World Cup Day 3: Serie A beats Premier League

COLOMBIA 3-0 GREECE

Colombia faced Greece in the first match of Group C starting a long day consisting of four matches. The match was expected to be all Colombian attacks against Greek counters but Viola's Cuadrado brought down the defenses early in the game with world class pass from the side of the box finding Armero who made no mistake scoring the first goal in the match. Greece played well and had some near misses during the match and hit the top bar once. Colombia switched to slow counters whenever possible and one of those attacks turned into a corner kick in the second half that was converted into a goal by Gutierrez. Shortly after with a fast played foul by Colombia, the trio of Zuniga, Cuadrado and James drew a picture of one of the goals to compete among the best goals in the World Cup.

URUGUAY 1-2 COSTA RICA

The first match to be played in the Group of Death "Group D" is between Uruguay and Costa Rica. Most football fans from all over the world probably tuned in to watch the collection of world class talented Uruguayans winning this match by a margin before going against the giants Italy and England, but Costa Rica were no pushovers. Uruguay took the lead with a Cavani converted penalty but the Central American hurricane hit them hard in the second hard. Whatever Costa Rica coach said at half time worked, Campbell leveled the match 9 minutes into the second half and Duarte completed the comeback 3 minutes later. With 6 minutes left and after Uruguay missed on many scoring chances, Urena put them to rest with the third and final goal. Things could not get any worse for Uruguay but an unprofessional violent foul by Pereira forced the referee to pull out the red card in the 4^th additional minute.

ENGLAND 1-2 ITALY

The long awaited match up in the so called Champions Group (called so because three of the group teams have won the title) led nothing to be desired. Hotly contested, and I say hotly cuz, man, it was hot!
Not just jungle hot either, this match went back and forth over every inch of the pitch.  This is not to say it was a quick match, or a fast match, both squads were very much aware of the conditions and the match was played at a lower gear than may have been the case at another stadium, but it still entertained.
The first goal was scored by Claudio Marchisio, who said after the match that it felt like he was hallucinating at times, due to the heat. England answered right away, however, as Wayne Rooney found Daniel Sturridge for the immediate equalizer.
It only took 5 minutes after halftime for the status to change as Antonio Candreva found Mario Balotelli all alone at the back post for an easy header. Italy held on to make the lead stick as both teams strength waned due to the horridly humid conditions.

IVORY COAST 2-1 JAPAN

Japan pretty much had their way with Ivory Coast for an hour, unfortunately for them, games are 90 minutes. Just after the one hour mark, Didier Drogba came onto the pitch and within 2 minutes Bony had equalized and two minutes after that, it was Gervinho. It was an entertaining game, but both of these squads will have trouble with Colombia.

Day 3 Joy

To me, Colombia's football team defines joy; the dancing celebrations are just amazing. Instead of trying to better an already great game such as football, the authorities need to do something to amplify the fun part. Maybe allow two whole minutes for players and bench celebrations then things might get really interesting. The commentator on my part of the planet had a lot of love for Cuadrado but had none for the Greeks. At some point in the second half he just called everyone "es". That in some way enlightened my brains on why Greece adopts a defensive strategy. With that, the commentators only need to remember the name of the guy who scored the lonely match goal. All joking aside, the funniest moment was after James goal. The guy went to stand on the advertisements surrounding the pitch and for some reason there was a person there who hit his climbing leg and told him something that stopped him from doing so.

I just remembered something from yesterday's Spain beating. Was that Wayne Brady sitting on the Orange bench?

Referees Mistakes List: (Add if any major mistakes in the last two games)

1) Mexico vs Cameron:

a. Disallowed onside goal for Mexico

b. Disallowed onside goal for Mexico

2) Spain vs Netherlands:

a. Penalty for Spain

b. Uncalled foul for Casillas (Goal scored by De Vrij)

STANDINGS

Group A

Team	Played	W	D	L	For	Against	GD	Points
Brazil	1	1	-	-	3	1	+2	3
Mexico	1	1	-	-	1	0	+1	3
Cameron	1	-	-	1	0	1	-1	0
Croatia	1	-	-	1	1	3	-2	0

Group B

Team	Played	W	D	L	For	Against	GD	Points
Netherlands	1	1	-	-	5	1	+4	3
Chile	1	1	-	-	3	1	+2	3
Australia	1	-	-	1	1	3	-2	0
Spain	1	-	-	1	1	5	-4	0

Group C

Team	Played	W	D	L	For	Against	GD	Points
Colombia	1	1	-	-	3	0	+3	3
Ivory Coast	1	1	-	-	2	1	+1	3
Japan	1	-	-	1	1	2	-1	0
Greece	1	-	-	1	0	3	-3	0

Group D

Team	Played	W	D	L	For	Against	GD	Points
Costa Rica	1	1	-	-	3	1	+2	3
Italy	1	1	-	-	2	1	+1	3
England	1	-	-	1	1	2	-1	0
Uruguay	1	-	-	1	1	3	-2	0

Golden Boot

Name	Team	Goals
Neymar	Brazil	2
Ruben	Netherlands	2
Van Persie	Netherlands	2
Peralta	Mexico	1
Alonso	Spain	1
De Vrij	Netherlands	1
Sanchez	Chile	1
Valdivia	Chile	1
Beausejour	Chile	1
Cahil	Australia	1
James	Colombia	1
Armero	Colombia	1
Gutierrez	Colombia	1
Cavani	Uruguay	1
Campbell	Costa Rica	1
Duarte	Costa Rica	1
Urena	Costa Rica	1
Marchisio	Italy	1
Balotelli	Italy	1
Sturridge	England	1
Bony	Ivory Coast	1
Gervinho	Ivory Coast	1
Honda	Japan	1

Day 4 Matches:

Switzerland vs Ecuador

France vs Honduras

Argentina vs Bosnia-Herzegovina