Brazil 2014: Day 10
We now arrive at day 10 of the FIFA World Cup. Plenty to discuss and think about with 3 games last night and 3 more tonight.
Results for Friday 20th June 2014
Group D
Italy 0-1 Costa Rica
Ruiz 44′
Ref: Enrique Osses
Att: 40,285
Group E
Switzerland 2-5 France
Dzemaili 81′ Giroud 17′ Matuidi 18′
Xhaka 87′ Valbuena 40′ Benzema 67′
Sissoko 73′
Ref: Björn Kuipers
Att: 51,003
Honduras 1-2 Ecuador
Costly 31′ E Valencia 34′, 65′
Ref: Ben Williams
Att: 39,224
Fixtures for Saturday 21st June
Argentina v Iran. Match 27, group F, kick off at 5pm BST live on ITV at the Estadio Mineirao, Belo
Germany v Ghana. Match 29, group G kick off at 8pm BST live on BBC 1 at the Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza
Nigeria v Bosnia-Herzegovina. Match 28, group F, kick off at 11pm live on BBC 1 at the Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba
Referee appointments for today http://www.exeweb.com/2014/06/20/brazil-2014-referee-appointments-for-june-22/
Referee appointments for tomorrows (Sunday) – plus some referee stats http://www.exeweb.com/2014/06/21/brazil-2014-referee-appointments-for-june-22-2/
Who has qualified for the kick-out stages:
Netherlands (Group B)
Chile (Group B)
Colombia (Group C)
Costa Rica (Group D)
Who can not qualify
Spain
England
Australia
Cameroon
Tables;
| Group D | Group E | |||||||||
| Pos | Team | Played | GD | Pts | Pos | Team | Played | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Costa Rica | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | France | 2 | 6 | 6 | |
| 2 | Italy | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | Ecuador | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | Uruguay | 2 | -1 | 3 | 3 | Switzerland | 2 | -2 | 3 | |
| 4 | England | 2 | -2 | 0 | 4 | Honduras | 2 | -4 | 0 | |
FIFA.com did a Q&A with Korea’s Koo Jacheol:-
FIFA.com: The match against Algeria is just around the corner. As captain, do you feel any added pressure?
Koo Jacheol: Things like morale and the preparation, that are not in the hands of the coaching staff, are my responsibilities. If I observe the players and I control them, so to speak, to make sure that they enter the match together, then I think we will get a good result against Algeria. I don’t feel especially pressured or overwhelmed by the responsibilities.
FIFA.com: It appears that your role is that of a playmaker. In the previous match against Russia, and leading up to the match against Algeria, do you feel there’s enough support in midfield and going forward?
Koo Jacheol: I think it depends on how the match pans out. For example, if we have good build-up play from the defence and our players gain confidence with the ball, then it will give me more options in different positions. If our opponents put us under pressure and our defenders are struggling to cope, I will try to use the space behind their lines. Furthermore, I try to make sure that our defensive midfielders don’t feel isolated in their defensive play.
Nigeria’s Emmanuel Emenike speaking to FIFA:-
You can’t hide from pressure. Football is a game of pressure. Everyone expects big things from you.
But what can you do? You just have to carry on working hard, that’s all you can do. The pressure has to be there. The match didn’t go the way we wanted, we just have to carry on and win the Bosnia and Herzegovina game and see what happens. The game against Iran was disappointing.
The unity is still there. I think the first few seconds after the Iran game, the spirit in the changing room was a little bit low, but now, seeing it yesterday and today, even in training, everyone is fighting.
After the Honduras/Ecuador match this is what some of the key personnel had to say:-
Luis Suarez, Honduras coach
It was a very hard-fought match. I think we had a bit of difficulty keeping our nerves in check given what was at stake in the game, but I’m satisfied with my team. We played well but they played a bit better: they had more of the ball, took more shots and got the goals. It was an improved performance after our first match and although it wasn’t quite enough we can build on it for our next game. We know it’ll be tough to reach the next round, but it’d be even worse to have been knocked out already. We need to find a way to improve in order to win and while there’s hope, we won’t give up without a fight.
Reinaldo Rueda, Ecuador coach
There were changes in the starting line-up because the opposition was completely different to the previous one. The match panned out as we imagined it would. Both teams needed to win and both tried to play well. Even though we went behind, we got our goals at decisive moments and that put us in charge of the match. Yes, I do have some contrasting emotions after beating Honduras but fortunately we ended up as winners. We know that reaching the next round isn’t entirely in our own hands but we need to focus on our own game. We’ll have to play as well or even better than we did today to beat France because they’re a side that have grown a lot in the last few months.
Enner Valencia, Man of the Match
Of course I’m very, very happy to have scored the goals because they helped us to win the match. We put everything on the line and we got three crucial points to keep our dream alive. We’ll have to analyse France very closely to find out what the best way of playing against them is because they’re a really strong team.
The Columbian assistant referee, Humberto Clavijo, whose 2 offside decisions arguably denied Mexico 2 goals against Cameroon has been replaced by FIFA. Christian Lescano of Ecuador will now be part of Wilmar Roldan‘s team for the South Korea vs Algeria match in Porto Alegre on Sunday.
Family connections: 2 brothers will be facing each other in the world cup. The Boateng brothers – Kevin-Prince, 27, and Jerome, 25 – will be on opposing sides when Ghana meet Germany tonight (Saturday).