Well how awesome is this? An incredible day of upsets and brilliance. I have to admit, I found it a real struggle to care about what happened in this World Cup but it has appeared to have come alive in the most recent round of fixtures. Let's run through them.
With four games to run through, I shall try to make this brief. Starting with Colombia v Greece. How did Greece qualify? I'll always have a soft spot for them for family reasons, but seriously?! So Greece lost, but that's not because they were rubbish. Quite the opposite actually, Colombia were incredible. Without the much-loved Radamel Falcao leading the line they were forced into leaving striking duties to Teofilo Gutierrez. What an impact he had on the game. Scoring the second goal and having a hand in the first. Who needs Falcao?
Greece, by contrast, offered very little in the way of attacking prowess. But then, that doesn't matter really, does it? They're not expected to proceed any further in this tournament. They're make weights. Except they're not. It's been 48 years since England last won a major tournament, whereas this summer marks only the 10th anniversary of Greece's victory at the European Championships. They weren't good though really.
Onto Ivory Coast and their match against 2002 hosts Japan. Err, I didn't watch this match. Sorry guys but I can only glean off it what I can from reading various news outlets. Come on, it was 2am over here! Give me a break. Turns out it was a grinding 2-1 win for The Elephants. Well done. It's also lovely to see an Arsenal alumnus score in a major tournament. Congratulations Gervinho.
So can I please move on to a current Arsenal player? I know I'm biased, and I always will be, but how incredible was Joel Campbell? He scored, he assisted, is there anything more you want from a striker? He made the Uruguay v Costa Rica match a joy to behold. Costa Rica were unplayable. Simple football allowed them to come back from 1-0 down. For their part, Uruguay were abysmal. A chronic lack of belief from their strike force, which consisted of Diego Forlan and Edison Cavani, resulted in a rather flaccid display from their entire team. If this is who England are to face on Thursday, bring it on!
Finally, the England v Italy match. The only real comments I have are that England need to learn how to hit the target when they shoot and how to score. On the flip side of my criticism lies a belief that Raheem Sterling is the future for English football. He looked incredible. Always cantering forward, even in the Manaus heat. Rooney, on the other hand, made his mark with an amazing assist that belied the fact that he was atrocious all game. Defensively, we were very solid. Phil Jagielka was, until last night, the man who scored an own goal when playing against Arsenal and I thought I would never forget that. However, last night I saw him make one of the best clearances I've ever seen. You are forgiven.
Italy were strong, undaunting and interesting to watch. I won't feel too aggrieved if England do not qualify from this group simply because it's a really tough one. This will be the best group to watch, I promise you that.
Right, I'm off to watch the cricket, see you again tomorrow!
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