FIFA World Cup 2014

Am expecting Chris Dolan will soon proclaim the Netherlands victory as a sign of things to come for ManU!    Word had it that van Gaal was working his squad hard, and their conditioning certainly showed today.  They played very hard, tough football, and Spain looked out of gas by minute 60!  

So far, every game has had multiple bad calls.  Brazil's Fred flopped. They did not deserve their penalty goal.  Mexico had two great goals taken away, but they persevered, and got a well-earned win. And the Diego Costa call was just more bad acting!  Hope that the refs settle down, and don't become the main story for this Cup...but I have a bad feeling about it.

Hook

Chile v Australia: Another great game. I like Chile, a good attacking side, but the Aussies - apart from their lousy set-pieces - have acquitted themselves quite well. Cahill's goal was outstanding.

Looking forward to the second half.

Forgot to say, the goal to tie the Netherlands/Spain game was absolutely spectacular!

I just loved the communication between Blind and Van Persie, with the forward pointing his finger upwards, just as he started his run. It was a near perfect cross, and Van Persie timed his leap perfectly! No clue how he was able to control the distance of his header!  Am sure that Casillas, along with most of the stadium, assumed the ball was going well over the top post.

Not soon forgotten, am sure that goal will be replayed a million times.  Wow!

Hook

PS - Am also impressed how Australia is hanging in there. When it got to 2-0, I assumed it would 4 or 5-0 by half!  

Not many countries would go down 3-1 and be basically happy with the overall performance but here in Australia we are proud that we gave it a red hot go.  I thought it was a great entertaining game, and that is what it is all about.  Despite all the questions about us even being there I think we showed that we deserved to be at the competition.

Franjic ( who plays for my local Brisbane team) didn't score but he got an assist before going off with an injury.   Lets hope he can play in our remaining games,

Tomorrow morning ( our time) I expect the same spirited performance from England against Italy.

Here's hoping the the tournament continues in the same vain. Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. 

Well Sara will be consoling her husband Casillas tonight after gifting the Dutch a goal.

Another great game - Australia hung on in there until the last minute.

15 goals in four games - this is shaping up to be a great World Cup!

Jason 2-1 eh......all i can say is dont give up your daytime job.

Mista h

The England soccer team visited an orphanage in Brazil today. 'It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces and no hope' said Jose aged 6. 

I've been working - what happened. Ooooooooh Robin van Persie 

Yep, not looking good so far, but let's be fair that one was Leftfield. As Jimmy Greaves once said, "Footballs a funny ol' game."

Watch out, my prediction for tonight's England game is......2-2, don't hold your breath.

Jason.

My prediction too.

England 2 - Italy 1.

But only if Sterling and Sturridge start on either side of Rooney.  If it's Wellback and Milner, then never mind -- I think they will be playing not to lose.

Any other thoughts on the starting eleven? Hart in goal for sure. Am thinking 4-3-3, with Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka and Baines for the back line, and Henderson, Garrard and Wilshere in midfield.

Or maybe Lallana instead of Henderson?

Hook

Instead of random predictions, can we get back to the girls?

Agreed Winky, random predictions are a little pointless...but myself and three mates have a World Cup app that alows us to predict matches against each other. You get 100 points for the correct score for each game and then the points drop down if the score is wrong but you have predicted one teams score correct...not amazingly exciting but fun nonetheless.

So far I have 60 points out of a possible 400 for the four games played. 

Frankly a nice little antidote to system comparison.

For this game, I have predicted a 3-1 score to Colombia.

Jason.

There you go Winky

This referee is good so far, he is keeping a flowing game...much to the irritation of Columbia at times.

Jason.

Best post you ever made.

Mista h

Drinks are on you if you get it wrong,and at Oslo prices that could be an expensive round.

Mista h

Damn, almost predicted right...but not quite 3-0 to Columbis. There be much celebrating tonight, and the rest.

Jason.

Didn't catch the whole game but from the 50% I did watch Colombia looked comfortably better than the Bubbles.  

Gekas missing that sitter brought back memories of when he was at my club. I think he played a total of 1 minute and spent the rest of the time on loan elsewhere or having a 'moody' on the bench and refused to play in the reserves.   

Gus Poyet just spoke on Norwegian TV coverage of the Uruguay - Costa Rica game, boy is he confident for a win tonight and going through the group. I must say the Uruguay team is looking strong on paper.

I guess it's a prudent move to save Suarez until the Italy and England games.

My prediction is 1-0 to Uraguay...but now I think it will be more like 2 or 3-0.

Jason.