Match 21: COLOMBIA v.
IVORY COAST
Date: Thursday June 19, 2014
Venue: Estadio Nacional,
BRASILIA
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
COL opened up
full of running and looking for that killer ball despite being a bit loose with
their distribution early on .. .. COL had more clear chances in the first
stanza especially with JAMES 'GOLDEN FOOT' RODRIGUEZ sending in an exquisite
F/Flank cross to an unmarked TEOFILO GUTIERREZ whose F/T volley dribbled
harmlessly into the signage board .. .. IVC tried to counter but their 9
crosses usually found nothing until out of touch .. ..
JAMES RODRIGUEZ broke the match
open in the 64th minute when JUAN CUADRADOs CK from the left saw J-ROD climb in
the L/Box and crush home a header that found the roof despite BOUBACAR BARRY
getting a full palm on it .. .. COL added a second six minutes later when
RODRIGUEZ pressed and stole the ball in the IVC half and started a counter that
saw
TEOFILO GUTIERREZ feed JUAN QUINTERO in the R/Box and his R/Footer
> L/Left doubled the lead .. ..
IVC clawed a
score back when the electric GERVINHO split two markers on the L/Flank, juked a
COL marker into the ground and R/Footed > U/Left in the 73rd minute .. ..
CLB might be a
little slow in the back, but they have the most electric attack here in BRA and
if the back-four holds up -- who knows --
COL
MoM: JAMES
RODRIGUEZ (club: Monaco)
Another world-class performance by the best MF @
the World Cup thus far, and I can't see any other MF who makes so many quality
passes and sees the pitch so well .. .. Little wonder he led Ligue 1 in Assists
this past season .. ..
IVC
MoM: GERVINHO (club:
Roma)
27YO Arsenal
castoff has found a home in the eternal city as a brief teammate of Michael
Bradley .. .. Amazing 1-v-1 acceleration and was unstoppable in the open pitch
.. ..
=================================================================
Match 23: URUGUAY v.
ENGLAND
Date: Thursday June 19, 2014
Venue:
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
Desperation is a
beautiful thing!
Both sides had to
come out and get points and URU pressure the ball, and pressured high at times
getting TOs with both sides getting some chances in the first-45 .. .. WAYNE
ROONEY almost got on the board first when a GERRARD CK found him alone at the
far post but his header from a difficult high ball caromed off the corner of
the bar and the post .. .. URU made sure of their chance just six minutes from
the HT whistle when URU pressure forced an ENG TO and EDINSON CAVANI found a
drifting LUIS SUAREZ in the R/box who beautifully headed across the goalmouth
> L/Left for a 1-0 lead at the whistle .. ..
URU carved up ENG
to start the second half and hustled from end-to-end but ENG came back into the
match gradually and the Lions finally equalized when GLEN JOHNSON made a
terrific R/Box run and found WAYNE ROONEY who was making a hard L/Box
run and he tapped home > U/Left in the 75th minute .. ..
ENG ran the match
after that, but URU never stopped running, tackling and that hustle finally
paid off on an ordinary ball put into play by FERNANDO MUSIERA that was headed
on by EDINSON CAVANI, off STEVE GERRARD and found an unmarked LUIS SUAREZ who
gave GARY CAHILL the slip into R/Box and crushed his R/Footer home through JOE
HART in the 85th minute .. ..
It's too bad URU
didn't come out this hard in their first match and really, ENG was overmatched
again .. .. An aging URU still hunt the ball wit grit and quality but ENG
really needs to clean house > Their DEFs are just average and there is no
creative force in the middle of the pitch .. ..
URU
MoM: LUIS
SUAREZ (club: Liverpool)
Perhaps the best striker in the world after
netting 31 times for Liverpool this past season, and just one month removed
from knee surgery, how does Gary Cahill figure he's not a threat on a GK? And
at 75% he's still good enough to bet ENG single-handedly .. ..
ENG
MoM: WAYNE ROONEY (club: Liverpool)
28YO and seems to
have been around forever .. .. Finally got his WC goal but to no avail .. ..
Finally came back to himself starting up front and in the middle, but now finds
himself in the middle of a rebuilding project .. ..
=================================================================
Match 22: JAPAN v.
GREECE
Date: Thursday June 19, 2014
Venue: Estadio das Dunas, NATAL
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
MORE HANDBAGS AT
DAWN despite GRE having a bust-up in training this past week with some GRE
players threatening to go home .. ..
JPN started off a
bit better than dribble they produced the other night but they still gave away
the ball far too much .. .. They tried to attack from both flanks, punching in
10 crosses from both sides but resulted in few good chances .. ..
GRE Captain
KONSTANTINOS KATSOURANIS was sent off in the 38th minute after the second of
his hard, professional tackles went into the book .. .. Even before the RC, JPN
was outshooting GRE 6-1 .. ..
Despite JPN
pumping in 17 crosses in the second half alone (compared to GREs 1), JPN never,
ever looked like scoring .. .. They had no idea where their passes were going,
turned into pressure when a pass was a better option .. .. pathetic .. ..
Despite being a
man down, GRE looked stronger, hustled and one would think they would sneak the
goal, and not JPN .. .. ASIAN & AFRICAN FOOTBALL produces some nice
technical players, but not sides .. .. too bad .. ..
JPN
MoM: SHINJI
KAGAWA (club: Manchester United)
With his overmatched teammates flopping around
like no-hopers at the Tsukiji Fish Market in downtown Tokyo, the Old Trafford
playmaker was the only one who knew what he was doing after coming on at HT ..
.. Showed vision and touch in his 45 minute shift and JPN will need 90 more
minutes in their finale .. .. Former Borussia Dortmund fan fave is looking for
more minutes under NED manager LOUIS VAN GAAL who takes over Manchester United
after the WC .. ..
GRE
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 -- 7L
-- 2D
=================================================================
PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT
GK:
Guillermo OCHOA (MEX)
D: Daley BLIND (NED) -- Mats HUMMEL
(GER) -- Mario YEPES (COL)
M: Charles ARANGUIZ (CHI) -- Jermaine JONES (USA) -- Paul
POGBA (FRA) --
Arjen ROBBEN (NED) -- James
RODRIGUEZ (COL)
F: Tim
CAHILL (AUS) -- -- Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) ■
Luis SUAREZ (URU) ■ -- Robin VAN PERSIE (NED)
Bench: F Karim
BENZEMA (FRA) -- F Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) -- F Lionel MESSI (ARG) ◘
M Luka
MODRIC (CRO) -- F Thomas MULLER (GER) -- GK Keylor NAVAS
(CRC) -- MF NEYMAR (BRA) -- MF OSCAR (BRA) -- MF
Andrea PIRLO (ITA) --
MF Juan
QUINTERO (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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