World Cup Days 8 & 9
[Saturday 21st June 2014]
After four years of preparation, England's hard work has been undone in just a week. Embarrassed, the Three Lions have been eliminated from the World Cup after just two games - England's worst performance since 1958. Whilst the repetitive post-mortems will dominate tabloids for weeks, I think England need to keep Roy Hodgson in charge. It's not his fault that England don't have any world class players - not even one. And for a nation which repeatedly said it had low expectations, it sure does seem like there were expectations for Rooney and co.
With the Rooney and Suarez sub-scripts, both strikers inevitably got on the scoresheet on Thursday, as Steven Gerrard's second huge error in recent months saw his Liverpool teammate score the winner. Gerrard, in particular, needs to make a decision on his international future before it is made for him. He consistently underachieves on an international stage, like Rooney, and I think he'll be the highest profile casualty of this campaign.
Friday's newspapers had already declared that England were out, although a very realistic set of results would save them. And yet straight away, Costa Rica deservedly beat Italy 1-0 and the nation was quickly put out of its misery. The Italians never even looked like scoring one, as Costa Rica played with a confidence and maturity that far exceeds their lowly status in the footballing world. A stone wall penalty appeal - as clear as you're going to get - was refused by the referee, yet Fulham flop Bryan Ruiz made sure it didn't matter. Costa Rica held on, as Italy were the first side to visibly struggle in the Brazilian heat.
Group C saw Colombia and Ivory Coast follow up a disappointing first half with an explosion of entertainment. James Rodriguez (Ha-meshhh) headed home a corner, before Quintero put the finishing touch on a quick, clinical Colombian counter attack. Gervinho - seemingly the Roma version, rather than Arsenal - scored a superb solo goal to give the Ivorians hope, but Colombia held on to secure their spot in round two. They look a very good side, with blistering pace on the flanks and the guile of Ha-meshhhh. Shortly after, Yaya Toure found out that his brother Ibrahim had tragically died, aged just 28. Incorrect reports had stated that Serey Die's pre-match tears were for the very recent death of his father, but the midfielder confirmed that he passed away in 2004.
Japan blew an opportunity to make an impact on the World Cup by self-sabotaging themselves to a dour 0-0 stinker with Greece. The Greeks played up to their stereotype after seeing Kostas Katsouranis sent off in the first half, causing viewers' eyes to figuratively bleed like a waterfall. The only entertainment brought by Greece this summer is reports that Giannia Maniatis was so enraged by the poor crossing of Giorgos Tzavellas in training, that he'd booked a flight back to Athens. His spectacular walk-out was prevented by the words of coach Fernando Santos.
France destroyed Switzerland 5-2 in what was, incredibly, a flattering score for the Swiss. ITV's Sam Matterface gleefully created puns for the Alps and cuckoo clocks, but he failed to fit Toblerone into his repertoire. In truth, it could and should have been 7 or 8-0 to the French, such was their demolition job. Moussa Sissoko scored a goal FOR ALL OF NEWCASTLE, as Karim Benzema scored and still found time to miss a penalty. Valbuena and Giroud also claimed goals. Didier Deschamps brought in Sissoko and Giroud for Griezmann and Pogba, yet France looked even better than in their Honduras victory.
From the restart at 1-0, Valon Behrami messed up and Matuidi scored just 13 seconds later. I'm still unsure if France can beat a major side, as proved by their late defensive lapses, but the fixtures can comfortably take them to the quarter final stage. From there, anything can happen. The final game saw Ecuador edge past Honduras 2-1, thanks to two more from new sensation Enner Valencia.
My point of interest for Saturday is how many can Messi score against Iran. Queiroz has gave them a great defence, but can they handle Messi, especially with Aguero and Higuain around too? Nigeria vs Bosnia could very well decide second place in Group F, whilst Germany will look to make it two wins out of two against Ghana in another Boateng derby.
After four years of preparation, England's hard work has been undone in just a week. Embarrassed, the Three Lions have been eliminated from the World Cup after just two games - England's worst performance since 1958. Whilst the repetitive post-mortems will dominate tabloids for weeks, I think England need to keep Roy Hodgson in charge. It's not his fault that England don't have any world class players - not even one. And for a nation which repeatedly said it had low expectations, it sure does seem like there were expectations for Rooney and co.
With the Rooney and Suarez sub-scripts, both strikers inevitably got on the scoresheet on Thursday, as Steven Gerrard's second huge error in recent months saw his Liverpool teammate score the winner. Gerrard, in particular, needs to make a decision on his international future before it is made for him. He consistently underachieves on an international stage, like Rooney, and I think he'll be the highest profile casualty of this campaign.
Friday's newspapers had already declared that England were out, although a very realistic set of results would save them. And yet straight away, Costa Rica deservedly beat Italy 1-0 and the nation was quickly put out of its misery. The Italians never even looked like scoring one, as Costa Rica played with a confidence and maturity that far exceeds their lowly status in the footballing world. A stone wall penalty appeal - as clear as you're going to get - was refused by the referee, yet Fulham flop Bryan Ruiz made sure it didn't matter. Costa Rica held on, as Italy were the first side to visibly struggle in the Brazilian heat.
Group C saw Colombia and Ivory Coast follow up a disappointing first half with an explosion of entertainment. James Rodriguez (Ha-meshhh) headed home a corner, before Quintero put the finishing touch on a quick, clinical Colombian counter attack. Gervinho - seemingly the Roma version, rather than Arsenal - scored a superb solo goal to give the Ivorians hope, but Colombia held on to secure their spot in round two. They look a very good side, with blistering pace on the flanks and the guile of Ha-meshhhh. Shortly after, Yaya Toure found out that his brother Ibrahim had tragically died, aged just 28. Incorrect reports had stated that Serey Die's pre-match tears were for the very recent death of his father, but the midfielder confirmed that he passed away in 2004.
Japan blew an opportunity to make an impact on the World Cup by self-sabotaging themselves to a dour 0-0 stinker with Greece. The Greeks played up to their stereotype after seeing Kostas Katsouranis sent off in the first half, causing viewers' eyes to figuratively bleed like a waterfall. The only entertainment brought by Greece this summer is reports that Giannia Maniatis was so enraged by the poor crossing of Giorgos Tzavellas in training, that he'd booked a flight back to Athens. His spectacular walk-out was prevented by the words of coach Fernando Santos.
France destroyed Switzerland 5-2 in what was, incredibly, a flattering score for the Swiss. ITV's Sam Matterface gleefully created puns for the Alps and cuckoo clocks, but he failed to fit Toblerone into his repertoire. In truth, it could and should have been 7 or 8-0 to the French, such was their demolition job. Moussa Sissoko scored a goal FOR ALL OF NEWCASTLE, as Karim Benzema scored and still found time to miss a penalty. Valbuena and Giroud also claimed goals. Didier Deschamps brought in Sissoko and Giroud for Griezmann and Pogba, yet France looked even better than in their Honduras victory.
From the restart at 1-0, Valon Behrami messed up and Matuidi scored just 13 seconds later. I'm still unsure if France can beat a major side, as proved by their late defensive lapses, but the fixtures can comfortably take them to the quarter final stage. From there, anything can happen. The final game saw Ecuador edge past Honduras 2-1, thanks to two more from new sensation Enner Valencia.
My point of interest for Saturday is how many can Messi score against Iran. Queiroz has gave them a great defence, but can they handle Messi, especially with Aguero and Higuain around too? Nigeria vs Bosnia could very well decide second place in Group F, whilst Germany will look to make it two wins out of two against Ghana in another Boateng derby.
