Argentina versus Nigeria

A nice game with a lot of Goals,

The quality of both teams was of course very poor. Messi already scored after 3 minutes after Di maria hit the post.

Nigeria immediately hit back with a very nice strike by Ahmad Mussa.

After that the whole excitement was snuffed out of the game. Argentina was abysmal. It is incredible to see how a great team during the qualification could play so badly during the tournament. They only thing that is keeping them alive is Lionel Messi.

A brilliant free kick again brought the lead just before the whistle.

Nigeria again quickly equalized. The argentinian defense looked very bad and Mssa scored his second goal.

One corner and an accidental goal brought the victory for Argentina. Messi was replaced in the 65th minute to make sure their only hope would not suffer any injuries.
Argentina will probably play Switzerland in the next round. Its really hard to imagine this team to reach the Finals.
One brilliant Messi should not be enough to do that.

Messi was awarded the man Of the amatch award for the third time. The only player who has managed to that in this World Cup. He is also leading the Goal scorer board together with his Barcelona mate Neymar.

Whoscored.com gave him a very big rating of above 9

Messi for club and country in 2013-14: - 53 appearances - 48 goals - 15 assists

Croatia V Cameroon

A very one sided game, 

Cameroon had no chance in hell of doing anything here. In the very hot and humid stadium, the Croatians found a perfect combination of passing, running and slowing down the game to conserve their energy. The result was the inevitable 4-0.

Cameroon on the other hand was an absolute disgrace. Song was sent off on a red card after an assault on Mandzukic. The players were not a team. At one point there was a head butt between ASSOU-EKOTTO and Moukandjo.

Argentina v Bosnia Live Blog

90: Game over. Argentina wins 2-1. Man of the match Messi. Very hard match. Bosnia is definitely a very strong side.

84: goal Bosnia, Ibisevic scores. The only real attack by Bosnia in the whole second half and they score

81: good counter attack, Messi to Aguero, attempts to pass back to Messi but was cleared for corner.. The counter attacks are now dangerous

65: what a fantastic goal by Messi. Coming from the left. Dribbled 2 players and shot to the inside of left post on the ball went in. Spectacular goal and Messi celebrates franticly. I guess he is very relieved!

62: freekick for Argentina. Promising position. shot wide from the goal.

55: finally some good passes by messi. he seems to be getting better.

Second half starts Higuain joins for Rodriguez. The strange 5-3-2 system is changed back to 4-3-3.

40: almost goal for bosnia after a corner. Great save by Romero

31: shot mascherano, easy to deflect by the keeper. Both teams are able to keep the balance.

23:  Bosnia has no problems defending until now. Game is very even.
20: great pass to messi, but he wasnt able to make anything out of it. Looks very nervous.

16: several balls have been lost by Lionel Messi. He is not in the game yet.

13: dangerous chance for Bosnia. Bosnian Striker couldnt control a ver nice deep cross. epper Romero didnt look well at all in that situation!

12: the game is a big fight. Both teams havent found their rhythm. Very nervous tension!

2: well that was fast.freekick high cross by messi. Own goal by Bosnian player. Argentina leads.

0:  kick off!!

all right, This is the game I have been waiting for.
Lets see what the best player of all times will do.
Di Maria and Aguero have also had a great season Specially Di Maria was spectacular the last months. Sabella, the coach Argentina, seems to be a very able coach. The only problem is the defense. Bosnia is a very strong team which is used to play very offensively. This promises to be a big firework. Both teams will go for the kill from the start.

Her is the start formation:

Ivory coast V Japan Live Blog

90+:  ok  looks like a done deal. Ivory Coast are killing time. Drogbas return brought the win. He was fantastic
84: almost goal by Drogba,deflected by a defender and narrowly missed the goal. Japan has not fired one shot on goal in the entire second half.

80: great freekick by Drogba, hit hard to the corner of the keeper, who was able to deflect it to a corner

76: ivory coast is in control. They are attacking exclusively from the right side with Gervinho and Drogba. Ya Ya Toure is also very present

66: Gervinho, great goal almost identical to the previous one. Drogbas presence alone turned the game around   2-1 for Ivory coast!

64:  Bony scores with a terrific header. Ivory coast is now going for the kill  1-1

61: Drogba enters the game and already leads in a dangerous attack. Ivory coast is really pressuring!

45: Ivory coast s really displaying some spectacular passing play. If they keep this up, Japan will definitely crack. First half is over. Really high quality game.

43:  Strong phase by ivory coast. Japan is swimming. The attack waves keep on coming. Will they ba able to save their lead until the break?

42: Good cross on kanu's head. His header was unfortunately very poor. No danger for the japanese lead.

41. Ivory guys are getting better. Japan is under pressure.


32: I am nice game until now. Honda scored for Japan already. Both sides have good chances. Japans players are defending like hell.

Chile Australia Live Blog

90: beasejour scores and Chile is finally secure. It really wasnt their best play  but who cares.

84: all players look really tired. They cant run anymore. The heat seems to be taking a big toll on them.


73: Chile is not able to finish off Australia. No dangerous attack for the last 10 minutes. This can backfire at any time

61: Vargas soft shot was cleared on the goal Line by a defender. This game is now really taking up pace. Its like two boxers going at it without any cover.

58: Chile is playing really bad now. The equalizer seems more probable by the minute.

56: Breciano almost scored. What a save by the Keeper Bravo. Chile is swimming now. What started like a clear routing of Australia is now turing around.

52:  almost worked. Cahill scored, but it was an offside.

50:  Australia is a one Cahill army. They try to find his head with high crosses. It worked once, why shouldnt it work again. The Chile defenders arent exactly tall.


first half over,

Chile started well, but somehow lost the thread after the second goal. Australia scored and now Chile has to be careful not to give away this game.
Lets see if their coach can talk some sense into them.

35: Tim cahill scores after a high cross. The Socceroos are showing some sign of life. This promises to be a game with a lot of goals. Chile went off the gas pedal and this is what happened.

18:  First sign of live by Australia. Shot from 20 meters goes wide off the box. This game looks like a massacre.

13: 2-0 chile , look at that, chile is really living up to their favorite role. Another brilliant move by Alexis Sánchez. great assist and Jorge Valdívia puts it in.  Chile is looking really good.
Australia is going down like spain :D
How come Neymar and Sanchez are not playing like this for Barcelona?

11: 1-0 Chile well, that did not take long. Sanchez scores. Somehow the Chilean guys were able to score although about 8 Australians were defending in their own penalty box. Well, defending is bit exaggerated. A lot of them were just watching. Their defense is definitely nothing to write home about.

4: Not much happening yet. both teas are trying to fid their rhythm

ok here we go,  kick off for the game.

Chile is a heavy favorite, lets see what the team around Alexis Sanchez can do.
Stars from Chile are Alexis Sanchez from FC Barcelona and Vidal from Juventus.

here is the starting formation:

Spain V Netherlands live blog

Conclusion:  Hard to pick the man of the match. Blind was very impressive, Van persie was fantastic, but it has o go to Robben. 2 incredible goals. Specially the last one. He humiliated Pique, Ramos and Casillias several times. The trio will have nightmares about him for months to come.

Holland was absolutely fantastic. This reminds me of the Euro 2008 when they were in the same group as Italy and France and they trashed them both with 4-1 and 3-0.  Lets hope they will do better than 2008 in the knock out stage.

Van Gaal made a master piece. Great strategy against Spain.
Is this the end of the dominance era of Spain over world football?

It was certainly a big humiliation for all the spanish players. Specially the Barcelona players looked like beaten dogs already. They had a terrible season and it seems to continue well into the world cup. The images of Ramos being easily out sprinted by Robben, Cassilias crawling on the floor trying to catch the ball while being out danced by Robben will linger for a while. It was certainly a memorable match. The first and I hope not the last highlight of the world cup.

Spain is finally relieved. Oh my god,  this was real spanking for the spanish boys.
Losing is one thing, but this...   Catastrophe!!!

90. Torres just botched a 100% chance  oh my god  The spanish players are praying for the game to end. This is like torture!!

88:  oh my god, Spain is being demolished. the revenge for the finals is incredible. This is truly embarrassing! Countless chances for holland.  just look at the shots.

80: Oh my god.  a pass from the deep field. Robben starts 3 meters behind Ramos, overtake him in the run.  dribbles Casillas and scores. This is really embarrassing!!!

72. oooh  great blunder by Casillas, Van Persie scores again. SPains ship is going sinking while it is burning. This game is not finished yet an is already a classic. THis world cup is trying to make up for yesterday's scam it seems :D

71: who is this blind guy? 2 great assists, easily the man of the match until now!

69:  what a game. Holland is playing its heart out. Spain is knocked out basically. Another great shot by Van Persie, Casillas saves. Havent seen a spanish team in this much trouble since the world cup loss to France in 2006.

64:  goal holland!!  spain is going doown!! Great header from 2 meters by van maat.

61:  Great chance for van persie, hit the bar!!

52: Goal Arjen Robben, fantastic goal. he dribbled the whole center back. Pique again looked like a fool. He continues his horrible season. The goal followed a very strong phase of dutch play with a long ball  possession streak

45:  Second half starts.


Half time is over. Great game until now. Very high quality. Holland is playing a tactically clever game. They have problems in the center back. Spain has incredible potential and could have scored more. Lets see what the coaches will due during the break.

44: incredible goal by van Persie. A diver header after an incredible cross by Blind from the center of the field.  Great goal, easily the best goal of the cup until now!

42: incredible save by the holland keeper. Silvas lob was ill placed. That should have been a goal. Holland's defense is looking shaky.

38: The offside trap has been working very well for Spain. Already 4 offsides.

36: Costa is impressive. He is causing headaches for the center backs. His injuries seems to have been healed very well.He looks very fit.

32:  good cross into the penalty box of the spanish team. Narrow miss by Robben. Holland seems to have been awakened.

26: converted by alosno. the replays clearly show, Costa slipped, it was not a penalty!

25: penalty for Spain. the pressure was getting high. The replay doesnt really show a foul on costa. Again a bad decision?

20:  Spain is now getting stronger. Couple of good combinations in the midfield. Their advances look very dangerous now.

15: van gaal is has set up a very high defensive line. Holland is pressing high up the pitch. The spanish squad seems a bit perplexed. The usual tiki taka is not really happening.

11: good game until now. Both teams seem to be going at it at full speed. There is no holding back.

7: Great chance by Robben for Snijder. Unfortunately again they could not convert.

Holland's defensive line is very unknown. Lets see how it will work out. Van gaal versus del Bosque, its Real Madrid against Barcelona all over again.

0: Here it goes, last cups finale.

Cameroon v. Mexiko

Game over, well deserved victory for Mexico. Dos santos was man of the match for me. Cameroon didnt even put in an effort. very disappointing.

90+: my god with a Chance of Mexico dirt attack of missed from 5 meters he shot over the crossbar incredible
90: another great Header from Cameroon but the goalkeeper was able to save it. looks like Mexico is going to win this game. all in all it was an enjoyable game let's see if Cameroon can do anything in the last minutes

86: Cameroon is applying some pressure very good chance 5 minutes before the end of the game but mayby it's too little too late.
61: Mexico finally scored a goal assisted by dos Santos attacker Peralta scored the goal.

58: Cameroon almost scored fantastic free kick which was deflected and almost went into the goal. The tide seems to be turning Cameroon is playing much better than at the start of the second half.

53: dos santos is playing fantastically Mexico had two more great chances but they couldn't capitalize on them.

Very enjoyable game that could go either way Mexico was superior but Cameroon had its chances. I'm looking forward to the second half.

42: two perfectly valid goales from Mexico were disqualified. Mexico is Kelly dominating but Cameroon also has some chances.

23: the game started with Mexico applying a lot of pressure. Cameroon seems to be recovering very well. They're back in the game and had a lot of good chances. The game is very intense and could go either way.

Spain versus Netherlands preview

Hola,

The final of the last cup is being repeated in the first game of Group B. This game can go both ways. Either it will be a boring strategy game with not much happening the full 90 minutes and an uneventful draw, or it will be a gigantic game with a lot of goals. In my opinion, the former is much more likely. Both teams are virtually guaranteed the qualification for the knock out phase and will be out to save their energy for a later stage of the tournament.

The only incentive to actually try to win could be to win the group and avoid facing Brazil in the round of the last 16. Although after last night's game, the only fear factor Brazil seems to provide is the Referee :D.

Spain

The dominating team of the last 6 years. Their last elimination at an international tourney was at the hand of the legendary Zinedine Zidane in the year 2006 at the World Cup in germany. Their era of dominance has gone long enough and a decline is to be expected. Many of the players have had a very bad season with lackluster performances. Xavi is simply too old and his starting in the formation is incomprehensible to me. Pique has had his worst year at Barcelona and is a shadow of his former self. Ramos and Juanfran had a fantastic year. Alba's season was full of injuries and he is far from a world class left back. This defensive line seems way too fragile and is spains weakest since many years.  It remains to be seen how Iniesta will be able to perform. His season was also very unimpressive. Costa had a fantastic season. But his injuries in the last few weeks also add a question mark to his form. Is he even at a 100% ?

Spain is in many ways a big question mark. Will they be able to surprise us all again and win the world cup? The names are all fantastic, but the players are either old or out of form. we shall see...

Netherlands 

Van gaal is the coach. This makes Netherlands extremely unpredictable. He was nto able to coach his national team suring his first engagement before the 2002 world cup. In fact they did not even qualify under his regime. the 3-4-1-2 formation also seems very odd. The defensive line is also not really full of star players. On the other hand, they were very impressive during the qualifying. 

This team will be very interesting to watch.

Prediction: Very hard to predict this game. I think a draw is likely. But let us see what will happen. I certainly hope that Van Gaal has managed to put up a real good squad and that the Netherlands will win.

Brazil vs croatia live blog

Wrap up of the game:

Fifa made sure that Brazil would win the game. The referee was just waiting for fred to fall to award the penalty. I guess a draw wouldnt have been really good for the politics. People are already rioting on the streets :( 

It is a very disappointing start for the world cup.

One man was truly outstanding during the game.

Chelsea's man Oscar really rocked this game. He deserved the 10 rating from whoscored.com and the man of the match award. He assisted the first goal and scored the last one in spectacular fashion. Very impressive man!

We were waiting for this scam for 4 years.  Omg. :(

90: foul by brazilian player on the midfield the referee did not give it and goal by brazil. This game was rigged. What a sad start for the world cup. :(

86: good chance for croatia, great save by the keeper. Fifa is still leading by one goal.

76:  good chance for brazil after a cross. Luiz almost scored with a header.

70: ridicilous penalty for Brazil. Fifa is just corrupt. The referee was just waiting for the guy to fall. This just ruined the whole game for me.

68:  finally the coach sent off Hulk. He was really horrible. Lets see if this improves Brazils game. Untill now, croatia had no problems at all with Brazil.

58: nothing happened untill now. Croatia has neutralized Brazil completely the last 15 minites. Very impressive croatian side. Brazil is not looking like the world cup favorite at all right now. 

45:  Big mistake by Olic led to a dangerous chance for Brazil. Hulk squandered it. Hulk has been really bad this half. Also Dani Alves seems to have not improved his bad form from La Liga.

42: First half almost over. Really nice game we have been witnessing. Croatia is holding its own.

36: Croatia is playing great. Good defense. Brazil is trying hard but untill now, the Croatians are holding on.

29: great shot and goal by neymar. Fantastic goal. Brazil has leveled the score!

26: Bad foul by Neymar on Modric. Yellow card well deserved.

21: Great chance for Brazil. Good save by the keeper. Neymar created a very nice chance.  Croatia barely held on to the lead.

10: own goal marcelo.  Great start by croatia.  Yeaaaah!  I am for croatia btw :)

6: almost goal by olic. Great chance for Croatia after  a high ball. Olic just missed the goal by centimetres.

5. Minute: Brazil is playing very offensively, but croatia has no problems untill now

Brazil versus Croatia Preview!

All right,

This is my first post on the World cup. Very excited. Its a shame that this event is only once every 4 years.

Brazil versus Croatia is of course a spectacular start for the world cup. Both teams are very strong.
Brazil is of course the heavy favorite. Although the odds at Tipico seem a little bit exaggerated to me :

Croatia has a very strong team. So the odds cannot be so heavily towards Brazil. Brazil has of course the home advantage. I think a 1-6 odd would be more realistic.

The probable line up is:

Brazils star in the offense is of course Neymar.

His year with Barcelona was very disappointing.
Lets see what he will be able to do in the national team. The Strength of the Brazilian team is in the defense. Silva (PSG), Luis(Chelsea), Alves(Barcelona), Marcelo (Real Madrid) represent the strongest defensive line of any team in the world cup. Defense wins the championship and beating this defense will be really hard for any team.


Croatia on the hand can boast of a very good midfield. Rakitic played a fantastic season for Sevilla and is rumored to have been bought by FC Barcelona. His whoscored.com rating for the season was a staggering 7.6/10 with 10 goals and 12 assists in La Liga.

His partner in the midfield will be real Madrid's  Luca Modric.

 He played a brilliant season in La Liga and the championship and will probably be one of the big stars of the World cup. Bayern's Mario Mandzukic will be missing due to a red card suspension. Former Bayern star Ivica Olic will be the sole offensive player for the game. Croatia has a very solid, disciplined squad and could provide the first upset of the world cup by not losing to Brazil.

So if you are willing to take a risk, Some good money can be made by betting on Croatia not to lose against the home side!



Let the Games Begin!!!!!

World cup in Brazil

Really excited!!!  10 days left and I cant wait for it to start. Will my favorite team Argentina make it this time? I will try to blog about each game that Ill be watching.