Match 20: AUSTRALIA v.
NETHERLANDS
Date: Wednesday June 18, 2014
Venue: Estadio Deira-Rio, PORTO
ALEGRE
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
Maybe NED came
into the match in letdown mode after dismantling ESP, and maybe they
underestimated AUS .. .. Understandable on both, so it was not surprising when
they were a bit lose with their passes and then overcompensated by over-hitting
.. .. AUS hustled from the opening whistle, getting stuck-in and running their
arses off .. ..
But, NED overcame
all that in the 20th minute when ARJEN ROBBEN made a nice hard steal in
the middle of the pitch, shrugged off an arm tackle before racing into the
L/Box and smashing his L/Footer > L/Left .. ..
AUS then came
right back in the 21st minute, with TIM CAHILL taking a long cross in
the L/Box and brilliantly first-timing the volley over the stunned GK, off the
bar into the net - WOW, WOW, WOW! It's
too bad
he picked up a YC in the 43rd minute on a hard tackle on BRUNO MARTINS
INDI and will miss the final group match .. ..
What a terrific
match as the Sockeroos took the lead again in the 54th minute off a justified
hand-ball call in the box that MILE JEDNIAK crushed > L/Left .. ..
Like all great sides, NED struck right back when ROBIN VAN PERSIE took
the ball in the L/Box and roofed his L/Footer > U/Middle in the 56th minute
.. .. MEMPHIS DEPAY sealed it in the 68th minute when his inside-out
R/Footer from the T/Box beat the AUS GK > L/Right .. ..
NED survived
gamely despite just an average match from them against a plucky Aussie side
that would have troubled anyone on the night .. .. An amazing effort by AUS considering that they are bleeding their
next generation, throwing them into the deep end and doing a great job .. .. Are they about to leapfrog JPN & KOR as the leading
footballing nation in the Oceania & Asian Conferences? We'll see
.. ..
AUS
MoM: TIM
CAHILL (club: New York)
Former Everton talisman scored one of the
best-ever WC Goals in his final match as an AUS International on a major stage
.. .. Did his usual good job enforcing physical play and pumped in some nice
crosses too .. .. Thank You Tim!
NED
MoM: ARJEN ROBBEN (club: Bayern
Munich)
Continues to show
remarkable speed for a 30Y who has been injury-prone .. .. On top of his game
right now and tried to shake the Orange out of their doldrums with his early
goal!
=================================================================
Match 19: SPAIN v.
CHILE
Date: Wednesday June 18, 2014
Venue: Estadio Mario Filho, RIO
DE JANEIRO
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
I
JUST KNEW SPAIN WOULD ONLY LAST TWO MATCHES AND BE OUTSCORED 1-7!
When the end
comes for any era, it usually comes shockingly fast .. .. ESP was again very
loose with their passing which CHI contributed to with very effective high
pressure that seemed to unnerve the ESP midfield .. .. They created clear
chances, but few of them pressured CLAUDIO BRAVO .. ..
That pressure
lead to a 19th minute TO on the R/Flank that CHI quickly jumped on and CHARLES
ARANGUIZ sent a sweet R > L through-ball to EDUARDO VARGAS in the
L/Box and he juked IKER CASILLAS into the ground and R/Footed the goal right
down the middle .. ..
CASILLAS again
figured in the second goal as well when a hard ALEXIS SANCHEZ FK was punched
directly to ARANGUIZ who just toe-poked home to take an unbelievable 2-0
lead into the dressing room .. ..
The last-45 was
more of the same, CHI hustling all over the pitch and ESP misfiring when a
quality chance came their way .. .. Whether the legs are gone, or there is some
underlying problem in the ESP Camp, the ESP that has won the last three Major
Championships is first side to be eliminated .. .. Doesn't sound right ..
..
ESP
MoM: adios!
CHI
MoM: CHARLES ARANGUIZ (club: Internacional)
Was tricky in
CHIs first match and made all the difference today .. .. Terrific 1H pass
signaled the end of ESPs reign and got an easy Goal just before HT .. .. 25YO
figures to be around for CHI for quite awhile .. ..
=================================================================
Match 18: CAMEROON v.
CROATIA
Date: Wednesday June 18, 2014
Venue: Arena Amazonia, MANAUS
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
REPEAT
AFTER ME -- AFRICAN FOOTBALL SUCKS!! SAY IT LOUD .. ..
You
see it over and over > INDISCIPLINE, OUTRIGHT SELFISHNESS & TACTICAL
STUPIDITY .. .. It's not a rant - It's FACT and not even debatable .. .. After
the CAMEROON FA felt it was OK to get to BRA just days before their opener, the
players decided not to board the plane until they got their bonuses .. ..
classy, eh?
CMR started out
as usual, hunting for their own shots and pumping in crosses that had a better
chance of hitting the photogs .. .. CRO struck just 11 minutes when collecting
deep, LUKA MODRIC hit a brilliant deep release ball > R/Flank that saw a
sweet sequence that ended with IVAN PERISIC sending a through ball to IVICA
OLIC who never stopped his run into the L/Box and he first-timed his
L/Footed shot > U/Left .. .. CRO continued to use the flanks in the
first-45, pumping in 8 crosses from both flanks .. ..
Then,
in a moment that pretty much sums up African Football in general, on a break
headed in front of him ALEXANDRE SONG bitch-slapped the back of MARIO MANDZUKIC
and was promptly sent off
.. .. Nothing provoked him to swing his purse at the Croat, he just wanted to
get off the pitch, losing 0-1 in very humid conditions > He would rather
disgrace his flag than break a sweat chasing the match .. .. pitiful ..
..
The three-goal
pile on by CRO was so typically African indifference > In the 48th minute, GK CHARLES ITANDJE hit the ball right to IVAN PERISIC
who showed his pace into the L/Box and just L/Footed into the space created
by the embarrassed ITANDJE .. .. Off a CK in the 61st minute, MARIO
MANDZUKIC in M/Box headed home > L/Left - He should have, not a single CMR defender left his feet .. .. MANDZUKIC
ended the CMR disgrace in the 73rd minute when he was left yard alone off a
rebound and just tapped in .. ..
CMR
then should have had BENOIT ASSOU-EKOTTO sent off when he tried to head-butt his
own teammate BEN MOUKANDJO and had to be separated by another teammate >
DO US ALL A FAVOR AND SEND THEM ALL HOME!
CMR
MoM: go home,
losers!
CRO
MoM: MARIO MANDZUKIC (club: Bayern
Munich)
Was suspended for
the WC Opener after his RC v. ICE in the Playoffs, he made up for it with the
easiest of braces .. .. Looks set to look for a new club after the WC .. ..
=================================================================
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 -- 7L
-- 2D
=================================================================
PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT
GK:
Guillermo OCHOA (MEX)
D: Daley BLIND (NED) -- Mats HUMMEL
(GER)
M: Charles ARANGUIZ (CHI) -- Jermaine JONES (USA) -- Paul
POGBA (FRA) --
Arjen ROBBEN (NED) -- James
RODRIGUEZ (COL)
F: Tim
CAHILL (AUS) -- Lionel MESSI (ARG) ◘ --
Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) ■ -- Robin VAN PERSIE (NED)
Bench: F Karim
BENZEMA (FRA) -- F Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) -- M Luka MODRIC (CRO) --
F Thomas
MULLER (GER) -- GK Keylor NAVAS (CRC) -- NEYMAR (BRA) --
MF OSCAR
(BRA) -- Andrea PIRLO (ITA)
◘ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordo? Starting Side of the Tournament
■ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordon? Honorable Mention of the Tournament
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