World Cup Brasil 2014

[dem]

Brian Glanville - The Puffin Book Of Football (Revised edition, 1972: originally 1970)

Blurb:
This book about the history of football was written especially for Puffins by one of the greatest football experts of our time.
The front cover shows an anonymous player of today in England white, and a player of I872 in Scottish colours.
The back shows Eddie Hapgood, Arsenal's left back of the 1930s.

Illustrated by Helen Fisher

Yeah yeah yeah. Late for own funerals, etc. Wasn't even gonna bother as my sympathies lie with the protesters, but fuck it, ignore/ join in/ complain as you see fit.

Opening ceremony: Without wishing to be nasty, it was plain strange.

Group A

Brazil 3 Croatia 1. The non-filty Croatians can feel justifiably aggrieved at this outcome. Had the ref been even-handed Neymar would have been off the pitch faster than you could say "did I really just witness J-Lo's arse emerging from a giant melon?" As it was, his deliberate elbow-to-throat assault earned him just the yellow card, and we all know what happened next. Pele has been telling us that for once, Brazil were formidable in defence, struggling in attack, so only to be expected that events proved otherwise. Two scuffed long-range shots and a soft penalty, rubbishly executed got the host out of jail. Still fancy 'em to go all the way, mind.

Cameroon 0 Mexico 1. The present-day Cameroon, with Samuel Eto'o calling the shots, have evidently consigned their swashbuckling approach to the past although in deference to tradition, the malevolence is still there, likewise the pre-tournament row over bonuses they are unlikely to win. No arguments that the Mexicans deserved the points, but inept linesman may have already denied them progress to last sixteen.

Group of Death B

Netherlands 5 Spain 1. It's probably got something about this result in the prophesies of Nostradamus. Bet he never said, "But also, the Dutch will play them off the pitch." We may have already witnessed the performance and goal (Van Persie's equaliser) of 2014 World Cup.

Australia 1 Chile 3. Gutsy performance by the Aussies for sure, but gift a team a two-goal advantage in the first 14 mins and it will be a struggle. A Tim Cahill inspired fightback had the silky skilled South Americans panicking, which is more than England could claim after our meeting with them at Wembley, As with the tournament opener, eventual winners just about deserved it, but match was in balance until third goal in injury time.

[mattofthespurs]

I've been watching the World Cup since 1978 and I have to say that the match between the Spanish and the Dutch was the best group match I have ever seen. Wonderful.

I think every match so far has been, at the very least, entertaining. These kick off times are killing me thought. 3 hours sleep last night.

As for England...Well, at least we did not disgrace ourselves. Very unlucky not to get a draw. The Raheem Sterling shot in the 4th minute had me dancing around the living room. Took me a good couple of minutes to realise that the ball had gone into the side netting. And that Pirlo freekick near the end...Wonderful stuff.

Switzerland V Ecuador does not have much to recommend it at this moment in time but at least it's an early kick off.

Looking forward to seeing how the French get on against Honduras. I'm betting this match will see the first red card of the tournament (although that should have gone to Neymar in the first match)

And finally, if I'm still awake Argentina against Bosnia. Predicting a comfortable win for the South Americans unless Dzeko finds some form.

Cracking start and I think England will turn Uruguay over leaving everyone to bite their nails for the Costa Rica match.

Bring it on!

[ripper]

Spain v Holland was a terrific game, certainly the most entertaining so far. Croatia very unlucky in the opener and deserved at least a point. England v Italy...I'm disappointed with the result but there are a few young players coming through with potential. Hopefully, we will progress from the group but with Costa Rica beating Uruguay both teams will know that their best bet to progress will be to turn us over. Glad to see that Roy isn't afraid to put those young players into the team and it will be great experience for them, and perhaps we can look forward to a stronger squad for the next Euros and World Cup. However, they still have a decent chance of progressing from the group, so good luck to them and fingers crossed.

[dem]

Can only agree, Matt and Rip. I think Croatia learned early what FIFA are not going to allow to happen, namely the elimination of Brazil before the final. The way the draw has been rigged gone, Argentina must be salivating at prospect but would do well to expect some "strange" refereeing decisions tonight.

Group C

Columbia 3 Greece 0. Only caught up with this shortly after half time. Maybe it was because they were already behind, but Greece less boring than in previous years and their belated discovery of adventure - to be specific, the opposition's half - may have cost them. 3-0 seemed harsh from what I saw. The doppelgänger of dem huffed and puffed and Theofanis Gekas missed a sitter before James Rodriguez settled matters in the final minute with a slick finish.

Ivory Coast 2 Japan 1. I loved watching Japan in last years Confederation Cup and was looking forward to catching 'em here, but combination of post-England exhaustion and jungle heat meant I kept cutting in and out of consciousness and can't recall too much about it except Japan took the lead with a crisp Keisuke Honda strike, Elephants scored two in as many minutes and there was a lot of rain.

Group D

Costa Rica 3 Uruguay. A thoroughly deserved triumph for Group D's supposed make-weights. Uruguay, an exciting attacking force at last years Confederations cup, looked very ordinary on this evidence, a prestigious first red card of tournament (Pereira's vicious sour grapes swipe at Joel Campbell long after the game was lost) their scant consolation. You'll hate me for this Matt, but looked to me like The Unknown Gooner was man of the match (or at least, second half).

England 1 Italy 2. Our likeable, no-expectation generation gave it a good go, only to be undone yet again by supercool Andreas "I don't do cramp" Pirlo, mad Mario and an inspired Antonio Candreva. Pirlo almost made it three with sublime free kick which left Joe Hart clutching at non-existent dandruff flakes. So what? Personally, I much preferred a gutsy defeat to anything served up in the rabbits-in-headlights Cappello version of England in S. Africa four years ago. My worries are that 'the win one, draw two, we'll qualify' scenario we set ourselves now applies to Italy and CR. Also, Uruguay likely to adopt a "wind-up Rooney and hope he goes into gonad-crushing mode" approach in next game.

[mattofthespurs]

Faux par; Said that I thought tonight's France match might see the first sending off of the tournament.
Completely forgot that Uruguay had someone sent off late yesterday.

Agree about Campbell being very good and MotM yesterday (through gritted teeth). Having said that he still comes across as an odious glory hunter.

[Craig Herbertson]

You could almost see the relief on the Japanese refs' face as he gifted Brazil an easy penalty. Thought England were very good really and a tad unlucky. I had the strange experience of playing the Scottish unofficial National anthem as last song of my Irish Pub set just as the English were belting out whatever the use as anthem nowadays. (I couldn't hear it as the sound was down). Enjoyed the match over a Guinness or two and I think England have a reasonable chance of progressing.

[ripper]

The good thing about England's position is that it is still in their hands to qualify and they know exactly what they need to do; 2 wins and they will be through. Anything less and they will be counting on the results of other games to progress. Agree that they gave it a fair old go last night, and we might now be seeing the emergence of a nucleus of young players whose time will come in a few years.

[mattofthespurs]

Wish I had backed up my prediction and had money on a red card in the France game.

Easy money

[dem]

Group E

Jun 15, 2014 20:41:18 GMT mattofthespurs said:

Wish I had backed up my prediction and had money on a red card in the France game.

Easy money

France 3 Honduras 0. If Cameroon's tactics versus Mexico were "uncompromising," those adopted by the Hondurans were plain brutal. Honduras demonstrated their flair for the dark arts in the pre-tournament "friendly" with England, but yesterday they turned the malevolence up to eleven. Much as it pains me to say it, France, the one side whose South African adventure was even more embarrassing than England's, deserved to win this game on every level you could possibly think of.

The Ref's have been dead lenient to date, or so it seems to me. Neymar should have walked, no question, ditto the Iberian Two during their jaw-dropping collapse versus the Dutch. How Cameroon finished with eleven on pitch v. Mexico is another brain-strainer.That said, am glad the officials seem committed to keeping 22 on the pitch if at all possible, and can only commend Senhor Ricci for using his discretion/ common sense when Wilson Palacios kicked then stomped upon Paul Pogda. Pogda's understandable retaliation warranted a red, but it was cheering when the ref booked both men and warned them against any repeat performance. The mortally wounded Palacios rising Christ-like from the stretcher when he saw his opponent reprieved was hardly novel but it sure made me guffaw. The vanishing national anthems and the goal-line technology farce ensured the match never lacked theatre. Next up for Honduras are an Ecuador side who, of course, are hardly shrinking violets themselves. But I think we'll have seen further dismissals by then.

Ecuador 1 Switzerland 2. Two decent, hard-to-beat but equally hard-to-lose-to sides, so no surprise when they reached the 90th minute honours even. Injury time and, inexplicably, they went at each other hammer and tongs, end to end to end and back again! How amateur - and how thrilling to watch.

Group F.

Argentina 2 Bosnia-Hercegovina 1.

Teams overcame a dreadful first half to spark into some semblance of life after the break, and same could be said of Messi with equal justification. Débutantes B&H gave a good account of themselves without ever really threatening to take a point. Have to say the France-Honduras encounter was miles more entertaining for this anti-purist.

The great thing about these no draws first games is that the losers will be going all out for a win in the second phase.

Todays fixtures;

Group F
Iran V. Nigeria (BBC 1, 20.00)

Group G

Germany V. Portugal (ITV, 17.00)
Ghana V. USA (BBC 1, 23.00)

[mattofthespurs]

Stunning start in the Germany/Portugal match.

Stunning finish in the USA/Ghana match.

And sandwiched in between is the dullest 90 minutes of football ever played.

[dem]

Group (of deathly dull) F

Iran 0 Nigeria 0. This tournament's Algeria-England borefest. The Super Eagles had all of the ball, did absolutely nothing with it. A great point for Iran but an awful match.

Group G

Germany 4 Portugal 0. Jo-Low's lads rarely require any help from the opposition, but the killer jellyfish were in generous mood. What should have been a decent contest was effectively settled within 34 minutes when Thomas Muller's amateur dramatics so incensed Pepe that he responded with a hint of head butt, earning a straight red for his troubles. Germany, already two goals to the good and coasting, saw the rest of the game out with ease. Muller, whose mortal injuries happily proved non-fatal, revived to complete this tournament's first hat-trick, thank you very much. The human preying mantis and his mates in stalking mood. Credit to the ten men who kept going to the end.

Ghana 1 USA 2. God bless America and Ghana for getting us back on track. Clint Dempsey opened the scoring approximately 4 seconds before the game actually started, but, as matt mentions above, the real drama came in the last ten minutes when Andre Ayew finally netted for the Black Stars following a nifty backheel by Asamoah Gyan, and you sensed then that if anyone were to go on and win it sure wouldn't be the Americans ....

Todays fixtures.

Group H. This does not look the most inspiring of groups, so we'll likely get two classics.

Algeria V Belgium. The Belgians have received plenty good press in build-up to tournament, and there is damning talk of "a golden generation." Consequently one likely scenario is that Algeria attempt an Iran on them. Let's hope not.

Russia V South Korea. Unlikely that Capello's latest meal ticket will stiff like his England did four years ago.

Group A

Brazil V Mexico. Today's potential red card zone. They're not keen on one another and, even if the Brazilians are exempt from dismissals, their opponents are not.

[mattofthespurs]

I can speak with a soupcon of authority in regards to Belgium as several of their players 'play' for Spurs.

Starting with Jan Vertongen, or 'the incredible sulk'. Super first season with Spurs saw the towering defender go down as an instant hit with the White Hart Lane faithful. However, once Andreas Villas Boas moved him to left back from his usual centre half position Vertonghen played and looked like a man who had had his lollipops stolen from him. Missed most of Tim (nice but dim) Sherwood's brief reign through a strain of the pout.

Moussa Dembele. Has undoubted skill but seems strangely adverse to actually passing the ball. Results in Dembele looking like a motorboat with a broken rudder as he goes around and around in ever decreasing circles until he gets dizzy, falls over, and loses possession.

Nacer Chadli. Bought from FC Twente last summer for £7 million. Flattered to deceive for most of the season. Played on the left wing for Spurs despite having no turn of pace whatsoever. Has a decent shot on him (as witnessed in Spurs 4-0 triumph at Newcastle last season) and notched up 5 goals for Spurs last season (at a cost of £1.40 million a goal).

Of course on the Algerian team is Nabil Bentaleb (aka Tim Sherwood's Love Child). Reasonably compact midfielder who's party trick is the 5 yard sideways pass. Neat and tidy without causing anyone any trouble.

I expect Belgium to triumph 2-0 but with this World Cup you never can tell.

Enjoy!

[ripper]

I enjoyed the Germany v Portugal game very much. Portugal's defeat will make the second round of games very interesting, but I still expect them to qualify behind Germany.

Brazil v Mexico looks very tasty indeed. Both teams can dish it out so it could be a fiery encounter.

Russia traditionally are not the best on their travels, so it will be intrigueing to see how they get on.

[pulphack]

You know, I haven't seen a moment of the world cup so far, as I'm RIGHT OFF football after Orient bottled it at Wembley (which is horrible anyway - when you have to watch the big screen to see what actually happened as you're so far away, you know football has gone wrong)... you don't throw away a 2-0 lead and go to penalties, which you know you're s&*£ at, unless your nerve has gone. Anyway, I bet Alex Revel loved scoring twice against the man who sold him to a team that were then in the league below us, after he'd had a career best season. Not that I'm bitter, mind (I am)...

Anyway, I laughed long and loud at your assessment of Spurs' Belgian players, Matt. I used to down the Lane as a youth (from Tottenham, Spurs loving family, etc) and 30+ years later things haven't changed for Spurs fans, have they...

[dem]

Yesterday's drama today!

Group H

Algeria 1 Belgium 2.

As feared, Algeria understandably played to their strengths and those strengths have not changed any since 2010. 'The Red Devils' * looked absolutely clueless until introduction of Mauro Fellaini on 65 mins. who took matters into his own hands with a swashbuckling performance and a super equaliser. Fellow sub Mertens' late net-buster saved us from a first dreaded 'Day of the draws'. Jan Vertongen's defensive meltdown on 24 fully endorsed mr. of-the-spurs' pre-match hype.

Russia 1 South Korea 1. How lovely for 'The National Team' and 'The Taeguk Warriors' * that they only get to play a game after the hosts have completed their second. Couldn't have Brazil-Mexico in the late spot, it might affect viewing figures. Worth watching for Igor Akinfeev's tribute to Robert Green, proving that Capello's England reign was not wasted. The goal sparked the Russians who finally awoke from collective somnambulism to carve out a late equalizer. It's unlikely we've seen the last stalemate in this group which, on these results, is surely the Belgians to lose.

Group A

Brazil 0 Mexico 0.

Even without the massive contribution of their inspired keeper Guillermo Ochoa - part Alice band, part Lev Yahin, but mostly a second coming of Jan Tomaszewski (ask your ancestors) - the Mexicans were well worthy of a point and might even have snatched it at death. Not the greatest watch for thrill-seekers, but a huge improvement on the previous 0-0. Another lenient referee - this time it worked in both sides' favour - and another Olympic standard dive from Senor Marcelo.

Today

Three intriguing fixtures one after another.

Group A.

Cameroon V Croatia. Today's late game. Unlikely to be pretty with cards a distinct possibility. Loser goes home.

Group B.

Australia V. Netherlands (ITV, 17.00). The Clockwork Oranges of 2010 reverted to (zzzzz) "Dutch masters" of folklore for their comprehensive annihilation of world & euro champs, and are unlikely to perform famed auto-destruct party-piece during group stages. Aussies will do well to survive Van Gaal mob's revolutionary new tactic, namely, Arjen Robben staying on his feet, even when struck by a stray rizla paper.

Chile V Spain (BBC1, 20.00). Unless Holland commit hara-kiri in Porto Alegre, a Chile triumph would see the Spanish booking a flight home before England.


* (Information courtesy of On me Head, Son. The Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman History of Soccer) [Smashworlds Uni Press, 2012])