Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 24 (July 5 - Match Day 21)

> BRA Superstar NEYMAR is ruled out of the remainder of the WORLD CUP with a fractured vertebrae.. ..  

Match 60: ARGENTINA v. BELGIUM  L8                  

Date: Saturday July 5, 2014       

Venue: Estadio Nacional, BRASILIA

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!

1st  Both sides probed early on, feeling each other out, but in the 8th minute a deflected R/Flank cross fell perfectly to GONZALO HIGUAIN in M/Box and he sweetly volleyed the R/Footer > L/Left for an amazing 1-0 lead so early on .. ..

BEL didn't threaten from close in and only after

a JAN VERTONGHEN L/Flank cross to KEVIN MIRALLAS, did BEL have their one and only shot in the ARG box in the 42nd minute .. .. A fairly toothless BEL attack because ARG can hold possession (hear that USA MF?) .. .. 1-0 @ HT .. ..

2nd  BEL tried to come forward, but just couldn't get on the same songsheet together .. .. Despite their 9 crosses in the 2H, there was just one try from inside the ARG box .. .. Despite the advantage, ARG looked the side most likely to score again .. ..

ARG could have put the match away after a strong 60Y run from GONZALO HIGUAIN, 'megging VINCENT KOMPANY and then unleashing a R/Footed rocket that hit the bar .. .. It could have finished 3-0 when LIONEL MESSI was set free from 30Y out but his cheeky, I/O L/Foot chip was saved nicely by THIBAUT COURTOIS .. ..

A handy 1-0 tally over a young, misfiring BEL side was easier than the scoreline reflected .. .. With NEYMAR out for BRA, aren't ARG the strong faves now??

ARG MoM: GONZALO HIGUAIN (club: Napoli)

'Pipita' showed how you are supposed to play the lone-striker role .. .. Hold up play, hold us possession, be strong with the ball and work hard .. .. And, if you have the ability to dribble the length of the pitch, so much the better .. .. Don't forget, he cored almost as many goals as MESSI during WC Qualifying, despite playing 3 less matches .. ..

BEL MoM: none

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Match 59: NETHERLANDS v. COSTA RICA  L8                    

Date: Saturday July 5, 2014       

Venue: Arena Fonte Nova, SALVADOR  

PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?

Always fascinating is the clash of two, timeworn scenarios between two sides that have never faced each other at the senior level .. ..

NED - The uber-talented horse who can beat anybody, but is never quite sure what to do when they are in front .. ..

CRC - The new kid on the block, who all of a sudden, can't believe what used to work, isn't working today .. ..

1st  A choppy, sloppy first stanza with both sides not afraid to give each other the ball, or be caught in possession .. .. Both sides created a few chances with most of the cutting chances falling to NED (4 shots; 3 in the NED box), but saw the stellar KEYLOR NAVAS knocked everything away, including a nice WESLEY SNJEIDER FK headed to the U/Left corner that NAVAS read correctly and parried away .. ..

NAVAS had another great read when ROBIN VAN PERSIE was set free in the L/Box, but NAVAS saw it all percolating and quickly came off his line to smother the ball confidently .. .. CRC will have to do something to get JOEL CAMPBELL some support as CRC did not have a single attempt on goal in the 1H; 0-0 @ HT .. ..

2nd  NED continued to attack (and sputter) in the 2H (forcing 9 attacking set-pieces) but they were poor in front of the net .. ..

CRC didn't manage their first shot of the match until the 62nd minute on a CHRISTIAN BOLANOS FK and their first shot in the NED box until the 65th minute .. .. WESLEY SNJEIDERs FK in the 83rd minute from above the box, surely was the winner but it came off the L/Post .. .. NED peppered NAVAS throughout the 2H and ROBIN VAN PERSIE especially was stoned by the best GK in the world .. .. And, perhaps it wasn't meant to be when VAN PERSIE again was denied by YELTSIN TEJEDA who cleared his shot off the line 3 minutes into stoppage time .. ..

Extra  1H) NED continued to come forward in the first-15, firing 5 shots, 2 crosses & 5 attacking set-pieces with SAINT NAVAS stopping all in front of him .. .. CRC was whitewashed through the 1H of ET .. ..

2H) More pressure and SNJEIDER again cracked one off the bar in the 118th minute; Will anything go into the goal? And, CRC had a chance to win the match with only their third shot of the match when sub MARCOS URENA got loose but his effort was saved by JASPER CILLESSEN .. .. And, in on of the ballsiest moves a manager can make, LOUIS VAN GAAL then subbed his GKs just before the final whistle bringing in TIM KRUL in the 120th minute .. ..

PK  NED GK TIM KRUL had his presence known from the outset of PKs, marching up and down the PK spot, playing mind games with the CRC PK-takers, stopping 2 of the 5 shots > Guessing right, and diving to his left on both saves, KRUL stopped BRIAN RUIZ & MICHAEL UMANA who both went for power > L/Right only to be denied .. .. NED were a perfect 4-for-4 on their spot-kicks (VAN PERSIE, ROBBEN, SNJEIDER & KUYT) .. ..

NED MoM: LOUIS VAN GAAL (manager)

Perhaps the saddest day in Dutch Newspaper history, the soon-to-be Manchester United gaffer again displayed his tactical brilliance .. .. A horrible enemy of the Dutch press who openly support any adversary of VAN GAAL, he again became the Dutch manager after the horrible Dutch showing @ Euro 2012 .. ..

CRC MoM: KEYLOR NAVAS (club: Levante)    

Couldn't save any of the 4 PKs this time around, but his bravery kept CRC in the match and amazingly got his side to PKs w/a fighting chance to come to BRA and play the maximum 7 matches; Who could have ever guessed that? Besides me? :)))

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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 

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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

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  PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT 

Manager: Jorge Luis PINTO (CRC)

GK: Keylor NAVAS (CRC)

D: Giancarlo GONZALEZ (CRC) -- Mats HUMMELS (GER) -- David LUIZ (BRA)

M: Jermaine JONES (USA) -- 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 Matt BESLER (USA) D Danny BLIND (NED) --

F Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) -- MF Juan Guillermo CUADRADO (COL) --

F Olivier GIROUD (FRA) -- MF Luka MODRIC (CRO) --  F Thomas MULLER (GER) --

GK Guillermo OCHOA (MEX) -- MF OSCAR (BRA) -- MF Andrea PIRLO (ITA) -- MF Paul POGBA (FRA) -- 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