Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 11 (June 21 - Day 10)

IRAN did not look at ARGENTINA in awe during the match, but LIONEL MESSI was asked for his jersey by the IRANIAN Captain before the match!!.. ..  

Match 27: ARGENTINA v. IRAN

Date: Saturday June 21, 2014      

Venue: Estadio Mineirao, BELO HORIZONTE

PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?

Heroic first-45 minutes for IRAN as they 'won' the first half! Putting 10 men behind the ball, denying ARG any rhythm, and pressuring LIONEL MESSI with ANDRANIK TEYMOURIAN kept the damage from the ARG attack, to a minimum .. ..

ARG was again, loose with their passing, turning the ball over six times while under no pressure .. .. They did attack with numbers and had six shots in the box in the 1H off 15 crosses in the first stanza .. .. ARG is extremely left-handed with 11 of those early crosses coming from the L/Flank -- Of their seven crosses v. BIH in the first match, five came in from the left .. .. GK ALIREZA HAGHIGHI was heroic in the
1H with a brave stand-up stop on GONZALO HIGUAIN and D/Left to palm away a SERGIO AGUERO shot .. ..

ARG continued to press along the flanks (19 second half crosses; 34 total), but ARG just couldn't get to some of the better balls and when IRN had a chance to counter, they were able to put SOG, but ARG was finally able to break down the IRN wall in stoppage time when LIONEL MESSI collected ball above the 'D' and hit a sweet L/Foot curler that found the L/Left despite HAGHIGHIs brave dive .. ..

IRN kept MESSI bottled up for most of the match, again shadowed by TEYMOURIAN until he was able to shake free and win the match with individual brilliance ... .. All in all, a fairly pedestrian effort by ARG when the ball isn't allowed to get to the middle .. ..

ARG MoM: LIONEL MESSI (club: Barcelona)

Again saved ARG with a brilliant stoppage time winner .. .. Lord help the side that lets ARG run at them down the middle .. ..

IRN MoM: ALIREZA HAGHIGHI (club: Sepahan)

Acrobatic 33YO kept IRN in the match with his bravery, and the ability to punch dangerous crosses out of the box .. ..

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Match 29: GERMANY v. GHANA

Date: Saturday June 21, 2014      

Venue: Estadio Castelao, FORTALEZA

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!

As everyone would have guessed, a probing affair with GER trying to keep the tempo low and GHA trying to get to loose balls with their athleticism .. .. GER attacked down both flanks but could not get on the end of the decent crosses while GHA was again attacking down the right (7 crosses; 1 on left) after they pumped in 12 balls from the R/Flank v. the USA in 1H alone .. ..

The match exploded after the first goal which fell to GER when a terrific, weighted ball from THOMAS MULLER fell to MARIO GOTZE in the 51st minute in M/Box and he headed > L/Left .. .. Just two minutes later, GHA countered on a terrific R/Flank cross from HARRISON AFFUL found ANDRE AYEW who headed into the L/Left .. ..

GHA took a shock lead when SULLEY MUNTARI stole the ball at midfield and the sequence saw ASAMOAH GYAN storming into the R/Box and he lashed it, R/Footed > L/Left in the 63rd minute .. .. In the 71st minute, MIROSLAV KLOSE scored in his fourth WC when a CK saw a headed ball find KLOSE in the R/Box that he flicked home .. ..

You just had a feeling that this match would turn out the way it did - Athleticism v. Technical Ability and the last-45 was a show!

GER MoM: MARIO GOTZE (club: Bayern Munich)

Started the second half scoring onslaught off the perfect ball from Muller .. .. 22YO starlet comes from a footballing family as his older brother plays in the lower divisions .. ..

GHA MoM: ANDRE AYEW (club: Marseille)

Again made the headlines with his equalizer just as he did v. USA .. .. Can do it all up front .. ..

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Match 28: NIGERIA v. BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Date: Saturday June 21, 2014      

Venue: Estadio Pantanal, CUIABA

PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?

Like two sides desperate for points, both sides came out open and looking to go forward much in the same manner as the previous match > NGA trying to use their electric athleticism and BIH looking to build through one-touch ball .. .. Kinda like two NBA teams just heaving up three-pointers and hoping someone sinks one eventually .. ..

BIH was a bit looser with the ball as they gave away the ball needlessly but it sure looked like they got on the board first off a beautifully-played piece through the middle that saw EDIN DZEKO through on goal in the 21st minute but his goal was mistakenly ruled offside .. ..

NGA took advantage of the break by keeping the pressure up when in the 29th minute when EMMANUEL EMENIKE got around his mark on the R/Flank and his pull-back ball to PETER ODEMWINGIE saw him sweetly R/foot through the GKs legs to take a 1-0 lead into the half .. .. NGA got all their joy early on along the R/Flank with 6 crosses, a FK and 2 CKs all from there with not a thing coming from the other flank .. ..

BIH kept pumping in crosses (17) in the 2H but none ever looked like scoring .. .. Bosnia had a hard time holding back NGAs superior athleticism and the Super Eagles constantly beat BIH to the ball and honestly looked like they could not handle NGA physically .. .. The second match was summed up in the 93+ minute when a DZEKO scuffed shot produced a leg save from ENYEAMA that saw the rebound go off the post .. .. It was just not going to happen for Bosnia .. ..

NGA MoM: EMMANUEL EMENIKE (club: Fenebahce)

Leading scorer at the 2013 Nations Cup despite suffering a serious injury late on, he is still a world-class athlete with good vision and his pass set up the only goal .. .. Had been accused of match-fixing by Turkish officials in 2013 .. ..

BIH MoM: none

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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 

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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

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  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) -- F Lionel MESSI (ARG) ◘ --

 Mathieu VALBUENA (FRA) -- Robin VAN PERSIE (NED)

Bench: MF Charles ARANGUIZ (CHI) -- MF Andrew AYEW (GHA) -- F Karim BENZEMA (FRA) -- F Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) -- F Olivier GIROUD (FRA) -- MF 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 Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) ■ -- F Enner VALENCIA (ECU)

◘ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordo? Starting Side of the Tournament

■ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordon? Honorable Mention of the Tournament