Recapping Day 13:
The theme of the day was the end of eras, one very succesful and one not so much, for Italy and Ivory Coast. Poor Ivory Coast. Really their last shot to do something at a World Cup with this generation of top players, and they come up short again. This time in heartbreaking fashion, as they give up a penalty kick in the 93rd Minute that ousts them and moves boring Greece onto the knockout stage. The call could’ve gone either way, but it was one of those things where the player shouldn’t given the ref the opportunity to make the penalty call. This was the last World Cup for Drogba and Yaya Toure, and Gervinho and Kalou will be past 30 in the next Cup.
For Italy, they go out in the Group stage for the second straight Cup, after winning in 2006. Of course the big story was Luis Suarez’s bite. In his defense, Chiellini looks like an incredibly annoying player to play against. In NOT his defense, I could say a million things. Mainly, uh, you’re an adult, don’t bite people? But also, he’s already had two huge punishments and firestorms of controversy over previous bites. How could he do it again and think he’d get away with it? He faked like he had just banged his mouth on the guy’s shoulder. He didn’t realize it’s the World Cup and there’s 50 high def cameras pointed at him at all times? I guess he just gets lost in competing and, for him, that means chomping down on the nearest piece of flesh. Very bizarre and very dumb. They haven’t announced it yet, but I can’t imagine we’ll see him play again in this tournament, which is a shame for Uruguay and fans of great soccer playing, because he can certainly provide it.
Today’s Games:
Noon: Argentina vs. Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Iran
4PM: France vs. Ecuador and Switzerland vs. Honduras
Today’s Drink:
Diseno Torrontes. We take a much needed step away from beer for this Argentinian white wine. We’ve been heavy on the European drinks, so it’s about time we spend some time with a South American product. After all, Europe has been a disappointment in this tournament, with Spain, Italy, England, and (most likely) Portugal all failing to get out of their groups. Meanwhile, every South American team is still alive, though it seems FIFA has screwed them over a bit by putting Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Colombia all in the same section of the bracket for the knockout stage, meaning those four of the six South American teams will battle it out for one semifinal spot.
What’s At Stake:
The Group F games (noon) are probably the least interesting of this third series of games for any group. Argentina has advanced and just needs a draw to win the group, which they’ll want to do so they can avoid a hot French team in their next game. Meanwhile, Nigeria is almost assured to advance no matter what anyway. They take second in the group with draw, but even with a loss they’d be in decent shape because Iran would have to beat Bosnia, and they haven’t come close to scoring a goal yet, so that seems pretty unlikely.
France hasn’t even officially advanced yet but they’ve basically won the group, with their massive goal differential of +6, and Honduras is still technically alive but their -4 differential with 0 points makes it unlikely. So the intrigue really comes on who can grab the most points today, Ecuador or Switzerland, with Ecuador up two in goal differential but facing a much tougher opponent.
Before the tournament, I picked all six South American teams to advance out of the group stage. Five are now through. So I’ll stick with my prediction and bet on Ecuador to find a way. That way will very likely be through Enner Valencia, but don’t count out Felipe Caicedo, a strong and talented striker who has yet to find the back of the net in this tourney. We’ll see how many regular starters France uses against them, since they’ve all but won this group. Yohan Cabaye is already out after two yellows, and I doubt they’ll start Paul Pogba or Patrice Evra either, as they both have a yellow and they won’t want them to miss the next game.
