Match 43: NIGERIA v.
ARGENTINA
Date: Wednesday June 25, 2014
Venue: Estadio Beira-Rio, PORTO
ALEGRE
PANDO! or GORDO? Muy Pando!
PRINCE HARRY, CANNIBALS, EARLY GOALS! WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?
Before the fans had a chance to finish up their introductions to the
people sitting areound them ~~ 2 GOALS! BOTH BY LIONEL MESSI! In just
the third minute, off a rebound in M/Box, MESSI smelled it out and roofed his
L/Footer .. ..
NGA countered immediately when AHMED MUSA took the ball in
L/Box, cut > middle and curled his R/Footer > L/Right to light the
fireworks early on .. .. ARG probed the rest of the 1H with 7 set-pieces in the
attacking-third (just 1 for NGA), but that eighth FK is what
has all of South
Brazil buzzing about .. .. In extra-time, from above the 'D', MESSI curled
his FK > U/Right that left VINCENT ENYEAMA with no chance .. ..
Terrific match - fun match, but far too open .. .. MUSA scored
again just two minutes after the break when he made a M/Box run, split his two
markers and R/Footed > L/Left to equalize .. .. And, just a minute later,
ARG countered when MESSIs CK from the L/Flank found MARCOS ROJO all
alone in the R/Box and all he had to do was 'knee' the ball in for what turned
out to be the winning goal .. ..
Entertaining, but just have to wonder about both defences .. ..
NGA
MoM:
AHMED MUSA (club: CSKA Moscow)
Non-stop runner found spaces in the ARG defence
and converted when he had the chance .. .. One of the few NGA players to play
in all of their WC Qualifiers was discovered at the Youth World Cup and quickly
went off to play in the NED .. ..
ARG
MoM: LIONEL MESSI (club: Barcelona)
Diagnosed with
growth hormone deficiency aged just 11YO, and offered a Barca contract on a paper
napkin if they moved to Spain for medical treatments, I'd say that investment
did OK for Barca .. ..
=================================================================
Match 44: BOSNIA &
HERZEGOVINA v. IRAN
Date: Wednesday June 25, 2014
Venue: Arena Fonte Nova,
SALVADOR
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
The result of so much football carnage in previous matches on this very
pitch, any goal scored against IRN could probably classify as carnage too .. ..
BIH started brightly, forcing their way forward and enigmatic EDIN CZEKO broke
the match open halfway through the 1H when he took the ball above the 'D', cut
> Middle and then sent a L/Footed skimmer neatly > L/Right past a GK
leaning the other way .. .. IRN almost countered immediately when MASOUD
SHOJAEIs bomb from above the box caromed off the bar .. ..
The goal opened up the match and forced IRN to come forward and they
did come back into the match but just lacked someone running on to the end of
those balls as it ended 1-0 @ HT .. ..
IRN continued to try to come forward but were caught out when a passing
sequence set MIRALEM PJANIC loose in the L/Box and his R/Footer nestled
into the L/Right of the net in the 59th minute .. .. IRN finally was able to
connect when an 82nd minute cross through the goalmouth found REZA
GHOOCHANNEJHAD alone in front of the next and he just tapped in for IRNs
only goal of the festival .. .. IRN broke down again when a nice through ball
saw AVDIJA VRSAJEVIC get loose in the R/Box and lashed his R/Footer off
the L/Post for the last goal of the match .. ..
BIH
MoM:
EDIN CZEKO (club: Manchester City)
Finally a quality match from the 'lamppost' after
missing so many chances in their last match .. .. Showed nice passing range as
well .. ..
IRN
MoM: REZA
GHOOCHANNEJHAD (club: Charlton Athletic)
Raised in the NED
and represented Holland at the Youth level, but pinned his colors to IRN when
the opportunity arose .. .. Hasn't been getting many minutes for his clubs, but
at least grabbed Iran's only goal .. ..
=================================================================
Match 41: HONDURAS v.
SWITZERLAND
Date: Wednesday June 25, 2014
Venue: Arena Amazonia, MANAUS
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
CONCACAF IS GREAT > HONDURAS IS NOT .. ..
Once you come to the conclusion that HON is just not very good, and
overmatched by any decent side (except JPN), this match is a PANDO! Even though
SUI was a bit looser with their passes, HON never really mounted a serious
enough attack to worry the SUI back-five .. .. But none of that really mattered
after the sixth minute when XHERDAN SHAQIRI bombed home a GOLAZO from
above the 'D' that rocketed home > U/Left .. ..
SHAQIRI completed his 45-minute brace in the 31st minute when JOSIP
DRMIC stole the ball inside the HON half, gave-and-go with SHAQIRI that set him
free into the L/Box and he calmly fired his L/Footer > L/Right to what seems
a mountainous 2-0 lead @ HT .. ..
SHAQIRI put home a third in the 71st minute when again,
he took a ball from JOSIP DRMIC in the L/Box and L/Footed his hat-trick >
Middle .. .. It just wasn't mean to be when JERRY BENGSTON had his goal-bound
shot cleared off the line by RICARDO RODRIGUEZ and his easy, point-blank header
(80th minute) head directly to an amazed DIEGO BENAGLIO .. ..
An entertaining match was capped by the thunderous boo's when
Swiss native SEPP BLATTER was shown on the TV screens .. ..
HON
MoM:
none
SUI
MoM: XHERDAN SHAQIRI (club: Bayern
Munich)
Hasn't been
afraid to shoot since arriving in Brazil, and when you think of him, think
about how good Bayern Munich is .. .. In front of him is ARJEN ROBBEN (NED)
& FRANK RIBERY (FRA) while JULIAN GREEN (USA) is trying to make sure the
Swiss sniper gets even less attention .. ..
=================================================================
Match 42: ECUADOR v.
FRANCE
Date: Wednesday June 25, 2014
Venue: Estadio Maracana, RIO DE
JANEIRO
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
In a final Group match that ECU desperately needed, they created just a
few quality chances off of 4 shots and only 2 crosses (and no set-pieces in the
attacking-third) .. .. FRA, who started two players with 3 caps, or less, came
forward with pace when the opportunity arose and put some decent balls into the
box (13 crosses in 1H) .. .. Striker KARIM BENZEMA seemed to content to stay in
the hole behind the strikers and spray the ball around @ HT (0-0) .. ..
Five minutes after the break ANTONIO VALENCIA must have thought LUCAS
DIGNEs shin was ECUs hopes of advancing because that's sure what he stomped on
and got shown a RC and there went ECUs chance .. .. Down a man, it got scrappy
and sloppy .. .. ECU tried to counter directly when they could and only
mustered 4 total crosses on the night and just 2 set-pieces - doesn't sound
like a desperate team, huh? FRA pumped in 17 more crosses in the 2H and peppered
poor GK ALEXANDER DOMINGUEZ all night long .. ..
FRA looked OK, they just needed a bit more quality in their finishing
and getting to those crosses > Insert the natural starting lineup and
they'll be fine .. ..
ECU
MoM: none
FRA
MoM: none
=================================================================
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), Lukas
DIGNE (FRA), Cedric Djeugoue (CMR), Antoine Griezmann (FRA), Anel HADZIC (BIH),
Maksim KANUNNIKOV (RUS), Sead KOLASINAC (BIH), Gabriel Paletta (ITA), Juan
QUINTERO (COL), Morgan SCHNEIDERLIN (FRA), Luke Shaw (ENG), Raheem Sterling
(ENG), Tino SUSIC (BIH), Jose Juan Vazquez (MEX), Alex Wilkinson (AUS), YUN
Suk-Young (KOR)
8W -- 11L
-- 5D
=================================================================
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 Xherdan SHAQIRI (SUI) -- 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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