Tags
Alex Song, Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Danny Welbeck, England, Greece, Ivory Coast, Jack Wilshere, Japan, Jordan Henderson, Mexico, Netherlands, Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Uruguay, Wayne Rooney, World Cup 2014
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Football Phoenix! Today I’ll round up the results from the last two days and take a look at how things might go for the teams who play later today.
Belgium 2-1 Algeria: A game that looked to be heading for a shock result for some time. Algeria took the lead in the 24th minute with a Sofiane Feghouli penalty after Jan Vertonghen needlessly fouled the former in the penalty area. It was hardly a thrilling encounter, and whatever you can say against Algeria you have to admit they’re tough to break down. Substitute Marouane Fellaini’s looping header levelled the score for Belgium, before Eden Hazard set up Dries Mertens to smash home the inevitable winner. It was the win Belgium needed in order to give their World Cup campaign a good chance of heading into the knockouts. Algeria defended well but aside from the move that lead to the penalty they offered little going forward.
Russia 1-1 South Korea: A dull first half, in which Korea tried to attack but lacked quality and Russia had the quality but lacked the interest going forward, was capped off by a more exciting second half. Korea took the lead when Lee Keun-ho’s long-range effort went straight at Igor Akinfeev, but the Russian keeper capped off a very unconvincing night by somehow letting the ball slip through his hands and half-tossing it into the back of the net. Russia equalised six minutes later when veteran striker Aleksandr Kerzhakov fired home a scrappy goal for Russia, but neither side could find a winner a draw was just about right on the balance of play, leaving this Group H wide open.
Brazil 0-0 Mexico: A fantastic display from Mexico helped them earn a well-earned draw with the hosts. It was very much an end-to-end game, and although Brazil had the better chances they failed to beat the excellent Guillerma Ochoa in Mexico’s goal, who pulled off a string of impressive saves to deny Neymar, Thiago Silva and Paulinho. The result means that Brazil can potentially exit the tournament early if they somehow lose to Cameroon and the showdown between Mexico and Croatia results in a draw, or also if a Croatia victory does not damage Mexico’s goal difference enough.
Australia 2-3 Netherlands: The Dutch secured their passage into the knockouts with a narrow victory over Australia in a thrilling encounter. Arjen Robben opened the scoring with an excellent run before finishing coolly into the far corner. Australia, however, levelled with the goal of the tournament. A long ball into the box found Tim Cahill, who smashed home a fantastic left-footed volley that powered in off the crossbar. Mile Jedinak put Australia ahead with a penalty after a rather harsh call for handball was given against Dutch defender Daryl Janmaat, although Australia will rue earlier missed chances from Mark Bresciano and Matthew Spiranovic as Robin Van Persie fired home an equaliser. The winning goal came when Memphis Depay scored from 25 yards. Chile’s later victory confirmed Australia’s exit from the tournament, and you have to sympathise with them as they played well but were not clinical enough in front of goal.
Spain 0-2 Chile: The current World Cup holders’ defence came to an early end at the hands of Chile. Spain were slow, uninventive, and could not handle a Chile side who were really up for the win. Eduardo Vargas slid home an early goal for Chile following fine work from Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal. The lead was doubled when a Chile free kick went straight towards Iker Casillas in the Spain goal, but the keeper took the bizarre decision to punch the ball out when he could have easily caught it. Not only that, but he punched it straight towards Charles Aranguiz, who toe-poked home a fine finish. Spain desperately tried to find a goal in the second half but struggled to put Chile under any real pressure and were devoid of ideas. Sergio Busquets’ horrible error, missing the ball completely when he could have tapped in from two yards, just about summed up Spain’s night. They’re out, and it’s clear that football has finally caught up with them, but Chile were fantastic, so take nothing away from them.
Cameroon 0-4 Croatia: Croatia pulled themselves right back into the battle to get out of the group with an emphatic victory over Cameroon. Cameroon started well but missed the clinical finishing of the injured Sameul Eto’o, and Ivica Olic gave Croatia an 11th minute lead when a fine Croatia move saw him smash home the impressive Ivan Perisic’s low cross. Alex Song was then sent off stupidly for needlessly punching/elbowing (hard to tell which part of his arm made the contact) Mario Mandzukic in the back off the ball without provocation. Perisic doubled Croatia’s lead when drove into Cameroon’s box from Charles Itanje’s poor clearance, and instead of squaring the ball for Mandzukic to tap home, went for glory himself with a fine effort over Itanje. Madzukic got on the scoresheet twice, though, rising unmarked from a corner to head home his first, and tapping in substitute Eduardo’s saved shot. Cameroon’s ego problems were further evident when Benoit Assou-Ekoto headbutted Benjamin Moukandjo for reasons currently unexplained, but to be fair to most of them, they kept trying.
Right then, England play Uruguay tonight in a vital clash that will go a long way to dictating whether or not they go out of their group. They played very well against Italy despite losing, but were missing something in the final third. Personally, I would replace Danny Welbeck with Ross Barkley and Jordan Henderson with Jack Wilshere for more creativity from the off, as well as move Wayne Rooney into the centre where he is more effective and Raheem Sterling out wide right. Uruguay looked poor against Costa Rica but the return of Luis Suarez will add much more verve and creativity to their attack, so England will need to be more switched on defensively than they were against Italy.
The other clashes are Colombia vs Ivory Coast and Japan vs Greece. Here are my predictions:
Colombia 1-2 Ivory Coast
Uruguay 1-1 England
Japan 1-0 Greece
Right then, that’s all. Enjoy the football later (try as anyone might in any game involving Greece). More tomorrow. Until then…
thefootballphoenix 