Match 45: UNITED STATES
v. GERMANY
Date: Thursday June 26, 2014
Venue: Arena Pernambuco, RECIFE
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
"We're out to win it!"
Yes & No; It sounds good to the pimped-media, but pragmatically,
both sides are trying not to lose .. .. And both USA & GER are doing a
world-class job of it .. .. If we can beak - break, if not - just pass it
around .. .. If we don't need blood, let's put the
knives away .. .. for now .. ..
GER came forward early when USA gave up the flanks early on and some
nice 1-v-1 marking by OMAR GONZALEZ kept the match level .. .. Not many quality
chances but in the 35th minute, MESUT OZIL hit a ball through the '5' hole of
an USA defender and TIM HOWARD did well to parry it away .. .. USA came into
the match late on in the 1H, but again is getting
no offensive surge from the
L/Flank .. .. 0-0 @ HT .. ..
The 2H was much more of the same, tactical and careful and actually
created some nice chances, but not today .. .. In the 55th minute a nice stop
by TIM HOWARD fell right to assassin THOMAS MULLER above the 'D' and his
exquisite R/Footer was smashed > L/Right (just like Jermaine Jones) .. .. GREAT
STRIKE!
Some benefits from finishing second in the Group > JOZY is expected
back for BEL and by finishing second, we get an extra days rest (playing TUE)
.. ..
USA
MoM:
OMAR GONZALEZ (club: Los Angeles)
Did a great job at the back, well-timed
slide-tackles and clearances .. .. Jurgen has kept a close eye on his progress
(knee) and he might just now be rounding into the form that JK needs .. .. Good
job, OMAR!
GER
MoM: THOMAS MULLER (club: Bayern
Munich)
Just continues to
get it done all the time .. .. A threat wherever he lines up .. ..
=================================================================
Match 46: PORTUGAL v.
GHANA
Date: Thursday June 26, 2014
Venue: Estadio Nacional,
BRASILIA
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
Too bad POR didn't start the Festival like this, in the mood and full
of energy .. .. But lack of conditioning, and belief, have a lot to do with POR
playing like they have .. .. POR came forward at will early on while GHA rarely
held the ball .. .. POR pumped in 13 balls from the flanks and CRISTIANO RONALDO
cheekily tried to chip a ball in (7th minute) from an impossible angle and the
effort just came off the bar .. .. In the 19th minute, 'the haircut' was left
alone in the box and his header off a cross went right to the GK .. ..
In the 31st minute, a hard L/Flank cross from MIGUEL VELOSO took a high
hop on poor JOHN BOYE whose clearance
ended up in the L/Right of his own net .. .. A tough one .. .. And, typical of
African football, they are just trying to get forward using their athleticism
and hoping the ball ends up in the goal .. .. Well deserved 1-0 lead of POR @
HT .. ..
GHA what they could to get forward and the amazing cross from the
L/Flank by KWADWO ASAMOAH in the 57th minute saw ASAMOAH GYAN head in
easily in the R/Box .. .. Bags of goals dropped to RONALDOs feet in the
2H and finally put one in at the 80 minute mark when a horrendous punch by
FATAU DAUDA went right to 'the haircut' in the middle of the box and he easily
L/Footed > L/Right .. ..
GHA just reinforces the fact that AFRICAN FOOTBALL is all about the run
of play, and just 'out-athlete' the opposing side .. .. When their play breaks
down it always ends up as a speculative long-shot .. ..
POR
MoM:
CRISTIANO RONALDO (club: Real Madrid)
Could have had at least a hat-trick if he didn't
LUSTFULLY want to play catch with the GHA GK all match long .. .. horny dude
.. ..
GHA
MoM: KWADWO ASAMOAH (club: Juventus)
GHA
Player-of-the-Year the last two years made a revoltingly-talented,
once-in-a-lifetime cross to level the match .. .. Former #10, now plays out
wide for club and country .. ..
=================================================================
Match 47: SOUTH KOREA
v. BELGIUM
Date: Thursday June 26, 2014
Venue: Arena Corinthians, SAO
PAULO
PANDO! or GORDO? 지역 - 지역 - 지역 (Gordo - Gordo - Gordo)
IF KOREA HAD A WIDE-OPEN SHOT - THEY WOULD NOT TAKE IT!
IF THEY ONLY ONE PERSON WAS MARKING THEM - THEY WOULD DRIBBLE
INTO HIM!
IF THEY HAD A P.K. - THEY WOULD DECLINE IT! WHAT WOULD BE THE
POINT?
COMPLETELY ABYSMMAL OFFENSIVE SHOWING BY KOREA & THE
ENTIRE ASIAN FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION! ASIA DID NOT WIN A SINGLE MATCH AT THIS
WORLD CUP .. .. 0 WINS .. .. THINK OF THE MILLIONS OF $$$$$ SPENT FOR 0 WINS!
Both sides were swinging the axe but very little chips were a-flyin' ..
.. Per usual, KOR was just flailing away to no avail and DRIES MERTENS had the
best chance of the 1H when a broken play saw MERTENS get a gift in M/Box with
nobody in front of him and he 'Gordo-ed' the
ball into the crowd .. .. GORDO -- GORDO!!
Just before the HT whistle, STEVEN DEFOUR was very late on a stand-up
tackle and stomped on the shin of a KOR player and was rightfully sent off ..
.. Maybe playing BEL wouldn't be such a bad thing .. .. 0-0 @ HT .. ..
The 2H was a complete comedy of Korean ineptness coming forward >
Despite having a man advantage for a complete half, pumping in 10 crosses (that
had a better chance of reaching the ballboys), only BEL ever looked like
scoring and they did when off a DIVOCK ORIGI shot in the 77th minute, JAN
VERTONGHEN just ambled in to the box, with no KOR defender even making an
effort to follow the shot and pounded his L/Footer > L/Left .. .. The ball
was loose in the box so long you could have gone to the loo and came back to
see the goal - atrocious .. ..
Really, KOR (and JPN) were criminally inept the past two weeks >
These two sides have been awful and if they are the bell weather standard of
the Asian Federation then there is no hope - EVER!!
KOR
MoM:
give me a break - stick to baseball already
BEL
MoM: none
=================================================================
Match 48: ALGERIA v.
RUSSIA
Date: Thursday June 26, 2014
Venue: Arena da Baixada,
CURITIBA
PANDO! or GORDO? RUS goes out
of the WC on the last day? PANDO!!!!!!!!!
Take away the early goal, and ALG has bossed this match .. .. As the
Festival goes on, one gets more and more impressed with ALG .. .. They're
technical, run hard all match long and don't whine about bonuses like the rest
of their African cousins - Maybe there's a big difference in Northern &
Central African mentality & outlook .. ..
On their very first shot of the match, ALEXANDER KOKORIN making
his run in L/Box, got on the end of a lovely ball from the L/Flank and crushed
his mid-range header > U/Left to take a shock lead .. .. ALG did well to get
back into it after such an early score, pressuring RUS into quite a few forced
& unforced TOs > It becomes more and more obvious that all the RUS
players are playing in a poor domestic league.. .. 0-1 @ HT .. ..
ALG continued relentlessly and were rewarded in the 60th minute off a
CK from YACINE BRAHIMI .. .. Talisan ISLAM SALIMI made his run into
R/Box, and with the Russian GK cowardly flapping at the ball, SALIMI powered
his way above his marker and crushed the pill home .. ..
It's always lovely to watch anything where RUS finds defeat;
Typical of that attitude was a RUS throw-in deep in their own end in the 79th
minute > The player throwing-in sprinted up the touchline and threw in .. ..
(whistle) Do it over and stay where you're supposed to .. .. Same thing happens
- Russian player runs up the touchline and throws-in .. .. (whistle) THROW-IN
FOUL .. .. ALG throw-in .. .. All this 10 minutes left when they needed
possession and a goal .. .. And, FABIO CAPELLO moans that everybody hates
RUSSIA .. .. Well, everybody does - and for good reason!! RIDICULOUS - Glad
they get sent home .. ..
What a terrific Group Stage > From that opening THU night match a
million matches ago to the tears on the ALG sidelines .. ..
ALG
MoM:
ISLAM SALIMI (club: Sporting Lisbon)
ALG top scorer in WC Qualifiers again proved he
can score at this level .. .. Young ALG Player of the year in 2013 quickly had
POR scouts knocking on his door .. ..
RUS
MoM: ALEXANDER KOKORIN (club: Dynamo
Moscow)
Former Boxer who
decided to enroll at the Lokomotiv Moscow Academy .. ..
=================================================================
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),
Adnan JANUZAJ (BEL), 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)
9W -- 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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