Match 31: BELGIUM v.
RUSSIA
Date: Sunday June 22, 2014
Venue: Estadio Maracana, RIO DE
JANEIRO
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
AFTER
135 MINUTES, IT'S OFFICIAL > RUSSIAN DOMESTIC FOOTBALL BLOWS!!
This is what
happens when you pick 23 players, all from your subpar domestic league > Bad
passing, Bad teamwork & Really Bad finishing .. .. RUS was just horrendous
in possession during the 1H, committing a WC-high 7 unforced TOs in just 45
error-strewn minutes .. .. Because of that, RUS Had precious few chances, and
just threw away their one golden opportunity when DENIS GLUSHAKOV sent a
perfect L/Flank cross to an unmarked ALEXANDER KOKORIN whose easy header went
wide right when it was 1,000% harder NOT to put the ball on goal > Hey ALEXANDER, this isn't MLS circa 1998!
Nonstop running
BEL dynamo DRIES MERTENS ran all over
the RUS L/Flank taking 4 shots, pumping
in 4 crosses and taking both CKs .. .. They just couldn't connect with ROMELU
LUKAKU or MAROUANE FELLAINI .. .. BEL clearly dominated over a seemingly
outmatched RUS in the 1H .. ..
The 2H was pretty
much a dull affair until RUS legs really got heavy and BEL began to carve up
the fatigued RUS backline .. .. With the Commie defence looking for a cool
place to lie down, EDEN HAZARD easily turned his mark down the L/Flank and his
pull-back to DIVOCK ORIGI in L/Box easily resulted in him lashing R/Foot
> U/Center for the winner .. .. BEL won today in a trot, as well as their
first match .. .. If they have another gear, oh-oh .. ..
BEL
MoM: EDEN
HAZARD (club: Chelsea)
Terrific close-control, pacy and a mystery >
Made mincemeat of the RUS backline in the 2H and they had no answer for him ..
.. Really made friends with the Belgian FA in 2011 when he came on as a sub,
then got subbed for and media found him at a burger stand down the street while
the match was still on .. ..
RUS
MoM: none - ru
kidding?
=================================================================
Match 32: SOUTH KOREA
v. ALGERIA
Date: Sunday June 22, 2014
Venue: Estadio Beira-Rio, PORTO
ALEGRE
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
Outshot
0-10 in the 1H, all 10 shots inside the KOR box, and losing 0-3 @ HT - You
Get What You Deserve!
Amazingly poor
display from KOR, and it looked like ALGs bright start really put KOR off and
the ALG superior athleticism, technical-ability and drive has, what is really
the FRANCE 'C' TEAM, with a richly-deserved lead .. .. ISLAM SLIMANI got
the Foxes off to a deserved lead when taking a perfect long ball over the top
into M/Box, held off markers on both sides and L/Footed > U/Right .. ..
Then, just two
minutes later, KOR was punished by bad GK play when off a CK, RAFIK HALLICHE
in M/Box, out-leaped his marker, got in front of GK JUNG SONG-RYONG who thought
the ball was hit harder than it was, and HALLICHE powerfully headed > Middle
.. .. ALG basically buried KOR in the 38th minute when just off an ordinary
long-ball to SLIMANI, he then fed a wide-open ABDELMOUMENE DJABOU in
M/Box and he easily slotted home > L/Right .. .. Another sad display
by the ASIA FEDERATION .. ..
KOR clawed one
back five minutes after the whistle on KORs first shot of the match when SON
HEUNG-MIN took a long ball over the top, showed good close-control to get
himself free in the L/Box, and L/Footed through the GKs legs .. .. YACINE
BRAHIMI basically slammed the door on KOR when working a wonderful 1-2 with
SOFIANE FEGHOULI in the L/Box that him loose in the L/Box and sweetly L/Footed
> L/Left to take a 4-1 lead .. ..
KOR again clawed
one more back in the 72nd minute when KOO JA-CHEOI took a centering ball
from LEE KEUN-HO in the R/Box and his L/Footer easily found the U/Right .. ..
Exciting, yes - Good football, not really .. .. Whatever the scoreline, ALG won
in a walk and KOR was lucky to score the pair that they did .. ..
KOR
MoM: SON HEUNG-MIN (club: Bayer Leverkusen)
The Korean 'son-sation' put a poor
WC opener behind him with a nice, quality goal versus one of better GKs here in
BRA .. ..
ALG
MoM: YACINE BRAHIMI
(club: Granada)
Played
for FRA in the 2009 EURO U-19 Championships side that reached the SF which set
off an INT tug-of-war for his Senior services > He declared for ALG in
February 2013 and made his ALG debut a month later .. .. Was lively and active
tonight again showing off his ball skills and his delightful goal .. ..
=================================================================
Match 30: UNITED
STATES v. PORTUGAL
Date: Sunday June 22, 2014
Venue: Estadio Beira-Rio, PORTO
ALEGRE
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
WE'RE
EVEN NOW!
After
the absolute howler in the 2010 match v. ENG, we've paid back the WC Gods with
the absolute 'sh*tter' by GEOFF CAMERON that teed up NANI in the R/Box
for his R/Foot gift > U/Right in the fifth minute .. ..
That out of the
way, the USA has outplayed POR up and down the pitch and out-shot POR
throughout the 1H and they kept CRISTIANO RONALDO in check with just 3 tame
shots .. .. POR was very loose with their passing in the 1H with 6 unforced TOs
.. .. The USA has played crisper, and sharper early on and POR looks wrecked
already with an early 1H sub .. .. CAMERON has rebounded by playing well the
rest of the half and we all really enjoyed his full body-block on RONALDO just
before the half :)) .. .. @ HT, if the
USA can keep up the pressure, and keep connecting, there could be a lot of joy
.. ..
As we all
thought, the USA began to pressure the POR back line and create all kind of
havoc and on an American flank-attack in the 64th minute, the ball got out to JERMAINE
JONES above the box and his crushed R/Foot curler around a POR defender
found it's way > L/Right for a much-deserved equalizer .. .. The go-ahead
goal in the 82nd minute started with brilliant sub DE ANDRE YEDLIN easily
getting behind the POR defence on the R/Flank and after a bit of pinball,
GRAHAM ZUSIs cross to a lonely CLINT DEMPSEY saw him chest in the
go-ahead score .. ..
Kept pretty quiet
most of the match and on the last rush of the match RONALDO delivered a
perfect, world-class ball to sub SILVESTRE VARELA rolling into L/Box and
crushed his ballistic header home on the very last play of the match .. ..
I hate
to say it, because it's a broken record for me, but MICHAEL BRADLEY - C'mon,
it's a tap-in with the only the DEF
right in front of you and you hit it right at him .. .. And, on that final
play, you allow yourself to get stripped while everyone else gets caught coming
forward and RONALDO delivers the perfect cross .. .. Please, please, do
better .. .. Please .. ..
USA
MoM:
MATT BESLER (club: Kansas City)
After today, he might be the best % passer on the
team .. .. Lots of hard, standup steals and did wonderfully with his
distribution and soldiered on after picking up a R/Leg knock .. .. When RONALDO
came at him, he shut down Wonderboy and was also really good in the air .. ..
POR
MoM: CRISTIANO RONALDO (club: Real
Madrid)
Why
couldn't he just slice his cross like he did all match long? .. .. sigh .. ..
=================================================================
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),
Maksim KANUNNIKOV (RUS), Sead KOLASINAC (BIH), Gabriel Paletta (ITA), Raheem
Sterling (ENG), Jose Juan Vazquez (MEX), Alex Wilkinson (AUS), YUN Suk-Young
(KOR)
4W -- 9L
-- 2D
=================================================================
PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT
Manager:
Jorge Luis PINTO (CRC)
GK:
Guillermo OCHOA (MEX)
D: Matt BESLER (USA) -- Danny BLIND
(NED) -- Mats HUMMEL (GER)
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) -- Mario YEPES (COL)
◘ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordo? Starting Side of the Tournament
■ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordon? Honorable Mention of the Tournament
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