World Cup Day 6 & 7
[Thursday 19th June 2014]
What day 6 possibly lacked in entertainment and talking points was more than made up for on day 7. Good ol' Group B delivered the good again, as the world witnessed the end of a very special era - the Spanish domination. For Spain became the third of the last four World Cup winners to immediately crash out at the first stage of their defense. But this one hurt more. Seeing Xavi, Iniesta, Casillas et al embarrassed like this caused a real pang in my heart.
Because, truth be told, they absolutely deserve this elimination. Holland humiliated them and lessons weren't learnt for the Chile match. Xavi and Pique were dropped, yet Casillas remained in goal - a crucial mistake. Goals for Vargas and Aranguiz closed the tiki-taka coffin, as a very special generation of players were humbled in front of millions.
Earlier that day, the Dutch just about survived a scare from Australia, where Tim Cahill scored what could easily be the goal of the tournament. Despite becoming the first team to be officially eliminated, Australia will take great pride in the way they battled against Chile and Holland, having gone 2-1 against the latter. Ultimately, goals from van Persie and Memphis Depay (I want to call my future son Memphis!) gave Holland a 3-2 victory. Robben's goal wasn't bad either!
Brazil could only draw 0-0 with Mexico, again failing to impress. FM legend Guillermo Ochoa had the game of his life in the Mexican goal, saving everything that came at him - including a remarkable save from Neymar's header. It's a good thing he let his Ajaccio contract run out - his agent will be dancing all week! Without referees fixing wins for them, Brazil are very ordinary. Neymar was the best of a bad bunch, with Mexico possibly regretting not properly going for the win. They were certainly the better team.
Tuesday gave us our first glimpse of Belgium - the choice for hipsters worldwide. Are they overhyped? Well they weren't particularly good against Algeria but, having clawed a 2-1 after going behind, they'll be better off for this scary experience. Lukaku was poor, Hazard was very good, as supersubs Fellaini and Mertens rescued Marc Wilmot's men. Algeria are by no means the worst side in this competition (hello to Iran, Greece, Cameroon and Honduras) and looked very solid. I liked the match, as I tend to enjoy underdogs sitting back on a 1-0 lead and the subsequent attempts of solving that riddle.
As for the other two games, Croatia coasted past Cameroon thanks to the returning Mario Mandzukic and idiocy from Alex Song. A tough-to-call match between Croatia and Mexico will probably decide second place. Russia and South Korea drew 1-1 in a poor game, lit up by a howler from goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. Substitute Lee Keun-Ho's poor, speculative shot should've been comfortable, but Akinfeev decided to practically throw the ball in his own net. His blushes were spared by Russia's own substitute Kerzhakov.
Day 8 is highlighted by England vs Uruguay, with the interesting sub-plots of Wayne Rooney criticism and a returning Luis Suarez. Will either, or both, score? The loser will surely end up eliminated, so tensions will be high. I predict a low-scoring draw. Colombia vs Ivory Coast could be fun - two attacking teams that can't defend. I don't expect much from Japan vs Greece, though. See you soon!
What day 6 possibly lacked in entertainment and talking points was more than made up for on day 7. Good ol' Group B delivered the good again, as the world witnessed the end of a very special era - the Spanish domination. For Spain became the third of the last four World Cup winners to immediately crash out at the first stage of their defense. But this one hurt more. Seeing Xavi, Iniesta, Casillas et al embarrassed like this caused a real pang in my heart.
Because, truth be told, they absolutely deserve this elimination. Holland humiliated them and lessons weren't learnt for the Chile match. Xavi and Pique were dropped, yet Casillas remained in goal - a crucial mistake. Goals for Vargas and Aranguiz closed the tiki-taka coffin, as a very special generation of players were humbled in front of millions.
Earlier that day, the Dutch just about survived a scare from Australia, where Tim Cahill scored what could easily be the goal of the tournament. Despite becoming the first team to be officially eliminated, Australia will take great pride in the way they battled against Chile and Holland, having gone 2-1 against the latter. Ultimately, goals from van Persie and Memphis Depay (I want to call my future son Memphis!) gave Holland a 3-2 victory. Robben's goal wasn't bad either!
Brazil could only draw 0-0 with Mexico, again failing to impress. FM legend Guillermo Ochoa had the game of his life in the Mexican goal, saving everything that came at him - including a remarkable save from Neymar's header. It's a good thing he let his Ajaccio contract run out - his agent will be dancing all week! Without referees fixing wins for them, Brazil are very ordinary. Neymar was the best of a bad bunch, with Mexico possibly regretting not properly going for the win. They were certainly the better team.
Tuesday gave us our first glimpse of Belgium - the choice for hipsters worldwide. Are they overhyped? Well they weren't particularly good against Algeria but, having clawed a 2-1 after going behind, they'll be better off for this scary experience. Lukaku was poor, Hazard was very good, as supersubs Fellaini and Mertens rescued Marc Wilmot's men. Algeria are by no means the worst side in this competition (hello to Iran, Greece, Cameroon and Honduras) and looked very solid. I liked the match, as I tend to enjoy underdogs sitting back on a 1-0 lead and the subsequent attempts of solving that riddle.
As for the other two games, Croatia coasted past Cameroon thanks to the returning Mario Mandzukic and idiocy from Alex Song. A tough-to-call match between Croatia and Mexico will probably decide second place. Russia and South Korea drew 1-1 in a poor game, lit up by a howler from goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. Substitute Lee Keun-Ho's poor, speculative shot should've been comfortable, but Akinfeev decided to practically throw the ball in his own net. His blushes were spared by Russia's own substitute Kerzhakov.
Day 8 is highlighted by England vs Uruguay, with the interesting sub-plots of Wayne Rooney criticism and a returning Luis Suarez. Will either, or both, score? The loser will surely end up eliminated, so tensions will be high. I predict a low-scoring draw. Colombia vs Ivory Coast could be fun - two attacking teams that can't defend. I don't expect much from Japan vs Greece, though. See you soon!
