Match 24: ITALY v.
COSTA RICA
Date: Friday June 20, 2014
Venue: Arena Pernambuco, RECIFE
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
THE
GOLD STANDARD OF C.O.N.C.A.C.A.F. GAVE THE MIGHTY ITALIANS ALL THEY COULD
HANDLE! NOT ONLY DO THEY LOSE TO U.S.A. AT HOME, THEY GET TAKEN APART BY MIGHTY
COSTA RICA!
You all saw it,
tonight CRC officially entered the elite of the Federation with a terrific,
cultured, and actually overpowering win over ITA .. .. CRC came out the better
side, pressuring high and causing turnovers, both enforced, and unforced .. ..
CRC created the better chances and ITA didn't even attempt their first shot
until the 27th minute .. .. CRC had 4 CKs, compared to 1 for ITA .. ..
CRC Superstar
JOEL CAMPBELL was clearly pushed down in the box in the 42nd minute, but the
Ticos were not to be denied three minutes later when
a hard cross from JUNIOR DIAZ on the L/Flank found BRYAN RUIZ making a far-post run and his perfect header beat GIANLUIGI BUFFONs paw and into the net off the bar .. .. An unfocused, mistake-prone ITA clearly didn't take kindly to the temerity of another CONCACAF club taking it to them and a scuffle broke out between the sides as they left the pitch @ HT .. ..
a hard cross from JUNIOR DIAZ on the L/Flank found BRYAN RUIZ making a far-post run and his perfect header beat GIANLUIGI BUFFONs paw and into the net off the bar .. .. An unfocused, mistake-prone ITA clearly didn't take kindly to the temerity of another CONCACAF club taking it to them and a scuffle broke out between the sides as they left the pitch @ HT .. ..
The last-45 was
much more of the same, CRC pressing like crazies, stealing the ball and
basically looking like the much better side .. ..
CRC Manager JORGE
LUIS PINTO knew how right-sided ITA is - They only attacked on the R/Flank v.
ENG, sending in 10 crosses from the right and none on the left .. .. CRC shut
down ITA on both flanks allowing only two crossed the entire match (both from
the right) .. .. The have a world-class GK, play together at the back and have
class attacking talents .. .. They run for each other all over the pitch - WOW!
After their first
two matches, COSTA RICA is clearly the best side in CONCACAF and could be the
best 'team' in BRA .. .. We all knew this was their best side since Italy '90,
but it's all come together right now! If they can keep playing like they have,
making the Semis, or even the Final, have to become a serious thought .. .. THINK ABOUT IT > COSTA RICA IN A WORLD CUP
SEMI-FINALS?! OUTSTANDING!!
ITA
MoM: none
CRC
MoM: Manager JORGE
LUIS PINTO
61YO Football Academic
never played professionally but has won League Titles in four different
countries > PERU (3), COSTA RICA (2), VENEZUELA (2) & COLOMBIA (1) .. ..
Right now he has the best team at a WORLD CUP .. .. Forget Mourinho, PINTO
IS THE SPECIAL ONE!!
=================================================================
Match 25: SWITZERLAND
v. FRANCE
Date: Friday June 20, 2014
Venue: Arena Fonte Nova,
SALVADOR
PANDO! or GORDO? Mon Dieu =
Pando!
Are
Les Bleus back? OUI .. .. And, today we got to see the best-two teams here in
BRA > FRANCE & COSTA RICA .. .. Who saw that a month ago?
Not a great SUI
side, if match one was any indication, but less than 10 minutes after the
whistle, they were jolted when STEVE VON BERGEN took a high foot directly, and
squarely, to the L/Eye area .. .. Clearly in pain, a bleeding VON BERGEN was
slowly led directly to the dressing room from the pitch .. ..
An understandably
shaken SUI side kept turning the ball over and were punished in the 15th minute
off a MATHIEU VALBUENA CK that saw OLIVIER GIROUD rise at the back of
the attacking pack and cleverly steer his header > L/Right .. .. Classy
score .. .. Just three minutes later, a terrible SUI pass saw KARIM BENZEMA
feed BLAISE MATUIDI flying into the L/Box and his L/Footer beat DIEGO
BENAGLIO to the near post to take a 2-0 lead after just 18 minutes .. ..
Off a SUI CK in
the 40th minute, FRA executed the perfect counter-attack when a sweet release ball set GIROUD off down the L/Flank
and his perfect cross > VALBUENA saw his R/Footer in the R/Box almost
go through the back of the net to take a 3-0 lead @ HT .. ..
The French wave
continued in the second half with sub PAUL POGBA hitting a wonderful inside/out
R/Footer > KARIM BENZEMA who half-biked his R/Footer through the GKs
legs into the net in the 67th minute .. .. FRA closed their evenings account in
the 73rd minute when BENZEMA sent a nice ball to MOUSSA SISSOKO arriving
into the R/Box and his R/Footer across the goalmouth settled into the L/Left of
the net .. ..
After FRA closed
up shop for the evening, SUI did claw a couple of goals back. Sub BLERIM
DZEMAILI scored in the 81st minute off a slightly-deflected FK from above
the 'D' and GRANIT XHAKA volleyed home expertly in the 87th minute
making a R/Box run and first-timed his L/Footer > L/Right even with the chip
coming in from behind him .. ..
SUI
MoM:
GRANIT XHAKA (club: Borussia Monchengladbach)
Elegant and skilled, the 21YO scored a nice goal
despite the blowout .. .. Known as the 'Little Einstein' for his geeky interest
in science .. ..
FRA
MoM: MATHIEU VALBUENA (club:
Marseille)
Displayed his
terrific ball skills in their first match and cashed in today with his CK
assist on the first goal and his deadly finish from GIROUD on the amazing
counterattack immediately after the SUI CK .. .. If he was a couple of inches
taller he would be called the 'French Ronaldo' .. ..
=================================================================
Match 26: HONDURAS v.
ECUADOR
Date: Friday June 20, 2014
Venue: Arena da Baixada, CURITIBA
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
JUST LIKE GOING
TO TOMMY'S > Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy .. .. but kinda tasty .. ..
MORE LUST - Both
sides just had to pass the pill to the other team as much as possible in the 1H
.. .. In the 31st minute, just a lazy, ordinary ball over the top from his own
DEF, the ECU misplayed the ball in the air leaving former MLSer CARLO COSTLY
alone and his L/Foot knuckleball found the L/Left to take a surprise lead .. ..
ECU countered
just three minutes later when a deflected shot turned into the perfect cross
that an alert ENNER VALENCIA L/Footed > L/Left .. .. HON is actually
pretty lucky to be in the match @ HT as ECU began to produce quality chances,
earning 7 set-pieces in the attacking-third compared to just 2 for HON .. ..
ECU continued to
create quality chances in the second half (7-2 CKs) and were justly rewarded
when WALTER AYOVI took a FK from the L/Flank in the 65th minute and on-form VALENCIA
out-leaped his marker in M/Box, ignored his teammate going for the same
ball and snapped his header > L/Right .. ..
Perhaps the
smartest man on the pitch was ECU Manager REINALDO RUEDA who used to be the
head man .. .. for HON .. .. The only thing the nightcap tonight really showed
is that the also-rans in CONMEBOL are much stronger than those in CONCACAF ..
..
HON
MoM:
CARLO COSTLY (club: Real Espana)
Former HOU DYNAMO veteran ran non-stop and kept
his side in the match .. ..
ECU
MoM: ENNER VALENCIA (club: Pachuca)
The World Cup
finds guys in great form and puts them in the spotlight and ENNER is one of
those guys .. .. His terrific first year in Liga MX has put him spot-on to
carry ECU to unknown heights .. .. pun intended .. ..
=================================================================
WIN OR GO HOME?
What
happens when you get to the 2014 World Cup for your first match .. ..
If you LOST your last Friendly
before your first Group Match = 1W – 1L – 2D = 5 pts
If you WON your last Friendly
before your first Group Match = 9W – 9L – 2D = 29 pts
If you DREW your last Friendly before
your first Group Match = 2W – xD – 2L = 6 pts
=================================================================
EXPERIENCE! Yeah, or neh?
How players do when they came to
BRA with 5 caps, or less .. ..
Ramon Azeez (NGA), Diego Costa
(ESP), Matteo Darmian (ITA), Cedric Djeugoue (CMR), Antoine Griezmann (FRA),
Sead KOLASINAC (BIH), Gabriel Paletta (ITA), Raheem Sterling (ENG), Jose Juan
Vazquez (MEX), Alex Wilkinson (AUS), YUN Suk-Young (KOR)
4W -- 8L
-- 2D
=================================================================
PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT
Manager:
Jorge Luis PINTO (CRC)
GK:
Guillermo OCHOA (MEX)
D: Daley BLIND (NED) -- Mats HUMMEL
(GER) -- Mario YEPES (COL)
M: Jermaine JONES (USA) -- Arjen ROBBEN (NED) -- James
RODRIGUEZ (COL)
F: Tim
CAHILL (AUS) -- Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) ■ --
Mathieu VALBUENA (FRA) -- Robin VAN PERSIE
(NED)
Bench: MF
Charles ARANGUIZ (CHI) -- F Karim BENZEMA (FRA) -- F Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) -- F
Olivier GIROUD (FRA) -- F Lionel MESSI (ARG) ◘ -- M Luka MODRIC (CRO) --
F Thomas
MULLER (GER) -- GK Keylor NAVAS (CRC) -- MF NEYMAR (BRA) --
MF OSCAR
(BRA) -- MF Andrea PIRLO (ITA) -- Paul POGBA (FRA) --
MF Juan
QUINTERO (COL) -- F Enner VALENCIA (ECU)
◘ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordo? Starting Side of the Tournament
■ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordon? Honorable Mention of the Tournament
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