Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 7 (June 17 - Day 6)

Spain MF CESC FABREGAS moves from Barcelona to Chelsea for an estimated ₤30,000,000 .. .. No wonder he had other things to worry about .. ..  

Match 17: BRAZIL v. MEXICO

Date: Tuesday June 17, 2014      

Venue: Estadio Castelao, FORTALEZA

PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?

LUST -- LUST -- LUST! Little wonder KOBE BRYANT was here!

The putrid, steamy CONCACAF desire to pass the ball to your opponents continued for a second-straight day as BRA & MEX started the first-45 minutes with a charity-fest .. .. Much like the USA/GHA drama served up, both sides were determined to give the ball away and dribble into pressure .. ..

Neither side produced any clear danger until a climbing NEYMAR saw this terrific header pawed off the line by a diving MEMO OCHOA - A terrific save that saw 'eagle-eye' tell the world the ball was exactly above the line when it was saved .. .. OCHOA again came up big when the MEX defence broke down and OCHOA made a point-blank save to keep the match level at the whistle .. ..

He was even busier in the second half when he was called on to stop
a PAULINHO point-blank shot, a NEYMAR curler from inside the box and a crushed THIAGO SILVA header .. ..

Is this the new BRA? Settling to counter-attack with numbers? I guess when who have the talent that BRA has up front, that should be good enough .. .. What's not nearly good enough is MEXs defence on set-pieces > Only OCHOA kept BRA from nabbing all three points .. .. MEX only had 2 shots in the BRA box, both in the last-45 .. ..

BRA MoM: none

MEX MoM: GUILLERMO OCHOA (club: Ajaccio)

Sat on the bench the last two WCs and was tabbed as the surprise starter after a terrific year in France .. .. Came up huge today with some stellar point-blank saves and got around the box well with saves and punches .. .. 28YO is out of contract after the WC and AC Milan & Marseille are camped out at his door .. ..

=================================================================

Match 15: BELGIUM v. ALGERIA

Date: Tuesday June 17, 2014      

Venue: Estadio Mineirao, BELO HORIZONTE

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!

Both sides started cautiously this morning with BEL definitely the more cautious .. .. Whether it was the midday sun, or perhaps underestimating their opponents a bit, BEL was caught out in the 24th minute when SOFIANE FEGHOULI hit a sharp cross from the L/Flank and JAN VERTONGHEN pulled down SOUDANI in the box .. .. FEGHOULI dispatched the spot-kick with his R/Foot down the middle to take a shocking lead going into HT .. .. BEL began to get serious just before the half, connecting more crisply and finally getting their first shot in the ALG box after 43 minutes (9 total shots - only 1 in the box) .. ..

We got as look at the nuclear arsenal on the Red Devils bench after the second-45 got underway when speedsters DRIES MERTENS, DIVOCK ORIGI and mercurial MAROUANE FELLAINI all made their 2014 debuts .. .. A wasted season at Manchester United didn't stop FELLAINI heading home in the 71st minute from KEVIN DE BRUYNE and fellow sub MERTENS made an unmarked R/Box run in the 80th minute and crushed home his inside/out R/Footer > U/Center .. .. With ORIGI beating his markers to every ball, there is some serious, serious pace on that BEL bench .. ..

One just gets the feeling that BEL was just toying with ALG as they turned it on in the second half (10 crosses + 7 set-pieces) allowing just a single shot in the final 45 minutes .. .. But we finally saw the only two decent sides out of Africa, GHANA & ALGERIA .. ..

BEL MoM: DRIES MERTENS (club: Napoli)

27YO mini-might has been overlooked his whole career and was shown the door by Anderlecht but has become a fan fave in Italy .. .. Searing pace, good service from the flanks makes him a danger in the first-11 or off the bench .. .. Was pumping in crosses and taking CKs throughout the 2H .. ..

ALG MoM: RAIS M'BOLHI (club: CSKA Sofia )

Well-traveled netminder who once trialed at Old Tafford after shutting out ENG .. .. Veteran of football in Scotland, Greece, Japan, Russia & France showed why his services are in demand .. .. Unfortunate he got peppered by BEL in the second half, but kept them within a goal making good stops on a couple of long-range BEL bombs and stopped a point-blank FELLAINI header .. ..

=================================================================

Match 16: RUSSIA v. SOUTH KOREA

Date: Tuesday June 17, 2014      

Venue: Arena Pantanal, CUIABA

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!

The first-45 minutes tonight were ages technically-better than yesterdays nightcap (USA win) .. .. Both sides got stuck-in and were able to connect really well .. .. Especially surprising was KOR and how well they were able to move the ball .. .. They have had such a horrendous run-up to the Festival, but the young kids that old friend HONG MYUNG-BO has brought in are doing the trick when it counts .. ..

RUS used the flanks with purpose early on (10 crosses) compared to KOR not hitting their first ball in until the 21st minute .. .. RUS just needs someone to turn in one of their quality crosses while KOR just needs someone to threaten RUS in the final-third .. ..

RUS got very loose with their passing in the second half and it resulted in KOR getting 4 set-pieces (RUS only 1) and KOR got their due on a tame shot in the 68th minute by LEE KEUN-HO in the R/Box that GK IGOR AKINFEEV allowed to go through both his hands for the softest of ridiculous WC Goals .. .. Desperate, RUS clawed back and equalized in the 74th minute off a box scramble that started with a JUNG SUNG-RYONG save that fell to the feet of ALEXANDER KERZHAKOV in M/Box that he slotted home > L/Right .. ..

A pretty good match really that makes RUS look like they have a lot of goals in them but KOR may be struggling for those same chances .. ..

RUS MoM: none

KOR 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), 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), YUN Suk-Young (KOR)

4W -- 5L -- 2D

=================================================================

  PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT 

GK: Guillermo OCHOA (MEX)

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) -- GK Keylor NAVAS (CRC) -- NEYMAR (BRA) -- Andrea PIRLO (ITA)