Croatia vs Mexico match report World Cup 2014: Rafael Marquez kick-starts Mexico’s charge into knockout stages

Croatia 1 Mexico 3: Central Americans take the spoils in winner takes all clash

Mexico’s remarkable knack for escaping the group stage of the World Cup was continued in such style last night that it had Brazil looking nervously over their shoulder from the capital.

In the end second-half goals from Rafael Marquez, Andres Guardado and Javier Hernandez were not enough to win Group A, so they will instead offer sticky opposition to the Netherlands in Fortaleza on Sunday.
Croatia, for the third World Cup in a row, go home after three games, as the memories of their run to the semi-finals in 1998 grow dimmer and dimmer. Their miserable night was capped in the dying minutes when substitute Ante Rebic was sent off for a high tackle on Carlos Pena.
As Recife celebrated the agricultural festival of Sao Joao, Mexico made hay in the countryside on the outskirts of the city.

Croatia vs. Mexico: Final score 1-3, El Tri into the knockouts

 

Hector Herrera’s corners from the Croatian right had been troubling the Europeans all night and in the 72nd minute the little Portugal playmaker found his mark. Former Barcelona centre-half Marquez rose above Vedran Corluka to power a header underneath the diving Stipe Pletikosa from five yards.
Three minutes later Mexico had doubled the lead and smoothed their progress to the second round. Hernandez drew the Croatia defence right before passing to Paul Aguilar, whose low centre was drilled high into the net by the unmarked Andres Guardado.
Manchester United’s unsettled Hernandez did his market value no harm when he added the insurance, prodding home Marquez’s flick-on in the 82nd minute.
Mexico had had to survive some serious wobbles to arrive at this position of complete relaxation, which was unperturbed by Ivan Perisic’s 88th-minute consolation.
To counter Mexico’s influential midfield three of Guardado, Herrera and Jose Vasquez, Croatia’s coach Niko Kovac employed a fluid 4-3-3, pushing Luka Modric to the right, with Jorge Sammir dropping to the bench and regular full-back Danijel Pranjic adding some bite in the middle of the park.
Initially, it worked like a charm and the European side dominated, placing plenty of pressure on the Mexicans, whose goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, the hero against Brazil, was lucky not to turn villain when he skewed a clearance straight to Ivan Perisic.
Next the Wolfsburg player was freed down the right channel by Mario Mandzukic but his bobbling cross was cleared for a corner. Croatia came closest to taking the lead from the set piece, only for Aguilar to head the ball off the forehead of Mandzukic, who looked certain to score his third World Cup goal in as many games.
It was all Croatia to that point when, in the 16th minute, Herrera belted a near-perfect left foot shot across the goal and on to the underside of the crossbar from 25 yards. Pletikosa was as much a spectator as any among the rabidly pro-Mexico crowd.
Herrera was getting on top of his battle with Modric as king of the midfield schemers. He slid a pass through to Oribe Peralta but, stretching, Mexico’s sole goalscorer in Brazil coming into last night managed only to divert the ball wide with his standing foot.
There followed a scrappy period punctuated by highly optimistic potshots from both teams before the game’s first moment of controversy. Herrera was causing havoc in Croatia’s defence with his corners and Mexico could have had a penalty when Darijo Srna, on the edge of the area, appeared to block one delivery with his outstretched arms.
Next Vedran Corluka had to effect a block, with his feet, after a mesmerising passage of passing by Mexico ended with a rather tame shot from Miguel Layun.
Evidently made aware at half-time of happenings in Brasilia, where Neymar was saving his team-mates’ skins, Croatia started to play with more urgency as a third straight World Cup threatened to end at the group stage.
After a quiet first half Modric came to life, one slaloming run from the former Spurs man had Marquez back-pedalling uncomfortably before conceding a corner, and after that he was inches from sending Mandzukic free with a floated through ball.
Peralta went close to releasing Giovani Dos Santos with a clever touch. Former Arsenal striker Dos Santos had a shot blocked before being withdrawn for Hernandez, a sign Herrera was not going to retreat and invite Croatia on.
Just like they did against Brazil, Mexico suddenly started to turn the screw and should have been rewarded with a penalty. Aguilar broke down the right and crossed to the back post where Guardado struck a left-foot volley, which Croatia’s captain Srna clearly blocked with his hands, his second such offence of the evening to go unnoticed.
Mexico were furious and while Jose Vasquez was booked for protesting, largely they channelled their anger well, forcing two goal-line clearances in the space of a frantic few minutes. Then came the goals.

Cameroon vs Brazil: Neymar plays down pressure after inspiring side through to knockout stages

Cameroon 1 Brazil 4

Brazil's latest hero Neymar played down the pressure on his shoulders after inspiring the hosts into the last 16 of the World Cup to face Chile.

Neymar scored twice in a 4-1 win over Cameroon, with Fred and Fernandinho getting the others for Brazil.
The 22-year-old, who now in has 35 international goals in 52 appearances, said: "There is no pressure. I've always said there is no pressure when you are making a dream come true and doing something you have sought after since you were a kid.
"I'm now playing in matches that I always dreamed about.
"I just want to help my fellow players not only by scoring goals but doing whatever it takes on the pitch to help us win.
"We are on the right track and the whole team is getting better and getting close to our target."


Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted that he would have preferred to face a European team rather than Chile.
He said: "If I could choose I would have picked someone else as Chile are a good South American team, they have quality, they are organised they have the will to succeed.
"I will look at things when all the adrenaline has left our bodies, sometimes when we look at the match again in the cold light of day we see it in a different way."



Scolari also praised Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho for his display after he came off the bench at half-time to replace Paulinho and hinted he could be in the starting line-up for the Chile game.
He added: "I think Fernandinho coming in was critical and we created a number of good chances in attack. Nature doesn't make leaps, things evolve step by step and this is what we are doing."
Cameroon's German coach Volker Finke said the team were "suffering" from their disappointing World Cup.
He said: "Over the last two or three years we have not been that good but we managed to qualify for the World Cup and now we are disappointed we have not won a match.
"It's terrible and we are suffer this but we have gained experience and what we need to do is focus and concentrate for the next challenge.
"The first half wasn't so bad but it's true we need to focus for the whole 90 minutes.
"We need to find the reasons for this - three times we had control of the ball and then lost possession which led to goals.
"But Brazil deserved this victory, they created more chances."

Netherlands vs Chile: Wesley Sneijder blasts Chile criticisms as 'disrespectful' after Jorge Sampaoli claims Dutch were overly defensive

Snijder and team-mate Dirk Kuyt claim negative comments are a compliment of a successful defence

The Dutch players have hit back at the claims of Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli that they were overly defensive in yesterday’s 2-0 win, with Wesley Sneijder claiming that comments were disrespectful.

omething but they had failed, in the 2-0 defeat. “It’s a little bit disrespectful if he says we didn’t want to play football and we didn’t do anything today because we were the ones who won 2-0,” he said. “If [Sampaoli] saw us in the two games before, we didn’t play that differently today to those two games. We know that we are very strong and can play compact, and we know that up front with our attackers we are very strong, so it was up to Chile to create something against it. And they couldn’t create anything today, so that’s a compliment for our team.”
Dirk Kuyt, who reached his 99 cap against Chile in Arena Sao Paulo, declared: “You can say what you want, but a team who scores ten goals in three games with an average of 3.3 goals is not really a defensive team. Chile wanted to attack us, but they didn’t create many chances and in football the most important thing is who creates the most chances and who scores the most goals, and that’s what we did today.



"That’s what our quality is, and everyone knows how dangerous the Dutch team is up front. We believe in the way we’re playing, and we believe in our players. We believe in the coach. I think he’s a quality coach and every time he tells us how to play, it works.”
Dutch manager Louis van Gaal has said winning the World Cup is out of his control, citing the two penalties which he remains deeply aggrieved about as evidence that officialdom can ruin things.

Spain vs. Australia, 2014 World Cup: Final score 3-0, Spain get a consolation victory over the Socceroos

 

Spain avoided becoming the first defending champion to fail to get a point in the next World Cup thanks to a 3-0 win over Australia. David Villa, in his final international match, scored the opener, while Fernando Torres and Juan Mata scored in the second half to secure the result.

The first real chance of the game for either team came in the 20th minute when Andrés Iniesta picked out David Villa at the far post. Villa's volleyed effort sailed well wide, but he was ruled offside anyway, even though it appeared he wasn't on replays.

Three minutes later, Australian goalkeeper Matthew Ryan denied Jordi Alba from short range after Spain finally managed to put together a few passes and look dangerous. Alba's shot was rushed just a bit, allowing Ryan to react and fight it off.

Australia vs. Spain

David Villa made a great run in the 34th minute, working his way to the touchline on the left side of the box before sending a ball across the face of goal. Despite having teammates in the vicinity, no one was able to get a boot on the ball, and it rolled through to no result.

Finally in the 36th minute, Villa just decided to finish a chance himself and give Spain a 1-0 lead. Juanfran worked down the right side, hesitating as long as he could to allow Villa time to get in position. With the striker finally in place, Juanfran crossed right to his feet and David Villa did the rest.

Spain doubled the lead in the 69th minute when Andrés Iniesta sliced the Australian defense in two with a wonderful pass that found Fernando Torres in space behind the back line. Torres did the rest, sliding a finish past Ryan to make it 2-0.

Juan Mata added a third goal in the 82nd minute.

Spain: Reina, Juanfran, Albiol, Ramos, Alba, Alonso (Silva 84'), Koke, Cazorla (Fàbregas 68'), Iniesta, Villa (Mata 57'), Torres

Goals: Villa (36'), Torres (69'), Mata (82')

Australia: Ryan, McGowan, Wilkinson, Špiranović, Davidson, Jedinak, McKay, Oar (Troisi 61'), Bozanic (Bresciano 72'), Leckie, Taggart (Halloran 46')

Goals: None

Cristiano Ronaldo may not yet be at full fitness, but the Ballon d'Or winner was trying his very best during Portugal's World Cup Group G game with the US.

The 29-year-old and his team started furiously, keen to atone for their humiliation at the hands of Germany in the opener.
In the opening exchanges, Ronaldo pulled off a piece of skill (below) lifted straight from a video game.
Running at full speed down the left wing, Ronaldo cut the ball inside his leg, then back outside the other before doing a Cruyff turn leaving two players in his wake.
But he wasn't finished there, as another defender came to aid the pair Ronaldo had already left flummoxed, he stepped onto the ball and dragged it away, before finding Raul Meireles.

It was a quite brilliant piece of skill. Although some of Ronaldo's tricks and stepovers often have little impact on a defender, this one left all three players stunned.
Portugal took the lead a minute later, Manchester United winger Nani smashing home after the US failed to clear a cross.
But Jurgen Klinsmann's team fought back, with Jermaine Jones firing a rocket into the corner from outside the box. They then thought they had won it, Clint Dempsey bundling in from close range with just nine minutes left.

But despite some wayward shooting during the game, it was Ronaldo who had the final say. 

USA 2 Portugal 2 player ratings

Cristiano Ronaldo

With a whole country's expectation upon him, he again faltered, but still delivered a wonderful cross just when they needed him most. 6

 

The way Iran was defending, it was always going to take a little magic from Lionel Messi to send Argentina into the second round of the World Cup.

Argentina's Lionel Messi acknowledges applause after scoring his side's lone goal in Argentina's 1-0 victory over Iran during the Group F World Cup match between Argentina and Iran at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on Saturday.

Until stoppage time on Saturday, Messi had been stifled by Iran's solid back line. Then, out of nowhere, the Argentina captain produced something very special, as he has done so many times for Barcelona, by scoring a stunning goal for a 1-0 victory.
Goalkeeper Sergio Romero, who watched the goal from the other end of the pitch, said Messi "rubbed his magic lamp and we won." Messi was more pragmatic.

"When I saw that I had scored I was very happy, because we were in added time already and wanted to qualify for the next phase," he said.
Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella watched as Iran tightly marked his star player, but said he always had faith that Messi might deliver when it counted.

Midfield tussle: Germany's Sami Khedira vies with Ghana's Sulley Ali Muntari

Germany 2, Ghana 2: Thriller ends in draw

The match between Ghana and the United States was a virtual elimination game. Both of them have known since December that they'd be in with a great shot to progress with a win, likely out with a draw and almost certainly dead with a loss. Ghana lost, and are now in a situation where they have to get a point from Germany to feel like they have any chance to go through, and even a draw might not be good enough.

Germany, meanwhile, are probably pretty confident about progressing after laying a beating on Portugal. They're still dealing with some injury issues, but they should be able to handle the Ghanaians.

Awesome plays by ghana which kept the match in a tie

By Beating Switzerland in a 5-2 Margin, France also joins the heavy team list
which consists of Holland who beat spain by 5-1, Germany who beat Portugal by 4-0 and Croatia who beat cameroon in a 4- 0 margin

FIFA World Cup: France 5, Switzerland 2

Les Bleus put 5 past poor Switzerland defence

Karim Benzema roars after scoring France's fourth goal in the 5-2 whitewashing of Switzerland. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

France truly blitzed Switzerland — midfielders, forwards, wing backs all surging downfield together. Winning 5-2, the French got their five goals from five different players: Olivier Giroud, Blaise Matuidi, Mathieu Valbuena, Karim Benzema and Moussa Sissoko. The Swiss had moments of possession, but they did seem like mere moments. In the final 10 minutes of the game, Switzerland managed to score two goals — by Blerim Dzemaili and Granit Xhaka — which will help them if goal difference becomes a factor in deciding who goes through to the next round. But they shouldn’t need that. Their final opponent is Honduras, and if the Swiss win that game, they are likely to be safe. France, now on top of the group with 6 points from two games, only need to tie Ecuador in their final match, next Wednesday, to get through. An optimistic omen for the French is that the last time they won their two opening games (as they’ve done here) was in 1998 — and they went on to win the whole tournament, in Paris. Although no European team has ever won the World Cup in South America, France looks like a fine candidate to try to be the first.

Natacha Pisarenko/Associated PressFrance’s Mathieu Valbuena celebrated with Olivier Giroud after scoring his side’s third goal of the first half.

Spanish soccer fans gesture as they watch on a giant display the World Cup soccer match between Spain and Chile, in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday 

 

Defending champions Spain eliminated from World Cup by Chile

Spain have unceremoniously been eliminated from the World Cup at the hands of Chile in just the second match of the group stage. The missing form that plagued the Spanish against the Netherlands continued to be elusive.

The defending World Cup champions Spain were eliminated from the World Cup before the end of the group stage on Wednesday, losing 2-0 to Chile at the Maracana in Rio de Janiero.
It was clear from the get-go that Spain needed drastic improvement after their horrendous start to the tournament in Group B - a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands. Coach Vicente del Bosque - speculated to be at the end of his run as Spain's coach - benched two starters, defender Gerard Pique and iconic midfielder Xavi, in an effort to return his team and to the form that made them World Cup champions in 2010 and European Champions in 2008 and 2012.
Instead, the historic string of major tournament victories ended abruptly at the hands of Chile.
"These things happen in sport," said Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso. "It was unexpected, but we need to deal with it. We were unable to maintain the levels of conviction and hunger that brought us success and happiness before."
"We committed a lot of errors and didn't have the solidity that had helped us win so many matches. We didn't have the same feeling on the pitch that we had during other championships."
No mas tika-taka
Spain were never able to settle into their famous high-paced, quick-passing "tiki-taka" groove. Just 20 minutes in, Chile went ahead 1-0 on a counterattacking run that expertly wove around Spain's woeful defense. Arturo Vidal played an excellent pass into the box for Charles Aranguiz, who crossed to Eduardo Vargas to finish.
It was a sobering moment for a Spain side suddenly staring elimination in the face.
Their slim remaining hopes were dashed just before halftime. Alexis Sanchez fired a free kick directly at Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who deflected the ball with both fists into his own six-yard box. Aranguiz – completely unmarked – picked up the rebound and had time to bring the ball under control before slotting home for Chile's second goal.
"We didn't deserve to go through to the next round. We have been beaten by superior teams," said Spain's captain, Casillas. "I have not played well and neither has the team in general. Now we need to be even more united and finish in the most dignified manner possible."
Spain frantically searched in the second half for the offensive combination that could salvage them a result, but rarely came close. Any serious threats on goal were expertly handled by Chile's standout goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo.
"We were inferior to both Holland and Chile," said del Bosque after the match. "They got the goals and gave us a mountain to climb. We were too timid in the first half and did not react sufficiently in the second. The first goal really buoyed them and they really got into our faces."

 

 

 

 

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World Cup 2014: Croatia send Cameroon crashing out of World Cup

 

 Croatia dumped 10-man Cameroon out of the World Cup with a comfortable 4-0 win in their Group A clash at the Arena da Amazonia in Manaus.

Ivica Olic sent Croatia on their way with an early opener before Alex Song was shown a straight red card before half-time following a punch on Mario Mandzukic.
Croatia made their numerical advantage count in the second half with Ivan Perisic doubling their lead early in the second half before Mandzukic helped himself to a quick-fire brace to send Cameroon crashing out of the tournament.
The win moves Croatia to three points with Brazil and Mexico on four points as the three battle to qualify for the knockout stages.
Croatia play Mexico next Monday with a place in the knockout stages at stake, while Cameroon are out ahead of their clash with Brazil.
Their frustrations appeared to boil over when Benoit Assou Ekotto and Benjamin Moukandjo had a dispute on the field, with the full-back perhaps fortunate to avoid a sending off for an apparent headbutt on his team-mate.
Cameroon were without talisman Samuel Eto'o due to a knee injury, while Croatia had striker Mandzukic available again following his suspension for his dismissal in the play-off with Iceland last November.
Cameroon were soon behind when they failed to clear Darijo Srna's cross towards Mandzukic.
Perisic had the composure to deliver a finely-weighted diagonal pass across the area for Olic to simply tap in.
Croatia took control of the contest and were given a numerical advantage when Song struck Mandzukic on the back as Croatia began an attack, with referee Pedro Proenca showing no hesitation in brandishing a red card.
Cameroon's woes deepened within three minutes of the restart as the impressive Perisic struck.
Itandje's poor clearance found the Croatia midfielder, who surged down the left, outpacing the Cameroon defence, before executing a simple finish.
Mandzukic should have netted a third after being played in, but Nicolas Nkoulou applied enough pressure to put off the striker, who scooped his effort wide.
Half-time substitute Dany Nounkeu attempted a spectacular volley which flew well over as Cameroon tried to respond.
A Srna free-kick from the edge of the area went over before Danijel Pranjic's outswinging corner from the left was met by Mandzukic who was unchallenged as he headed the ball down and into the net.
Stephane Mbia shot narrowly over from long range before substitute Eduardo saw his shot saved weakly by goalkeeper Itandje.
The ball was parried to Mandzukic who tapped in.
Moukandjo spurned the chance of a consolation with five minutes remaining, curling wide with the Croatia goal gaping.
Ivan Rakitic fluffed an opportunity for a fifth at the other end before Pierre Webo's header bounced up and clear off the bar following Assou Ekotto's cross.
Assou Ekotto and Moukandjo squabbled in the aftermath, with the former throwing his head towards his team-mate in the closing moments in an unsavoury conclusion to the contest.

Spain vs Chile World Cup 2014: The champions knocked out after goals from Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz

For the third time in the last four World Cups the holders exit at the group stage

 They are also the first team eliminated from the 2014 tournament. That sums up the scale of the fall almost as much as the poverty of their play. Chile, as they promised before the game, have made history.

Brazil vs Mexico was a tie

Due to awesome goalkeeping of Mexico and Brazil, the match was ended up in a tie.
Brazil got more chances than mexico which were too dangerous for the mexicans
and mexicans wasn't bad they too got 3 awesome chances which kept the brazilian defenders stunned

Line Ups

Brazil: Julio Cesar; Alves, Thiago, Luiz, Marcelo; Gustavo, Paulinho; Ramires, Oscar, Neymar; Fred.




Mexico: Ochoa; F Rodriguez, Marquez, Moreno; Aguilar, Layun; Vazquez, Herrera; Guadrado, Dos Santos; Peralta.

Flying Dutchman: Van Persie equalised for Holland with the effort in their Group B 5-1 win on Friday

The Most Stunning Game ever in the world, The stunning victory over Spain will be forever etched in their history but however magical it was the Dutch seem cautious about reading too much into an extraordinary day.

The Holland manager Louis Van Gaal congratulates Robin van Persie after his substitution during the 5-1 trouncing of Spain in World Cup Group B. Photograph: Yang Lei/Rex

                   It was the day of flying dutch man(Robin Van Persie), who scored twise in that game and one was an outstanding goal. Every fans praising and posting as Super man style goal