Match 53: FRANCE v.
NIGERIA 
16
16
Date: Monday June 30, 2014
Venue: Estadio Naconal,
BRASILIA
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
1
Open, fun match to start the day with FRAs class there for all to see
.. .. Pumped in an amazing 16 crosses in the 1H alone (11 from the right) that
produced a few good chances, especially a first-time scissor attempt by the
languid PAUL POGBA just inside the box that was saved off the line .. ..
Open, fun match to start the day with FRAs class there for all to see
.. .. Pumped in an amazing 16 crosses in the 1H alone (11 from the right) that
produced a few good chances, especially a first-time scissor attempt by the
languid PAUL POGBA just inside the box that was saved off the line .. ..
NGA also attacked from the flanks (12 total crosses), but not a single
ball lead to any quality attempt .. .. Their first shot from inside the FRA box
came in the 30th minute off a passing sequence from above the box .. .. Some
sloppy giveaways inside their half didn't help matters either .. .. Equal HT
numbers, but FRA is far the better side in the
first 45 minutes; 0-0 @ HT .. ..
2
NGA
continued to cross fruitlessly (10 2H crosses) to absolutely no avail, and
manager ZERO shots in the box during the last-45 minutes and only 2 long-range
bombs .. .. Meanwhile FRA could have broken this walkover into an absolutely
romp after KARIM BENZEMA had his near goal cleared off the line by VICTOR MOSES
in the 70th minute and an exquisite strike a few minutes later by YOHAN CABAYE
came off the bottom of the crossbar .. .. Finally, FRA broke through off a MATHIEU
VALBUENA CK that was palmed away by VINCENT ENYEAMA only to fall to the head of
PAUL POGBA who nodded it home into an empty goal in the 79th minute ..
..
NGA
continued to cross fruitlessly (10 2H crosses) to absolutely no avail, and
manager ZERO shots in the box during the last-45 minutes and only 2 long-range
bombs .. .. Meanwhile FRA could have broken this walkover into an absolutely
romp after KARIM BENZEMA had his near goal cleared off the line by VICTOR MOSES
in the 70th minute and an exquisite strike a few minutes later by YOHAN CABAYE
came off the bottom of the crossbar .. .. Finally, FRA broke through off a MATHIEU
VALBUENA CK that was palmed away by VINCENT ENYEAMA only to fall to the head of
PAUL POGBA who nodded it home into an empty goal in the 79th minute ..
..
A
nonchalant NGA defence then allowed VALBUENA to stroll down the R/Flank byline
and send a nice ball into the middle only for the ball to go off of JOSEPH YOBO and into the NGA net in stoppage time
.. ..
Now >YOBO made no attempt to clear the ball and the ball
ricocheted off his leg and into the net .. .. Hockey would have awarded the
goal to VALBUENA, and this goal should be too!
FRA
kept swarming forward in the 2H (10 2H crosses + 11 attacking set-pieces) and
actually won in a walk today .. .. FRA, the most exciting offense of the
Festival, will give GER everything they can handle .. ..
FRA
MoM:
PAUL POGBA (club: Juventus)
Towering
(6-3), and sublimely talented, has teamed with JAMES RODRIGUEZ to become the
most-talented young pair of MFs the WC has seen in a long while .. .. Both have
seen their market value go through the stratosphere during the Festival .. ..
NGA
MoM: none
=================================================================
Match 54: GERMANY v.
ALGERIA 
16
16
Date: Monday June 30, 2014
Venue: Estadio Beira-Rio, PORTO
ALEGRE
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
BAYERN MUNICH TAKES ON THE WORLD!
A Champions League Headline? Perhaps .. .. On most normal days .. ..
But lately, there have been whispers of not many normal days in the GER Camp ..
..
= Special 'sensitivity' treatment for the emotional MESUT OZIL
= Rumors of the nine (9) Bayern Munich players wanting their agenda to
be GERs agenda .. .. Much like the
Barca/Real Madrid bickering in the ESP Camp
= MATS HUMMEL suddenly 'ill' on the AM of the match and not on the team
sheet
= And, you just have to believe they were looking past ALG
Just kinda makes you wonder, eh?
1
With
all the whispered distractions, little wonder GER was taken aback by the ALG
attack and high pressure in the 1H .. .. ALG first-15 minutes was better than
any African appearance in the last 3 World Cups .. .. Clearly rattled by the
Northern Africa assault, GERs high defensive line was almost caught out by a
17th minute goal from a terrific, early ALG cross but the ALG striker was
correctly ruled offside .. ..
With
all the whispered distractions, little wonder GER was taken aback by the ALG
attack and high pressure in the 1H .. .. ALG first-15 minutes was better than
any African appearance in the last 3 World Cups .. .. Clearly rattled by the
Northern Africa assault, GERs high defensive line was almost caught out by a
17th minute goal from a terrific, early ALG cross but the ALG striker was
correctly ruled offside .. ..
The
GER defensive line was playing so high that GK MAUEL NEUER, on 3 occasions had
to come off his line to act as a sweeper to keep the ALG onslaught from scoring
.. .. Combined with the uncharacteristic unforced TOs by GER, it's fortunate
that the scoreline was 0-0 @ HT .. ..
2
Both
sides continued to go after each other in the most entertaining 0-0 match thus
far in the Festival .. .. GER (13 2H crosses + 7 attacking set-pieces) tried to
get anything past GK RAIS M'BOLHI, but he was not allowing anything by in the
first 90 .. .. ALG attacked mainly from the L/Flank (7 of their 8 2H crosses)
and again forced NEUER twice to make 'sweeper' saves .. ..
Both
sides continued to go after each other in the most entertaining 0-0 match thus
far in the Festival .. .. GER (13 2H crosses + 7 attacking set-pieces) tried to
get anything past GK RAIS M'BOLHI, but he was not allowing anything by in the
first 90 .. .. ALG attacked mainly from the L/Flank (7 of their 8 2H crosses)
and again forced NEUER twice to make 'sweeper' saves .. ..
xtra
1)
Finally cashing in on one of their many chances, GER took the lead 1-0 in the
92nd minute on another fine ball from THOMAS MULLER on the L/Flank into the
middle for HT sub ANDRE SCHURRLE who cheekily back-heeled it in off his
L/Foot > L/Right that left M'BOLHI
with no chance .. .. ALG had a great chance to equalize in the 101st minute
when the ball fell to MEHDI MOSTEFA at the penalty sport and he lashed it wide
left .. ..
1)
Finally cashing in on one of their many chances, GER took the lead 1-0 in the
92nd minute on another fine ball from THOMAS MULLER on the L/Flank into the
middle for HT sub ANDRE SCHURRLE who cheekily back-heeled it in off his
L/Foot > L/Right that left M'BOLHI
with no chance .. .. ALG had a great chance to equalize in the 101st minute
when the ball fell to MEHDI MOSTEFA at the penalty sport and he lashed it wide
left .. ..
2)
Like a burst bubble, and broken players lying all
over the pitch, there were still 2 more goals after the 120th minute .. .. Off
a broken play in the ALG box with ALG defenders too tired to mark their man, MESUT
OZIL took a loose ball in the L/Box and crushed his L/Footer > Middle to
put the match out of reach .. .. ALG kept swinging and did actually pull one back
when SOFIANE FEGHOULI pumped a ball in from the R/Flank and sub ABDELMOUMENE
DJABOU slid in and L/Footed the cross first time > U/Right .. ..
GER
MoM:
ANDRE SCHURRLE (club: Chelsea)
Tricky, versatile striker is a favorite of JOACHIM
LOW and injected a bit of attacking life into the GER side .. .. Very nice
close-control for a big man .. ..
ALG
MoM: RAIS
M'BOLHI (club: CSKA Sofia)
Globetrotter
again took down MoM honors for ALG .. .. Kept ALG in the match until ET .. ..
=================================================================
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), Aissa MANDI
(ALG), Shkodran MUSTAFI (GER), 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)
11W -- 12L
-- 5D
=================================================================
PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT
Manager:
Jorge Luis PINTO (CRC)
GK:
Keylor NAVAS (CRC)
D: Matt BESLER (USA) -- David LUIZ
(BRA)
M: Jermaine JONES (USA) -- Paul POGBA (FRA) -- Arjen
ROBBEN (NED) --
Brian RUIZ (CRC) -- James
RODRIGUEZ (COL)
F: Tim
CAHILL (AUS) -- F Lionel MESSI (ARG) ◘ -- NEYMAR (BRA)
Bench: MF
Charles ARANGUIZ (CHI) -- MF Andrew AYEW (GHA) --
F Karim
BENZEMA (FRA) -- D Danny BLIND (NED) -- F
Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) --
MF Juan
Guillermo CUADRADO (COL) -- F Olivier GIROUD (FRA) --
D Mats HUMMEL (GER) -- MF Luka MODRIC (CRO)
-- F Thomas MULLER (GER) --
GK Guillermo OCHOA (MEX) -- MF OSCAR (BRA)
-- MF Andrea PIRLO (ITA) --
MF Juan
QUINTERO (COL) -- -- F Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) ■ --
F Xherdan
SHAQIRI (SUI) -- F Mathieu VALBUENA (FRA) --
F Enner
VALENCIA (ECU) -- F Robin VAN PERSIE
(NED) -- D 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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