> 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
Stellar USA center-back MATT BESLER has
intense interest from English Premier League & German Bundesliga clubs
after a phenomenal WC performance.. ..
Match 53: FRANCE v.
GERMANY L8
Date: Friday July 4, 2014
Venue: Estadio do Maracana, RIO
DE JANEIRO
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
1st Both
sides probed early, not looking to go bananas in the 88% humidity, GER looked
somewhat shaky early with a couple of poor, unforced TOs > Perhaps due to
the flu going around the GER Camp?
But,
in the 13th minute, it was the indivisible GERs that struck first .. .. Off a
FK from TONI KROOS, MATS HUMMELS made a R/Box run and his flashing
header came off the bar and into the net .. .. FRA did try to
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
ALL GROUP WINNERS ADVANCE; EXCITING EXTRA TIMES
EEChick, The Mighty Mobelfakta, and TheSpecialOneLA tied for 1st; 30 still alive
LIVERPOOL, NY
(smt) -- For all the criticism that soccer is the beautiful game and any team can win since it's so low scoring, for the first time ever, all 8 Group winners advanced to the Quarterfinals. But they all got there in exciting ways with 15 of the 18 goals scored in the Round of 16 occurring in the 2nd half or extra time including two games where 3 goals were scored in the 30-minute extra time. Luckily the endings have been great so with my limited time to catch games, if I can catch the last dozen minutes or so, it's great. Whether I'm watching listening to the penalty kick shoot-out (PSO) on the Kidz Spot's speakers on their grand opening, watching our neighbors to the south implode on my Moto X in one of many ice cream shops in Cooperstown, or watching Team USA rally at a local red-white-and-blue bar with my co-workers as a nice break of a 14-hour workday, this has been a great World Cup.
The first day was all about South America as four of the five teams played. 2B-Chile rallied to tie host 1A-Brazil but in the PSO, BRA jumped to a
MLS Expansion Side, ORLANDO CITY FC sign former
Brazil Captain KAKA as their first big-name signing.. ..
Match 55: ARGENTINA v.
SWITZERLAND 
R16
Date: Tuesday July 1, 2014
Venue: Arena de Sao Paulo, SAO
PAULO
PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?
1
As
ARG has looked like they were playing their way into the Festival, they again
looked very pedestrian in the first-45 .. .. In their opener v. BIH, they
didn't attempt a single cross in the 1H, and while they hit in 7 balls early
on, none of them looked very appetizing .. ..
On
the other side of the pitch, SUI did carve out a couple of nice chances early
on, especially in the 27th minute when XHERDAN SHAQIRI got loose on the R/Byline
and his perfect ball > GRANIT XHAKA at the penalty spot ended up being a
tame roller right to GK SERGIO ROMERO .. ..
SHAQIRI
set JOSIP DRMIC loose with an instinctive release ball and DRMIC was alone,
bearing down on ROMERO, but his soft L/Footed chip landed harmlessly in ROMEROs
arms .. .. One would think that SUI won't get many more good chances and they
have to sink one, or else .. .. 0-0 @ HT .. ..
2
SUI
must have decided to play for ET/PK coming out on the pitch for
June 27, 2014
-----
BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL -- My final "Reporting From Brazil" edition of the FIFA 2014 World Cup FFB
comes over a week tardy...it seems the frequent travel and constant
distractions make it impossible to be a soccer blogger at the World Cup! I
don't know how all those travel writers do it!
 |
| Eric & Reza at a World Cup Match! |
The highlight of my trip was to see the only match for which I could
purchase tickets...Argentina vs. Iran. I went with my Iranian-American
buddy, Reza. He had been talking smack for months before the trip, which I
thought was just fine because I would have the rest of my life to brag about
a "certain" Argentine victory. Little did I know, Iran would have one of
the stingiest defenses in the tournament! On the flight to Belo Horizonte,
an Argentine couple taught me the most popular two songs sung by the
Argentines...the longer one bagging on Brazil for having beat them the last
time they met in the World Cup (ARG eliminated BRA in the 1990 Italy World
Cup...quite a long time ago!)...proclaiming Maradona as better than Pele.
In the name of fairness and full disclosure, the Brazilians' answer is
YOUNG YANKS ON THE MOVE -- JOSEPH-CLAUDE GYAU transfers to
Borussia Dortmund & TERRENCE BOYD transfers
to Red Bull Leipzig.. ..
Match 53: FRANCE v.
NIGERIA 
16
Date: Monday June 30, 2014
Venue: Estadio Naconal,
BRASILIA
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
1 Open, fun match to start the day with FRAs class there for all to see
.. .. Pumped in an amazing 16 crosses in the 1H alone (11 from the right) that
produced a few good chances, especially a first-time scissor attempt by the
languid PAUL POGBA just inside the box that was saved off the line .. ..
NGA also attacked from the flanks (12 total crosses), but not a single
ball lead to any quality attempt .. .. Their first shot from inside the FRA box
came in the 30th minute off a passing sequence from above the box .. .. Some
sloppy giveaways inside their half didn't help matters either .. .. Equal HT
numbers, but FRA is far the better side in the
Archive (NOTE: This is after Group Stage (48 matches))
Thursday, June 26, 2014 [Released 6/30]
AMERICA RULES ROUND OF 16; ASIA WINLESSJB & Rainman join Win It All in 1st
GOLETA (smt) -- While working near Santa Barbara, I got to listen to the last few minutes of the 1st half and things looked promising for G4-Team USA (they weren't getting blown out) and G2-Portugal had a one-nil lead at the half for a three-goal cushion (more or less). But a G1-Germany goal and a G3-Ghana goal narrowed it down to just one. Luckily I wasn't listening to this so it was stress free because when I started to listen at the end of the 2nd half, the person who kept us from clinching a place into the R16, Cristiano Ronaldo, put in an easy rebound to seal USA's entry into the R16. So kind of a lackluster "yay" but I will take it. First time USA has made back-to-back R16s (luckily they didn't keep alternating with FRA who did follow the great-horrible-great-horrible-great pattern this year). USA's qualification meant 8 of the 10 North and South American teams made the R16. Go America!
H1-Belgium may not be a traditional power but they know how to win games late as they once again
MARK GEIGER assigned a Knockout Round Match;
First American Ref to get to the knockout round .. .. KAKA transfers to ORLANDO
CITY; OFFICIAL!!.. ..
Match 51: NETHERLANDS
v. MEXICO 16
Date: Sunday June 29, 2014
Venue: Estadio Castelao,
FORTALEZA
PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!
WHAT? YOU DON'T LIKE CHESS MATCHES? I DO!
It was always going to be a very pragmatic, tactical match like this
> 97 degrees on the pitch, a probably overcooked EURO side versus a
counterattacking CONCACAF side .. .. It always seemed that there was going to
be just one goal today, and so far so good .. ..
1 Main action early on was a surprising NED sub in just the 9th minute
when NIGEL DE JONG had to come out and went straight to the dressing rooms ..
.. hmmm .. .. MEX narrowly looked the livelier side and crushed some decent
long bombs .. .. NED didn't have their first shot until ROBIN VAN PERSIEs
errant try in the 27th minute .. .. As the 1H scorched on, NED came forward on
the flanks, surprising considering they only used 3 crosses in their last match
v. CHL and only 5 against AUS .. .. When the chance came, they
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