World Cup

The drama keeps building at World Cup 2014!  After falling behind in the 5th minute when defender Geoff Cameron made a mess of a clearance and watched as the ball fell to the foot of Nani, who fired home past a helpless Tim Howard, the USA battled back to equalize in the 64th minute with a Jermaine Jones curling effort from just outside the eighteen and then took the lead shortly thereafter in the 81st minute when Clint Dempsey chested in from a Graham Zusi chip.

With their World Cup future fading and offering little in the attack, Portugal was saved in the final seconds of stoppage time when Cristiano Ronaldo delivered an absolute perfect ball in to the box that Varela headed home to salvage the draw for the Selecção das Quinas and keep their hopes of making it to the knockout rounds alive.  They will now face Ghana in their final match of the group stage knowing that they will need to take all three points to have any hopes of advancement, while the Black Stars will need a similar result to keep their dreams alive.

Tied atop of the group at four points apiece the USA, who will need to put last night’s bitter sweet outcome and the fact that they were just seconds away from securing their place in the knockout rounds behind them, will now square off with Germany, a draw putting both teams through while anything less for either side will mean their future would rest on the result of the Portugal v. Ghana outcome.

There will be plenty of build up to this encounter as Jurgen Klinsmann will be facing his home country and the team he guided to World Cup glory in 1990, as well as his former first lieutenant and current Germany manager Joachim Low.  In addition, there are several players on the USA roster who hold dual citizenship between Germany and the USA who may have something to prove including the likes of Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, and Julian Green.

The intrigue does not stop there, as over in Group G Belgium defeated Russia in a sleeper of a game 1-0, that will guarantee a spot in the next round for the Rode Duivels.  After a lively start, the game quickly turned stale with the best chance of the first half coming just before the break when Alexander Kokorin missed a point blank header that would have put the Sbornaya ahead.  It is a miss that they might soon regret as Divock Origi 88th minute goal gave the Belgiums all three points, a spot in the next round, and could very well possibly be the end of the tournament for Fabio Capello’s men.

That is because Algeria, who had failed to score in the 2010 World Cup, scored three first half goals with Islam Slimani, Rafik Halliche, and Abdelmoumene Djabou all finding the back of the net before the break, and Yacine Brahimi adding another early in the second half to remove any doubt of a Korea Republic comeback in a thrilling 4-2 victory.  The win puts the Desert Foxes in second place in the group, with the final group game again Russia leaving it all to play for.  Three points will see them guarantee their spot in the next round while a draw will leave the decision on who advances down to goal differential.  A loss would put Russia through and save Capello and his team from a lackluster effort against Belgium, where they looked content to play for a draw thinking that their final group game would be a breeze.

In what is sure to be an action packed 4 days, the final games of the Group Stage got underway yesterday and they did not disappoint. Mexico continued their improbable run by beating Croatia to secure second place in Group A, with Brazil finished in the groups top spot with a 4-1 victory over Cameroon.  The Netherlands took the top spot in Group B by beating Chile, who finished second in the group, and Spain avoided the goose egg at Brazil 2014 with a 3-0 win over Australia.

After beating Cameroon in their first game of the group and then surprising many by holding Brazil to a draw Mexico, who only needed a draw with Croatia to advance to the knockout rounds left no doubt, with second half goals from Rafael Márquez,  Andrés Guardado, and Javier Hernández all within a ten minute span to lock up the second spot in a group few expected them to even make it out of.

Another gigantic test awaits them as they will now face off against the Netherlands in the next round, who beat Chile 2-0 in a showdown for the top spot in Group B.  Playing without the suspended Robin van Persie, who had to sit out due to yellow card accumulation, the Oranje used second half goals from substitutes Leroy Fer and Memphis Depay to claim the top spot in the group.  They have now officially put the disaster of EURO 2012 in the rear view mirror and look more like the team that won their group before making a run to the final at South Africa 2010.

With the loss, Chile will now be facing a round of sixteen match-up with hosts Brazil, who dispatched of Cameroon 4-1 to take the top spot in Group A.  A goal from Neymar in the 17th minute got the Selecao started, although it was his second goal in the 34th minute that helped to ease the fears of a country after Joël Matip had equalized in the 26th minute.  Fred essentially put the game away in the 49th minute with a header from close range and Fernandinho added one for good measure in the 84th minute.

With both teams already eliminated, Spain and Australia were playing for pride on Monday.  Spain manager Vicente del Bosque used the opportunity to go against his preferred formation and started two strikers, a move that paid dividends but could also leave many La Roja fans wondering what might have been, with both David Villa and Fernando Torres scoring in the 36th and 69th minutes respectively, before Juan Mata added another one late on for the final scoreline.

In our recap of Match-Day 12, we had talked about the impending drama and intrigue that would be coming in the final round of group stage games.  We of course believed that we would be talking about the play on the field as teams gave everything they had in one last effort to keep their World Cup dreams alive, and the last thing that we or anybody for that matter expected was another incident involving Luis Suarez’ actions on the field, and we are not talking about his goal scoring exploits.

Uruguay defeated Italy 1-0 on the back of a Diego Godin header in the 81st minute, sending the Italians home and earning a place in the round of sixteen for La Celeste where they will face Columbia on Saturday.  Unfortunately, the result will forever be tainted by incidents both seen and unseen by the referee, with Mexican Marco Rodríguez choosing to send off Italy’s Claudio Marchisio for a challenge that was probably more yellow than red and failing to discipline Luis Suarez for apparently biting defender Giorgio Chiellini in the 79th minute, despite Chiellini showing evidence of the bite from the talented but troubled striker.

Suarez, who has already been suspended in the past for similar biting incidents, once in 2010 while he was with Ajax and then again in 2013 with Liverpool, will surely be facing a suspension from FIFA, who have opened an investigation in to the incident and will be delivering their verdict before Saturday’s game.  As FIFA Vice President Jim Boyce said, ” “There is no doubt Luis Suarez is a fantastic footballer but, once again, his actions have left him open to severe criticism.”  If they believe there is enough evidence, and lets be honest if you watch the replays it looks pretty clear what he did, Suarez will and should be suspended for the remainder of the World Cup.

Another crucial referee decision gave Greece a spot in the round of sixteen, as they took second place in Group C at the expense of the Ivory Coast with a 2-1 victory.  Needing a win to advance, The Pirate Ship took the lead late in the first half when Andreas Samaris capitalzied on a defensive error by the The Elephants to beat Boubacar Barry one on one.  With a draw putting them through to the next round, Wilfried Bony’s 74th minute goal gave the Ivory Coast  new hope and they looked to be on their way until Giovanni Sio tripped up Giorgos Samaras in the box in injury time, with Samaras cooly beating Barry just before the final whistle.

Already with a stranglehold on the group, Columbia officially locked up the top spot with a 4-1 win over Japan.  Juan Cuadrado put the Los Cafeteros ahead when he converted a 17th minute penalty, with two second half goals from Jackson Martinez and one from James Rodríguez off setting a Shinji Okazaki effort in first half injury time that had briefly kept hopes alive for the Blue Samurai.  Costa Rica played to a scoreless draw with England, putting the finishing touches on their unlikely finish atop of the group and sending the Three Lions home with a solitary point for the second consecutive World Cup.

With Match-Day 14 now in the books, the picture of what the final sixteen will look like is almost complete.  With their place already secured in the next round, Argentina and Lionel Messi made sure they finished top of the group with a 3-2 win over Nigeria, who despite the loss claimed the second spot in the group when Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated Iran 3-1.

Only needing a draw to be the first and possibly only African team to make it to the knockout round, Nigeria fell behind early when an in-form Messi volleyed home from a rebound in the 3rd minute.  Ahmed Musa quickly equalized only a minute later with a curling effort from just inside the eighteen that alluded a fully stretched Sergio Romero.  Messi again gave the White and Sky Blue the lead from a set piece that left Romero’s counterpart Vincent Enyeama helpless, and although Musa again brought the Super Eagles level just after the break, a Marco Rojo’s goal in the 50th minute proved the decider.

Argentina will now face a Switzerland side in the knockout round who booked their place in the final sixteen after Xherdan Shaqiri bagged a triple against Honduras, leaving the CONCACAF side without a point to show for their efforts in Brazil.  Ecuador had a chance to leap frog the Swiss but were unable to match their scoreline against a much changed French side in a 0-0 draw.  Any hope of the Yellows doing so was removed in the 50th minute when Antonio Valencia was shown the red card for a challenge that looked somewhat unintended, his foot slipping off of the ball and high up the leg of Lucas Digne.

France will now square off against the Super Eagles in the knockout rounds, who were only guaranteed their spot after Iran’s defeat to Bosnia Herzegovina became official.  With their fate in their first World Cup already decided, the Golden Lillies were playing for pride and they put on a solid effort, with goals from Edin Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic, and Avdija Vrsajevic, with a goal from Reza Ghoochannejhad all Team Melli could muster.

One of the hallmarks of Brazil 2014 so far has been the surprise results, with teams given little chance of winning or advancing somehow finding a way, and the final day of group stage play on Match-Day 15 was no different.  With a 1-1 draw against Russia, Algeria became one of the final teams to secure their place in the knockout rounds, continuing the trend set by Costa Rica and Mexico of teams overachieving and securing their places despite the long odds.

An Islam Slimani header in the 60th minute brought the Desert Foxes even with Russia, who had gone in front in the 6th minute with a header of their own from Aleksandr Kokorin.  Playing for their World Cup lives, Russia was unable to find the goal they needed to overcome Algeria for the second spot in the Group H, their conservative play throughout the tournament that manager Fabio Capello has become known for proving to be their demise, and they will now have four years to dwell on what might have been before they host the World Cup in 2018.

Algeria will now face Germany in the round of sixteen, who beat the United States 1-0 in their much anticipated match-up in Recife.  Playing through a consistent downpour that had left most of the city under a a few feet of water, Thomas Muller put the Germans ahead in the 55th minute when the rebound from a Per Mertesacker header fell to his feet just outside the box and he sent in a curling effort past a screened Tim Howard.  The Germans controlled possession throughout, offering the Yanks few opportunities to counter, with their best chances to equalize coming in second half stoppage time.

Despite the loss, the United States became another one of the surprise teams of Brazil, advancing to the final sixteen out of the “Group of Death” thanks to Portugal’s 2-1 defeat of Ghana.  Even though both teams had earned the same amount of points, a superior goal differential was enough to see the USA through.  A match-up with Belgium now awaits in the knockout rounds, with the Belgians locking down first place in the group with a 1-0 win over Korea Republic, a Jan Vertonghen goal in the 78th minute the difference for the ten man Rode Duivels, who were down a man for the entire second half after a Steven Defour two footed challenge had him seeing red.