbahce) 72' Vincent Aboubakar
Jean Makoun (Rennes) 81' for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Brazil (4-3-3)
Julio Cesar (Toronto FC), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Thiago Silva (PSG, captain), David Luiz (Chelsea), Marcelo (Real Madrid); Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Paulinho (Tottenham), Oscar (Chelsea); Hulk (Zenit), Neymar (Barcelona), Fred (Fluminense)
Changes from last match
Hulk back in the mix after recovering from injury to force Ramires back onto the bench, change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3.
Subs:
Fernandinho (Manchester City) 46' for Paulinho
Ramires (Chelsea) 63' for Hulk
Willian (Chelsea) 71' for Neymar
Cameroon certainly looked like a team that couldn't wait to get this game over with. They were already eliminated, arguably their best player Alex Song couldn't play because he foolishly got himself a red card against Croatia, and there was a very unlikely chance of Brazil not beating them. Mexico would've loved Cameroon to at least draw against Brazil though, and it looked like that when Joel Matip's goal cancelled out Neymar's earlier skillful effort. That lasted nine minutes before lightning, excuse me Neymar, struck twice and brought his tally up to 4 goals in this tournament, currently ahead of everyone else (closest to him are the following players tied with 3 goals: Karim Benzema (FRA), Thomas Muller (GER), Arjen Robben (NED), Enner Valencia (ECU), Robin van Persie (NED)). Even though Fred looked offside, he piled it on the Indomitable (I really need to start calling them just the lions, do these guys look indomitable to you?) Lions, and then Fernandinho, the Manchester City star, makes it 4. So realistically this kind of a dominating performance over Cameroon prevented any chance Mexico had of winning this group. Brazilian fans love it when their team not only wins but scores a crap ton of goals and Scolari's side did exactly that to go to the knockout stage in style. But they want to see A Selecao play 4 more games at the World Cup, and if they thought the Group Stage was tougher than they initially anticipated (Croatian fans will not remember their game against Brazil fondly after going out in the group stage, and Ochoa was a beast against Brazil), wait until the group stage, starting with a new and improved Chile side looking for more 2010 revenge. They got Spain, can they get Brazil back too?
Elimination Analysis: Cameroon
7 appearances at the World Cup, this makes Cameroon 6 for 7 in being eliminated in the group stage. Once again their inspiring 1990 Italy run to the quarterfinals remains the only time they got out of their group, and unfortunately 24 years later it hasn't been enough to inspire the future generations of Cameroonian football players to do better. Samuel Eto'o would like to be the next Roger Milla and be around for the next World Cup in a nation familiar to him when he played for Anzhi Makhachkala in the Russian Premier League, but his limited involvement in this World Cup could be the clock is ticking quite fast for the prolific and legendary player. Their fans would have hoped they at least performed a bit better in this group but it wasn't even close. Brazil, Croatia, and Mexico might've been a tougher trio collectively than Denmark, Japan, and Netherlands in 2010, but it still wasn't pretty for Cameroon. From being scored on 9 times in 3 games, an ugly red card for Alex Song, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto headbutting Benjamin Moukandjo, they were a mess, and there's major sorting out to do if they want to not only have a better showing at the next World Cup but even qualify for it. There will be plenty of other decent African nations like Egypt, South Africa, and Burkina Faso that would cherish a World Cup experience that Cameroon didn't make the most of, even given their realistic expectations.
Group A: Croatia vs. Mexico
Result: El Tri win by 3-1
Goalscorers: 72' Rafael Marquez (Leon), 75' Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen), 82' Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (Manchester United), 87' Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg)
Bookings: 9' Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla), 39' Rafael Marquez (Leon), 66' Jose Vazquez (Leon), 89' red card Ante Rebic (Fiorentina)
Significance of Bookings: Jose Vazquez will miss Mexico's Round of 16 matchup against Netherlands
Lineups
Croatia (4-2-3-1)
Stipe Pletikosa (Rostov); Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk, captain), Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Dejan Lovren (Southampton), Sime Vrsaljko (Genoa); Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla), Danijel Pranjic (Panathinaikos); Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg); Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich)
Changes from last match
Pranjic moving from full back to central midfielder, Sammir left off the starting 11 with Vrsaljko returning as a starter
Subs:
Mateo Kovacic (Inter) 58' for Sime Vrsaljko
Ante Rebic (Fiorentina) 69' for Ivica Olic
Nikica Jelavic (Hull City) 74' for Danijel Pranjic
Mexico (5-3-2)
Guillermo Ochoa (Ajaccio); Francisco Rodriguez (America), Rafael Marquez (Leon, captain), Hector Moreno (Espanyol), Paul Aguilar (America), Miguel Layun (America); Jose Vazquez (Leon), Hector Herrera (Porto), Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen); Giovani dos Santos (Villarreal), Oribe Peralta (Santos Laguna)
Changes from last match
Same formation and starting 11 that took on Brazil
Subs:
Javier Hernandez (Manchester United) 62' for Giovani dos Santos
Carlos Pena (Leon) 79' for Oribe Peralta
Marco Fabian (Cruz Azul) 84' for Andres Guardado
In their first two games, Mexico and Croatia have delighted the world with great football considering they were supposed to be OK teams but just stepping stones for Brazil. They were certainly anything but. Croatia gave Brazil a thrilling opening encounter and after a match full of controversial moments Croatia were unlucky not to get anything from that. Mexico did one better and succeeded in denying Brazil some points with an epic performance, especially by Guillermo Ochoa, who's most impressive save denied Thiago Silva a goal from point blank range. Now these two teams were ready to lock horns. Mexico needed a draw to advance, Croatia needed a win. Croatia started out strong with long spells of possession but without really testing Ochoa too much. Then the pendulum swung in favor of Mexico, then back and for, and believe it or not we went 70 minutes without a goal despite the offensive focuses and the desperation of both teams (Mexico needed a draw, but a goal would've been an excellent safety net). Well who better than Mexico's captain to lift the Mexicans to a victory, starting with his goal from an Andres Guardado corner kick. Then shortly afterwards Guardado and substitute Chicharito made it 3-0 for Mexico and all hope seemed lost for Croatia. Ivan Perisic did deny Ochoa a clean sheet, something Cameroon and Mexico both failed to do, but it was too little too late. And to add insult to injury, the rising star of Fiorentina Ante Rebic had a clumsy challenge on Carlos Pena and got a red card. It didn't mean much since Croatia were going out anyway but at least try to go out fighting respectfully. Ultimately Mexico kept pushing and pushing and got a victory they deserved, especially when the ref inexplicably didn't call a handball on Croatia twice, most notable the clear one from Darijo Srna in the box. Miguel Herrera, who was entertaining to watch as he joyously celebrated each Mexican goal, has certainly worked his magic and turned Mexico into a force to be reckoned with. But will they be able to withstand the Dutch in the next round?
Elimination Analysis: Croatia
Croatia missed out on the 2010 World Cup after finishing in 3rd of their qualifying group behind England by 7 and Ukraine by 1 point, but they bounced back, and made it to Euro 2012 where they narrowly got eliminated in the group stage to Italy and Spain (the eventual finalists of that tournament). They couldn't overcome Belgium though and had to get past Iceland (which turned out to be harder than they anticipated) to get to Brazil. This team may not have too many superstars but you start with a UEFA Champions League winner like Luka Modric, a UEFA Europa League winner like Ivan Rakitic, an experienced captain like Darijo Srna, and suddenly more and more pieces fall into place. A run to 3rd place like in 1998 France was always wishful thinking but Croatia is a team more people should keep an eye on because they are closer to repeating a feat like that than you think. The match against Brazil, the goal that wasn't allowed, the bs penalty called on Dejan Lovren, it's going to haunt the Croatian fans and players for a while but they still had their chance to redeem themselves by beating Mexico. They certainly didn't lack confidence as head coach Niko Kovac and Luka Modric talked a little bit of crap about Mexico going into the game, and they got blindsided. If they learn their lesson from this experience, the next major tournament we see Croatia in (which hopefully is Euro 2016) we'll see them get out of their group and they'll go from there.
Eliminated: Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Croatia, England, Spain
Qualified: 1A Brazil, 2A Mexico, 1B Netherlands, 2B Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Belgium
Still in the hunt: Algeria, Cote D'Ivoire, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iran, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay
Up next
Group D Finale: Italy vs. Uruguay, Costa Rica vs. England
Group C Finale: Japan vs. Colombia, Greece vs. Cote D'Ivoire
For Italy, a draw will send them through to the KO Stage, while Uruguay need a win, and will likely, once again, turn to Luis Suarez to make it happen. For Italy, as always the experience of the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, and Andrea Pirlo, plus the youth and talent of players like Mario Balotelli will be the key to their success.
Costa Rica are no longer underdogs. The way things have gone, they look more than likely to beat England, especially with Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell and the gang looking as threatening as ever. Can the Three Lions regain their roar for a lifting send off to this tournament or is more disappointment on the menu for the English players and fans?
Japan couldn't get the points they needed from other games, and face long odds to advance to the KO Stage, especially when one of the prerequisites now is to beat a Colombian team that's been unstoppable so far in this group. Colombia need just a point to grab hold of 1st place in Group C, and a performance identical to either their 3-0 win over Greece or 2-1 win over Cote D'Ivoire will surely do the trick. From Mario Yepes in defense to Teolifo Gutierrez in the front and everywhere in between, this looks like the best Colombian team we've seen in a long time.
It's a shield vs. spear encounter between a sturdy defensive team, Greece against a team with lots of attacking power, Cote D'Ivoire. Can the Elephants sink the Pirate Ship or will the Pirate Ship find 3 points hidden somewhere. If they don't, Greece will be out. As long as Japan don't beat Colombia, Cote D'Ivoire just need to not lose to Greece and they'll be fine.
2 teams already qualified! 6 teams looking to qualify! 2 will succeed, 4 will head out!
Monday, June 23, 2014
2014 FIFA World Cup Day 11 Review Day 12 Preview
USA, Portugal, and Group H wrap up the 2nd wave of Group Stage matches, and I'll tell you how it went down.
Group H: Belgium vs. Russia
Result: 1-0 win for Belgium
Goalscorers: 88' Divock Origi (Lille)
Bookings: 38' Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), 54' Axel Witsel (Zenit), 73' Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid)
Lineups
Belgium (4-2-3-1)
Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid); Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Daniel van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City, captain), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal); Axel Witsel (Zenit), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United); Dries Mertens (Napoli), Kevin de Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Eden Hazard (Chelsea); Romelu Lukaku (Everton)
Changes from last match
Vermaelen replaces Jan Vertonghen in the starting lineup despite not being 100% fit. Mousa Dembele and Nacer Chadli are left off the starting lineup for Fellaini and Mertens to reward the latter pair for their good performance against Algeria. So pretty much the Belgian Tottenham trio was moved to the bench
Subs:
Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham) 31' for Thomas Vermaelen
Divock Origi (Lille) 57' for Romelu Lukaku
Kevin Mirallas (Everton) 75' for Dries Mertens
Russia (4-1-1-3-1)
Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow); Aleksei Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow), Vasili Berezutski (CSKA Moscow, captain), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Dmitri Kombarov (Spartak Moscow); Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow); Viktor Fayzulin (Zenit); Aleksandr Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Maksim Kanunnikov (Rubin Kazan), Oleg Shatov (Zenit); Aleksandr Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-5-1 to a 4-1-1-3-1 formation. Andrey Yeshchenko and Yuri Zhirkov left on the bench, replaced by Kozlov and Kanunnikov respectively
Subs:
Andrey Yeshchenko (Anzhi) 62' for Aleksei Kozlov
Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow) 83' for Oleg Shatov
Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Zenit) 90' for Aleksandr Samedov
Both these European teams are making their first World Cup appearance since 2002 and are both decent teams that have been looming in the shadows of bigger European giants for at least the last decade or so. But now with good managers and talented squads, they're hoping to break the mold and make a decent run this year, but so far it hasn't been pretty for either team. You look at their lineups and you think they should be scoring more goals than this. It took until 2 minutes before the end of regulation for either side to make the break through and it was another substitute goal, this time from Kenyan born Belgian Divock Origi. So far Belgium has gotten all of their goals so far at the World Cup from their substitutes. That being said, maybe they should sub in their 3 best offensive players every match and maybe they'll score more goals. Just kidding...or am I? Well either way, Belgium got their win which made Belgium the 6th team to qualify to the knockout stage following Netherlands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Argentina. They'll hope for a much better performance to close out their group stage against South Korea because so far I don't think they've achieved their potential as a team, and with tougher opponents awaiting in the latter stages, they'll hope to get there as soon as possible. As for Russia, anything less than a win against Algeria will end their trip in Brazil, and we all know how much Russia expects from Fabio Capella by the salary he gets (best paid international team soccer manager on the planet by far) so I can't imagine the reaction in Russia if the 2018 hosts go out in the group stage.
Group H: South Korea vs. Algeria
Result: 4-2 win for Algeria
Goalscorers: 26' Islam Slimani (Sporting CP), 28' Rafik Halliche (Academica), 38' Abdelmoumene Djabou (Club Africain), 50' Son Heung-Min (Bayer Leverkusen), 62' Yacine Brahimi (Granada), 72' Koo Ja-Cheol (Mainz 05)
Bookings: 54' Lee Yong (Ulsan Hyundai), 67' Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwiya), 69' Han Kook-Young (Kashiwa Reysol)
Lineups
South Korea (4-2-3-1)
Jung Sung-Ryong (Suwon Bluewings); Lee Yong (Ulsan Hyundai), Hong Jeong-Ho (Augsburg), Kim Young-Gwon (Guangzhou Evergrande), Yun Suk-Young (Queens Park Rangers); Han Kook-Young (Kashiwa Reysol), Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton Wanderers); Ki Sung-Yeung (Sunderland), Park Chu-Young (Watford), Koo Ja-Cheol (Mainz 05, captain); Son Heung-Min (Bayer Leverkusen)RChanges from last match
Change from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1. However it's the exact same 11 players who started against Russia just Park Chu-Young playing as a CAM instead of a striker
Subs:
Kim Shin-Wook (Ulsan Hyundai) 57' for Park Chu-Young
Lee Keun-Ho (Sangju Sangmu) 64' for Lee Chung-Yong
Ji Dong-Won (Augsburg) 78' for Han Kook-Young
Algeria (5-2-2-1)
Rais M'Bolhi (CSKA Sofia); Aissa Mandi (Reims), Carl Medjani (Valenciennes), Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwiya, captain), Rafik Halliche (Academica), Djamel Mesbah (Livorno); Yacine Brahimi (Granada), Abdelmoumene Djabou (Club Africain); Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia), Nabil Bentaleb (Tottenham); Islam Slimani (Sporting CP)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-2-1 to 5-2-2-1 formation (trading a midfielder for a center defender). Mehdi Mostefa, Faouzi Ghoulam, Saphir Taider, Riyad Mahrez, and El Arbi Hillel Soudani (half of the starting lineup against Belgium) were kept on the bench and Mandi, Medjani, Mesbah, Brahimi, and Djabou started with those vacancies.
Subs:
Nabil Ghilas (Porto) 73' for Abdelmoumene Djabou
Medhi Lacen (Getafe) 77' for Yacine Brahimi
Essaid Belkalem (Watford) 89' for Madjid Bougherra
Nations in Groups A-G see both Algeria and South Korea in the same group and are like "damn I wish I was in this group". But in the World Cup you always gotta be careful what you wish for because even the most unlikely teams have some bite in them. Look at South Korea and Algeria's performances in the World Cup of 2010. Algeria nearly eliminated the USA with their tough defense if it weren't for Landon Donovan's goal that every American including myself just can't mention enough (I'm sorry lol), while South Korea shockingly made it out of Group B instead of Greece or Nigeria and were only eliminated by a tough Uruguayan team in a close game. South Korea was coming off a 1-1 draw that was a point gifted to them by Igor Akinfeev, while Algeria put in a decent performance against group favorites Belgium. However by now we all know Algeria are a good defensive team, but where are they gonna get goalscorers from? Well in this historic day, four Algerians: Islam Slimani, Rafik Halliche, Abdelmoumene Djabou, and Yacine Brahimi, combined to give Algeria a big win. What does the fox say? Well the Desert Foxes say they are not gonna be dormats in this group, they're gonna take the wheel and play their game and they managed to get goals (something they usually struggle to do) and shell shock the Taegeuk Warriors. They had no idea what hit them, and they were down 3-0 by the half. They did manage to fight back and ultimately we got a 4-2 win in what was supposed to be a very boring, like 0-0 game. So Algeria rockets from bottom to second in this group while South Korea are in an awful position. It's not game over for them, but I don't see them winning against Belgium, and even then it might not be enough. Despite having a few good runs in 2002 and 2010, it looks like South Korea are about to hit a dead end.
Group G: United States vs. Portugal
Result: 2-2 draw
Goalscorers: 5' Nani (Manchester United), 64' Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), 81' Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders), 90+5' Silvestre Varela (Porto)
Bookings: 75' Jermaine Jones
Lineups
USA (4-2-3-1)
Tim Howard (Everton); Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla); Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas); Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City); Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders, captain)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-1-2 to 4-2-3-1, likely because of the absense of Jozy Altidore. With Altidore injured, Graham Zusi takes the opening in the starting 11.
Subs:
DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders) 72' for Alejandro Bedoya
Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes) 87' for Clint Dempsey
Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy) 90+1' for Graham Zusi
Portugal (4-5-1)
Beto (Sevilla); Joao Pereira (Valencia), Ricardo Costa (Valencia), Bruno Alves (Fenerbahce), Andre Almeida (Benfica); Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kyiv), Joao Moutinho (Monaco), Raul Meireles (Fenerbahce), Nani (Manchester United), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, captain); Helder Postiga (Lazio)
Changes from last match
Pepe was suspended from his red card against Germany and Fabio Coentrao, Hugo Almeida, and Rui Patricio were injured, which put Beto, Costa, and the other Almeida to find their way to the starting 11.
Subs:
Eder (Braga) 16' for Helder Postiga
William Carvalho (Sporting CP) 46' for Andre Almeida
Silvestre Varela (Porto) 69' for Raul Meireles
USA were hopeful, Portugal were desperate, but both sets of fans believed in their teams and wanted to see them get out of this difficult group. Both of them struggled with a few injuries, Jozy Altidore sidelined for the USA but Clint Dempsey and Matt Besler recovered from their injuries against Ghana (though Matt Besler continued to have similar issues in this match but stayed in the whole 90 minutes), while Ronaldo and Bruno Alves struggled with injuries but made it to this match, which wasn't the case for Rui Patricio, Fabio Coentrao, or Hugo Almeida. And of course Pepe's red card keeps him out of this match. USA needed a win to confirm passage to the Round of 16 but a draw could be helpful too, but Portugal realistically needed a win to stay alive but wouldn't be out with a draw either. In USA's opening match they got off to a fast start scoring against Ghana which was the reverse of 2010 when England, Slovenia, and Ghana scored early against them. Well the ghosts of South Africa found their way to Manaus and Nani scored for Portugal from the 5th minute for a nightmare start for the Stars and Stripes. And Geoff Cameron's crappy clearance acted as an assist to Nani. USA went straight to work putting pressure on Portugal and got a lot of good chances, including Michael Bradley who had a dream of a chance but was cleared off the line by Ricardo Costa. He may have been filling in for Pepe but this experience CB was just as formidable of an opponent, and Portugal's backup goalie Beto, UEFA Europa League winner with Sevilla, was no slouch either. Of course Tim Howard had to make a few big saves as well, but when doesn't he have to? USA are a good team but they make mistakes...a few too many IMO. But USA did well to come back with goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey. They definitely earned it and were play great, all they had to do was play it smart and way for time to run out. Unfortunately we got a lot of stoppage time and in the very last minute of it, substitute Silvestre Varela broke American hearts and rebuilt Portuguese ones with a goal to tie up what was an exhilarating match! And who else to set up Varela's goal than the one and only Cristiano Ronaldo, who otherwise had a below par performance, but all it takes is one moment for a player like Ronaldo to lift his team, just like his rival Lionel Messi, who only needed 1 moment to beat Iran. The good news is USA are masters of their own destiny and if they get a point against Germany they'll go through. Minus the errors (like Michael Bradley being unable to clear the ball which lead the Portugal's second goal), a performance like this one could be enough to USA to draw against Germany. Portugal however are not out but they're a ways from getting in as well. Do they have what it takes to beat a feisty Ghanian team? That is the question.
Up next!
Group A and B Finales
Netherlands vs. Chile (fight for the right to win Group B)
Australia vs. Spain (go out with a bang)
Cameroon vs. Brazil (hosts win the game, win the group)
Croatia vs. Mexico (Croatia must win, Mexico must not lose)
Remember, each group's final games will be played concurrently so you either will be flipping channels or you have to pick which game to watch. My picks are Netherlands vs. Chile and Croatia vs. Mexico but it's really up to you what you want to do.
Both Australia and Spain are heading home after this game, but it'd be a real kick in the pants for Spain to even draw against Australia. Everyone loves an underdog so I think a lot of neutrals will be backing Australia. For Spain though, this could be a fond fair well to their LOYAL fans, you know, the ones that are still proud to support Spain even though they won't come out as winners of this tournament. But Spain will have to be at their best, and it's been anything but their best so far. They've hit rock bottom, and this game could either keep them there a little while longer or be the beginning of a new path and a new generation, maybe.
However much more at stake here for Netherlands vs. Chile. Assuming Brazil are Group A winners, it's normally always ideal to come out as group winners. And this is too close to call. Both Netherlands and Chile play football/soccer we love to watch so it should be a great game!
Nothing has come easy for the Brazilians so far. They won Croatia among a bit of controversy that you probably don't need me to repeat if you've been paying attention to this tournament so far, and they drew against Mexico. Sure Cameroon are the weakest team in this group, but they've got nothing to lose. They'd love to head home with a draw or dare I say a win to remember this tournament by after a couple of matches I'm sure the Indomitable (well, so far very domitable) Lions they'd want to forget if they can, but the way things have gone so far for these two teams, anything less than a Brazil win would be a shocker. Will the hosts overcome Cameroon and get the home fans pumped, or will Cameroon stun them?
For Croatia, it's a must win game. A 4-0 win against Cameroon, albeit a weak team that were reduced to 10 men for most of the match, will surely give them confidence, and they are a force to be reckoned with, especially with Bayern Munich star Mario Mandzukic who has a keen eye for scoring goals, but Mexico are also full of confidence coming off a pretty commendable performance against the hosts. Mexico just need a point but will likely go for a win to give them the best chance of not just qualifying for the next round but also maybe winning the group, which is possible. Another game to look forward to.
32 games of this FIFA World Cup have gone by! We're at the halfway point! I've divided the 32 nations into 4 groups: already through, already eliminated, close to going through, and not as close. Here we go!
Already through
Argentina
Belgium
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Netherlands
Eliminated
Australia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cameroon
England
Spain
Closest to going through
Brazil (win or draw against Cameroon)
Mexico (win or draw against Croatia)
Cote D'Ivoire (win or draw against Greece, assuming Colombia must beat Japan)
Italy (beat or draw against Uruguay)
France (win or draw against Ecuador)
Switzerland (beat Honduras)
Nigeria (assuming Iran can't beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, they should be fine but a draw against Argentina works)
Germany (beat or draw against USA)
USA (beat or draw against Germany)
Algeria (draw against Russia, assuming South Korea can't beat Belgium)
With most work to do to progress
Croatia (beat Mexico)
Greece (beat Cote D'Ivoire and hopefully Japan can't beat Colombia)
Uruguay (beat Italy)
Ecuador (beat France and hopefully Switzerland can't beat Honduras, or tie with the same result in Switzerland/Honduras)
Honduras (beat Switzerland, hope France beats Ecuador, and have a better goal difference than both Ecuador and Switzerland)
Iran (beat Bosnia-Herzegovina, hope Argentina beats Nigeria, have a better goal difference than Nigeria)
Ghana (beat Portugal, hope Germany beats USA or vice versa, have a better goal difference than loser)
Portugal (beat Ghana, hope Germany or USA wins and have a better goal difference than loser)
South Korea (beat Belgium, hope Algeria can't beat Russia, have a better goal difference than either Algeria or Russia)
Russia (beat Algeria, hope South Korea can't beat Belgium, but even if they do, have a better goal difference than South Korea if necessary)
Group H: Belgium vs. Russia
Result: 1-0 win for Belgium
Goalscorers: 88' Divock Origi (Lille)
Bookings: 38' Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), 54' Axel Witsel (Zenit), 73' Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid)
Lineups
Belgium (4-2-3-1)
Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid); Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Daniel van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City, captain), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal); Axel Witsel (Zenit), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United); Dries Mertens (Napoli), Kevin de Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Eden Hazard (Chelsea); Romelu Lukaku (Everton)
Changes from last match
Vermaelen replaces Jan Vertonghen in the starting lineup despite not being 100% fit. Mousa Dembele and Nacer Chadli are left off the starting lineup for Fellaini and Mertens to reward the latter pair for their good performance against Algeria. So pretty much the Belgian Tottenham trio was moved to the bench
Subs:
Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham) 31' for Thomas Vermaelen
Divock Origi (Lille) 57' for Romelu Lukaku
Kevin Mirallas (Everton) 75' for Dries Mertens
Russia (4-1-1-3-1)
Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow); Aleksei Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow), Vasili Berezutski (CSKA Moscow, captain), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Dmitri Kombarov (Spartak Moscow); Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow); Viktor Fayzulin (Zenit); Aleksandr Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Maksim Kanunnikov (Rubin Kazan), Oleg Shatov (Zenit); Aleksandr Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-5-1 to a 4-1-1-3-1 formation. Andrey Yeshchenko and Yuri Zhirkov left on the bench, replaced by Kozlov and Kanunnikov respectively
Subs:
Andrey Yeshchenko (Anzhi) 62' for Aleksei Kozlov
Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow) 83' for Oleg Shatov
Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Zenit) 90' for Aleksandr Samedov
Both these European teams are making their first World Cup appearance since 2002 and are both decent teams that have been looming in the shadows of bigger European giants for at least the last decade or so. But now with good managers and talented squads, they're hoping to break the mold and make a decent run this year, but so far it hasn't been pretty for either team. You look at their lineups and you think they should be scoring more goals than this. It took until 2 minutes before the end of regulation for either side to make the break through and it was another substitute goal, this time from Kenyan born Belgian Divock Origi. So far Belgium has gotten all of their goals so far at the World Cup from their substitutes. That being said, maybe they should sub in their 3 best offensive players every match and maybe they'll score more goals. Just kidding...or am I? Well either way, Belgium got their win which made Belgium the 6th team to qualify to the knockout stage following Netherlands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Argentina. They'll hope for a much better performance to close out their group stage against South Korea because so far I don't think they've achieved their potential as a team, and with tougher opponents awaiting in the latter stages, they'll hope to get there as soon as possible. As for Russia, anything less than a win against Algeria will end their trip in Brazil, and we all know how much Russia expects from Fabio Capella by the salary he gets (best paid international team soccer manager on the planet by far) so I can't imagine the reaction in Russia if the 2018 hosts go out in the group stage.
Group H: South Korea vs. Algeria
Result: 4-2 win for Algeria
Goalscorers: 26' Islam Slimani (Sporting CP), 28' Rafik Halliche (Academica), 38' Abdelmoumene Djabou (Club Africain), 50' Son Heung-Min (Bayer Leverkusen), 62' Yacine Brahimi (Granada), 72' Koo Ja-Cheol (Mainz 05)
Bookings: 54' Lee Yong (Ulsan Hyundai), 67' Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwiya), 69' Han Kook-Young (Kashiwa Reysol)
Lineups
South Korea (4-2-3-1)
Jung Sung-Ryong (Suwon Bluewings); Lee Yong (Ulsan Hyundai), Hong Jeong-Ho (Augsburg), Kim Young-Gwon (Guangzhou Evergrande), Yun Suk-Young (Queens Park Rangers); Han Kook-Young (Kashiwa Reysol), Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton Wanderers); Ki Sung-Yeung (Sunderland), Park Chu-Young (Watford), Koo Ja-Cheol (Mainz 05, captain); Son Heung-Min (Bayer Leverkusen)RChanges from last match
Change from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1. However it's the exact same 11 players who started against Russia just Park Chu-Young playing as a CAM instead of a striker
Subs:
Kim Shin-Wook (Ulsan Hyundai) 57' for Park Chu-Young
Lee Keun-Ho (Sangju Sangmu) 64' for Lee Chung-Yong
Ji Dong-Won (Augsburg) 78' for Han Kook-Young
Algeria (5-2-2-1)
Rais M'Bolhi (CSKA Sofia); Aissa Mandi (Reims), Carl Medjani (Valenciennes), Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwiya, captain), Rafik Halliche (Academica), Djamel Mesbah (Livorno); Yacine Brahimi (Granada), Abdelmoumene Djabou (Club Africain); Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia), Nabil Bentaleb (Tottenham); Islam Slimani (Sporting CP)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-2-1 to 5-2-2-1 formation (trading a midfielder for a center defender). Mehdi Mostefa, Faouzi Ghoulam, Saphir Taider, Riyad Mahrez, and El Arbi Hillel Soudani (half of the starting lineup against Belgium) were kept on the bench and Mandi, Medjani, Mesbah, Brahimi, and Djabou started with those vacancies.
Subs:
Nabil Ghilas (Porto) 73' for Abdelmoumene Djabou
Medhi Lacen (Getafe) 77' for Yacine Brahimi
Essaid Belkalem (Watford) 89' for Madjid Bougherra
Nations in Groups A-G see both Algeria and South Korea in the same group and are like "damn I wish I was in this group". But in the World Cup you always gotta be careful what you wish for because even the most unlikely teams have some bite in them. Look at South Korea and Algeria's performances in the World Cup of 2010. Algeria nearly eliminated the USA with their tough defense if it weren't for Landon Donovan's goal that every American including myself just can't mention enough (I'm sorry lol), while South Korea shockingly made it out of Group B instead of Greece or Nigeria and were only eliminated by a tough Uruguayan team in a close game. South Korea was coming off a 1-1 draw that was a point gifted to them by Igor Akinfeev, while Algeria put in a decent performance against group favorites Belgium. However by now we all know Algeria are a good defensive team, but where are they gonna get goalscorers from? Well in this historic day, four Algerians: Islam Slimani, Rafik Halliche, Abdelmoumene Djabou, and Yacine Brahimi, combined to give Algeria a big win. What does the fox say? Well the Desert Foxes say they are not gonna be dormats in this group, they're gonna take the wheel and play their game and they managed to get goals (something they usually struggle to do) and shell shock the Taegeuk Warriors. They had no idea what hit them, and they were down 3-0 by the half. They did manage to fight back and ultimately we got a 4-2 win in what was supposed to be a very boring, like 0-0 game. So Algeria rockets from bottom to second in this group while South Korea are in an awful position. It's not game over for them, but I don't see them winning against Belgium, and even then it might not be enough. Despite having a few good runs in 2002 and 2010, it looks like South Korea are about to hit a dead end.
Group G: United States vs. Portugal
Result: 2-2 draw
Goalscorers: 5' Nani (Manchester United), 64' Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), 81' Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders), 90+5' Silvestre Varela (Porto)
Bookings: 75' Jermaine Jones
Lineups
USA (4-2-3-1)
Tim Howard (Everton); Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla); Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas); Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City); Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders, captain)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-1-2 to 4-2-3-1, likely because of the absense of Jozy Altidore. With Altidore injured, Graham Zusi takes the opening in the starting 11.
Subs:
DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders) 72' for Alejandro Bedoya
Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes) 87' for Clint Dempsey
Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy) 90+1' for Graham Zusi
Portugal (4-5-1)
Beto (Sevilla); Joao Pereira (Valencia), Ricardo Costa (Valencia), Bruno Alves (Fenerbahce), Andre Almeida (Benfica); Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kyiv), Joao Moutinho (Monaco), Raul Meireles (Fenerbahce), Nani (Manchester United), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, captain); Helder Postiga (Lazio)
Changes from last match
Pepe was suspended from his red card against Germany and Fabio Coentrao, Hugo Almeida, and Rui Patricio were injured, which put Beto, Costa, and the other Almeida to find their way to the starting 11.
Subs:
Eder (Braga) 16' for Helder Postiga
William Carvalho (Sporting CP) 46' for Andre Almeida
Silvestre Varela (Porto) 69' for Raul Meireles
USA were hopeful, Portugal were desperate, but both sets of fans believed in their teams and wanted to see them get out of this difficult group. Both of them struggled with a few injuries, Jozy Altidore sidelined for the USA but Clint Dempsey and Matt Besler recovered from their injuries against Ghana (though Matt Besler continued to have similar issues in this match but stayed in the whole 90 minutes), while Ronaldo and Bruno Alves struggled with injuries but made it to this match, which wasn't the case for Rui Patricio, Fabio Coentrao, or Hugo Almeida. And of course Pepe's red card keeps him out of this match. USA needed a win to confirm passage to the Round of 16 but a draw could be helpful too, but Portugal realistically needed a win to stay alive but wouldn't be out with a draw either. In USA's opening match they got off to a fast start scoring against Ghana which was the reverse of 2010 when England, Slovenia, and Ghana scored early against them. Well the ghosts of South Africa found their way to Manaus and Nani scored for Portugal from the 5th minute for a nightmare start for the Stars and Stripes. And Geoff Cameron's crappy clearance acted as an assist to Nani. USA went straight to work putting pressure on Portugal and got a lot of good chances, including Michael Bradley who had a dream of a chance but was cleared off the line by Ricardo Costa. He may have been filling in for Pepe but this experience CB was just as formidable of an opponent, and Portugal's backup goalie Beto, UEFA Europa League winner with Sevilla, was no slouch either. Of course Tim Howard had to make a few big saves as well, but when doesn't he have to? USA are a good team but they make mistakes...a few too many IMO. But USA did well to come back with goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey. They definitely earned it and were play great, all they had to do was play it smart and way for time to run out. Unfortunately we got a lot of stoppage time and in the very last minute of it, substitute Silvestre Varela broke American hearts and rebuilt Portuguese ones with a goal to tie up what was an exhilarating match! And who else to set up Varela's goal than the one and only Cristiano Ronaldo, who otherwise had a below par performance, but all it takes is one moment for a player like Ronaldo to lift his team, just like his rival Lionel Messi, who only needed 1 moment to beat Iran. The good news is USA are masters of their own destiny and if they get a point against Germany they'll go through. Minus the errors (like Michael Bradley being unable to clear the ball which lead the Portugal's second goal), a performance like this one could be enough to USA to draw against Germany. Portugal however are not out but they're a ways from getting in as well. Do they have what it takes to beat a feisty Ghanian team? That is the question.
Up next!
Group A and B Finales
Netherlands vs. Chile (fight for the right to win Group B)
Australia vs. Spain (go out with a bang)
Cameroon vs. Brazil (hosts win the game, win the group)
Croatia vs. Mexico (Croatia must win, Mexico must not lose)
Remember, each group's final games will be played concurrently so you either will be flipping channels or you have to pick which game to watch. My picks are Netherlands vs. Chile and Croatia vs. Mexico but it's really up to you what you want to do.
Both Australia and Spain are heading home after this game, but it'd be a real kick in the pants for Spain to even draw against Australia. Everyone loves an underdog so I think a lot of neutrals will be backing Australia. For Spain though, this could be a fond fair well to their LOYAL fans, you know, the ones that are still proud to support Spain even though they won't come out as winners of this tournament. But Spain will have to be at their best, and it's been anything but their best so far. They've hit rock bottom, and this game could either keep them there a little while longer or be the beginning of a new path and a new generation, maybe.
However much more at stake here for Netherlands vs. Chile. Assuming Brazil are Group A winners, it's normally always ideal to come out as group winners. And this is too close to call. Both Netherlands and Chile play football/soccer we love to watch so it should be a great game!
Nothing has come easy for the Brazilians so far. They won Croatia among a bit of controversy that you probably don't need me to repeat if you've been paying attention to this tournament so far, and they drew against Mexico. Sure Cameroon are the weakest team in this group, but they've got nothing to lose. They'd love to head home with a draw or dare I say a win to remember this tournament by after a couple of matches I'm sure the Indomitable (well, so far very domitable) Lions they'd want to forget if they can, but the way things have gone so far for these two teams, anything less than a Brazil win would be a shocker. Will the hosts overcome Cameroon and get the home fans pumped, or will Cameroon stun them?
For Croatia, it's a must win game. A 4-0 win against Cameroon, albeit a weak team that were reduced to 10 men for most of the match, will surely give them confidence, and they are a force to be reckoned with, especially with Bayern Munich star Mario Mandzukic who has a keen eye for scoring goals, but Mexico are also full of confidence coming off a pretty commendable performance against the hosts. Mexico just need a point but will likely go for a win to give them the best chance of not just qualifying for the next round but also maybe winning the group, which is possible. Another game to look forward to.
32 games of this FIFA World Cup have gone by! We're at the halfway point! I've divided the 32 nations into 4 groups: already through, already eliminated, close to going through, and not as close. Here we go!
Already through
Argentina
Belgium
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Netherlands
Eliminated
Australia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cameroon
England
Spain
Closest to going through
Brazil (win or draw against Cameroon)
Mexico (win or draw against Croatia)
Cote D'Ivoire (win or draw against Greece, assuming Colombia must beat Japan)
Italy (beat or draw against Uruguay)
France (win or draw against Ecuador)
Switzerland (beat Honduras)
Nigeria (assuming Iran can't beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, they should be fine but a draw against Argentina works)
Germany (beat or draw against USA)
USA (beat or draw against Germany)
Algeria (draw against Russia, assuming South Korea can't beat Belgium)
With most work to do to progress
Croatia (beat Mexico)
Greece (beat Cote D'Ivoire and hopefully Japan can't beat Colombia)
Uruguay (beat Italy)
Ecuador (beat France and hopefully Switzerland can't beat Honduras, or tie with the same result in Switzerland/Honduras)
Honduras (beat Switzerland, hope France beats Ecuador, and have a better goal difference than both Ecuador and Switzerland)
Iran (beat Bosnia-Herzegovina, hope Argentina beats Nigeria, have a better goal difference than Nigeria)
Ghana (beat Portugal, hope Germany beats USA or vice versa, have a better goal difference than loser)
Portugal (beat Ghana, hope Germany or USA wins and have a better goal difference than loser)
South Korea (beat Belgium, hope Algeria can't beat Russia, have a better goal difference than either Algeria or Russia)
Russia (beat Algeria, hope South Korea can't beat Belgium, but even if they do, have a better goal difference than South Korea if necessary)
Sunday, June 22, 2014
2014 FIFA World Cup Day 10 Review Day 11 Preview
Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Germany were considered favorites to beat Iran, Nigeria, and Ghana respectively, how exactly did things go?
Group F: Argentina vs. Iran
Result: 1-0 victory for Argentina
Goalscorers: 90+1' Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Bookings: 53' Javad Nekounam (Al-Kuwait), 73' Masoud Shojaei (Las Palmas)
Lineups
Argentina (4-3-3)
Sergio Romero (Monaco); Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City), Federico Fernandez (Napoli), Ezequiel Garay (Benfica), Marcos Rojo (Sporting CP); Fernando Gago (Boca Juniors), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Angel di Maria (Real Madrid); Lionel Messi (Barcelona, captain), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Changes from last match
Change in formation from 5-3-2 to 4-3-3 (dropping a center back, Hugo Campagnaro, and adding a forward, Higuain). Also Gago replaces Maxi Rodriguez in the starting lineup.
Subs:
Rodrigo Palacio (Inter) 76' for Gonzalo Higuain
Ezequiel Lavezzi (PSG) 76' for Sergio Aguero
Lucas Biglia (Lazio) 90+4' for Angel di Maria
Iran (4-2-3-1)
Alireza Haghighi (Sporting Covilha); Jalal Hosseini (Persepolis), Amir Sadeghi (Esteghlal), Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal), Mehrdad Pooladi (Persepolis); Andranik Teymourian (Esteghlal), Javad Nekounam (Al-Kuwait, captain); Ashkan Dejagah (Fulham), Masoud Shojaei (Las Palmas), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan); Reza Ghoochannejhad (Charlton Athletic)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1. Khosro Heydari replaced by Shojaei.
Subs:
Khosro Heydari (Esteghlal) 76' for Masoud Shojaei
Alireza Jahanbakhsh (NEC) 85' for Askhan Dejagah
Reza Haghighi (Persepolis) 88' for Ehsan Hajsafi
Iran put in a lot of effort to frustrate one of the favorites for the World Cup, and the fact that a team like Iran prevented a team like Argentina from scoring until the second half stoppage time may cause a few to no longer consider Argentina favorites for this title. With this win Argentina are through to the final 16 but they haven't been playing well so far this tournament. If it hadn't been for Sead Kolasinac's own goal and two instances of Lionel Messi magic, Argentina would have 1 point instead of 6. That is how close it has been for this team and for their fans who certainly have high expectations for the two time world champions, it definitely won't do. Iran will likely be accused for parking the bus again but there was more to it than that. Iran had some decent moments offensively and were very unfortunate to not be given a penalty when Pablo Zabaleta fouled another English based player Askhan Dejagah in the penalty area, but there was no penalty. If it was given, unless Sergio Romero did what Diego Benaglio did in Switzerland vs. France (save the penalty), Iran could've lead 1-0. A valiant effort indeed and it was a close run thing but unfortunately close just isn't enough. Both sides will be disappointed from this match, but Iran are not out. A win against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Argentina defeating Nigeria, and then the goal difference could see Iran through to the final 16 for the first time in their history. For Carlos Quieroz, his job is to figure out how to replicate this performance, except getting a goal or two next time around. For Alejandro Sabella, his job is to figure out why Argentina aren't playing as well as they should be.
Group G: Germany vs. Ghana
Result: 2-2 draw
Goalscorers: 51' Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), 54' Andre Ayew (Marseille), 63' Asamoah Gyan (Al-Ain), 71' Miroslav Klose (Lazio)
Bookings: 90+4' Sulley Muntari (AC Milan)
Significance of bookings: Sulley Muntari will be suspended for Ghana's next match, vs. Portugal
Lineups
Germany (4-5-1)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke); Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich, captain), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich); Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)
Changes from last match
Only change is Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil switching positions
Subs:
Shkodran Mustafi (Sampdoria) 46' for Jerome Boateng
Miroslav Klose (Lazio) 69' for Mario Gotze
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich) 70' for Sami Khedira
Ghana (4-2-3-1)
Fatau Dauda (Orlando Pirates); Harrison Afful (Esperance), John Boye (Rennes), Jonathan Mensah (Evian), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus); Sulley Muntari (AC Milan), Mohammed Rabiu (Kuban Krasnodar); Christian Atsu (Vitesse), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Schalke), Andre Ayew (Marseille); Asamoah Gyan (Al-Ain, captain)
Changes from last match
In goal, Adam Kwarasey is replaced by Dauda. Daniel Opare replaced by Afful; Jordan Ayew replaced by Kevin-Prince Boateng
Subs:
Jordan Ayew (Sochaux) 52' for Kevin-Prince Boateng
Wakaso Mubarak (Rubin Kazan) 72' for Christian Atsu
Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Udinese) 78' for Mohammed Rabiu
Subplots galore! Rematch from the 2010 Group D encounter, Schalke teammates Benedikt Howedes and Kevin-Prince Boateng go head to head, but of course a big attention grabber are the Boateng brothers going against each other once again. This time this story had a different ending. Both sides failed to score in the first half but there were plenty of opportunities (interestingly, Ghana became the first team in this tournament to play two different goal keepers, and their choice to go with Dauda seemed to be a good one who looked more composed than Kwarasey did against the USA; it helped that he did get scored on in the first 30 seconds of the match). Then Germany drew first blood with a goal from Mario Gotze, but Ghana fought back to get a 2-1 lead before Miroslav Klose came on to score a goal that would not only save Germany from defeat and give both sides a point but would make history. It was Klose's 15th World Cup goal, tying Brazil's Ronaldo's record. It was a proud moment for him and German football, a big honor to match Ronaldo's feat indeed. But the World Cup's not over yet...could Miroslav Klose go one better and break Ronaldo's record? German fans hope he can, Brazilian fans hope he won't, and American fans will be happy with this 2-2 draw because if the USA beat Portugal, USA will be through to the Round of 16. A win would've been nicer for Ghana but a point means they are not out, but anything less than a win against Portugal in their final group match would mean they would be.
Group F: Nigeria vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Result: 1-0 victory for Nigeria
Goalscorers: 29' Peter Odemwingie (Stoke City)
Bookings: 6' Haris Medunjanin (Gaziantespor), 81' John Obi Mikel (Chelsea)
Lineups
Nigeria (4-2-3-1)
Vincent Enyeama (Lille); Efe Ambrose (Celtic), Joseph Yobo (Norwich City, captain), Juwon Oshaniwa (Ashdod), Kenneth Omeruo (Middlesbrough); Ogenyi Onazi (Lazio), John Obi Mikel (Chelsea); Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow), Peter Odemwingie (Stoke City), Michel Babatunde (Volyn Lutsk); Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahce)
Changes from last match
Yobo, Odemwingie, and Babatunde replace Godfrey Oboabona, Ramon Azeez, and Victor Moses in the starting lineup. Changed from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 formation.
Subs:
Shola Ameobi (Newcastled United) 65' for Ahmed Musa
Ejike Uzoenyi (Enugu Rangers) 75' for Michel Babatunde
Bosnia and Herzegovina (4-2-3-1)
Asmir Begovic (Stoke City); Mensur Mujdza (Freiburg), Toni Sunjic (Zorya Luhansk), Emir Spahic (Bayer Leverkusen, captain), Haris Medunjanin (Gaziantespor); Miralem Pjanic (Roma), Muhamed Besic (Ferencvaros); Izet Hajrovic (Galatasaray), Zvjezdan Misimovic (Guizhou Renhe), Senad Lulic (Lazio); Edin Dzeko (Manchester City)
Changes from last match
Ermin Bicakcic and Sead Kolasinac (scorer of the own goal against Argentina) are left off the starting lineup to make away for Sunjic and Medunjanin.
Subs:
Vedad Ibisevic (Stuttgart) 57' for Izet Hajrovic
Sejad Salihovic (Hoffenheim) 58' for Senad Lulic
Tino-Sven Susic (Hadjuk Split) 64' for Haris Medunjanin
Nigeria looked bad against Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina put in a decent shift against group favorites and powerhouse Argentina, so I was expecting Bosnia and Herzegovina to be the more likely winner between these two teams, but not by much because they seem pretty close in quality, and it would likely take one special moment to make the difference. That moment came from Peter Odemwingie, who scored on his Stoke City teammate Asmir Begovic which not only gave Nigeria a very good chance at making it to the last 16 for the first time since 1998 but it broke Bosnian hearts. That one goal was enough for the Super Eagles to slay the Dragons and make Bosnia and Herzegovina the 5th nation (3rd European nation) knocked out of the FIFA World Cup, along with Cameroon, Spain, Australia, and England. However they certainly went out with a bang and with some controversy. Edin Dzeko did put one past Vincent Enyeama but it was ruled offside. It was a horrible decision by the referee that make the Dragons wish they could breathe fire to show how made they are. Very unfortunate and there have been quite a number of bad referee decisions being made so far at this World Cup that it's getting unnerving. Not to take away anything from Nigeria who played hard and wanted to win but that's not how a team should win. Moving on from that, a good display from Enyeama and Begovic in both goals kept it a low scoring game, Enyeama in particular frustrating Edin Dzeko, who still could've scored aside from that offside goal if it wasn't for Enyeama's brilliance. Bosnia and Herzegovina came to this World Cup as the only newcomers but with a talented group of players that you wouldn't have guessed looked like newcomers, and after all the people in their home nation has been through with floods they were hoping to put a smile on their faces. Unfortunately I don't think a single Bosnian will be smiling. The World Cup is full of emotion, when you win it's the greatest feeling, but when you lose it's the exact opposite. Nigeria worked hard in this match and if you told them they didn't deserve to win they wouldn't believe you, but it is what it is.
Up next
Group H: Belgium vs. Russia
Group H: South Korea vs. Algeria
Group G: United States vs. Portugal
Group H is a very close group, and it is certainly up for grabs. In their opening matches Russia and South Korea found themselves in a deadlock while Algeria made Belgium really work for a narrow come from behind victory. Belgium will definitely have to hit the group running in this next match against the formidable Russians, while South Korea's talented and interesting forwards will hope to find a way through the labyrinth that is Algeria, a very difficult team to break down as Belgium found out the hard way. We know Algeria can certainly take a punch, but this side certainly looks capable of dishing a few out to the Taejeuk Warriors.
USA fans will hope a repeat of 2002 happens in Manaus as they face Cristiano Ronaldo and European dark horse Portugal. Portugal is definitely not a one man show and despite missing a few key players like Pepe and Fabio Coentrao, Portugal will go guns blazing into this match hungry for no less than three points and revenge against the Americans. USA will have a point to prove themselves as they want to show the world some solid proof that this is the group of death because they're in it. USA's victory over Ghana certainly looks more impressive now that Germany were unable to beat Ghana, and Jurgen Klinsmann's team are full of confidence and talent that a win looks very possible. A win would send USA through to the knockout stages and send Portugal out of the World Cup like their neighbors Spain and fellow European teams England and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The biggest question is will Aron Johansson or Chris Wondolowski be enough to fill in for Jozy Altidore? It's definitely going to be a heated match between two passionate teams.
Group F: Argentina vs. Iran
Result: 1-0 victory for Argentina
Goalscorers: 90+1' Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Bookings: 53' Javad Nekounam (Al-Kuwait), 73' Masoud Shojaei (Las Palmas)
Lineups
Argentina (4-3-3)
Sergio Romero (Monaco); Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City), Federico Fernandez (Napoli), Ezequiel Garay (Benfica), Marcos Rojo (Sporting CP); Fernando Gago (Boca Juniors), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Angel di Maria (Real Madrid); Lionel Messi (Barcelona, captain), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Changes from last match
Change in formation from 5-3-2 to 4-3-3 (dropping a center back, Hugo Campagnaro, and adding a forward, Higuain). Also Gago replaces Maxi Rodriguez in the starting lineup.
Subs:
Rodrigo Palacio (Inter) 76' for Gonzalo Higuain
Ezequiel Lavezzi (PSG) 76' for Sergio Aguero
Lucas Biglia (Lazio) 90+4' for Angel di Maria
Iran (4-2-3-1)
Alireza Haghighi (Sporting Covilha); Jalal Hosseini (Persepolis), Amir Sadeghi (Esteghlal), Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal), Mehrdad Pooladi (Persepolis); Andranik Teymourian (Esteghlal), Javad Nekounam (Al-Kuwait, captain); Ashkan Dejagah (Fulham), Masoud Shojaei (Las Palmas), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan); Reza Ghoochannejhad (Charlton Athletic)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1. Khosro Heydari replaced by Shojaei.
Subs:
Khosro Heydari (Esteghlal) 76' for Masoud Shojaei
Alireza Jahanbakhsh (NEC) 85' for Askhan Dejagah
Reza Haghighi (Persepolis) 88' for Ehsan Hajsafi
Iran put in a lot of effort to frustrate one of the favorites for the World Cup, and the fact that a team like Iran prevented a team like Argentina from scoring until the second half stoppage time may cause a few to no longer consider Argentina favorites for this title. With this win Argentina are through to the final 16 but they haven't been playing well so far this tournament. If it hadn't been for Sead Kolasinac's own goal and two instances of Lionel Messi magic, Argentina would have 1 point instead of 6. That is how close it has been for this team and for their fans who certainly have high expectations for the two time world champions, it definitely won't do. Iran will likely be accused for parking the bus again but there was more to it than that. Iran had some decent moments offensively and were very unfortunate to not be given a penalty when Pablo Zabaleta fouled another English based player Askhan Dejagah in the penalty area, but there was no penalty. If it was given, unless Sergio Romero did what Diego Benaglio did in Switzerland vs. France (save the penalty), Iran could've lead 1-0. A valiant effort indeed and it was a close run thing but unfortunately close just isn't enough. Both sides will be disappointed from this match, but Iran are not out. A win against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Argentina defeating Nigeria, and then the goal difference could see Iran through to the final 16 for the first time in their history. For Carlos Quieroz, his job is to figure out how to replicate this performance, except getting a goal or two next time around. For Alejandro Sabella, his job is to figure out why Argentina aren't playing as well as they should be.
Group G: Germany vs. Ghana
Result: 2-2 draw
Goalscorers: 51' Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), 54' Andre Ayew (Marseille), 63' Asamoah Gyan (Al-Ain), 71' Miroslav Klose (Lazio)
Bookings: 90+4' Sulley Muntari (AC Milan)
Significance of bookings: Sulley Muntari will be suspended for Ghana's next match, vs. Portugal
Lineups
Germany (4-5-1)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke); Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich, captain), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich); Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)
Changes from last match
Only change is Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil switching positions
Subs:
Shkodran Mustafi (Sampdoria) 46' for Jerome Boateng
Miroslav Klose (Lazio) 69' for Mario Gotze
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich) 70' for Sami Khedira
Ghana (4-2-3-1)
Fatau Dauda (Orlando Pirates); Harrison Afful (Esperance), John Boye (Rennes), Jonathan Mensah (Evian), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus); Sulley Muntari (AC Milan), Mohammed Rabiu (Kuban Krasnodar); Christian Atsu (Vitesse), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Schalke), Andre Ayew (Marseille); Asamoah Gyan (Al-Ain, captain)
Changes from last match
In goal, Adam Kwarasey is replaced by Dauda. Daniel Opare replaced by Afful; Jordan Ayew replaced by Kevin-Prince Boateng
Subs:
Jordan Ayew (Sochaux) 52' for Kevin-Prince Boateng
Wakaso Mubarak (Rubin Kazan) 72' for Christian Atsu
Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Udinese) 78' for Mohammed Rabiu
Subplots galore! Rematch from the 2010 Group D encounter, Schalke teammates Benedikt Howedes and Kevin-Prince Boateng go head to head, but of course a big attention grabber are the Boateng brothers going against each other once again. This time this story had a different ending. Both sides failed to score in the first half but there were plenty of opportunities (interestingly, Ghana became the first team in this tournament to play two different goal keepers, and their choice to go with Dauda seemed to be a good one who looked more composed than Kwarasey did against the USA; it helped that he did get scored on in the first 30 seconds of the match). Then Germany drew first blood with a goal from Mario Gotze, but Ghana fought back to get a 2-1 lead before Miroslav Klose came on to score a goal that would not only save Germany from defeat and give both sides a point but would make history. It was Klose's 15th World Cup goal, tying Brazil's Ronaldo's record. It was a proud moment for him and German football, a big honor to match Ronaldo's feat indeed. But the World Cup's not over yet...could Miroslav Klose go one better and break Ronaldo's record? German fans hope he can, Brazilian fans hope he won't, and American fans will be happy with this 2-2 draw because if the USA beat Portugal, USA will be through to the Round of 16. A win would've been nicer for Ghana but a point means they are not out, but anything less than a win against Portugal in their final group match would mean they would be.
Group F: Nigeria vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Result: 1-0 victory for Nigeria
Goalscorers: 29' Peter Odemwingie (Stoke City)
Bookings: 6' Haris Medunjanin (Gaziantespor), 81' John Obi Mikel (Chelsea)
Lineups
Nigeria (4-2-3-1)
Vincent Enyeama (Lille); Efe Ambrose (Celtic), Joseph Yobo (Norwich City, captain), Juwon Oshaniwa (Ashdod), Kenneth Omeruo (Middlesbrough); Ogenyi Onazi (Lazio), John Obi Mikel (Chelsea); Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow), Peter Odemwingie (Stoke City), Michel Babatunde (Volyn Lutsk); Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahce)
Changes from last match
Yobo, Odemwingie, and Babatunde replace Godfrey Oboabona, Ramon Azeez, and Victor Moses in the starting lineup. Changed from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 formation.
Subs:
Shola Ameobi (Newcastled United) 65' for Ahmed Musa
Ejike Uzoenyi (Enugu Rangers) 75' for Michel Babatunde
Bosnia and Herzegovina (4-2-3-1)
Asmir Begovic (Stoke City); Mensur Mujdza (Freiburg), Toni Sunjic (Zorya Luhansk), Emir Spahic (Bayer Leverkusen, captain), Haris Medunjanin (Gaziantespor); Miralem Pjanic (Roma), Muhamed Besic (Ferencvaros); Izet Hajrovic (Galatasaray), Zvjezdan Misimovic (Guizhou Renhe), Senad Lulic (Lazio); Edin Dzeko (Manchester City)
Changes from last match
Ermin Bicakcic and Sead Kolasinac (scorer of the own goal against Argentina) are left off the starting lineup to make away for Sunjic and Medunjanin.
Subs:
Vedad Ibisevic (Stuttgart) 57' for Izet Hajrovic
Sejad Salihovic (Hoffenheim) 58' for Senad Lulic
Tino-Sven Susic (Hadjuk Split) 64' for Haris Medunjanin
Nigeria looked bad against Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina put in a decent shift against group favorites and powerhouse Argentina, so I was expecting Bosnia and Herzegovina to be the more likely winner between these two teams, but not by much because they seem pretty close in quality, and it would likely take one special moment to make the difference. That moment came from Peter Odemwingie, who scored on his Stoke City teammate Asmir Begovic which not only gave Nigeria a very good chance at making it to the last 16 for the first time since 1998 but it broke Bosnian hearts. That one goal was enough for the Super Eagles to slay the Dragons and make Bosnia and Herzegovina the 5th nation (3rd European nation) knocked out of the FIFA World Cup, along with Cameroon, Spain, Australia, and England. However they certainly went out with a bang and with some controversy. Edin Dzeko did put one past Vincent Enyeama but it was ruled offside. It was a horrible decision by the referee that make the Dragons wish they could breathe fire to show how made they are. Very unfortunate and there have been quite a number of bad referee decisions being made so far at this World Cup that it's getting unnerving. Not to take away anything from Nigeria who played hard and wanted to win but that's not how a team should win. Moving on from that, a good display from Enyeama and Begovic in both goals kept it a low scoring game, Enyeama in particular frustrating Edin Dzeko, who still could've scored aside from that offside goal if it wasn't for Enyeama's brilliance. Bosnia and Herzegovina came to this World Cup as the only newcomers but with a talented group of players that you wouldn't have guessed looked like newcomers, and after all the people in their home nation has been through with floods they were hoping to put a smile on their faces. Unfortunately I don't think a single Bosnian will be smiling. The World Cup is full of emotion, when you win it's the greatest feeling, but when you lose it's the exact opposite. Nigeria worked hard in this match and if you told them they didn't deserve to win they wouldn't believe you, but it is what it is.
Up next
Group H: Belgium vs. Russia
Group H: South Korea vs. Algeria
Group G: United States vs. Portugal
Group H is a very close group, and it is certainly up for grabs. In their opening matches Russia and South Korea found themselves in a deadlock while Algeria made Belgium really work for a narrow come from behind victory. Belgium will definitely have to hit the group running in this next match against the formidable Russians, while South Korea's talented and interesting forwards will hope to find a way through the labyrinth that is Algeria, a very difficult team to break down as Belgium found out the hard way. We know Algeria can certainly take a punch, but this side certainly looks capable of dishing a few out to the Taejeuk Warriors.
USA fans will hope a repeat of 2002 happens in Manaus as they face Cristiano Ronaldo and European dark horse Portugal. Portugal is definitely not a one man show and despite missing a few key players like Pepe and Fabio Coentrao, Portugal will go guns blazing into this match hungry for no less than three points and revenge against the Americans. USA will have a point to prove themselves as they want to show the world some solid proof that this is the group of death because they're in it. USA's victory over Ghana certainly looks more impressive now that Germany were unable to beat Ghana, and Jurgen Klinsmann's team are full of confidence and talent that a win looks very possible. A win would send USA through to the knockout stages and send Portugal out of the World Cup like their neighbors Spain and fellow European teams England and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The biggest question is will Aron Johansson or Chris Wondolowski be enough to fill in for Jozy Altidore? It's definitely going to be a heated match between two passionate teams.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
2014 FIFA World Cup Day 9 Review Day 10 Preview
Did the teams follow the scripts given to them or did a plot twist or two occur? I'll analyze what went down.
Group D: Italy vs. Costa Rica
Result: 1-0 win for Costa Rica
Goalscorers: 44' Bryan Ruiz (PSV)
Bookings: 69' Mario Balotelli (AC Milan), 71' Jose Cubero (Herediano)
Lineups
Italy (4-5-1)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, captain); Ignazio Abate (AC Milan), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Torino); Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Thiago Motta (PSG), Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus); Mario Balotelli (AC Milan)
Changes from last game:
Change from 4-3-1-2 to 4-5-1 formation. Buffon recovered from injury so he replaces Salvatore Sigiru in the goalkeeper. Abate replaces Gabriel Paletta, Motta replaces Marco Verratti.
Subs:
Antonio Cassano (Parma) 46' for Thiago Motta
Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) 57' for Antonio Candreva
Alessio Cerci (Torino) 69' for Claudio Marchisio
Costa Rica (5-2-2-1)
Keylor Navas (Levante); Cristian Gamboa (Rosenborg), Oscar Duarte (Club Brugge), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew), Michael Umana (Saprissa), Junior Diaz (Mainz 05); Celso Borges (AIK), Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa); Bryan Ruiz (PSV, captain), Christian Bolanos (Copenhagen); Joel Campbell (Olympiacos)
Changes from last game:
None. Same formation and starters from the 3-1 win over Uruguay
Subs:
Jose Cubero (Herediano) 68' for Yeltsin Tejeda
Marco Urena (Kuban Krasnodar) 74' for Joel Campbell
Randall Brenes (Cartagines) 81' for Bryan Ruiz
Despite Costa Rica being labeled minnows or underdogs of Group D (one of the Groups of Death), they, along with Italy, won their opening match, and in fact lead the group on goal difference. Nonetheless, Italy, who many believed to be the strongest team in this group, were still favorites, especially with Gianluigi Buffon back from his injury (though Salvatore Sigiru's performance in goal in his absence certainly won't go unappreciated by Cesare Prandelli) and a more formidable looking defense with Giorgio Chiellini is his preferred position and Ignazio Abate in the fray. Nonetheless, Costa Rica didn't care they were playing against Italy, they played another solid game, with good moments both offensively and defensively, as well as Keylor Navas once again reminding the world he's an underrated goalkeeper with a few good saves. Mario Balotelli tweeted he wanted a kiss from UK's queen if he scored against Costa Rica, but he didn't live up to his end of the bargain as he had one of his worse days. It's no coincidence that when Balotelli and Pirlo struggle that the entire Italian team struggles. Gianluigi Buffon had a good game and there wasn't much even a great goalkeeper like he could've done to deny Bryan Ruiz's genius a good goal. Bryan Ruiz, on paper the best and most well known Costa Rican player, was the hero to give Costa Rica a memorable and historic win. This is Italy's first loss to a CONCACAF team at the World Cup and their third loss to a CONCACAF team ever, after their 1-0 loss to the USA in a friendly match in Genoa and a loss to Mexico (of course Italy still has a great record against teams from this region). This win and Uruguay's defeat over England means Costa Rica are through to the next round and if Costa Rica ties against England or Italy and Uruguay tie in their closing match, they will win the group no matter what. Los Ticos are probably fans of Drake cuz they started from the bottom now they here! Very impressive. It would take a huge 180 for Italy to come back and win this group, but the good news is a draw against Uruguay would be enough to finish in 2nd, and Italy are still Italy, so you'd think they wouldn't be worried going against a Group C team except possibly Colombia.
And of course, Italy's failure to defeat Costa Rica officially eliminates England from the World Cup. Disappointing for a team who, when they have qualified, have made it out of their group each tournament since 1958. Only the 3rd time they've gone out this early, also suffering this fate in their World Cup debut in 1950 (coincidentally also hosted by Brazil), which featured USA's famous 1-0 victory over England.
Group E: Switzerland vs. France
Result: An epic 5-2 win for France
Goalscorers: 17' Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), 18' Blaise Matuidi (PSG), 40' Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille), 67' Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), 73' Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United), 81' Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli), 87' Granit Xhaka (Monchengladbach)
Bookings: 88' Yohan Cabaye
Significance of bookings: Yohan Cabaye will miss the next match vs. Ecuador
Lineups
Switzerland (4-2-3-1)
Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg); Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Johan Djourou (Hamburger), Steve von Bergen (Young Boys), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg); Valon Behrami (Napoli), Gokhan Inler (Napoli, captain); Granit Xhaka (Monchengladbach), Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich), Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg); Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad)
Changes from last match
Mehmedi and Seferovic replace Valentin Stocker and Josip Drmic in the starting lineup, likely to reward them for scoring the goals that gave Switzerland victory over Ecuador.
Subs:
Philippe Senderos (Valencia) 9' for Steve von Bergen
Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli) 46' for Valon Behrami
Josip Drmic (Nurnberg) 69' for Haris Seferovic
France (4-5-1)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham, captain); Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle United), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool), Patrice Evra (Manchester United); Yohan Cabaye (PSG), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United), Blaise Matuidi (PSG), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid); Olivier Giroud (Arsenal)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 formation; Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann left on the bench for Sissoko and Giroud
Subs:
Paul Pogba (Juventus) 63' for Olivier Giroud
Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal) 67' for Mamadou Sakho
Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad) 82' for Mathieu Valbuena
The battle for Group E's top spot were between two familiar foes close in proximity from each other in the world map. It seemed like it would be a close game but for Switzerland things went south right away with Steve von Bergen's injury, forcing Philippe Senderos into the game 9 minutes after kick off. Whenever you make a substitution that early it's usually not a good sign, and so it is proven once again as France were able to dominate this match. I'm not pinning this all on the substitution, sure Senderos isn't Switzerland's first choice centerback for a reason, but the other players screwed up too, like Valon Behrami's awful giveaway that lead to the second goal scored by Blaise Matuidi. 3 goals in the first half and 2 goals in the second half was unfortunately all France could gather if you take into account other blown opportunities, like Karim Benzema's penalty which was saved by Diego Benaglio. This game won't do much to aid his underrated reputation but Benaglio did his best to keep things under control....unfortunately, clearly his best simply wasn't good enough, but his defense let him down a lot as well. However, Switzerland did manage to deny Hugo Lloris a clean sheet with late goals from Blerim Dzemaili and Granit Xhaka. Hey, I'd take a 5-2 loss over a 5-0 loss any day. If there's a lesson to be learned from this match, is that taking FIFA Rankings seriously is for losers, but if you didn't know this already, you must be new to the sport. They get some rankings right sure but Switzerland #6? A seeded team? Ridiculousness. So far France's road in Brazil may have been easier than other giants like Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, but you can only play the teams you're matched up against and they're succeeding as they should, something they failed to do in 2010 against the likes of Uruguay, Mexico, and South Africa. But the past is surely behind them now, and with a thrilling victory all the while having talented players like Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann, and Laurent Koscielny ON THE BENCH, and with goals coming from 5 different players, it's good to be France right now. They're still not going to be too many people's picks to win the World Cup aside from the French supporters, but they look like a team that will make it far.
Group E: Honduras vs. Ecuador
Result: Ecuador won 2-1
Goalscorers: 31' Carlo Costly (Real Espana), 34', 65' Enner Valencia (Pachuca)
Bookings: 7' Victor Bernardez (San Jose Earthquakes), 45+3' Jerry Bengtson (New England Revolution), 57' Antonio Valencia (Manchester United), Enner Valencia (Pachuca), Jefferson Montero (Morelia)
Lineups
Honduras (4-4-2)
Noel Valladares (Olimpia, captain); Brayan Beckeles (Olimpia), Victor Bernardez (San Jose Earthquakes), Maynor Figueroa (Hull City), Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic); Oscar Boniek Garcia (Houston Dynamo), Luis Garrido (Olimpia), Jorge Claros (Motagua), Roger Espinoza (Wigan Athletic); Carlo Costly (Real Espana), Jerry Bengtson (New England Revolution)
Changes from last match
Andy Najar and Wilson Palacios are replaced by Garcia and Claros (Palacios suspended for 1 game after receiving two yellow cards against France)
Subs:
Juan Carlos Garcia (Wigan Athletic) 46' for Emilio Izaguirre
Mario Martinez (Real Espana) 71' for Luis Garrido
Marvin Chavez (Chivas USA) 83' for Oscar Boniek Garcia
Ecuador (4-4-2)
Alexander Dominguez (LDU Quito); Juan Carlos Paredes (Barcelona, ECU), Frickson Erazo (Flamengo), Jorge Guagua (Emelec), Walter Ayovi (Pachuca); Antonio Valencia (Manchester United, captain), Oswaldo Minda (Chivas USA), Christian Noboa (Dynamo Moscow), Jefferson Montero (Morelia); Felipe Caicedo (Al-Jazira), Enner Valencia (Pachuca)
Changes from last match
Minda replaces Carlos Gruezo in the starting lineup
Subs:
Edison Mendez (Santa Fe) 82' for Felipe Caicedo
Carlos Gruezo (Stuttgart) 83' for Osvaldo Minda
Gabriel Achilier (Emelec) 90+2' for Jefferson Montero
Compared to their CONCACAF and CONMEBOL rivals, these two new world teams have been the slowest to win a game in Brazil, but Ecuador finally got their win when Enner Valencia became the first Ecuadorian to score two goals in a World Cup match. His brace overshadowed Carlo Costly's goal which meant so much to Honduras's short and unimpressive World Cup history: he scored Honduras's first ever World Cup. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough. While the more well known of the Valencias isn't on the score sheet (he's definitely helping create chances for Ecuador though, as best as he can coming off a disappointing Man U season), the Valencia who plays for Pachuca has scored all 3 of Ecuador's World Cup goals this tournament. Honduras still unable to get much going and their Costa Rican buddies apparently held out on their secrets to success in this tournament (no they haven't, Costa Rica have been deadly in front of goal, Honduras haven't, plain as day). However Honduran fans will not think highly of the referee who denied them a penalty. This was an improvement for Honduras, but it's a results business and a defeat leaves Honduras hanging on the edge. Nothing short of a great victory over Switzerland and France downing Ecuador will allow them to progress now. With Ecuador having to play France in their final game, Switzerland seem the more likely to progress to the knockout stage, and Ecuador will be ruing the point they let slip away in Brasilia. Interestingly Honduras's current coach Luis Fernando Suarez and Ecuador's current coach Reinaldo Rueda coached the opposite teams at previous World Cups, a first in World Cup history for them to go head to head like this (Suarez coached Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup, Rueda Honduras at 2010).
Up next
Group F: Argentina vs. Iran
Group G: Germany vs. Ghana
Group F: Nigeria vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facing elimination
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Eliminated if Nigeria win and the Argentina/Iran match does not end in a draw
Ghana: Eliminated if they lose or draw to Germany and USA beat Portugal
Everyone is probably predicting Argentina beat Iran comfortably, but if your predictions have been perfect so far at this World Cup, you must be some sort of psychic or genie. Argentina won against Bosnia and Herzegovina because of an own goal. Iran have a sturdy defense and actually looked sort of impressive when they did get the ball outside of their own half. Can Iran produce a bit of magic to get a result against Argentina, or will Argentina's sheer star power and class only confirm what the world is expecting?
A rematch from the 2010 group stage encounter that ended in a slim 1-0 victory for the Germans, who at the time were still led by current coach Joachim Low. It was Germany's lowest-scoring victory in that tournament, a testament to the underrated Ghanians and their hard work. But now Ghana are well known as a threat and a major component of the group of death, so Germany won't take anything for granted in what could be a fascinating game. It's a big ask, but Ghana need at least a point from this match or the Black Stars will all but certainly be one of the two deaths in this group of death. And let's not forget the possibility of the renewal of the sibling rivalry of Germany's Jerome Boateng and Ghana's Kevin-Prince Boateng, who of course played each other in 2010. Thankfully this time Kevin-Prince didn't injure one of Jerome's teammates, like he did to Michael Ballack back in his Premier League days.
Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina both have some quality players. Nigeria has more World Cup experience than the Bosnians but it's been an experience full of group stage and round of 16 exits, nothing that will intimidate the Eastern Europeans too much. This game could very much decide who gets out of this group and who doesn't. Both sets of players, coaches, and fans have been talking up their respective teams and expectations are higher than they should be to be fair, but nonetheless it's up to either the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Dragons of Bosnia and Herzegovina to seize this moment and either make or break their World Cup.
Group D: Italy vs. Costa Rica
Result: 1-0 win for Costa Rica
Goalscorers: 44' Bryan Ruiz (PSV)
Bookings: 69' Mario Balotelli (AC Milan), 71' Jose Cubero (Herediano)
Lineups
Italy (4-5-1)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, captain); Ignazio Abate (AC Milan), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Torino); Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Thiago Motta (PSG), Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus); Mario Balotelli (AC Milan)
Changes from last game:
Change from 4-3-1-2 to 4-5-1 formation. Buffon recovered from injury so he replaces Salvatore Sigiru in the goalkeeper. Abate replaces Gabriel Paletta, Motta replaces Marco Verratti.
Subs:
Antonio Cassano (Parma) 46' for Thiago Motta
Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) 57' for Antonio Candreva
Alessio Cerci (Torino) 69' for Claudio Marchisio
Costa Rica (5-2-2-1)
Keylor Navas (Levante); Cristian Gamboa (Rosenborg), Oscar Duarte (Club Brugge), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew), Michael Umana (Saprissa), Junior Diaz (Mainz 05); Celso Borges (AIK), Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa); Bryan Ruiz (PSV, captain), Christian Bolanos (Copenhagen); Joel Campbell (Olympiacos)
Changes from last game:
None. Same formation and starters from the 3-1 win over Uruguay
Subs:
Jose Cubero (Herediano) 68' for Yeltsin Tejeda
Marco Urena (Kuban Krasnodar) 74' for Joel Campbell
Randall Brenes (Cartagines) 81' for Bryan Ruiz
Despite Costa Rica being labeled minnows or underdogs of Group D (one of the Groups of Death), they, along with Italy, won their opening match, and in fact lead the group on goal difference. Nonetheless, Italy, who many believed to be the strongest team in this group, were still favorites, especially with Gianluigi Buffon back from his injury (though Salvatore Sigiru's performance in goal in his absence certainly won't go unappreciated by Cesare Prandelli) and a more formidable looking defense with Giorgio Chiellini is his preferred position and Ignazio Abate in the fray. Nonetheless, Costa Rica didn't care they were playing against Italy, they played another solid game, with good moments both offensively and defensively, as well as Keylor Navas once again reminding the world he's an underrated goalkeeper with a few good saves. Mario Balotelli tweeted he wanted a kiss from UK's queen if he scored against Costa Rica, but he didn't live up to his end of the bargain as he had one of his worse days. It's no coincidence that when Balotelli and Pirlo struggle that the entire Italian team struggles. Gianluigi Buffon had a good game and there wasn't much even a great goalkeeper like he could've done to deny Bryan Ruiz's genius a good goal. Bryan Ruiz, on paper the best and most well known Costa Rican player, was the hero to give Costa Rica a memorable and historic win. This is Italy's first loss to a CONCACAF team at the World Cup and their third loss to a CONCACAF team ever, after their 1-0 loss to the USA in a friendly match in Genoa and a loss to Mexico (of course Italy still has a great record against teams from this region). This win and Uruguay's defeat over England means Costa Rica are through to the next round and if Costa Rica ties against England or Italy and Uruguay tie in their closing match, they will win the group no matter what. Los Ticos are probably fans of Drake cuz they started from the bottom now they here! Very impressive. It would take a huge 180 for Italy to come back and win this group, but the good news is a draw against Uruguay would be enough to finish in 2nd, and Italy are still Italy, so you'd think they wouldn't be worried going against a Group C team except possibly Colombia.
And of course, Italy's failure to defeat Costa Rica officially eliminates England from the World Cup. Disappointing for a team who, when they have qualified, have made it out of their group each tournament since 1958. Only the 3rd time they've gone out this early, also suffering this fate in their World Cup debut in 1950 (coincidentally also hosted by Brazil), which featured USA's famous 1-0 victory over England.
Group E: Switzerland vs. France
Result: An epic 5-2 win for France
Goalscorers: 17' Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), 18' Blaise Matuidi (PSG), 40' Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille), 67' Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), 73' Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United), 81' Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli), 87' Granit Xhaka (Monchengladbach)
Bookings: 88' Yohan Cabaye
Significance of bookings: Yohan Cabaye will miss the next match vs. Ecuador
Lineups
Switzerland (4-2-3-1)
Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg); Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Johan Djourou (Hamburger), Steve von Bergen (Young Boys), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg); Valon Behrami (Napoli), Gokhan Inler (Napoli, captain); Granit Xhaka (Monchengladbach), Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich), Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg); Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad)
Changes from last match
Mehmedi and Seferovic replace Valentin Stocker and Josip Drmic in the starting lineup, likely to reward them for scoring the goals that gave Switzerland victory over Ecuador.
Subs:
Philippe Senderos (Valencia) 9' for Steve von Bergen
Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli) 46' for Valon Behrami
Josip Drmic (Nurnberg) 69' for Haris Seferovic
France (4-5-1)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham, captain); Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle United), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool), Patrice Evra (Manchester United); Yohan Cabaye (PSG), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United), Blaise Matuidi (PSG), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid); Olivier Giroud (Arsenal)
Changes from last match
Change from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 formation; Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann left on the bench for Sissoko and Giroud
Subs:
Paul Pogba (Juventus) 63' for Olivier Giroud
Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal) 67' for Mamadou Sakho
Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad) 82' for Mathieu Valbuena
The battle for Group E's top spot were between two familiar foes close in proximity from each other in the world map. It seemed like it would be a close game but for Switzerland things went south right away with Steve von Bergen's injury, forcing Philippe Senderos into the game 9 minutes after kick off. Whenever you make a substitution that early it's usually not a good sign, and so it is proven once again as France were able to dominate this match. I'm not pinning this all on the substitution, sure Senderos isn't Switzerland's first choice centerback for a reason, but the other players screwed up too, like Valon Behrami's awful giveaway that lead to the second goal scored by Blaise Matuidi. 3 goals in the first half and 2 goals in the second half was unfortunately all France could gather if you take into account other blown opportunities, like Karim Benzema's penalty which was saved by Diego Benaglio. This game won't do much to aid his underrated reputation but Benaglio did his best to keep things under control....unfortunately, clearly his best simply wasn't good enough, but his defense let him down a lot as well. However, Switzerland did manage to deny Hugo Lloris a clean sheet with late goals from Blerim Dzemaili and Granit Xhaka. Hey, I'd take a 5-2 loss over a 5-0 loss any day. If there's a lesson to be learned from this match, is that taking FIFA Rankings seriously is for losers, but if you didn't know this already, you must be new to the sport. They get some rankings right sure but Switzerland #6? A seeded team? Ridiculousness. So far France's road in Brazil may have been easier than other giants like Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, but you can only play the teams you're matched up against and they're succeeding as they should, something they failed to do in 2010 against the likes of Uruguay, Mexico, and South Africa. But the past is surely behind them now, and with a thrilling victory all the while having talented players like Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann, and Laurent Koscielny ON THE BENCH, and with goals coming from 5 different players, it's good to be France right now. They're still not going to be too many people's picks to win the World Cup aside from the French supporters, but they look like a team that will make it far.
Group E: Honduras vs. Ecuador
Result: Ecuador won 2-1
Goalscorers: 31' Carlo Costly (Real Espana), 34', 65' Enner Valencia (Pachuca)
Bookings: 7' Victor Bernardez (San Jose Earthquakes), 45+3' Jerry Bengtson (New England Revolution), 57' Antonio Valencia (Manchester United), Enner Valencia (Pachuca), Jefferson Montero (Morelia)
Lineups
Honduras (4-4-2)
Noel Valladares (Olimpia, captain); Brayan Beckeles (Olimpia), Victor Bernardez (San Jose Earthquakes), Maynor Figueroa (Hull City), Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic); Oscar Boniek Garcia (Houston Dynamo), Luis Garrido (Olimpia), Jorge Claros (Motagua), Roger Espinoza (Wigan Athletic); Carlo Costly (Real Espana), Jerry Bengtson (New England Revolution)
Changes from last match
Andy Najar and Wilson Palacios are replaced by Garcia and Claros (Palacios suspended for 1 game after receiving two yellow cards against France)
Subs:
Juan Carlos Garcia (Wigan Athletic) 46' for Emilio Izaguirre
Mario Martinez (Real Espana) 71' for Luis Garrido
Marvin Chavez (Chivas USA) 83' for Oscar Boniek Garcia
Ecuador (4-4-2)
Alexander Dominguez (LDU Quito); Juan Carlos Paredes (Barcelona, ECU), Frickson Erazo (Flamengo), Jorge Guagua (Emelec), Walter Ayovi (Pachuca); Antonio Valencia (Manchester United, captain), Oswaldo Minda (Chivas USA), Christian Noboa (Dynamo Moscow), Jefferson Montero (Morelia); Felipe Caicedo (Al-Jazira), Enner Valencia (Pachuca)
Changes from last match
Minda replaces Carlos Gruezo in the starting lineup
Subs:
Edison Mendez (Santa Fe) 82' for Felipe Caicedo
Carlos Gruezo (Stuttgart) 83' for Osvaldo Minda
Gabriel Achilier (Emelec) 90+2' for Jefferson Montero
Compared to their CONCACAF and CONMEBOL rivals, these two new world teams have been the slowest to win a game in Brazil, but Ecuador finally got their win when Enner Valencia became the first Ecuadorian to score two goals in a World Cup match. His brace overshadowed Carlo Costly's goal which meant so much to Honduras's short and unimpressive World Cup history: he scored Honduras's first ever World Cup. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough. While the more well known of the Valencias isn't on the score sheet (he's definitely helping create chances for Ecuador though, as best as he can coming off a disappointing Man U season), the Valencia who plays for Pachuca has scored all 3 of Ecuador's World Cup goals this tournament. Honduras still unable to get much going and their Costa Rican buddies apparently held out on their secrets to success in this tournament (no they haven't, Costa Rica have been deadly in front of goal, Honduras haven't, plain as day). However Honduran fans will not think highly of the referee who denied them a penalty. This was an improvement for Honduras, but it's a results business and a defeat leaves Honduras hanging on the edge. Nothing short of a great victory over Switzerland and France downing Ecuador will allow them to progress now. With Ecuador having to play France in their final game, Switzerland seem the more likely to progress to the knockout stage, and Ecuador will be ruing the point they let slip away in Brasilia. Interestingly Honduras's current coach Luis Fernando Suarez and Ecuador's current coach Reinaldo Rueda coached the opposite teams at previous World Cups, a first in World Cup history for them to go head to head like this (Suarez coached Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup, Rueda Honduras at 2010).
Up next
Group F: Argentina vs. Iran
Group G: Germany vs. Ghana
Group F: Nigeria vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facing elimination
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Eliminated if Nigeria win and the Argentina/Iran match does not end in a draw
Ghana: Eliminated if they lose or draw to Germany and USA beat Portugal
Everyone is probably predicting Argentina beat Iran comfortably, but if your predictions have been perfect so far at this World Cup, you must be some sort of psychic or genie. Argentina won against Bosnia and Herzegovina because of an own goal. Iran have a sturdy defense and actually looked sort of impressive when they did get the ball outside of their own half. Can Iran produce a bit of magic to get a result against Argentina, or will Argentina's sheer star power and class only confirm what the world is expecting?
A rematch from the 2010 group stage encounter that ended in a slim 1-0 victory for the Germans, who at the time were still led by current coach Joachim Low. It was Germany's lowest-scoring victory in that tournament, a testament to the underrated Ghanians and their hard work. But now Ghana are well known as a threat and a major component of the group of death, so Germany won't take anything for granted in what could be a fascinating game. It's a big ask, but Ghana need at least a point from this match or the Black Stars will all but certainly be one of the two deaths in this group of death. And let's not forget the possibility of the renewal of the sibling rivalry of Germany's Jerome Boateng and Ghana's Kevin-Prince Boateng, who of course played each other in 2010. Thankfully this time Kevin-Prince didn't injure one of Jerome's teammates, like he did to Michael Ballack back in his Premier League days.
Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina both have some quality players. Nigeria has more World Cup experience than the Bosnians but it's been an experience full of group stage and round of 16 exits, nothing that will intimidate the Eastern Europeans too much. This game could very much decide who gets out of this group and who doesn't. Both sets of players, coaches, and fans have been talking up their respective teams and expectations are higher than they should be to be fair, but nonetheless it's up to either the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Dragons of Bosnia and Herzegovina to seize this moment and either make or break their World Cup.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
2014 FIFA World Cup Day 8 Review Day 9 Preview
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.
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.
2014 FIFA World Cup Day 7 Review Day 8 Preview
A lot at stake for Croatia, Cameroon, and the Group B teams as they each played their second match of their group stage schedule at the World Cup. Who rose and who fell? Read on and I'll walk you through what went down.
Group B: Australia vs. Netherlands
Result: A scrappy win for the Dutch 3-2
Goalscorers: 20' Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich), 21' Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls), 54' (p) Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace), 58' Robin van Persie (Manchester United), 68' Memphis Depay (PSV)
Bookings: 43' Tim Cahill, 47' Robin van Persie
Significance of bookings: Tim Cahill suspended for Australia's next match vs. Spain
Robin van Persie suspended for Netherlands's next match vs. Chile
Lineups
Australia (4-2-3-1)
Mathew Ryan (Club Brugge); Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng Taishan), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Jason Davidson (Heracles Almelo); Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace, captain), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar); Mathew Leckie (Frankfurt), Mark Bresciano (Al-Gharafa), Tommy Oar (Utrecht); Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls)
Changes in starting lineup
McGowan (appeared as a sub vs. Chile) starting instead of Ivan Franjic. McKay starting instead of Mark Milligan
Subs:
Oliver Bozanic (Luzern) 51' for Mark Bresciano
Ben Halloran (Fortuna Dusseldorf) 69' for Tim Cahill
Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets) 77' for Tommy Oar
Netherlands (5-3-2)
Jasper Cillessen (Ajax); Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord), Daley Blind (Ajax); Jonathan de Guzman (Swansea City), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray); Robin van Persie (Manchester United, captain), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
Exact same starting lineup from the previous match (5-1 victory over Spain)
Subs:
Memphis Depay (PSV) 45+3' for Bruno Martins Indi
Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV) 78' for Jonathan de Guzman
Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kyiv) 87' for Robin van Persie
Another David vs. Goliath encounter but David got off to a good start. Sure Netherlands struck first with a classy goal from Arjen Robben but one minute later Tim Cahill responds with a goal of his own. Incredibly struck from Ryan McGowan's volley and it definitely surprised Jasper Cillessen as the crossbar helped it cross over the line. Australia played very well throughout the game, prompting Louis van Gaal to take struggling Bruno Martins Indi out and bringing Memphis Depay in, changing from a 5-3-2 to a 4-3-3, which helped Netherlands respond to Mile Jedinak's successful penalty (which came to be due to Daryl Janmaat's handball in the 18 yard box of the Oranje) with Robin van Persie's 3rd goal of the tournament, not to be outdone by his teammate Robben. But it would be the 20 year old Memphis Depay who scored the game winner and saved Netherlands from a shocking draw against the Socceroos. The 11th substitute to score at this World Cup and it resulted in the 7th come from behind victory (following Brazil, Netherlands's first match, Cote D'Ivoire, Costa Rica, Switzerland, and Belgium). Yellow cards will mean Cahill and van Persie made their last group stage appearance, but since Australia lost this match, Australia will be unable to advance to the knockout stage, meaning this could be the former Millwall and Everton striker's final World Cup appearance. A shame for Australia to fight very hard against a team that should've battered them to go down like that, but ultimately Netherlands were the better team. At least they didn't lose 5-1 like Spain.
Group B: Spain vs. Chile
Result: Chilean victory 2-0
Goalscorers: 20' Eduardo Vargas (Valencia), 43' Charles Aranguiz (Internacional)
Bookings: 26' Arturo Vidal (Juventus), 41' Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), 61' Eugenio Mena (Santos)
Lineups
Spain (4-2-3-1)
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, captain); Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona); Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid); David Silva (Manchester City), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Pedro (Barcelona); Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid)
Changes from last game
Martinez and Pedro start instead of Gerard Pique and Xavi respectively. The formation changed from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1
Subs:
Koke (Atletico Madrid) 46' for Xabi Alonso
Fernando Torres (Chelsea) 64' for Diego Costa
Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) 76' for Pedro
Chile (5-3-2)
Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad, captain); Mauricio Isla (Juventus), Gary Medel (Cardiff City), Francisco Silva (Osasuna), Gonzalo Jara (Nottingham Forest), Eugenio Mena (Santos); Charles Aranguiz (Internacional), Marcelo Diaz (Basel), Arturo Vidal (Juventus); Eduardo Vargas (Valencia), Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona)
Changes from last game
Jorge Valdivia, who scored the second of the three goals against Australia, was relegated to the bench to make way for Francisco Silva and adjust to the change in formation from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2.
Subs:
Felipe Gutierrez (Twente) 64' for Charles Aranguiz
Jorge Valdivia (Palmeiras) 85' for Eduardo Vargas
Carlos Carmona (Atalanta) 88' for Arturo Vidal
In a matchup that pitted Alexis Sanchez against 4 of his Barcelona teammates, Chile had the potential to knock out both Spain and Australia with a win while Spain were desperate for a win to keep hope of progressing alive and perhaps delay the end of their golden generation era. Despite being mauled 5-1 by Netherlands, Vicente Del Bosque only made two changes to his starting lineup, most notably keeping Casillas in the lineup. If a 5-1 defeat doesn't remove Casillas from the goalkeeper position, there's very little hope for David de Gea or Pepe Reina under Del Bosque's reign (don't get me started with Diego Lopez, the Real Madrid goalkeeper who kept Casillas on the bench most of the season but still didn't get selected in the squad). Spain were in for another 2010 World Cup rematch against Chile. More indirect than Ghana's astonishing victory over the USA in Rustenburg, Spain's victory over Chile cost Chile the 1st place spot in Group H, sending them to face Brazil in the Round of 16 and were knocked out 3-0. With a lot of flare and tricks up Jorge Sampaoli's sleeve, Chile would definitely be a tough test for Spain, and one that they ended up failing as Chile played their game and prevented Spain from doing theirs. They scored two goals in the first half to decide the game, another bad performance by Casillas who helped Aranguiz score his goal, and now Spain find themselves in the unimaginable and cruel realization that they have been knocked out of the group stage as defending champions, just like France in 2002 and Italy in 2010. One of this tournament's groups of death took out what once was the best team in the world, and all that's left for Spain is a match against Australia that won't mean much but may give Del Bosque a chance to try something new, something that could help get his side back on track in time for Euro 2016 qualification. Agony and frustration for Spain but on the flipside joy and jubilation for Chile the dark horses who have made it to the round of 16 with 1 game to spare, but now face the Netherlands to decide who wins Group B in what promises to be an exciting match. Netherlands's superior goal difference means Chile will need to win to finish top of Group B. This is Chile's 2nd match in a row at the World Cup that they won by a 2-goal margin.
Group A: Cameroon vs. Croatia
Result: Croatia wins 4-0
Goalscorers: 11' Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg), 48' Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg), 61', 73' Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich)
Bookings: 40' red card Alex Song (Barcelona), 89' Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Significance of bookings: Song misses next match vs. Brazil
Lineups
Cameroon (4-5-1)
Charles Itandje (Konyaspor); Stephane Mbia (Sevilla), Aurelien Chedjou (Galatasaray), Nicolas N'Koulou (Marseille, captain), Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Queens Park Rangers); Joel Matip (Schalke), Alex Song (Barcelona), Eyong Enoh (Antalyaspor), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Mainz 05), Benjamin Moukandjo (Nancy); Vincent Aboubakar (Lorient)
Changes from previous game
A formation switch from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 and an injury to Samuel Eto'o meant Cedric Djeugoue and Samuel Eto'o (Chelsea) wouldn't start but Matip and Aboubakar would. Mbia also shifts to right back.
Subs:
Dany Nounkeu (Besiktas) 46' for Aurelien Chedjou
Pierre Webo (Fenerbahce) 70' for Vincent Aboubakar
Edgar Salli (Lens) 75' for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Croatia (4-2-3-1)
Stipe Pletikosa (Rostov); Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk, captain), Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Dejan Lovren (Southampton), Danijel Pranjic (Panathinaikos); Luka Modric (Real Madric), Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla); Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg), Sammir (Getafe), Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg); Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich)
Changes from previous game
Mario Mandzukic's suspension ended last game so this time he starts at the expense of Nikica Jelavic. Sammir replaces Mateo Kovacic (who features as a sub this time) in the starting lineup, as does Danijel Pranjic to Sime Vrsaljko
Subs:
Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk) 69' for Ivica Olic
Mateo Kovacic (Inter) 72' for Sammir
Ante Rebic (Fiorentina) 78' for Ivan Perisic
A leg injury for Samuel Eto'o prevented him from being fit to play in this match, but that was just the tip of the iceberg for Cameroon's awful night that resulted in them being eliminated in the group stage after 2 matches for the 2nd World Cup in a row. Alex Song's madness gave him a red card near the end of the first half (ridiculous since as one of, if not the, best player for your team, you need to set a better example than that), Croatia's German based players all managed to score (3 of the goals occurred after Song was sent off), and Benoit Assou-Ekotto bickers with his own teammates and even headbutts one of them. Fighting with the other team is bad as it is, but fighting against your teammates? That's the perfect way to go down in the World Cup. Croatia's offensive powers proved too much for Cameroon in the end. Even if Cameroon played most of the match with 10 men, Croatia were still the better side and earned this victory, which means Croatia are still fighting with Brazil and Mexico for one of the two spots in the top 16. Croatia face a big match against Mexico which will decide whether they advance or not. All Mexico needs is a draw to advance to the next round, while only a win would confirm Croatia's spot in the knock out stages for sure. As for Cameroon, they're out of the World Cup along with Australia and Spain but they still have to face Brazil before leaving.
Up next
Group C: Colombia vs. Cote D'Ivoire
Group D: Uruguay vs. England
Group C: Japan vs. Greece
At risk of elimination
Japan or Greece: If either of them loses and Colombia/Cote D'Ivoire tie
Uruguay or England: If either of them loses and Italy/Costa Rica tie
The two best teams of the most evenly matched group of the tournament will square off as both Colombia and Cote D'Ivoire would love a win as they strive to finish atop of Group C. Colombia have been the more convincing team between the two but after being in two group of deaths at the World Cup, Cote D'Ivoire have had plenty of experience against great teams and will be looking to rain on the parade of Los Cafeteros. Both of them have dynamic midfielders in James Rodriguez (COL) and Yaya Toure (CIV), but will Fredy Guarin, after being suspended from the game against Greece, be able to tip the balance in Colombia's favor or will the talented strikers at Cote D'Ivoire's disposal such as Gervinho stop Colombia in their tracks?
Japan lead against Cote D'Ivoire but ended up losing, while Greece were dominated by Colombia in their 3-0 loss to the South Americans. The Samurai look like the stronger team on paper, with Greece's main stars not getting any older and their younger talents not yet ready to shine their brightest, but Greece are a tough team to breakdown. Will Alberto Zaccheroni find a plan to cause the Greeks to crumble? Both these teams must go for the win or it could be all but over for them.
Uruguay and England are another pair of teams desperate for a win. Suarez is injured, Forlan is aging, and Cavani is doing what he can, so the trio of strikers that lifted Uruguay to the semifinals in South Africa is in a bit of disarray, but it hasn't been pretty for England either who are looking for their best possible form post the John Terry and Ashley Cole era and in the end of the Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard era. England definitely have more talent at their disposal to Uruguay but it will likely be a battle where the superior tactics will win out. Uruguay's confidence must've been all but shattered after losing to minnows Costa Rica but it must be quickly be rebuilt against Roy Hodsgson's side or Uruguay could crash and burn Spain style. Will England give something for their fans to cheer for or will they be unable to meet even their recently more modest expectations?
Group B: Australia vs. Netherlands
Result: A scrappy win for the Dutch 3-2
Goalscorers: 20' Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich), 21' Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls), 54' (p) Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace), 58' Robin van Persie (Manchester United), 68' Memphis Depay (PSV)
Bookings: 43' Tim Cahill, 47' Robin van Persie
Significance of bookings: Tim Cahill suspended for Australia's next match vs. Spain
Robin van Persie suspended for Netherlands's next match vs. Chile
Lineups
Australia (4-2-3-1)
Mathew Ryan (Club Brugge); Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng Taishan), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Jason Davidson (Heracles Almelo); Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace, captain), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar); Mathew Leckie (Frankfurt), Mark Bresciano (Al-Gharafa), Tommy Oar (Utrecht); Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls)
Changes in starting lineup
McGowan (appeared as a sub vs. Chile) starting instead of Ivan Franjic. McKay starting instead of Mark Milligan
Subs:
Oliver Bozanic (Luzern) 51' for Mark Bresciano
Ben Halloran (Fortuna Dusseldorf) 69' for Tim Cahill
Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets) 77' for Tommy Oar
Netherlands (5-3-2)
Jasper Cillessen (Ajax); Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord), Daley Blind (Ajax); Jonathan de Guzman (Swansea City), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray); Robin van Persie (Manchester United, captain), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
Exact same starting lineup from the previous match (5-1 victory over Spain)
Subs:
Memphis Depay (PSV) 45+3' for Bruno Martins Indi
Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV) 78' for Jonathan de Guzman
Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kyiv) 87' for Robin van Persie
Another David vs. Goliath encounter but David got off to a good start. Sure Netherlands struck first with a classy goal from Arjen Robben but one minute later Tim Cahill responds with a goal of his own. Incredibly struck from Ryan McGowan's volley and it definitely surprised Jasper Cillessen as the crossbar helped it cross over the line. Australia played very well throughout the game, prompting Louis van Gaal to take struggling Bruno Martins Indi out and bringing Memphis Depay in, changing from a 5-3-2 to a 4-3-3, which helped Netherlands respond to Mile Jedinak's successful penalty (which came to be due to Daryl Janmaat's handball in the 18 yard box of the Oranje) with Robin van Persie's 3rd goal of the tournament, not to be outdone by his teammate Robben. But it would be the 20 year old Memphis Depay who scored the game winner and saved Netherlands from a shocking draw against the Socceroos. The 11th substitute to score at this World Cup and it resulted in the 7th come from behind victory (following Brazil, Netherlands's first match, Cote D'Ivoire, Costa Rica, Switzerland, and Belgium). Yellow cards will mean Cahill and van Persie made their last group stage appearance, but since Australia lost this match, Australia will be unable to advance to the knockout stage, meaning this could be the former Millwall and Everton striker's final World Cup appearance. A shame for Australia to fight very hard against a team that should've battered them to go down like that, but ultimately Netherlands were the better team. At least they didn't lose 5-1 like Spain.
Group B: Spain vs. Chile
Result: Chilean victory 2-0
Goalscorers: 20' Eduardo Vargas (Valencia), 43' Charles Aranguiz (Internacional)
Bookings: 26' Arturo Vidal (Juventus), 41' Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), 61' Eugenio Mena (Santos)
Lineups
Spain (4-2-3-1)
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, captain); Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona); Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid); David Silva (Manchester City), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Pedro (Barcelona); Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid)
Changes from last game
Martinez and Pedro start instead of Gerard Pique and Xavi respectively. The formation changed from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1
Subs:
Koke (Atletico Madrid) 46' for Xabi Alonso
Fernando Torres (Chelsea) 64' for Diego Costa
Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) 76' for Pedro
Chile (5-3-2)
Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad, captain); Mauricio Isla (Juventus), Gary Medel (Cardiff City), Francisco Silva (Osasuna), Gonzalo Jara (Nottingham Forest), Eugenio Mena (Santos); Charles Aranguiz (Internacional), Marcelo Diaz (Basel), Arturo Vidal (Juventus); Eduardo Vargas (Valencia), Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona)
Changes from last game
Jorge Valdivia, who scored the second of the three goals against Australia, was relegated to the bench to make way for Francisco Silva and adjust to the change in formation from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2.
Subs:
Felipe Gutierrez (Twente) 64' for Charles Aranguiz
Jorge Valdivia (Palmeiras) 85' for Eduardo Vargas
Carlos Carmona (Atalanta) 88' for Arturo Vidal
In a matchup that pitted Alexis Sanchez against 4 of his Barcelona teammates, Chile had the potential to knock out both Spain and Australia with a win while Spain were desperate for a win to keep hope of progressing alive and perhaps delay the end of their golden generation era. Despite being mauled 5-1 by Netherlands, Vicente Del Bosque only made two changes to his starting lineup, most notably keeping Casillas in the lineup. If a 5-1 defeat doesn't remove Casillas from the goalkeeper position, there's very little hope for David de Gea or Pepe Reina under Del Bosque's reign (don't get me started with Diego Lopez, the Real Madrid goalkeeper who kept Casillas on the bench most of the season but still didn't get selected in the squad). Spain were in for another 2010 World Cup rematch against Chile. More indirect than Ghana's astonishing victory over the USA in Rustenburg, Spain's victory over Chile cost Chile the 1st place spot in Group H, sending them to face Brazil in the Round of 16 and were knocked out 3-0. With a lot of flare and tricks up Jorge Sampaoli's sleeve, Chile would definitely be a tough test for Spain, and one that they ended up failing as Chile played their game and prevented Spain from doing theirs. They scored two goals in the first half to decide the game, another bad performance by Casillas who helped Aranguiz score his goal, and now Spain find themselves in the unimaginable and cruel realization that they have been knocked out of the group stage as defending champions, just like France in 2002 and Italy in 2010. One of this tournament's groups of death took out what once was the best team in the world, and all that's left for Spain is a match against Australia that won't mean much but may give Del Bosque a chance to try something new, something that could help get his side back on track in time for Euro 2016 qualification. Agony and frustration for Spain but on the flipside joy and jubilation for Chile the dark horses who have made it to the round of 16 with 1 game to spare, but now face the Netherlands to decide who wins Group B in what promises to be an exciting match. Netherlands's superior goal difference means Chile will need to win to finish top of Group B. This is Chile's 2nd match in a row at the World Cup that they won by a 2-goal margin.
Group A: Cameroon vs. Croatia
Result: Croatia wins 4-0
Goalscorers: 11' Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg), 48' Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg), 61', 73' Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich)
Bookings: 40' red card Alex Song (Barcelona), 89' Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Significance of bookings: Song misses next match vs. Brazil
Lineups
Cameroon (4-5-1)
Charles Itandje (Konyaspor); Stephane Mbia (Sevilla), Aurelien Chedjou (Galatasaray), Nicolas N'Koulou (Marseille, captain), Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Queens Park Rangers); Joel Matip (Schalke), Alex Song (Barcelona), Eyong Enoh (Antalyaspor), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Mainz 05), Benjamin Moukandjo (Nancy); Vincent Aboubakar (Lorient)
Changes from previous game
A formation switch from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 and an injury to Samuel Eto'o meant Cedric Djeugoue and Samuel Eto'o (Chelsea) wouldn't start but Matip and Aboubakar would. Mbia also shifts to right back.
Subs:
Dany Nounkeu (Besiktas) 46' for Aurelien Chedjou
Pierre Webo (Fenerbahce) 70' for Vincent Aboubakar
Edgar Salli (Lens) 75' for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Croatia (4-2-3-1)
Stipe Pletikosa (Rostov); Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk, captain), Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Dejan Lovren (Southampton), Danijel Pranjic (Panathinaikos); Luka Modric (Real Madric), Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla); Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg), Sammir (Getafe), Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg); Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich)
Changes from previous game
Mario Mandzukic's suspension ended last game so this time he starts at the expense of Nikica Jelavic. Sammir replaces Mateo Kovacic (who features as a sub this time) in the starting lineup, as does Danijel Pranjic to Sime Vrsaljko
Subs:
Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk) 69' for Ivica Olic
Mateo Kovacic (Inter) 72' for Sammir
Ante Rebic (Fiorentina) 78' for Ivan Perisic
A leg injury for Samuel Eto'o prevented him from being fit to play in this match, but that was just the tip of the iceberg for Cameroon's awful night that resulted in them being eliminated in the group stage after 2 matches for the 2nd World Cup in a row. Alex Song's madness gave him a red card near the end of the first half (ridiculous since as one of, if not the, best player for your team, you need to set a better example than that), Croatia's German based players all managed to score (3 of the goals occurred after Song was sent off), and Benoit Assou-Ekotto bickers with his own teammates and even headbutts one of them. Fighting with the other team is bad as it is, but fighting against your teammates? That's the perfect way to go down in the World Cup. Croatia's offensive powers proved too much for Cameroon in the end. Even if Cameroon played most of the match with 10 men, Croatia were still the better side and earned this victory, which means Croatia are still fighting with Brazil and Mexico for one of the two spots in the top 16. Croatia face a big match against Mexico which will decide whether they advance or not. All Mexico needs is a draw to advance to the next round, while only a win would confirm Croatia's spot in the knock out stages for sure. As for Cameroon, they're out of the World Cup along with Australia and Spain but they still have to face Brazil before leaving.
Up next
Group C: Colombia vs. Cote D'Ivoire
Group D: Uruguay vs. England
Group C: Japan vs. Greece
At risk of elimination
Japan or Greece: If either of them loses and Colombia/Cote D'Ivoire tie
Uruguay or England: If either of them loses and Italy/Costa Rica tie
The two best teams of the most evenly matched group of the tournament will square off as both Colombia and Cote D'Ivoire would love a win as they strive to finish atop of Group C. Colombia have been the more convincing team between the two but after being in two group of deaths at the World Cup, Cote D'Ivoire have had plenty of experience against great teams and will be looking to rain on the parade of Los Cafeteros. Both of them have dynamic midfielders in James Rodriguez (COL) and Yaya Toure (CIV), but will Fredy Guarin, after being suspended from the game against Greece, be able to tip the balance in Colombia's favor or will the talented strikers at Cote D'Ivoire's disposal such as Gervinho stop Colombia in their tracks?
Japan lead against Cote D'Ivoire but ended up losing, while Greece were dominated by Colombia in their 3-0 loss to the South Americans. The Samurai look like the stronger team on paper, with Greece's main stars not getting any older and their younger talents not yet ready to shine their brightest, but Greece are a tough team to breakdown. Will Alberto Zaccheroni find a plan to cause the Greeks to crumble? Both these teams must go for the win or it could be all but over for them.
Uruguay and England are another pair of teams desperate for a win. Suarez is injured, Forlan is aging, and Cavani is doing what he can, so the trio of strikers that lifted Uruguay to the semifinals in South Africa is in a bit of disarray, but it hasn't been pretty for England either who are looking for their best possible form post the John Terry and Ashley Cole era and in the end of the Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard era. England definitely have more talent at their disposal to Uruguay but it will likely be a battle where the superior tactics will win out. Uruguay's confidence must've been all but shattered after losing to minnows Costa Rica but it must be quickly be rebuilt against Roy Hodsgson's side or Uruguay could crash and burn Spain style. Will England give something for their fans to cheer for or will they be unable to meet even their recently more modest expectations?
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