Recaps
Meanwhile, at home….
SO: “Babe, which team are you rooting for?”
ME: “Yes”
Colombia vs Greece
Colombia with the 3-0 win, thank goodness. Overall, they played “well” but not great. I think they played down to their opponent a little bit. There were times we gave Greece too much time & space and a better team will punish us for that. If not for a great save by espina we may have gone into the half tied and the game would have played out very differently. In the 62nd minute the defense just lost their mind and forgot to mark *anyone* at all and was lucky Greece hit the woodwork. In my opinion the defense was quite sloppy from the 60th minute until the 80th minute or so. However, it’s better to not play well and win 3-0 than play well and lose like the saying goes “Gana como nunca, pierde como siempre” which translates to “play like never before, lose like always”. All three goals were well taken goals, the 1st being great interplay, the 2nd a high level of difficulty with 2 midair flicks to score, and the 3rd a great individual run to unbalance the defense.
I like the return to the classic change of pace that harkens back to the glory days of El Pibe & Co. Colombia is looking pretty good to get out of this group (knock on wood) along with the Ivory Coast.
Video Highlights (fifa.com) Moar Highlights (espnfc.us) Commentary (espnfc.us)
Uruguay vs Costa Rica
A lot of people were surprised by this result… I wasn’t :) Uruguay scored early and looked to lock in their defense, and all seemed to go according to plan up until halftime. The 2nd half I don’t know what changes exactly that Costa Rica made, but whatever adjustment they made worked wonders. Uruguay were stymied and out of ideas and whimpered to the 90min mark. Costa Rica’s 2nd goal was a thing of beauty.
As an aside, the announcers noted with some surprise that Costa Rica’s Campbell was sitting on the shelf over at Arsenal. While he seems like a talented player he really does seem like an “Arsenal”-type of player so I’m not all that surprised.
Video Highlights (fifa.com) Moar Highlights (espnfc.us)
England vs Italy
What’s funny is after Italy went up 1-0 I thought to myself “aw man, poor England. Italy locks down the 1-0 better than any other team on the planet”. Only to have England mock me by tying it up a mere two minutes later. Italy looks solid, Pirlo did what Pirlo does, the loss of Buffon wasn’t felt too much (maybe he does better on the goal?). England gets a thumbs up from me as well even though the last 20 or so mins they looked frustrated and out of ideas. But I liked the fact that after each goal conceded they rebounded and fought back. Rooney’s been under fire for underperforming, but he directly assisted England’s only goal and almost had the equalizer in the 2nd half.
Video Highlights (fifa.com) Moar Highlights (espnfc.us) Even Moar Highlights (espnfc.us)
Ivory Coast vs Japan
Japan came out strong, then wilted like a flower in the second half as the Ivory Coast rallied with Drogba in the lineup to score 2 goals in 100 seconds. I’d say more, but honestly… I fell asleep on this one.
Video Highlights (fifa.com) Moar Highlights (espnfc.us)
Preview
Switzerland vs Ecuador
I haven’t seen Switzerland play recently, and Ecuador has some talent but is very raw.
When: Noon. EST
Where: Estádio Nacional Mane Garrincha, Brasilia, Brazil
TV: ABC (English), Univision and ESPN Deportes (Spanish)
Online: ESPN3 (U.S.)
France vs Honduras
France hopes to make a comeback to championship form, or at least something resembling it. Honduras has a tough task, but kinda like Costa Rica yesterday they can definitely take advantage of the right situation.
When: 3PM. EST
Where: Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, Brazil
TV: ABC (English), Univision and ESPN Deportes (Spanish)
Online: ESPN3 (U.S.)
Argentina vs Bosnia-Herzegovina
Argentina is expected to roll over Bosnia-Herzegovina, but just like Brasil’s opener this will not be an easy task. My match of the day. I’m curious to see if Messi can finally integrate into the national team like he has with Barcelona.
When: 6PM. EST
Where: Estadio do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
TV: ESPN (English), Univision and ESPN Deportes (Spanish)
Online: ESPN3 (U.S.)