COLOMBIA 3 - 0 GREECE
URUGUAY 1 - 3 COSTA RICA
ENGLAND 1 - 2 ITALY
IVORY COAST 2 - 1 JAPAN
June 14, 2014
COLOMBIA 3 - 0 GREECE
Colombia's team has many victory dances prepared for this tournament and may have many opportunities to display them.(Reuters)
Part soccer team, part flashmob, Colombia kept things lively against Greece, scoring a goal at the beginning, middle and tail end of the match. Who could ask for anything more? Well, you may have wanted to see star striker Radamel Falcao in action but unfortunately he will not be playing in this World Cup due to a knee injury. Most teams would feel positively crippled without their star player, but Los Cafeteros' (translation:The Coffee Growers) cup runs over with talent–Pablo Armero, Teófilo Gutiérrez and James Rodriguez just to name a few. With Falcao rooting from the sidelines in beautiful Belo Horizonte, Colombia still managed to brew a mighty strong cup of soccer. A tear for Greece, who earned three yellow cards and no points.
This game was played in Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte:
Aesthetic Value: **** out of 5
Fear (of collapse) Factor: 0 out of 5
URUGUAY 1 - 3 COSTA RICA
Man of the match: Joel Campbell of Costa Rica celebrates an equalizer against Uruguay
The defeat of soccer giant Uruguay by teeny tiny Costa Rica is the third upset in this exciting and wildly unpredictable World Cup–the first being Spain's total defeat by Holland (0-5) and the second, Chile's domination over Australia (3-1). While Uruguay took the lead in the first half of the game with a well-warranted penalty kick by Edinson Cavani, the second half revealed a whole new Costa Rica: refreshed and incredibly in sync as a team.
Costa Rica's turning of the table began with an equalizer about 10 minutes into the second half, an expansive cross from right field by 24-year old, 5' 8", Cristian Gamboa, to Joel Campbell who, alone in an open field of green, effortlessly propelled the ball on a smooth long glide into the net. It was what commentators on Univision refer to as a golaço (goal-osso), because there are good goals and there are great goals, and this was a great goal. I think we all could have done without Joel Campbell's bizarre post-goal pregnancy antics in which he ran around with a ball under his shirt, sucking his thumb while his shorts were falling down. A succinct header by Óscar Duarte gave Costa Rica the lead and Marco Ureña put a ring on it with a third goal set up by a long pass from Campbell.
This game was played in Estádio Castelão, Fortaleza:
Aesthetic Value: **** out of 5
Fear (of collapse) Factor: 0 out of 5
ENGLAND 1 - 2 ITALY
Bullet Point #3 (See below.)
There wasn't a great deal of excitement and drama in this much-anticipated match between soccer colossi England and Italy, in fact I think that the entire game was best summarized by these bullet-pointed game highlights from BBC writer Phil McNutty:
This game was played in Arena Amazônia, Manaus:
IVORY COAST 2 - 1 JAPAN
Goal scorer Gervinho and teammate Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast celebrate a 2nd goal and lead against Japan. (NOLA Photos, The Times-Picayune)
Japan's most famous blonde, midfielder Keisuke Honda, provided the first burst of excitement in this frenzied match with a wily goal in the 16th minute that outwitted Ivory Coast defenders. Japan's lead was sustained into the game's second half despite repeated attacks until Wilfried Bony followed-through on some elegant passes that enabled him to equalize in the 64th minute, followed by another goal, 2 minutes later by Gervinho who caught Japan goalie Eiji Kawashima off guard with a strike from right field. It was a one-two punch from which Japan could not recover and the match ended 2-1.
This game was played in Arena Pernambuco, Recife:
Aesthetic Value: **** out of 5
Fear (of collapse) Factor: 0 out of 5
URUGUAY 1 - 3 COSTA RICA
ENGLAND 1 - 2 ITALY
IVORY COAST 2 - 1 JAPAN
June 14, 2014
COLOMBIA 3 - 0 GREECE
Colombia's team has many victory dances prepared for this tournament and may have many opportunities to display them.(Reuters)
Part soccer team, part flashmob, Colombia kept things lively against Greece, scoring a goal at the beginning, middle and tail end of the match. Who could ask for anything more? Well, you may have wanted to see star striker Radamel Falcao in action but unfortunately he will not be playing in this World Cup due to a knee injury. Most teams would feel positively crippled without their star player, but Los Cafeteros' (translation:The Coffee Growers) cup runs over with talent–Pablo Armero, Teófilo Gutiérrez and James Rodriguez just to name a few. With Falcao rooting from the sidelines in beautiful Belo Horizonte, Colombia still managed to brew a mighty strong cup of soccer. A tear for Greece, who earned three yellow cards and no points.
This game was played in Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte:
Aesthetic Value: **** out of 5
Fear (of collapse) Factor: 0 out of 5
URUGUAY 1 - 3 COSTA RICA
Man of the match: Joel Campbell of Costa Rica celebrates an equalizer against Uruguay
The defeat of soccer giant Uruguay by teeny tiny Costa Rica is the third upset in this exciting and wildly unpredictable World Cup–the first being Spain's total defeat by Holland (0-5) and the second, Chile's domination over Australia (3-1). While Uruguay took the lead in the first half of the game with a well-warranted penalty kick by Edinson Cavani, the second half revealed a whole new Costa Rica: refreshed and incredibly in sync as a team.
Costa Rica's turning of the table began with an equalizer about 10 minutes into the second half, an expansive cross from right field by 24-year old, 5' 8", Cristian Gamboa, to Joel Campbell who, alone in an open field of green, effortlessly propelled the ball on a smooth long glide into the net. It was what commentators on Univision refer to as a golaço (goal-osso), because there are good goals and there are great goals, and this was a great goal. I think we all could have done without Joel Campbell's bizarre post-goal pregnancy antics in which he ran around with a ball under his shirt, sucking his thumb while his shorts were falling down. A succinct header by Óscar Duarte gave Costa Rica the lead and Marco Ureña put a ring on it with a third goal set up by a long pass from Campbell.
This game was played in Estádio Castelão, Fortaleza:
Aesthetic Value: **** out of 5
Fear (of collapse) Factor: 0 out of 5
ENGLAND 1 - 2 ITALY
Bullet Point #3 (See below.)
There wasn't a great deal of excitement and drama in this much-anticipated match between soccer colossi England and Italy, in fact I think that the entire game was best summarized by these bullet-pointed game highlights from BBC writer Phil McNutty:
This game was played in Arena Amazônia, Manaus:
Aesthetic Value: ***** out of 5
Fear (of collapse) Factor: 0 out of 5
IVORY COAST 2 - 1 JAPAN
Goal scorer Gervinho and teammate Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast celebrate a 2nd goal and lead against Japan. (NOLA Photos, The Times-Picayune)
Japan's most famous blonde, midfielder Keisuke Honda, provided the first burst of excitement in this frenzied match with a wily goal in the 16th minute that outwitted Ivory Coast defenders. Japan's lead was sustained into the game's second half despite repeated attacks until Wilfried Bony followed-through on some elegant passes that enabled him to equalize in the 64th minute, followed by another goal, 2 minutes later by Gervinho who caught Japan goalie Eiji Kawashima off guard with a strike from right field. It was a one-two punch from which Japan could not recover and the match ended 2-1.
This game was played in Arena Pernambuco, Recife:
Aesthetic Value: **** out of 5
Fear (of collapse) Factor: 0 out of 5
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