Colombia vs Ivory Coast
Colombia and the Ivory Coasts put on one of the more interesting games of the tournament despite a lack of goals for the first hour. The two teams played a pretty wide open game with both sides having a fair number of chances. James Rodríguez continued his great play this World Cup as he headed Colombia into the lead from a Juan Guillermo Cuadrado corner.
A few minutes Serey Die, who father passed away just two hours before the game, turned the ball over to Rodríguez who quickly countered. He found Teó Gutiérrez who slid a ball to substitute Juan Fernando Quintero to double the Colombian lead.
Ivory Coast responded well and put the pressure on Colombia and pulled one back just three minutes later. Gervinho had an excellant individual effort as he cut in from the left wing, dribble past three defenders and slammed home to cap a wild ten minutes.
Ivory Coast kept the pressure on for the final 20 minutes but were unable to find an equalizer. With the three points, Colombia put themselves in good possession to advance to the knockout stage.
Takeaways:
Man of the match: James Rodríguez
Rodríguez picked up his second straight man of the match for Colombia. He's definitely made a name for himself this summer by creating and scoring goals for Los Cafeteros. It will be interesting to see how far he can carry Colombia.
Ivory Coast had plenty of possession but couldn't make it count. There were a few times where they looked more interested in drawing penalties than they did trying to create chances.
England vs Uruguay
Luis Suárez made his World Cup debut as he returned from a knee injury and he provided a great attacking presence for Uruguay. England controlled the ball through out the first half, but couldn't find an opening goal. Wayne Rooney came closest as his header hit the cross bar after 32 minutes. Suárez made the Three Lions pay just seven minutes later as he headed home Edinson Cavani's cross.
England picked up the second half right where they left off, dominating possession but not finishing their chances. After 75 minutes, England were finally able to find their equalizer as Wayne Rooney touched home Glen Johnson's cross.
England looked likely to score the winner but disaster struck when Steven Gerrard headed the ball right into Suárez's path for the Uruguayan to slam past Joe Hart and seal all three points for the South Americans.
England put up a good fight over the last few minutes but couldn't find a way to save a point.
Takeaways:
Man of the match: Luis Suárez
Suárez was fantastic all night. He was provided with two chances on the counter attack and he finished them both. The first was fairly simple as Phil Jagielka decided not to mark the best striker in the world but the second was a nifty bit of finishing when he was in all alone.
England are having similar problems to Spain. All the possession in the world but there's no one to provide the goals at the key times. Rooney looks to be all alone as Welbeck doesn't seem cut out for international football, while Sterling is too young and Sturridge disappears at times. Even Rooney hasn't been able to make the most of his chances. Gerrard and Henderson are decent players but aren't much of a threat going forward at this stage.
If Costa Rica draw or win against Italy tomorrow, England will be going home.
Japan vs Greece:
The battle of the teams that refused to score. Japan were in control of the match early but couldn't seem to find the final ball. Things were looking up for the Japanese when Kostas Katsouranis was sent off for his second yellow card of the match after 38 minutes. Japan opened the second half right were they left off and continued to apply the pressure throughout the match. Japan took 18 shots and only put four of them on net. This game looked like two teams in dire need of a striker. After 90 minutes mercy was granted on us all as the game finally came to an end, as a 0-0 draw.
Keisuke Honda was officially named man of the match, but no one really deserved it...
Remarkably, both teams still have a chance to advance.
Colombia has already advanced, will clinch the top spot with a draw or a win.
Ivory Coast will advance with a win, or tie combined with a Japanese loss or tie.
Japan will advance with a win and an Ivory Coast loss or a tie and some goal differential help
Greece will advance with a win and a Japan tie or loss.
The group concludes on June 24 at 4 pm as Colombia take on Japan and Ivory Coast face off against Greece.
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