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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Football Phoenix. For various reasons, yesterday’s games weren’t among the most enthralling, but here’s a round up, as well as the games I didn’t cover yesterday. So I’m finally on track!

Uruguay 1-3 Costa Rica: Another shocking result, although one that Costa Rica deserved on the balance of play. Edinson Cavani’s penalty put Uruguay ahead but Costa Rica came back largely thanks to an outstanding performance from Arsenal’s Joel Campbell. Campbell scored a cracking volley to equalise, and Oscar Duarte gave Costa Rica the lead three minutes later with a header from a free kick. The game became quite open as Uruguay looked to level, but without Luis Suarez on the field they were lacking in creativity. Campbell produced a stunning pass for Marcos Urena to finish well and seal the victory. A good start to the World Cup for Group D’s underdogs.

England 1-2 Italy: England worked hard but were ultimately beaten by Italy in this surprisingly thrilling encounter. The game was fairly end-to-end, with England starting well but Italy slowly growing into the game. Following a corner, the instrumental Andrea Pirlo’s dummy allowed Claudio Marchisio to fire a low drive through a crowded box and into the corner of the net. But England levelled minutes later when the otherwise hapless Wayne Rooney fired in a cross for Daniel Sturridge to sidefoot home. Physiotherapist Gary Lewin comically injured himself in the celebrations and had to be stretchered off. Italy scored the winning goal in the 50th minute when Mario Balotelli headed home Antonio Candreva’s cross. England tried their hardest to equalise, but Rooney missed the best chance in a match where finishing and final balls in general were poor from an English perspective, and Pirlo had the last say with a free kick that hit the crossbar. I guess that’s what you get when the average likes of Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck are starting ahead of Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley. It’s going to be tough for England now.

Argentina 2-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Despite Argentina’s victory, they were poor for most of the game against a Bosnia team who applied the most pressure but couldn’t find the goal they needed when it really mattered. Argentina took an early lead when Sead Kolasinac was unfortunate to deflect a deflected free kick into his own net, but Argentina failed to take advantage and given the balance of play were lucky to be in the lead at half time. Early in the second half though, Lionel Messi dribbled through the Bosnian defence to curl an effort that hit the post and went in for a fantastic goal. Substitute Vedad Ibisevic pulled one back for Bosnia, thus netting the nation’s first ever goal at a major tournament, but the equaliser never came and Argentina went home happy. In all honesty though, given how well they performed and how rubbish both Iran and Nigeria looked yesterday, Bosnia shouldn’t be too worried about the prospect of going home early.

Switzerland 2-1 Ecuador: A game that so very nearly became the first draw at this World Cup. Enner Valencia opened the scoring with a header from Walter Ayovi’s free kick in a relatively tame first half. The second half was similar following substitute Admir Mehmedi’s close range header from a corner. The decisive goal came as late as late goals can come. Deep into injury time Valon Behrami’s excellent tackle and run produced a pass to Ricardo Rodriguez, and the left back fired a low cross into the box for substitute Haris Seferovic to fire home from close range. Dramatic, and it puts the Swiss in a good position to qualify from their group.

France 3-0 Honduras: Honduras’ tactic of trying to foul France out of the game worked well until Wilson Palacios was sent off for a foul in the area on Paul Pogba. Karim Benzema powered home the resulting spot kick and it was all France from there. France doubled their lead when Benzema’s shot bounced off the post and went in off goalkeeper Noel Valladares. Goal line technology ruled out Benzema’s initial shot. Benzema then scored a third when a short corner found its way to Mathieu Debuchy and the right back’s shot deflected into the path of Benzema, who fired excellently into the roof of the net. A good start for obvious group winners France.

Germany 4-0 Portugal: A very one sided affair. A foul on Mario Gotze in the penalty area resulted in a Thomas Muller penalty goal early on for Germany. Unlike previous big teams who have gone ahead with early penalties in this World Cup, Germany didn’t capitulate and Mats Hummels doubled their lead from a corner. Pepe was then sent off stupidly for Portugal when he head-nudged Muller after the latter over-exaggerated a challenge by the former. Muller fired in a third before half time and there was no coming back for Portugal. Muller added a fourth following a German breakway to seal the victory for the Germans. Portugal face the USA next and given what a one-man team they are they’ll find themselves going home sooner rather than later if they don’t pick up their act.

Iran 0-0 Nigeria: The most boring game of the tournament played between two teams who really aren’t good enough to be at the World Cup produced the first draw of the tournament. Nothing else to say, because very little happened. Both will be going home at the end of it most likely.

Ghana 1-2 USA: The USA battled hard for a victory over Ghana that puts them in a good position to qualify from their group. Clint Dempsey opened the scoring after a mere 31 second when Ghana allowed him to dribble through their defence and fire into the far corner of the net following a throw in routine, but on 20 minutes Jozy Altidore’s World Cup was ended when he pulled his hamstring, which also dampened the USA’s attack. Ghana tried, and tried, and tried, but simply couldn’t find a decent final ball, with Christian Atsu and Sulley Muntari being especially culpable for poor end product and decision making. It looked to be heading for a 1-0 victory but a good Ghana move saw Asamoah Gyan flick the ball into the path of Andre Ayew, and the Marseille winger fired home a fine outside-of-the-foot effort to level the score. Ghana’s deserved equaliser was short lived, though, as only four minutes later Josh Brooks headed home his first international goal from a corner to give the USA a victory. Ghana will find it very tough now, but the USA might fancy their chances of getting out of the group following Portugal’s heavy defeat.

And lastly…predictions for today’s games:

Belgium 3-1 Algeria

Brazil 2-0 Mexico

Russia 2-1 South Korea

That’s finally that for today. More tomorrow.