GERMANY could not find a hotel the liked so they purchased their own land and built a luxury resort instead .. .. WOW .. ..
Match 13: GERMANY v.
PORTUGAL
Date: Monday June 16, 2014
Venue: Arena Fonte Nova,
SALVADOR
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
I -
I - I . .. ... ME - ME - ME . .. ... I - I - I . .. ... ME - ME - ME
When you have a
player who only goes forward, and after your most undisciplined player gets
sent off after 36 minutes, I think I would like playing 11 v. 9 .. .. Wouldn't
you? And .. .. You have to cheer against any team that has their names painted
in gold in their hotel rooms .. ..
MARIO GOTZE
punished the POR defence for their lack of discipline at the back when he was
hauled down in the box by JOAO PEREIRA and THOMAS MULLER easily R/Footed
> U/Left .. .. MAT HUMMELS climbed above the POR defence in the 32nd
minute off a CK and crushed his header > U/Left and MULLER again
penalized an indifferent POR back-four on a box scramble in the 46th minute in
M/Box and R/Footed his brace > U/Left .. ..
POR didn't force
an attacking set-piece until the 36th minute after GER already had 5+ and
RONALDO only had 15 total touches in the first-45 .. .. Reckon he saw the
writing on the wall in the tunnel @ HT when he already
swapped shirts with SAMI KHEDIRA .. ..
swapped shirts with SAMI KHEDIRA .. ..
The last-45 was
no more than a Sunday pub kick-about that saw both sides turn the ball over
more than create scoring chances .. .. MULLER completed his hat-trick
off another goal-box scramble that he crushed home .. ..
POR is in deep
do-do with HUGO ALMEIDA, FABIO COENTRAO & PEPE all sure to miss the match
v. USA through bad injuries and suspension .. ..
GER
MoM: THOMAS MULLER (club: Bayern Munich)
Quite used to being used as a 'false-nine', the
24YO basically poached his hat-trick, but nonetheless, he put himself in great
positions to be successful .. ..
POR
MoM: none
=================================================================
Match 12: IRAN v.
NIGERIA
Date: Monday June 16, 2014
Venue: Arena da Baixada,
CURITIBA
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
Yeah, we all figured
it to be a bad appetizer for the big one .. .. and it was .. ..
IRN tried hard
and even applied some high-pressure at times but they just could not link up
and had only one CK & shot in the first half with no crosses at all .. ..
NGA had no chance of linking with their front-runners as they were just pumping
in crosses (8) just to get on the FIFA Technical Report > I don't think any
of them got to a teammate .. ..
The second half
was much more of the same as an indifferent NGA kept turning the ball over and
crossing to nobody, but then IRN tried to counter and connect .. .. 0 crosses
in the first half, but 8 in the second .. .. NGA had their only real look at
full points when in stoppage time, a sharp header was headed off the line .. ..
IRN was brave, ran hard and deserved a point .. ..
IRN
MoM: none
NGA
MoM: none
=================================================================
Match 14: GHANA v.
UNITED STATES
Date: Monday June 16, 2014
Venue: Estadio das Dunas, NATAL
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo? Gordo?
.. .. JOHN-ANTHONY goes up .. .. PANDO!!
African Football
> remember?
A dream start
when CLINT DEMPSEY took a tap-on off a throw-in, marauded into the L/Box
and put his L/Footer home off the R/Post .. .. CLINT'S THE MAN!!
Otherwise, it's
been a very nervy match by both sides .. .. GHA pumped in 14 crosses in the
first half and all that resulted in just one decent shot .. .. USA had bags of
turnovers, some of them pressured - They just have to make better decisions but
they held the line well and didn't allow GHA many good looks .. .. The boys
limped into the dressing room with JOZY, CLINT & MATT all nursing knocks ..
.. But 1H kudos to JERMAINE JONES who is actually out @ LM and has been
disciplined, and under control, while ALFRED BEDOYA is running the show @ RM
and the USA was dangerous on the break when he was on the ball .. ..
The second half
was more the same, the USA turning the ball over with GHA catching that same
LUST as the match wore on .. .. The USA soaked up all the pressure well, with
full marks going to JOHN ANTHONY BROOKS even before THE goal >
Composed at the back, distributed well and was a rock at the back .. ..
Finally, JORDAN AYEW took a beautiful back-heel from ASAMOAH GYAN,
cutting L>R across the L/Box and hit an I/O toe-poke > U/Left - TIM had
no chance with his one .. .. Great goal .. ..
AFRICAN
indiscipline this time awarded the YANKS in stoppage time in stoppage-time when
GRAHAM ZUSI hit a perfect CK to BROOKS who snapped ball under the GK and
into the back of the beautiful, beautiful net .. ..
The USA had 10+
unforced turnovers on the night - IT HAS TO IMPROVE! That said, I think that
shows clearly how far the USA/MLS has come > Despite JOZY going out early,
and all the TOs, the USA wins a WC match with one of the new DEUTSCH kids and a
MLS kid .. .. DANKA JURGEN!!!
GHA
MoM: JORDAN AYEW (club: Marseille)
French-born son of Ghanaian International ABEDI
PELE was quiet the whole match until slotted home a world-class goal to almost,
almost get GHA a result .. ..
USA
MoM: JERMAINE JONES (club: Schalke
04)
STELLAR - STELLAR
job by someone we've waited on for about a half-decade .. .. Surprised everyone
being deployed @ LM, was physical, mistake-free, distributed brilliantly, and
played with restraint and class .. .. Notice all the attack he broke up on the
left, especially in the second half? And, whose sublime F/T touch got CLINT
running just 30 seconds into the match -- You got it, JERMAINE JONES!!
=================================================================
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 – 1D = 4 pts
If you WON your last Friendly
before your first Group Match = 9W – 9L – 1D = 28 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),
Sead KOLASINAC (BIH), Gabriel Paletta (ITA), Raheem Sterling (ENG), Jose Juan
Vazquez (MEX), Alex Wilkinson (AUS)
4W -- 5L
-- 1D
=================================================================
PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT
GK:
Keylor NAVAS (CRC)
D: Daley BLIND (NED) -- Mats HUMMEL
(GER)
M: Jermaine JONES (USA) -- OSCAR (BRA) -- Paul POGBA
(FRA) --
Arjen ROBBEN (NED) -- James
RODRIGUEZ (COL)
F: Joel CAMPBELL
(CRC) -- Lionel MESSI (ARG) -- Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) -- Robin VAN PERSIE (NED)
Bench: F Karim
BENZEMA (FRA) -- F Tim CAHILL (AUS) -- M Luka MODRIC (CRO) -- F Thomas MULLER
(GER) -- NEYMAR (BRA) -- Andrea PIRLO (ITA)
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