Tuesday concludes pool play for Groups C and D. Who will survive to reach the Round of 16?
Group D has come to be known as the "Group of Champions", the only group featuring three former tourney winners (only eight countries have claimed victory, and no other group contained more than one former champ!). But it is Costa-one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others-Rica that bests them all for the D1 seed.
Greece (2) - Côte d’Ivoire (1) - Group C
Holy spanakopita, Batman!
After a poor performance in the opening match against Columbia, and surviving a 0-0 tie against Japan (despite playing a man down), Greece bests Côte d’Ivoire to win their final match in pool play.
It is enough for the Greeks to scrape together the C2 seed with a 1-1-1 record and a minus-2 goal differential! Opa!
Is Greece better than I thought, or is Group C just that weak? The latter. I will be at the match in Recife to see them get their sundials cleaned by Costa Rica. My dreams of seeing Columbia-Uruguay didn't materialize.
Columbia (4) - Japan (1) - Group C
No surprise here. Columbia cruises to an easy victory and 3-0-0 record in the weak Group C. They will face Uruguay in the R16 matchup. Will Luis "Hannibal" Suarez take a bite out of the Columbians quarter-final aspirations?
Uruguay (1) - Italy (0) - Group D
After a first-match loss to Costa Rica, Uruguay strung together successive victories against England and Italy to earn the D2 seed in the R16. But the news of the day was Luis Suarez going Mike Tyson on an Italian's shoulder. For how llong will he be banned? Let's hope it's the remainder of the tourney.
Costa Rica (0) - England (0) - Group D
In a lowly anticipated game rendered largely meaningless by earlier matches, Costa Rica secured the D1 seed, with an overall 2-0-1 record. England salvaged their only point of the tourney, but their dignity had long since hopped the first QEII back to Britain. To be less snarky, lets applaud teams that maintain their class, even while losing. More than can be said for some teams moving on in the tourney (cough...cough...Uruguay).
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