Saturday 14 June 2014

Day Three - Uruguay v Costa Rica

Pre-Match Thoughts
Credit to Uruguay, for a country of such a small population, they produce plenty of top players. In 2010, they made the semi-finals and Diego Forlan was joint top scorer. Forlan, who starts tonight in the absence of Luis Suarez, played for United over a decade ago, but was never a big success. He went on to become a star name in Spain, winning the European Golden Boot twice but at 35, he's surely only here as back up and to provide an experienced head. All the same, chance for him to roll back the clock t

Costa Rica is the happiest nation on earth, apparently, and they also don't have a military by constitution. That makes them pretty awesome in my book, but they're going to have to have the game of their lives to stand much hope here. I'm going 3-0 to Uruguay, with Cavani bagging a couple. 

Drink?
I've still got a bottle of Jennings left from Thursday? Result!

First Half
Uruguay are clearly the better side and deserve to be ahead, but Costa Rica are no mugs. A drop in concentration can easily see things go wrong for the current team ahead, as nearly happened just before half-time. The extra dash of world class that Suarez brings is clearly a big disadvantage for Uruguay, but at least means if they get the points today, they can be confident of being even better when he returns.

Second Half
Well, fuck me. I'm beginning to like this World Cup. Every game has had goals, and now we have a big shock.

There's nothing to write but to give Costa Rica a huge amount of kudos. They knew exactly how to get back into the game through set pieces and took total advantage. Joel Campbell, who had been an Arsenal player for three years but spent all his time out on loan, will have surely grabbed attention across the world with a superb display, scoring one and setting up another. It'll be interesting to see if his parent club give him a chance next season.

I hope Costa Rica go through to the next round now. I really, really enjoyed that second half of football.

By the way...
Yeah, I know. Don't take up betting on the results of football games. 

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