One Line Analysis: Group Stage Round #1

Because I have a job outside of this blog, I don’t have large amounts of time to devote to writing here.  That said, I’ve decided to assess each game from the first round of group stage with one sentence, because that strikes a nice balance between putting some thoughts out there for discussion and limiting how much dumb crap I can say.

June 12, 2014

Brazil, 3 –Croatia, 1:

We all know what went down here, and only 50% of people are happy about it; it’s over, move on.

June 13, 2014

Mexico, 1 –Cameroon, 0:

Some controversial refereeing rendered moot by one goal; Mexico sets up nicely to advance with the win.

Spain, 1 –Netherlands, 5:

Robin van Persie isn’t actually human and Spain looked slow and old; quite the change from four years ago.

Chile, 3 –Australia, 1:

Good performance in the last 70 minutes from the Aussies, but Chile was just too good to start that match.

June 14, 2014

Colombia, 3 – Greece, 0

I didn’t really expect much from Greece and I got exactly what I expected, but this takes nothing away from a very good game by Colombia.

Uruguay, 1 –Costa Rica, 3

Officially the first upset of the tournament; Uruguay left looking for answers, and I only see more questions.

England, 1 – Italy, 2

I enjoyed that both teams went for it, and I also enjoyed watching my brother-in-law attempt to coach the Italian National Team by shouting at his television.

Cote d’Ivoire, 2 – Japan, 1

How much is Didier Drogba worth to this team? At least two come-from-behind goals apparently.

June 15, 2014

Switzerland, 2 – Ecuador, 1

Certainly a dramatic win for the Swiss, but I felt like Ecuador did enough to get at least the draw.

France, 3 – Honduras, 0

A decent, if not expected, result from Les Bleus, but historic in that it was the first use of goal-line technology in a World Cup.

Argentina, 2 - Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1

Argentina scrapes by on an early own-goal and a Lionel Messi wonderstrike; they’ll need to be better to go deep in this year’s tournament.

June 16, 2014

Germany, 4 – Portgual, 0

Thomas Muller’s embellishment makes Pepe go temporarily insane; the rest was academic after that as injuries and an invisible Ronaldo punctuated a disappointing match for the Portuguese.

Iran, 0 – Nigeria, 0

I couldn’t possibly care less about this result.

Ghana, 1 –United States, 2

The US break the curse they had against the Ghanaians and Clint Dempsey breaks his nose on a Ghanaian shinbone; this couples with Portugal’s meltdown to make 2^nd place in this group a real race.

June 17, 2014

Belgium, 2 – Algeria, 1

Belgium sticks to the game plan and both Belgian goals come from substitutes so apparently Wilmots is either a genius or a psychic.

Russia, 1 –Korea Republic, 1

A dour, boring game punctuated by one of the most almighty terrifying goalkeeper blunders you’ll ever see; as a keeper myself that sort of thing lurks around the corner of every one of my worst nightmares.