2014.06.22 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group G

00:00 -- United States of America - Portugal 2-2     goal 1   goal 2   goal 3   goal 4
[0-1]  5' Nani
[1-1]  64' Jermaine Jones
[2-1]  81' Clint Dempsey
[2-2]  90' + 5' Silvestre Varela

Current standings:
1 Germany  2 1 1 0 6-2 +4  4p
2 U.S.A.  2 1 1 0 4-3 +1  4p
3 Ghana  2 0 1 1 3-4 -1  1p
4 Portugal  2 0 1 1 2-6 -4  1p


WORLD CUP 2014: Group H

18:00 -- Belgium - Russia 1-0     highlights
88' Divock Origi
21:00 -- South Korea - Algeria 2-4     highlights
[0-1]  26' Islam Slimani
[0-2]  28' Rafik Halliche
[0-3]  38' Abdelmoumen Djabou
[1-3]  50' Son Heung-Min
[1-4]  62' Yacine Brahimi
[2-4]  72' Koo Ja-Cheol

Current standings:
1 Belgium  2 2 0 0 3-1 +2  6p
2 Algeria  2 1 0 1 5-4 +1  3p
3 Russia  2 0 1 1 1-2 -1  1p
4 Korea Republic  2 0 1 1 3-5 -2  1p

2014.06.21 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group F

18:00 -- Argentina - Iran 1-0     highlight
90' + 1' Lionel Andres Messi
00:00 -- nigeria - bosnia-herzegovina 1-0     highlights
29' Peter Odemwingie

Current standings:
1 Argentina  2 2 0 0 3-1 +2  6p
2 Nigeria  2 1 1 0 1-0 +1  4p
3 Iran  2 0 1 1 0-1 -1  1p
4 Bosnia-Herzegovina  2 0 0 2 1-3 -2  0p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group G

21:00 -- Germany - Ghana 2-2     highlights
[1-0]  51' Mario Gotze
[1-1]  54' Andre Ayew
[1-2]  63' Asamoah Gyan
[2-2]  71' Miroslav Klose

Current standings:
1 Germany  2 1 1 0 6-2 +4  4p
2 U.S.A.  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
3 Ghana  2 0 1 1 3-4 -1  1p
4 Portugal  1 0 0 1 0-4 -4  0p

2014.06.20 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group D

18:00 -- Italy - Costa Rica 0-1     highlight
44' Bryan Ruiz

Current standings:
1 Costa Rica  2 2 0 0 4-1 +3  6p
2 Italy  2 1 0 1 2-2 0  3p
3 Uruguay  2 1 0 1 3-4 -1  3p
4 England  2 0 0 2 2-4 -2  0p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group E

21:00 -- Switzerland - France 2-5     highlights
[0-1]  17' Olivier Giroud
[0-2]  18' Blaise Matuidi
x - 32' Karim Benzema (m. pen.) - x
[0-3]  40' Matthieu Valbuena
[0-4]  67' Karim Benzema
[0-5]  73' Moussa Sissoko
[1-5]  81' Blerim Dzemaili
[2-5]  87' Granit Xhaka
00:00 -- Honduras - Ecuador 1-2     highlights
[1-0]  31' Carlos Costly
[1-1]  34'  Enner Valencia
[1-2]  65' Enner Valencia

Current standings:
1 France  2 2 0 0 8-2 +6  6p
2 Ecuador  2 1 0 1 3-3 0  3p
3 Switzerland  2 1 0 1 4-6 -2  3p
4 Honduras  2 0 0 2 1-5 -4  0p

2014.06.19 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group C

18:00 -- Colombia - Ivory Coast 2-1     highlights
[1-0]  64' James Rodriguez
[2-0]  70' Juan Quintero
[2-1]  74' Gervinho
00:00 -- Japan - Greece 0-0

Current standings:
1 Colombia  2 2 0 0 5-1 +4  6p
2 Ivory Coast  2 1 0 1 3-3 0  3p
3 Japan  2 0 1 1 1-2 -1  1p
4 Greece  2 0 1 1 0-3 -3  1p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group D

21:00 -- Uruguay - England 2-1     highlights   goal 1   goal 2   (alternate) highlights
[1-0]  39' Luis Suarez
[1-1]  75' Wayne Rooney
[2-1]  85' Luis Suarez

Current standings:
1 Costa Rica  1 1 0 0 3-1 +2  3p
2 Italy  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
3 Uruguay  2 1 0 1 3-4 -1  3p
4 England  2 0 0 2 2-4 -2  0p

2014.06.18 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group A

00:00 -- Cameroon - Croatia 0-4     highlights
11' Ivica Olic
48' Ivan Perisic
61' Mario Mandzukic
73' Mario Mandzukic

Current standings:
1 Brazil  2 1 1 0 3-1 +2  4p
2 Mexico  2 1 1 0 1-0 +1  4p
3 Croatia  2 1 0 1 5-3 +2  3p
4 Cameroon  2 0 0 2 0-5 -4  0p


WORLD CUP 2014: Group B

18:00 -- Australia - Netherlands 2-3     highlights
[0-1]  20' Arjen Robben
[1-1]  21' Tim Cahill
[2-1]  55' Mile Jedinak (pen.)
[2-2]  58' Robin van Persie
[2-3]  68' Memphis Depay
21:00 -- spain - Chile 0-2     highlights
20' Eduardo Vargas
43' Charles Aranguiz

Current standings:
1 Netherlands  2 2 0 0 8-3 +5  6p
2 Chile  2 2 0 0 5-1 +4  6p
3 Australia  2 0 0 2 3-6 -3  0p
4 Spain  2 0 0 2 1-7 -6  0p

This, The Best Match!

The match between Netherlands and Australia was, to put it mildly, a cracker of a match.

Perhaps the Dutch were a little hung-over from too much celebration after the beating they administered the Spanish, or perhaps Australia's game was elevated enormously due to fear of going out if they lose this one, or both, but there were many twists and turns in this match.

No sooner than the very next attack, after a Robben lightning-quick incursion into the Australian penalty area resulting in the first goal of the match, the Australians struck back. And Tim Cahill's goal was, I would say, the most spectacular goal scored thus far at this World Cup. A perfect volley, which struck the underside of the bar, and then went in for the equalizer.

After half-time, the Aussies made it 2, through Mile Jedinak, when they were given a dubious, to say the least, penalty for supposed handball by defender Janmaat.
Yet another case of a European team being tormented by FIFA referees, this time Algerian Djamel Haimoudi and his team.

But Holland was just too good.

And Australia tried to take the easy way out, played the offside trap against Depay and van Persie, and lost right away. Not later than four minutes after Jedinak's PK, the Man. U. forward found himself with a clear goal-scoring opportunity and took it emphatically. It was tied again.

Maybe both teams would have settled for the tie. Maybe. Just maybe.
But PSV's Memphis Depay was the only guy who actually did something big to win the tie.

In the 68th minute, with a little bit of space, 20-year-old Depay took initiative, and struck an extremely powerful ball, from probably over 25 metres, which stopped in the net, on Ryan's left side.

And neither team could muster any additional goals after that.

Australia will be out, unless Spain beats Chile. (Their only chance is to have three teams on three points, and for them to beat Spain in the last match.)
Netherlands will be in the last 16, with a match to spare, if Spain fails to beat Chile. (In such a case, neither Spain nor Australia could catch up with Netherlands' points total, no matter what they do.)

Highlights from this spectacular match:

[HD] Australia vs. Netherlands 2 - 3

Akinfeev, ha, ha!

...Akinfeev, ha, ha!

(It was significantly worse than even Joe Hart's blunder, against The United States, on the first matchday of the group stage of World Cup 2010.)

Watch the highlights of the match against South Korea below:

HIGHLIGHTS - Russia vs Korea - 2014 World Cup...

2014.06.17 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group H

18:00 -- Belgium - Algeria 2-1     highlights
[0-1]  25' Sofiane Feghouli (pen.)
[1-1]  70' Marouane Fellaini
[2-1]  80' Dries Mertens
00:00 -- russia - South Korea 1-1     highlights
[0-1]  69' Lee Keun-Ho
[1-1]  74' Alexandr Kerzhakov

Current standings:
1 Belgium  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
2-3 Korea Republic  1 0 1 0 1-1 0  1p
2-3 Russia  1 0 1 0 1-1 0  1p
4 Algeria  1 0 0 1 1-2 -1  0p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group A

21:00 -- Brazil - Mexico 0-0

Current standings:
1 Brazil  2 1 1 0 3-1 +2  4p
2 Mexico  2 1 1 0 1-0 +1  4p
3 Cameroon  1 0 0 1 0-1 -1  0p
4 Croatia  1 0 0 1 1-3 -2  0p

Yeah, Gordon Banks!... Big Deal!

In my opinion, commentators and analysts from so many networks are committing somewhat of a fallacy in comparing Guillermo Ochoa's saves against Brazil today, and particularly his save on Neymar's header, in the 26th, if I'm not mistaken, minute of Brazil - Mexico 0-0, with Gordon Banks' performance in Brazil - England 1-0, also on the second matchday of the group stage, at the 1970 World Cup.

Yeah, sure, the saves are similar, and they both happened against Brazilian headers bound to go into the net, originating from overhyped players, but I'd say I've seen a save, just as good, from Algerian goalkeeper M'Bolhi, against Belgium, just one match before, at this very World Cup.
Nobody praised that one as much, though, maybe because Algeria lost, or just maybe because it was Algeria (and Belgium) playing.

So, cool it, people, with the superlatives. It's not just the Brazilian forwards that can execute good headers.
As a matter of fact, Neymar's header wasn't that good of a header, to begin with.
A good (as in perfectly executed) header, from the distance from which Neymar executed his, is always unbeatable, given the enormous size of the goal.

I'm not saying Ochoa did not do extremely well. But it's almost like a penalty, when a dangerous header goes on target. When such a strike is taken really well, the goalkeeper can do practically nothing to prevent it from going in.

Thinking about this in different terms, I would say Ochoa did, actually, a lot better than Banks.
Mexico did not lose said match, whereas England sadly did.
Ochoa did not let in one single goal during this match, whereas Gordon Banks sadly did.

So, there, that was, pardon my English, a quite silly, and totally unnecessary, comparison, that most very likely not even Ochoa would appreciate too much!

Patience Victorious

Before Algeria's first match at this World Cup, pundits were saying how, if Algeria goes more than 36 minutes in this tie without scoring, they would beat the record for most consecutive minutes by a football national team without scoring at World Cups.

Either with that in mind, or perhaps just lucky, Algeria showed some serious balls at the start of the match. They were going forward with purpose, and then they got a (correct) PK.
Valencia's Sofiane Feghouli made it count, in the 25th minute. And, with 11 minutes to spare, the Algerians broke free from the spell of the curse that could have taken hold of their campaign (if they were to have broken that negative record).

But after that Algeria was content to just defend and showed very little else in attack.

The Belgians kept coming, but their attacks were quite sterile too.

Coach Marc Wilmots was very inspired on this day, though, and he made two substitutions that would each pay off, big-time. First, at half time, he introduced Mertens in Chadli's place. Then, in minute 65, he substituted Dembele with Fellaini. Not even five minutes later, Fellaini tied it all up with an unblockable header that even unbeatable-till-then M'Bolhi could do nothing to block.
M'Bolhi, who really played well in this match, was unable to parry Mertens powerful shot either, on the counter-attack, ten minutes later.

And thus, clear favourites Belgium, from this group of life (as opposed to "group of death", which so many commentators like to call so many difficult-to-navigate groups in so many tournaments), started on the right foot, but not without serious problems.

So many European teams are having serious problems performing at their best at this World Cup. Belgium included.
Undoubtedly, a most powerful factor in their deficient performance must be, like I previously stated here, the weather conditions in which matches are played in Brazil, at this tournament, and during which absolutely no consideration was given for the civilized way to play matches.
It is to be added that FIFA also officially forbade stopping matches for re-hydration / cooling-off breaks, during the Brazilian World Cup, on top of everything.
Why? Why would they even go against that, too?
Who could be behind this whole thing?
(Or what? Money??... We'll probably never know for sure, or if we do it won't matter much at all when we do.)

Highlights:

Belgium vs Algeria 2-1 -- All Goals...

Revenge for Last Two World Cups

The United States national team finally got revenge on Ghana for putting them out of the last two World Cups.

In 2006, in Germany, The United States finished bottom in their group, with one point, after a 1-2 defeat against Ghana on the third matchday - Dempsey 43' / Dramani 22', Appiah 45' + 2'. Considering that Italy would go on to beat The Czech Republic, they needed to win that match to advance.

In 2010, in South Africa, United States qualified from the group stage, winning it even, but they encountered Ghana in the very next round, and they lost again by the same (overall - extra-time included -) scoreline - Donovan 62' (pen.) / Boateng 5', Gyan 93' [- E.T.]

So, they were probably really looking forward to give their best, if not in all matches at this World Cup, then particularly in the match against Ghana, above all.
(FIFA can really draw, them ties, so as to make the viewers' mouths water, sometimes, can they not? How the hell do they pick them so juicy, so often?)

This time, in 2014, The United States pressed right from the get-go, and went ahead through the earliest goal at this final. Again, Clint Dempsey got on the score-sheet. Minute: 1.

Then the match turned into a stalemate, but just when it was looking desperate for the Ghanaians, with less than ten minutes left to go, a defensive hole appeared for once in the American defense, and Marseille's Andre Ayew made it 1-1, following a quick counter move.

But the U.S.A. team, some might say lucky on this particular day, got another one extremely quickly, after less than 4 minutes following Ayew's equalizer. John Brooks scores, with a header, on his World Cup debut, and punished Ghanaian carelessness.

Nothing more to report after that.

Highlights:

(Group G) Ghana 1-2 USA

2014.06.16 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group F

21:00 -- Iran - Nigeria 0-0

Current standings:
1 Argentina  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
2-3 Iran  1 0 1 0 0-0 0  1p
2-3 Nigeria  1 0 1 0 0-0 0  1p
4 Bosnia-Herzegovina  1 0 0 1 1-2 -1  0p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group G

18:00 -- Germany - Portugal 4-0     highlights
12' Thomas Muller (pen.)
32' Mats Hummels
45 + 1' Thomas Muller
78' Thomas Muller
00:00 -- Ghana - United States of America 1-2     highlights
[0-1]  1' Clint Dempsey
[1-1]  82' Andre Ayew
[1-2]  86' John Brooks

Current standings:
1 Germany  1 1 0 0 4-0 +4  3p
2 U.S.A.  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
3 Ghana  1 0 0 1 1-2 -1  0p
4 Portugal  1 0 0 1 0-4 -4  0p

Not Like in 2012

In 2012, Germany - Portugal was truly the derby of that European Championship group of death (also including Netherlands and Denmark). It was quite intense, and Portugal performed very well.

But this time, at World Cup 2014, only Germany seemed to have showed up.
And that awful defender pepe, who apparently did not have enough ruining Real Madrid efforts, now started ruining his national team's matches too.

The best thing for Portugal is that they won't have to use such a trojan-horse-of-a-player in their second match, thanks to the red card pepe got from referee Mazic.

It will be better for Portugal without him, I'm sure.

And Portugal, completely ridiculed here by the German overly-persistent way of playing, topped with three goals from pragmatic striker Thomas Muller, will have to get at least four points from the U.S.A. and Ghana matches (and possibly hope for other results to go their way) in order to be sure of advancing from this group.

Why such a contrast from Euro 2012, when Portugal reached the semifinals?

Well, Paulo Bento, their coach, is most definitely doing a bad job coaching this team.
Portugal had an easy qualifying group, but they could not beat russia for top spot. Even with Fabio Capello coaching the team with most of its landmass in Asia, that is just really disappointing for the Portuguese fans.
They did succeed in eliminating Sweden in the play-off tie, yes, but they should not have been in that position in the first place.
Besides pepe, Rui Patricio is another disaster player that Bento insists on using, still. Patricio is the one whom Portuguese supporters might hate for allowing Israel to score a goal, in Portugal, that caused his national team to drop two points that could have theoretically seen Portugal overtake russia in the end.
(I guess Bento did not see the Spain-Netherlands catastrophe, with Casillas at the forefront.)

Oh, and, finally, let's not forget Ronaldo. He did not play too well, either. But he probably has extenuating circumstances, being slightly injured still.

Portugal really needs to shape up from now on. Or they will really and truly ship out, and back home, very soon.

Unconvincing

Argentina always starts World Cups with high expectations.
Even more so now, when they have arguably the best player in the world, Lionel Messi.

But Argentina, as a cohesive team unit, did not impress against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Despite scoring an own goal on themselves within three minutes, Bosnia probably impressed more than Argentina, overall.
That is because they were going forward, challenging their more prestigious opponent, and kept going forward even at 0-2. And they scored.

So, the Bosnians might be entitled to feel okay with their performance.
Argentina, however, won only thanks to an own goal by the opposition and a brilliant individual effort by Messi in the 65th minute. (And they conceded a goal late, too, against an accessible opponent, or so many will consider newcomers Bosnia-Herzegovina.)

Maybe the Argentinians thought their group was way too easy for them to consider playing at maximum pace. And maybe it is. Their fans will want better performances, though.

Highlights:

2014.06.15 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group E

18:00 -- Switzerland - Ecuador 2-1     highlights
[0-1]  22' Enner Valencia
[1-1]  48' Admir Mehmedi
[2-1]  90' + 3' Haris Seferovic
21:00 -- France - Honduras 3-0     highlights
45' Karim Benzema (pen.)
48' Noel Valladares (o.-g.)
72' Karim Benzema

Current standings:
1 France  1 1 0 0 3-0 +3  3p
2 Switzerland  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
3 Ecuador  1 0 0 1 1-2 -1  0p
4 Honduras  1 0 0 1 0-3 -3  0p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group F

00:00 -- Argentina - Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1     highlights
[1-0]  3' Sead Kolasinac (o.-g.)
[2-0]  65' Lionel Andres Messi
[2-1]  84' Vedad Ibisevic

Current standings:
1 Argentina  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
2-3 Iran  0 0 0 0 0-0 0  0p
2-3 Nigeria  0 0 0 0 0-0 0  0p
4 Bosnia-Herzegovina  1 0 0 1 1-2 -1  0p

No Ribery, no Nasri... No Problem!

A lot of people, French, too, doubted - and probably still doubt - Didier Deschamps' side. It's a side that is without star player Franck Ribery and Samir Nasri, also out, dropped by the French manager.

But so far so good for the French squad, who made quick work of their CONCACAF opponents.

Karim Benzema was a one-man wrecking crew today, and the Hondurans had no response for his quality strikes.
The second goal, attributed as an own goal to goalkeeper Valladares, was actually more great work by Benzema.

And Deschamps truly proved that he had Honduras all pegged. Right down to their overly-physical style of playing, which Wilson Palacios alone proved time and time again up to his red card sending-off.

So far, this is the only group in which all European teams involved have gotten a positive start.

Highlights:

France vs Honduras 3-0 All Goals and Highlights...

Playing Until the Finish

One team played until the very end, one team did not.

That summarizes very well what happened in the 90+3 minute of the Switzerland - Ecuador encounter, in Brasilia, today.

1-1 looked to be like the equitable scoreline, nearing the end of the match.
Enner Valencia had put the South Americans ahead in the 22nd minute, and Admir Mehmedi had equalized for the Swiss, three minutes after the half-time interval. Both goals headers. Both goals following weak defensive performance by the opposite team.

But then, very late in the match, while Ecuador was pushing forward, a ball was lost much too easily in what could have been an extremely dangerous situation for the Swiss, and the Europeans saw their chance. On the left flank, going forward, Rodriguez crossed the ball (- his second assist, following the one on Mehmedi's goal -) and substitute Haris Seferovic, of Real Sociedad, grabbed the win, and the three points, for his side.

This may well be seen as a genius move by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, who introduced Seferovic in his team in the 75th minute. But more cynical analysts will chalk this off to bad preparation by the Ecuadorians who failed to play at the same maximum intensity all the way to the end of the match. And it cost them a lot. Switzerland now with the inside track to finish among the top two (- that is, assuming they are better than Honduras, as expected given both teams' FIFA rankings).

Highlights:

Switzerland vs Ecuador 2-1 All Goals & Full...

The Only Late Match

This match in Recife is the only match in this World Cup that starts later than 7:00 PM local time.

Absolutely ridiculous.

But I've already covered my thoughts about start times at the 2014 World Cup here, so I won't insist any more for now.

Regarding the match, Japan had a surprisingly excellent first half, which saw them take the lead through Keisuke Honda, in only the 16th minute. And it was a very good, powerful shot by the A.C. Milan player.

Ivory Coast woke up only after the introduction of their talismanic ex-Chelsea (currently Galatasaray) striker Didier Drogba, after the hour mark.
It was Bony and Gervinho, however, in minutes 64 and 66, respectively, who turned the tide in favour of the African team.

So, The Elephants will feel pretty good about their chances of advancing from this group now, having beaten one team already and seeing their likely opponent for second spot, Greece, fall to a three-goal deficit which may prove huge in a tournament where the main tiebreaker (for teams tied on points in the group stage) is overall goal difference.

Highlights:

Ivory Coast 2-1 Japan All goal's &Full...

Disappointing English Performance

English football has a ton of money, and even more prestige.

But what it doesn't have is good young talent.

Their best young prospect 10 years ago, Wayne Rooney, has proven in this match to have matured to be a forward who cannot hit the target from 10 metres out, with an open, gaping net. (Yes, I am referring to his chance to make it 2-2 in the 62nd minute.)

And their new young prospects, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, look very crude and uneven.

Even though Sturridge scored, it was surely because of uncharacteristic Italian bad defending - after just going ahead, too, how unusual for an Italian squad! (- But this is a squad managed by cesare prandelli, so...) - rather than because of English prowess.

Italy played more attacking football than expected, particularly in the sweltering heat of Manaus, in the Amazonian area of Brazil, but England almost matched them. Except for scoring that second goal (- but they came close).

The only ray of sunshine for England after this defeat is the fact that Uruguay failed to get any points from the Costa Rica match, which may mean easy matches to come.

2014.06.14 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group C

18:00 -- Colombia - Greece 3-0     highlights
5' Pablo Armero
58' Teofilo Gutierrez
90' + 3' James Rodriguez
03:00 -- Ivory Coast - Japan 2-1     highlights
[0-1]  16' Keisuke Honda
[1-1]  64' Wilfried Bony
[2-1]  66' Gervinho

Current standings:
1 Colombia  1 1 0 0 3-0 +3  3p
2 Ivory Coast  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
3 Japan  1 0 0 1 1-2 -1  0p
4 Greece  1 0 0 1 0-3 -3  0p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group B

21:00 -- Uruguay - Costa Rica 1-3     highlights
[1-0]  24' Edinson Cavani (pen.)
[1-1]  54' Joel Campbell
[1-2]  57' Oscar Duarte
[1-3]  84' Marco Urena
00:00 -- England - Italy 1-2     highlights
[0-1]  35' Claudio Marchisio
[1-1]  37' Daniel Sturridge
[1-2]  50' Mario Balotelli

Current standings:
1 Costa Rica  1 1 0 0 3-1 +2  3p
2 Italy  1 1 0 0 2-1 +1  3p
3 England  1 0 0 1 1-2 -1  0p
4 Uruguay  1 0 0 1 1-3 -2  0p

Amazing Costa Rica! Or Extremely Poor Uruguay?!

After a first half in which they took the lead through a penalty, very much like Spain, Uruguay, another semifinalist at the 2010 World Cup, also suffered a meltdown in the second half, not too dissimilar to Spain's.

This time, the opponent, however, was tiny Costa Rica, a nation of under 5 million people, whose national team was expected to lose all three matches in this group before the World Cup started. Not Netherlands.

Uruguay surely has no excuse for this one. Not like the excuse the Spanish can invoke.

Conceding three goals in half an hour, to tiny minnows Costa Rica, puts Uruguay's World-Cup-2014 future in serious jeopardy, with matches against England and Italy to follow.

Are the Uruguayans the weakest South American team to make it to this World Cup? The weakest team in this group? Are they out, pretty much, or will they be out at the group stage? We will see soon. But it's not looking good for them.

Highlights:

Colombia on Their Merry Way

Even Valderrama, the Colombian football star of that famous '90s Colombian generation, admitted that this Colombian team now is better than his.

Well, if that doesn't raise Colombian expectation, I don't know what would.

But Jose Pekerman's squad responded to these expectations in style, calmly dispatching of the Greek challenge with maximum efficiency.

One goal within the first five minutes (Pablo Armero) set the South Americans on their way. And they never looked back.
Early in the second half, Gutierrez showed great agility and awareness to tap in another ball not followed properly by the Greek defense. And star striker James Rodriguez put the icing on the cake deep in injury time.

And they have an extremely easy group here. Greece was actually their best-ranked opponent, so Colombia should already be looking forward to an extended stay at this tournament.

Highlights:

One of the Two Outsiders, Out Already?

From the Australian point of view: If we're not going to beat Chile in this group, who are we going to beat?

From the Chilean point of view: If we're not going to beat Australia in this group, who are we going to beat?

Chile did win. So, one would assume that, with one defeat to their name already, and with big guns Netherlands and Spain still to come, the Aussies are all but eliminated.

The Chileans might think they look good, though.
And it was impressive that they got two goals in three minutes, within the first fifteen minutes. But they were playing Australia. The same thing is not going to happen, most likely, against Spain and Netherlands.

To their credit, after the bad defensive plays which allowed the 12-minute goal by Sanchez and the 14-th minute goal by Valdivia, Australia did not despair. And they put together some dominating football of their own, especially after Tim Cahill headed in to make it 1-2, in minute 35.

But Chile held firm, and eventually replied with another goal, in injury time, by their 2010-star-player Beausejour, this time coming from the bench.

And Chile will be going into the crucial match versus Spain three points up in the standings of this group on the World and European champions.

Highlights:

2014.06.13 - The Results

WORLD CUP 2014: Group A

18:00 -- Mexico - Cameroon 1-0     highlights   highlights (- alternative)
61' Oribe Peralta

Current standings:
1 Brazil  1 1 0 0 3-1 +2  3p
2 Mexico  1 1 0 0 1-0 +1  3p
3 Cameroon  1 0 0 1 0-1 -1  0p
4 Croatia  1 0 0 1 1-3 -2  0p

WORLD CUP 2014: Group B

21:00 -- Spain - Netherlands 1-5     highlights
[1-0]  27' Xabi Alonso (pen.)
[1-1] 44' Robin van Persie
[1-2]  53' Arjen Robben
[1-3]  64' Stefan de Vrij
[1-4]  72' Robin van Persie
[1-5]  80' Arjen Robben
00:00 -- Chile - Australia 3-1     highlights
[1-0]  12' Alexis Sanchez
[2-0]  14' Jorge Valdivia
[2-1]  35' Tim Cahill
[3-1]  90' + 2' Jean Beausejour

Current standings:
1 Netherlands  1 1 0 0 5-1 +4  3p
2 Chile  1 1 0 0 3-1 +2  3p
3 Australia  1 0 0 1 1-3 -2  0p
4 Spain  1 0 0 1 1-5 -4  0p

What Tiki-Taka?!

The Spanish team. Tiki-taka, their so-called style of playing. Their mastery in each of the last three major competitions in which they took part.

All gone after this match.

Spain was humiliated today by a team which they - some might say, luckily, - deprived of a World Cup title, just the last World Cup, in South Africa.
(Iniesta goal, minute 116, but, prior to that, two huge misses by Robben will be remembered from that World Cup final.)

For the first 40 minutes, everything seemed okay in the Spanish camp, however. Spain was even leading.
Penalty goal, by Xabi Alonso, in the 27th minute.

Then...

One word.

Casillas.

The first Dutch goal, too. Some people would say that was a wonderful strike by van Persie. But Casillas was certainly caught out in the middle of nowhere, too.
And, from there, the downfall...

Iker Casillas had not been the goalkeeper of choice at Real Madrid for the past almost two seasons, during the leadership of two very reputable managers, Mourinho and Ancelotti.

So, then, why did Vicente del Bosque use him? With Victor Valdes injured, why not Diego Lopez, the main Real Madrid goalkeeper?

Why Casillas, who was clearly (at least kind of) rusty?
And who was coming off a bad performance in the Champions League final, on May 24, which Real lost because he dropped the ball in a critical situation.

And Casillas, sure enough, made several fumbles in this match just as bad as that one.
The one fumble in which he lost the ball to Robin van Persie for the fourth Dutch goal was probably much worse than any mistakes he had previously done, even.

The Spanish defense was not too good, either. Casillas does not deserve all of the blame.

Nevertheless, four years ago, Spain bounced back from an opening-day defeat to Switzerland to win the whole thing. Now they were really slaughtered on opening day. But the scoreline is a little too harsh, though. And a defeat by just one goal is not much better than a defeat by four goals. We should expect Spain to bounce back again, and defeat Chile next matchday.

Highlights:

Netherlands 5:1 Spain FIFA WC 2014 Highlights

Where Are They Getting These Guys, The Favelas?

Two matches played at the World Cup, two atrocious refereeing teams officiating them already.

What a disappointing world cup this could be for the teams who are going to get the short end of their sticks!...

Three goals were cancelled in this match, Mexico - Cameroon (1-0), and only one has been cancelled correctly. (The one rightly called off was, of course, the Cameroonian goal in minute 16.)

But the Mexicans scored twice in the first half, once in minute 13 and then again in minute 30, both of which should have stood.

I guess, however, that we could not have a win by more goals than the brazil win, in the first match... That would have meant that Brazil would not have topped the group at that point, and what a blow that would have been to the Brazilian expectations!...
(Yeah, the whole world should bow to Brazilian needs and expectations! Particularly when they have spent more than 11 billion dollars on this World Cup!...)

And the thanks go to: Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan, Colombian assistants Humberto Clavijo and Eduardo Diaz, and fourth official Norbert Hauata, from Tahiti.

Getting back to the actual played match, Mexico was the superior team, and they did end up winning in the end, thanks to a 61st-minute Oribe Peralta goal.
So, it didn't end in a tie, which would have been best for Brazil, but at least the Mexican win was only by one goal.


Oh, right!... -- ...And is nobody wondering why at this damn World Cup all the matches are scheduled to start between 13:00 and 19:00 Brasilia official time (with one 22:00 exception), with most matches starting between 13:00 and 17:00, including and up to the final?

They did install light fixtures at these stadia, did they not?
Or maybe they just have nocturnal illumination at the Arena Pernambuco, in Recife??!?...

Why such start times? Well, if I had to guess:
It ain't to help Europeans watch the matches, which would, if scheduled later, take place in the middle of the night, by European times!...
It's probably, the way I see it, because most high-level matches in Europe are being played in way cooler conditions, and generally at night, and the Brazilian organizing committee, with FIFA's approval, must be dying to make conditions as hard as possible for European teams at this World Cup.
(Good thing, for them, that Sweden, Norway, and play-off hopefuls Iceland, did not make it to play in these barbaric conditions! - Just making light of the situation, here, but, really, the whole thing is not too funny at all for the good of football, in general, and for European teams in particular, at this WC.)


Yup, it's looking to be a very good World Cup... if you're a Brazilian supporter.



Highlights from Mexico - Cameroon:

Not the Start You Would Want

It's just the first day of the World Cup, only one match has been played, and Brazil has already been helped by outside forces to win a match.

And I'm not talking about supporters.

It's exactly what I, and probably quite a few other people, are afraid of, concerning this World Cup: The Brazilians want to win so bad that they would probably stop at nothing to get this trophy, too.
...And we all know how honest FIFA members can be.

Anyway, Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura, assistants Toru Sagara and Toshiyuki Nagi, and fourth official Alireza Faghani, have all contributed in various degrees to a disgraceful 3 points for Brazil here, and a reasonably disappointing start for unlucky Croatia. A Croatian side which, after being lucky enough to just squeeze through the European qualifiers, as the second-placed team to reach the playoffs with the least points, and following a best possible subsequent draw, which had them face Iceland, saw their luck run out in December, when they were drawn to play the overly-ambitious hosts first at World Cup 2014.

But Croatia started well enough, and surprised the Brazilian defense after only 10 minutes, when a quick attack of theirs fooled Marcelo into a late reaction that did no better than promptly deflecting the ball into his own net.

Brazil tied the match relatively quickly, 19 minutes later, after physical gameplay during which the referees, of course, would always try their best to generally only penalize the European outsiders for most rough challenges, letting the hosts impose their dominance more easily.

However, half-time came and passed, and then 20-something more minutes of the second half passed too, and the teams were still tied at 1-1. That could not be, right? The Brazilians were getting anxiously worried.
Enter fred the actor, who got the referee to award a penalty that would have never been given for any other team at this World Cup. Or anywhere else, as a matter of fact, where there is no cheating. Consider, if you will, if the same interaction between the Croatian player and the Brazilian player had happened anywhere else on the pitch, or if it the situation was reversed and a Croatian forward had been touched so lightly in the Brazilian penalty area. Would it have been a penalty against Brazil? (No need for me to answer this explicitly.)

The penalty was converted, so no divine luck there for Croatia, either.

But there is more, sadly. With only a few minutes left to play, that is in minute 84, the Croatians were also disallowed a seemingly-good equalizer. Their players were furious, but what are you gonna do? Playing in a World Cup, in Brazil? You just can't spoil the party!...
(Read more about the play-by-play on the UK Telegraph website.)

With such winds in their sails, no wonder Brazil went on to get a third, too, in injury time.

The saddest thing, in the long run, may be that people are going to forget, and they are going to forgive. They might say brazil was entitled to win anyway, which in my opinion - using that as an argument in favour of letting their outside help slide - is a terrible thing to do.

If Brazil keeps doing this at this World Cup, they surely will push aside anyone trying to challenge them for the title. But that's not what the sport is about. Big teams should not get favouritism from officials, in order to win even when they screw up.

Highlights:

2014.06.12 - The Result

WORLD CUP 2014: Group A

22:00 -- brazil - croatia 3-1     highlights
[0-1]  11' Marcelo (o.-g.)
[1-1]  29' Neymar
[2-1]  71' neymar (pen.)
[3-1]  90' + 1' Oscar

Current standings:
1 Brazil  1 1 0 0 3-1 +2  3p
2-3 Cameroon  0 0 0 0 0-0 0  0p
2-3 Mexico  0 0 0 0 0-0 0  0p
4 croatia  1 0 0 1 1-3 -2  0p