FIFA World Cup Day 3 review

The third day of the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicked off with many pundits’ dark horses for the tournament, Colombia, in action against a solid but aging Greek unit.

From the off the South American’s seemed to have more about them and it wasn’t long before Pablo Armero scored via a deflected strike to put them one up.

The Greeks turned most of the rest of the 1^st half into a battle but as manfully as they tried they were second in most departments. The two goal scoring threats that coach Fernando Santos chose to lead the line are mis-firing at this level and aging. Georgios Samaras, now 29, has only found the net 8 times in 76 appearances and Theofanis Gekas is now 34 and playing in a mid-table Turkish side

The 2nd half started much the way the 1^st had, with James Rodriguez pulling the strings from midfield for coach Jose Pekerman’s Colombian side and Teo Guitierrez terrorising the Greek back four. Thirteen minutes in and Guitierrez had made the weight of possession and chances count to increase the lead to two.

Going further behind seemed to encourage Greece, not to attack, but to limit the damage and they did that well until Rodriguez slotted a deserved 3^rd in injury time.

While Holland’s thrashing of Spain yesterday was a surprise it wasn’t really an upset, the first of those came in today’s second game between Concacaf qualifiers Costa Rica and two time former champions Uruguay.

Even without the recuperating Luis Suarez, Uruguay could still boast a team of stars, from Athletico Madrid’s defensive rock Diego Godin, to PSG’s Edison Cavani. The biggest names Costa Rica had on offer on the other hand were former Fulham play maker Bryan Ruiz and Arsenal starlet Joel Campbell.

Uruguay started well against a side that were expected to battle in vain. All seemed to be going as most thought it would when Cavani converted a penalty after 24 minutes but without Suarez’s inventiveness and guile they seemed very one dimensional.

Unable to convert their possession into more goals the Costa Ricans began to cause Uruguay real problems with their pace and determination. Both virtues were at the fore early in the 2^nd half as Costa Rica stunned the group favourites with 2 goals in 3 minutes.

It perhaps says something of the frustration felt by the men in sky blue that all cautions in the match were shown to them, including a red card to Pereira for lashing out at Campbell in stoppage time, by which time substitute Urena had made the game safe for the Chico’s with an 84^th minute winner.

The final game of the day was the much anticipated battle between England and Italy. Played in Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon, it was expected the heat and humidity would take its toll on the two European sides and lead to a dull low energy draw.

That, however, was far from what unfolded. With England manager Roy Hodgson electing to play young exciting players and the game at pace it was they who dominated the early exchanges as Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney went at the Italian back line with passion and purpose.

England were unlucky not to be leading by at least one when the Italians worked a move from a corner allowing Claudio Marchisio time and space on the edge of the area to rifle home a shot into the bottom corner. Hodgson’s men were not about to let falling behind change their attacking intent and only 2 minutes later Rooney broke down the left and curled an exquisite ball to Sturridge’s feet to tie the game up at 1 all.

The Italians picked up the pace following the equaliser and Phil Jagielka had to act quickly to clear a Mario Balotelli chip off of the line and Antonio Candreva hit a post.

The 2^nd half saw both teams probing and looking to create chances with the Italians being more measured than their counterparts. That approach paid off when Candreva beat Leighton Baines on the right and whipped in a great cross for Balotelli to nod in at the far post.

Steven Gerrard’s men upped the ante once again in response with Rooney firing a good chance wide and Baines having a typically accurate free kick tipped around the post by Salvatore Sirigu. It was the Italians however who nearly added to the score when playmaker Andrea Pirlo hit Joe Hart’s crossbar with a stunning free kick.

The final score line of 2-1 was enough though and the Italians can cement their place in the second round with a win over the Costa Ricans while it’ll be the dance of the desperate Friday morning with England facing a deflated Uruguay.

Colombia 3

Greece 0

Costa Rica 3

Uruguay 1

Italy 2

England 1

FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 DAY 2

The second day of the FIFA World Cup 2014 produced eleven goals, a thrashing for the defending champions and more contentious officiating.

The opening game of the day was a scrappy, dogged affair between Mexico and Cameroon. Both sides are realistically playing for second place in the group behind Brazil so a win here was imperative.

The Mexicans dominated the possession and chances for much of the game and eventually prevailed 1 nil following a Oribe Peralta finish in the 61^st minute but they’d not of had to have waited that long if the assistant referee from Columbia had had his prescription updated before the match.

Twice Giovanni Dos Santos was denied goals by the offside flag in the first half so it was fitting that he provide the assist following a solid shot from the edge of the area that was parried by Itanjde into Peralta’s path for his 11^th goal in his last 12 competitive matches for El Tri.

To the main course where the expected Spanish omelette instead resembled scrambled eggs and Dutch delight was on the menu.

Going into the tournament Spain were a lot of experts picks to retain their title, but when the 23 man squad was named Coach Vincente Del Bosque had named just three strikers. They were Diego Costa who was/is recovering from a hamstring injury, the misfiring Fernando Torres and David Villa who has just signed on to the retirement scheme European footballers call Major League Soccer. Given the Spaniards lack of goals (8 in 7 games) in the previous World Cup this would surely have been a concern to their fans and especially when Fernando Llorente of Italian champions Juventus and Alvaro Negredo of English champions Manchester City were left to holiday on the beach.

The Dutch on the other hand seemed overtly aware of their potential shortcomings, Coach Louis Van Gaal disposing of their traditional 4-3-3 formation in favour of a more defensive minded 5-3-2 that allowed them to sit back and soak up pressure before winning possession and hitting quickly on the break through Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie.

Van Gaal’s tactical acumen won out on the day with Spain lording possession but ultimately not being able to do enough with it to make a difference.

To be fair they took the lead through a Xabi Alonso penalty following a trip on the roundly booed Diego Costa (Brazilian born but opting to represent Spain) and it took a moment of salmon like genius from Van Persie, leaping full stretch and get his head to Daley Blind’s superb lofted pass, to bring the sides level before half time.

Whatever was in the halftime “oranjes” certainly worked for the Dutch as they came out firing. The incisiveness of Wesley Sneijder’s passing and the pace and firepower of Holland’s front two were too much for a pedestrian Spanish back line. Eight minutes into the second stanza a Van Persie chip found Robben and he out stripped the defenders before cutting in and firing past the helpless Iker Casillas.

From there things only got worse for the Real Madrid custodian, first he failed to hold onto a free kick that was lofted to his far post and Stefan de Vrij bundled the ball home for his first international goal and then a complete howler as he miscontrolled and back pass that let Van Persie steal in and notch his second of the day.

In between those strikes La Roja were lucky to not be playing with ten men following Costa’s head butt on Martins Indi which caused a coming together and eventually for the big Spaniard to be substituted for Torres. Then with ten minutes left Robben struck the fifth and final nail in the coffin, speeding past Sergio Ramos onto Sneijder’s through ball and beating the retreating Spanish defence and the defeated Casillas once again.

The last match of the day pitted the dark horses of Chile against the whipping boys of Australia but in true Aussie fashion the men in gold battled hard and gave the Chileans a real fight.

Early on it all appeared to be going to script with the Socceroo’s defence looking unsure and unco-ordinated. Chile’s star man Alexi Sanchez and prodigal son Jorge Valdivia had their side 2 nil up inside 14 minutes courtesy of goalkeeper Matt Ryan’s walk about and a well-placed edge of the area shot.

Australians though are like cockroaches, hard to kill off, and through a combination of the South American’s taking the foot off of the gas and a rocket from the side-line for the Socceroo’s they clawed their way back into the game. Particularly impressive were the right sided pairing of Ivan Franjic and Matthew Leckie and it was that combination that set up Tim Cahill for the Australian repost, a typically athletic leap over his marker to head past the keeper.

The second half would have given Australian coach Ange Postecoglou encouragement as his side dominated their more fancied opposition but ultimately they didn’t have the quality to finish the chances created and it was the Chileans through substitute Jean Beausejour who added to the score line in the dying minutes.

Mexico 1

Cameroon 0

Holland 5

Spain 1

Chile 3

Australia 1

FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 - DAY 1

The opening game of the beautiful game’s biggest stage.

Brazil hosts for the first time since 1950, this is their time to shine, their destiny to be the best in the world on their home patch and time to make a statement to the footballing world.

That’s how the script was supposed to read but no one sent that script to Niko Kovac and his Croatian team. From the off they sat deep and hit on the counter, the Brazilians came forward but played hesitantly as if the expectation was weighing heavily on their collective shoulders.

A hesitant performance was punished in the 11th minute when an Olic cross from the left was put into his own net by Marcelo, who earned the distinction of being the first Brazilian to score an own goal at a World Cup.

That set back seemed to spur the team and the home town crowd on as Brazil lifted their performance. The tempo lifted, they pressed the Croatians hard and played the ball wide at every opportunity to create holes. The extra effort paid off with a long range Neymar shot in the 29th minute spinning away from Pletikosa’s out stretched hand and in off the right hand upright.

From there Croatia slowly gave ground and Brazil discovered their swagger and gradually became the better side. It was unfortunate that a blatant dive from Fred was awarded with a penalty that ultimately led to Neymar and Brazil’s second goal.

The Balkan side still caused the Selecao plenty of problems on the counter but the Japanese referee further endeared himself to the home side when he disallowed a Croatian equaliser for minimal contact on Julio Cesar in the Brazilian goal.

As the Croatians poured forward in a valiant attempt to rescue a point it was inevitable that the brilliance of the hosts would shine through with the extra space they were afforded and Oscar crowned a man of the match performance with an 18 yard toe poke finish to settle the result and launch the World Cup in some style.