Date: Tuesday June 24, 2014
Venue: Estadio Mineirao, BELO
HORIZONTE
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
WE ALL KNEW THIS MATCH WOULD BE BETWEEN A WC HOPEFUL VERSUS A WC
ALSO-RAN; WE JUST NEVER ENVISIONED THE ALSO-RAN WOULD BE ENGLAND!
With the Three Lions fielding the Three Cubs lineup, they figured to be
sloppy and boy, were they > ENG was just dreadful
playing the ball out of the back, committing a WC-high 9 unforced TOs in the 1H
alone .. .. Think USA v GHA, but worse .. ..
CRC ruled the midfield, but ENG did get a few quality chances once they
held on to the ball, but KEYLOR NAVAS didn't have to break a sweat in the first-45
.. .. CRC was not afraid to continue their version of 'tikky-tak', even deep in
the ENG third .. .. CRC already had 4 set-pieces before ENG took three
consecutive CKs in the 34th minute .. ..
CRC kept shutting down ENG all over the pitch and ENG kept giving the
ball away all over the joint .. .. ENG huffed and puffed their way to 7
set-pieces (1 for CRC), but again nothing really came of it .. ..
CRC meant to shut it down and they did .. .. Perhaps the highlight of
the match was
the squeals from the crowd when HRH Prince Harry was shown in the
stands and when the ENG faithful sang, "Always Look On The Bright Side Of
Life" .. ..
CRC
MoM: KEYLOR
NAVAS (club: Levante)
Again, hasn't put a wrong foot forward all
Festival long and may be THE best GK here .. .. Off the line quickly when
needed, punching with authority, stopped ENGs most-dangerous thrust when ADAM
LALLANA pulled back a ball across the box that NAVAS read correctly and grabbed
it .. .. And, when DAN STURRIDGE attacked the box, NAVAS was out quickly to
swarm the ball and stop the attack .. .. TERRIFIC!!
ENG
MoM: DANIEL STURRIDGE (club:
Liverpool)
Was the main
threat for ENG all match long .. .. Put himself in dangerous positions, but
just couldn't convert his chances .. ..
=================================================================
Match 39: ITALY v.
URUGUAY
Date: Tuesday June 24, 2014
Venue: Estadio das Dunas, NATAL
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
WHEN ESPN BECOME THE COOKING CHANNEL? TWO OVERCOOKED
SIDES IN THE FIRST HALF; FOOTBALL-BUFFET IN THE SECOND HALF! WHO SAYS FUTBOL IS
BORING?
With so much on the line, URU came out cautiously (legs overcooked) and didn't attempt their
first serious attempt at goal until the 33rd minute with half of their four 1H
shots coming from near the halfway line .. .. ITA was smudge better, but was
looser with the ball and gave it away often (passing
range overcooked) .. .. 0-0 @ HT .. ..
ITA was dour and played for a draw from the opening whistle and that
continued after HT, but that all changed when CLAUDIO MARCHISIO was rightly
shown RC when he came over the ball on a tackle aiming squarely @ EGIDIO RIOSs
leg .. .. One man down, URU went for the win, moving DF DIEGO GODIN up > CF
.. ..
A sour match until the 79th minute, THE FOOD NETWORK took control .. ..
Notorious cannibal LUIS SUAREZ again lost the
plot and clearly grabbed and bit GIORGIO CHIELLINI on the shoulder
.. .. Maybe he was hungry .. .. PSYCHO! BAN HIM FOR LIFE ALREADY!!
Just two minutes after the impromptu URU buffet, DIEGO GODIN in
the L/Box smashed home his header off a CK from GASTON RAMIREZ to finally add
some excitement to a fairly-boring match .. .. Anyone
Hungry?
ITA
MoM: none
URU
MoM: DIEGO GODIN (club: Atletico
Madrid)
2010 Pando! or
Gordo? Side of The Tournament selection again proved the selection
panel a complete genius as his power-header shot URU into the knockout phase of
the Festival .. .. Coming off a magnificent club season, it's too bad URU was
in a must-win situation today but has done well in the previous two matches ..
..
=================================================================
Match 37: JAPAN v.
COLOMBIA
Date: Tuesday June 24, 2014
Venue: Arena Pantanal, CUIABA
PANDO! or GORDO? 帰還, 帰還, 帰還 (Gordo, Gordo, Gordo)
I DON'T CARE IF THEY SCORED A GOAL IN THE 46+ MINUTE; NEVER
ALLOW JAPAN IN ANOTHER WORLD CUP AGAIN!!
JPN gaffer ALBERTO ZACCHERONI has done a horrid job in the selection of
his squad, the quality of the play, tactics, and their results - The product
just stinks .. .. After 8 fruitless crosses and 8 set-pieces in the 1H that had
absolutely no chance of creating anything but laughter, they finally stumbled
into a goal in the 46+ minute when SHINJI OKAZAKI camped out at the near
post as KEISUKE HONDA cut to the middle from the L/Flank and the OKAZAKI header
flashed into the L/Right .. ..
COL scored earlier, in the 17th minute when an idiotic, and unneeded,
challenge by YASUYUKI KONNO brought down JUAN CUADRADO in the box and he
easily dispatched the spot-kick .. .. Yeah, it's 1-1 @ HT, but JPN has looked
just terrible and this has to be the highlight > Not losing @ HT; After all,
a broken clock is right 2X a day .. ..
JAMES RODRIGUEZ (1G+2A) came on as a sub @ HT and it took only 10
minutes for him to single-handedly scupper JPNs ridiculous dreams of advancing
.. .. Taking the ball in M/Box, his sweet outside-of-the-foot flick to JACKSON
MARTINEZ in the L/Box allowed him to R/Foot > L/Left .. .. RODRIGUEZ
again then set MARTINEZ loose in the R/Box and L/Footed ? L/Left in the
82nd minute for his brace .. .. JAMES RODRIGUEZ then capped maybe the
best-ever sub performance in a WC, when his two cut-backs corkscrewed the JPN
defence into the Cuiaba dirt and then just flicked his L/Footer gently into the
back of the net at the 89-minute mark - as easy as you like it .. ..
A classy COL gesture when 43YO FARYD MONDRAGON was given a
run-out late in the match and even made a save on another sad-sack JPN effort
.. .. MONDRAGON was part of the ill-fated CLB effort at the 1994 World Cup in
Los Angeles .. ..
JPN
MoM: none
COL
MoM: JAMES RODRIGUEZ (club: Monaco)
What else can you
say? He has positively lit up the WC and is right now, THE best Footballer In
The World! Messi? J-Rod means more to his Nation than Messi .. ..
=================================================================
Match 38: GREECE v.
IVORY COAST
Date: Tuesday June 24, 2014
Venue: Arena Castelao,
FORTALEZA
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
Anything would be PANDO! after that JPN/COL disaster .. ..
Especially after GRE had to sub their most creative player and starting GK
within the first 24 minutes .. .. Just six minutes later, GRE almost took a
shock lead when pacy, Bavarian-born LB JOSE HOLEBAS
stole the ball near the midway line and a give-and-go sequence saw his
shot above the box rattle the crossbar .. ..
And, that curse known as African football chimed again like clockwork
when just a lazy back pass was intercepted by sub ANDREAS SAMARIS and his
give-and-go set him free in R/Box and he crushed his R/Footed > middle to
take an unexpected 1-0 lead into the dressing room .. ..
37YO Fulham vet GIORGOS KARAGOUNIS probably should have made the score
3-0 by now when his bomb from above the 'D' crushed the crossbar .. ..
Undeterred, IVC continued to press forward and finally grabbed their goal in
the 73rd minute when GERVINHO cut the ball back to WILFRIED BONY in M/Box and he R/Footed > Left to level
the match and put themselves in position to advance to the knockout round in
just 17 minutes .. ..
Then came 3 minutes of stoppage time and on a cross from the L/Flank,
the cagey GIORGOS SAMARAS, marked by GIOVANNI SIO, went down and the referee
immediately pointed to the spot -- 50/50 call, but definitely not the hardest
of collisions, but there was a tangle of legs as SAMARAS was getting his left
leg to the ball .. .. SAMARAS then R/Footed > L/Right to send GREECE to the
knockout round for the first time in their WC history .. .. poor Ivory Coast ..
.. ouch .. ..
Talking about drama, forget the USA/POR match, how about almost the
very last play on the pitch deciding whether you stay, or go in the World Cup
.. .. WOW!
GRE
MoM: GIORGOS
SAMARAS (club: Celtic)
Powerful vet who had a hard time settling @
Manchester City (maybe Luis Suarez kept pouring
Brown Sauce on his leg!) but found his footing in Scotland .. .. Did
he draw a PK? Yes - but that's what experienced pros do .. ..
IVC
MoM: WILFRIED BONY (club: Swansea
City)
Sub for IVC
Legend DIDIER DROGBA pulled IVC even and was just 17 minutes from glory .. ..
=================================================================
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), Eder BALANTA
(COL), Oliver BOZANIC (AUS), Diego Costa (ESP), Matteo Darmian (ITA), Cedric
Djeugoue (CMR), Antoine Griezmann (FRA), Maksim KANUNNIKOV (RUS), Sead
KOLASINAC (BIH), Gabriel Paletta (ITA), Juan QUINTERO (COL), Luke Shaw (ENG),
Raheem Sterling (ENG), Jose Juan Vazquez (MEX), Alex Wilkinson (AUS), YUN
Suk-Young (KOR)
6W -- 11L
-- 3D
=================================================================
PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT
Manager:
Jorge Luis PINTO (CRC)
GK:
Keylor NAVAS (CRC) --Guillermo OCHOA (MEX)
D: Matt BESLER (USA) -- David LUIZ
(BRA)
M: Jermaine JONES (USA) -- Arjen ROBBEN (NED) -- James
RODRIGUEZ (COL)
F: Tim
CAHILL (AUS) -- F Lionel MESSI (ARG) ◘ --
NEYMAR (BRA) -- Robin VAN PERSIE
(NED)
Bench: MF
Charles ARANGUIZ (CHI) -- MF Andrew AYEW (GHA) --
F Karim
BENZEMA (FRA) -- D Danny BLIND (NED) -- F
Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) --
F
Olivier GIROUD (FRA) -- D Mats HUMMEL (GER)
-- MF Luka MODRIC (CRO) -- F Thomas MULLER (GER) -- MF OSCAR (BRA)MF
Andrea PIRLO (ITA) --
Paul POGBA (FRA) -- MF Juan
QUINTERO (COL) -- -- F Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) ■ --
F Mathieu VALBUENA (FRA) -- 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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