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World Cup Day 7: Your Running Commentary

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By RYAN TOLMICH

After the 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the Netherlands last week, today is do-or-die for the defending world champions.

Spain faces a must-win situation when they take on South American powerhouse Chile today, as anything less than a win will all but confirm a group stage exit for the 2010 champions. For their part, Alexis Sanchez and Chile are coming off a 3-1 victory over Australia and any sort of result should make them emerge from Group B into the knockout stages.

In Group A action, Croatia will look to bounce back from a controversial loss to Brazil on Thursday when they take on Cameroon. Tuesday’s draw between Brazil and Mexico means that the Croatians will need to pick up at least a point to essentially make their third and final group stage matchup with Mexico an elimination game.

Finally, Spain’s tormentors, the Netherlands, is also back in action today when it takes on Australia. The Dutch have become heavy favorites in group B, but the Australians will pose questions of their own via the always-threatening head of Tim Cahill.

If you will be watching today’s matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (TV listings after the jump):

TODAY’S WORLD CUP SOCCER ON TV

12 p.m. – Australia vs. Netherlands – ESPN

3 p.m. – Spain vs. Chile – ESPN

6 p.m. – Cameroon vs. Croatia – ESPN

Comments

    • He is trying sooo hard to get a red. Geiger isn’t being super nice but he is trying to give the man a chance to stay on.

      Reply
  1. Somebody mentioned Mark W. Geiger?.
    Agree he did do a good job officiating the Greece, Colombia, game.
    Now he’s doing the Maracana,
    it’s worth noting even the German pundits are expressing their surprise pleasure
    regarding his officiating acumen.
    Geiger, gets a St. Ives award today, and maybe some knockout matches later.

    GO-GO-GO CHI-CHI-CHI GO-CHILE!

    Reply
  2. The fact that Casillas is still starting just makes me think their WC is over! There’s no way he can be better than Pepe Reina and De Gea

    Reply
      • I think its easy to hate Concacaf. I mean… We play in it. It’s a horrible evil grind. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect the teams in it for making it a horrible evil grind.

        Also the MLS gets flack for being relatively technical and physical.

        I didn’t want to watch it 6 years ago but It’s improved a lot in the last 3 or so years. I think its most likely that the MLS is actually certain to exist in 20 years. This draws in most talent from both domestically and abroad.

  3. Soft third goal let in by Australian keeper. Can’t happen when you’re a big underdog. Good fight though from the Aussies.

    Reply
      • If they tie, there exists hope. If not, they are out.

        They have 15 minutes plus to make it happen.

        If I were on the team, I would say….ATTACK!! There is NO tomorrow.

    • +1

      Honestly, the “weak” teams I have seen thus far in this Cup are Nigeria and the US. Every other team has played well or semi-well. The best teams or course are Holland and Germany.

      Australia is better than I thought. I better most people thought poorly of them as well.

      Reply
      • eh, if you’re going by how teams have actually played so far, i’d go ahead and list spain, cameroon, ghana, and portugal as well.

      • Man, I totally forgot Portugal!!!

        Spain too. Ghana was actually pretty good and Cameroon wasn’t horrible.

      • cameroon *was* horrible; they should’ve lost 3-0.

        and ghana was awful. we basically let them have the ball, and they couldn’t do anything with it.

      • Do you think he realizes that GHA and USA got 8 and 7 shots on goal, respectively? When you consider the possession difference, the US was much more dangerous with the ball. Most of GHA’s shots were weak, off-target, challenged headers or shots from 20+ yards. That’s a waste of posession.

      • many teams have deployed the organized D tactic with some form of bunkering or bus parking an then countering, done well with it, classic World Cup tactic and corresponding results. the USMNT has done it forever basically, our Costa Rica friends did it beautifully, and so did Mexico vs. Brazil. not easy to crack those Ds even with a team of familiar players that have played together for years. get a lot of these tactics early in the tournament…unless it’s Chile vs. Spain, that was a full court press all game

      • i think that is harsh on the USA. also, Cameroon, Iran, and South Korea all looked weak too. especially Cameroon.

      • South Korea looked weak?

        I can’t agree. They didn’t finish well, but apart from that they looked sharp.

        Iran looked like what I expected. Cameroon wasn’t great but they were okay.

        The USA was terrible guys. I bet though, that will change.

      • fair enough, probably a bit harsh on them. but come on. Cameroon?! they are arguably the worse team so far. completely gutless out there against Mexico. we’ll see how they play today.

        the US was not great, but you don’t win 2-1 against Ghana if you are terrible. sure, our possession was terrible and we gave them too many opportunities, but defensively we played strong as a whole. no doubt we HAVE to improve and certainly weren’t impressive, but i’m not sure i’d rate us as one of the worse teams yet.

    • That said, if anything this World Cup has already shown that gameplans and formulas don’t mean much! Which I think is a good thing for the USA, a little luck here, some major heart and effort there, and I think we will find success.

      Reply
  4. The replay showed that the cross to Leckie was low and the ball actually came off his chest…thus explaining the miss.

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  5. Guess the Roos, are far outclassed, it looks like the Dutch are playing a little game of cat and mouse?.
    Memphis is calling.

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  6. Moments after Leckie heads point blank at Cilissen, Memphis Depay hits a swerving shot from outside the box that Maty Ryan gets his fingertips on but could not keep out. 3-2 Holland, 70′.

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  7. The Dutch just have too many weapons.

    Australia is making a game of it though.

    I bet NO ONE saw this game playing out as it has thus far.

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  8. So, if the Dutch don’t equalize here, it stands to reason they might be going home early. Unreal. Gets real tough with RvP out vs. Chile.

    I feel like I was the only one who thought Australia showed very well vs. Chile, controlling big parts of the game. This team is very solid.

    Reply
  9. Let’s go Socceroos!, Can they pull off the upset?.
    Would be good to see Brazil V. Holland in the round of 16.

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    • for those who can’t watch:

      an australian tries to cross it in the box, it hits a dutch hand (very clearly unintentional, and in a completely natural position), and whistled a handball.

      Reply
      • Unintentional, but far enough away from the body to interfere with the play. I don’t think it is uncommon to see that given as a PK.

      • nowhere do the rules say that hands cannot ‘interfere with the play’.

        if it’s not uncommon to call that, it should be. it completely ignores the spirit of the rule, which is that you can’t use your hands (or arms) to play the ball. not that HANDS ARE HOT LAVA CAN’T TOUCH.

      • True. Laws of the Game specifically say that body position doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a pk. It has to be a “deliberate” action. The standard is movement of the hand towards the ball, or if there was time to react.

      • The discussion on the LOTG specifically state that the movement of the ball toward the hand and the distance between the ball and the opponent (unexpected ball) should be considered.

  10. WHOA:

    roger bennett ‏@rogbennett 6m
    Eye on this US fans @EwanMacKenna Rumours – unconfirmed I add – here in press centres in Brazil Cristiano Ronaldo is out of the World Cup

    Reply
  11. Thus far, it’s going to real hard for the rest of the world to ignore how much the MLS is affecting the world of football (soccer).

    Not only are MLS boys scoring, but they are doing it in BIG WAYS.

    Reply
      • Would have to check the Costa Rican Roster for assists I think…. Martins should be there too. Nigeria could use the man.

        Looks like mostly defenders for CR.
        Saborío would have scored I bet. Shame he is injured.

  12. Just noticed that American ref., Mark Geiger, is getting another game today in the Spain vs. Chile game (he also had the Columbia vs. Greece game). I gotta believe it is, but I hope his Espanol es muy bueno.

    Reply
    • He got on the end of a long (35-40 yards) diagonal cross from the right flank into the penalty area. The strike was a volley from about 11 yards that beat the keeper almost directly over his head. The crossbar is probably still ringing.

      Reply
  13. I was just about to write what the Brazilian announcer said about Robben, I get up to throw out some trash and Cahill ties it up for Australia!

    I LOVE THIS CUP!

    BTW, the Brazilian announcer said, “Look at that bald man run really fast!”. haha

    Reply
      • Better than Dempsey’s or Messi’s?

        It was a great goal, no doubt.

        We should all start our our personal favorites list!!

      • I think so. Cahill volleys a cross from 35 yards and sneaks it just beneath the crossbar. Beautiful. Of course, Dempsey’s was beautiful on its own merits, being that it put us ahead of Ghana. Messi’s was just alright by Messi standards.

      • I should clarify for those who didn’t see it: It was a cross from 35 yards. The goal was within the 18.

      • After rewatching it, it was a defensive mistake, not such a great goal.

        He had MILES of space.

      • Okay. Seems a little low, don’t you think?

        Who scores for Australia? Cahill?

        I am beating Holland is going to kill it again. They must be on the biggest high right now. They again, it is a crazy sport. Things do happen.

  14. Chile and USA are in nearly identical positrons after the first match, so it will be interesting to see how they approach the game.

    Reply

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