Costa Rica with mild upset, Colombians blank the Greeks
June 14, 2014 (CHICAGO) -- Halfway through day three of the World Cup, Costa Rica throws a monkey wrench into my predictions. I was 3-1 going into Saturday's matches. In the opening match of the day, Colombia, ranked 8th in the FIFA World Cup standings, easily dispatched Greece, rated 12th, 3-0.
That upped my prediction record to 4-1 after Friday's upset of Spain by the Netherlands 5-1. Pablo Armero got the Colombians on the board in the fifth minute, then 53 minutes later Teofilo Gutierrez scored, and then in the 90th minute James Rodriguez put the ball in the back of the net and Colombia has 3 points in group C.
In the second match of the day, Uruguay, rated 7th, should have beaten 28th ranked Costa Rica and the Uruguayans scored first as Edinson Cavani got the penalty kick goal in the 24th minute and Uruguay eased up. The Costa Ricans then soared. In the 54th minute Joel Campbell got the tying goal, three minutes later Oscar Duarte put it home for the game winner and just for insurance, Marco Urena banged one home and Costa Rica had the 3 points with a 3-1 victory.
In the 3rd match of the day, 10th rated England faced their arch rivals from Italy, rated 9th. The first 20 minutes of this match were a feeling-out process. Then in the 35th minute, Italy broke through as Claudio Marchisio knocked the ball right through the legs of defender Joe Cahill and past English keeper Joe Hart. But two minutes later, Old Man Wayne Rooney made the perfect pass to Daniel Sturridge, and he kicked it past Italian keeper Salvatore Sirigu, game tied at 1. But in the 50th minute, the superstar of the Italian team, Mario Balotelli eludes Cahill and heads home the game winner, Italy gets the 3 points and wins 2-1.
And in the final match of the night, Ivory Coast defeated 46th ranked Japan 2-1 in Group C. Nippon opened the scoring when Keisuke Honda put the ball in the back of the net in the 16th minute... Wilfried Bony scored in the 64th minute and Ivory Coast won it 2 minutes later as Gervinho got the game winner and the Cote D'Ivoire wins it's group C match 2-1.
Sunday we have three games on tap. At 11am Chicago time, 6th ranked Switzerland faces 26th ranked Ecuador, the Swiss win like a finely tuned watch. At 2pm CT, 17th rated France will meet 33rd ranked Honduras, and I've got the French ballers winning, both of those matches are on ABC. And at 5pm CT, number 5 Argentina will take on 21st ranked Bosnia & Herzegovina on ESPN, Lionel Messi will lead the Argentines to victory. My record so far 5 & 3...ouch. Enjoy and remember, Soccer (football) is a kick in the grass.
Have a great day and we'll chat later. Cheers!
