Costa Rica Knocks Off Italy, England Knocked Out

((HT: ESPN/FIFA))

Italy looks like they're another squad that might be in transition (or in need of transition) after the Forza Azzuri's 1-0 loss to Costa Rica Friday. The result puts Italy in an interesting place heading into their third match and knocks England out before their third- against Costa Rica before the knockout stages.

Here's the highlights


The Ticos haven't made the Round of 16 since 1990, but it will be interesting to see how they respond to life in the next round.

And the larger question may be the future of Prandelli and his Italian squad.

Clint Dempsey's Goal Broke Twitter

((HT: ESPN/FIFA))

It was the 5th-fastest goal in World Cup history and the fastest ever in the history of the US National Men's team. But Clint Dempsey caught the Ghanaian defense napping for this opener in competition


Larger issues are around Jozy Altidore's injured hamstring and Matt Besler wasn't too far behind in the 41st minute to go along with the shot Dempsey took to his nose- which is, probably, broken.

Pepe Is Gone-Gone For USA Match

((HT: Clay's Vine))

Because of this... another classless outburst on the pitch


And Germany is rolling in the second half against Portugal, 3-0.

The larger question has to be around just how long will Cristiano Ronaldo be on the pitch and how much will he be saved for the USA match- the next one on their schedule...???

Seferovich At The Death Gives 3 Points For Swiss

((HT: ESPN/FIFA))

The talk was all but three minutes away...

A DRAW of all things in the World Cup...

Haris Seferovich had something to say about it in the last few minutes for the first game in Group E- a manageable group for the better squads in the table...

Here's the highlights


Now, the two who are done pay attention to France and Honduras to see if the Group has to go nuts all over again at the beginning a the round-robin stage...

Tim And Sid Get A Guy Off Work For Portugal-Germany

((HT: Sportsnet))

FOSG Tim and Sid, for those of you who don't know, host an afternoon drive-time simulcast on Sportsnet360 and the Fan radio network.

They were holding a contest for listeners to see if they could call a boss and get their worker off to watch a particular Brazil-based soccer match.

Tim and Sid got such a request and tried to make it happen

Here's the exchange

When van Persie Is Healthy, This Happens...

((HT: gifdsports Vine))

Okay, the HQ looked at the Diego Costa foul that resulted in a Xavi Alonso PK- and we thought it was a weak call...

Not surprising in keeping up with the theme of the games i Brazil over the last 24 hours...

But the Dutch came back and THIS is what you get with a healthy Robin van Persie- a thing of beauty


Spain and the Netherlands are 1-1 at the break

And The Soccer Officials Are Consistent- 2 Games, 2 Bad Calls (UPDATED: Maybe Three)

((HT: ESPN/FIFA))

Cameroon and El Tri are playing in a downpour in Natal to start Day 2 of the games in Brazil...

And we have another instance of an official missing a call- completely...

9th Minute and Giovani dos Santos gets robbed on an offsides call


Cameroon may have been just as robbed in the 20's with some pinball action in the Mexico box, but the first half is more Cameroon trying to drop nine and take advantage of set plays while Mexico looks like they're pressing...

And it appears that a call in the 30th minute, fans of El Tri had another chance to yell off a corner kick and goal that was disallowed as well with dos Santos in the box...

Here's Clay's Vine on that one


Should make for an interesting second half...

Soccer Breakdown In 3,2,1

((HT: Spence Vermeer/Dan Patrick Show))

As an homage to the beginning of the soccer tournament in Rio and the rest of Brazil...

Here's how the sport can completely cripple sports announcers- like Gary Miller...

The one tape that DP got to take out of Bristol was this


And let the tournament begin...

Okay, So Brazil Didn't Lose... But It Was Interesting

((HT: ESPN/FIFA))

Here's the turning point in the Brazil-Croatia match and it was a HORRIBLE CALL!!!


Sufficed to say, the Croat coach decided to speak out...

"We better give it up now and go home," Niko Kovac said. "We talk about respect, Croatia didn't get any."

"If that was a penalty, we should be playing basketball," Kovac said. "Those kinds of fouls are penalised there.

"That is shameful, this is not a World Cup referee. He had one kind of criteria for them and another for us. The rules were not the same."

And there you go... FIFA is off and running...

And What Happens If Brazil Loses...???

((HT: FIFA/ESPN))

Well, first and foremost...

It would be Neymar to score the equalizer for the home country. It wasn't a thing of beauty, but it got the job done...

Welcome back Ian and Macca


But, it took an odd turn in the first nine minutes with an own goal of all things off a deflection to give the Croats some hope in the tournament opener...


The goals are up until they get pulled, obviously...
But it was 1-1 at the break...

Protests In Sao Paulo Day Of Brasil 2014 Start

((HT: CNN))

Police are setting up a 5km perimeter around the football stadium in Sao Paulo, Brasil- which translates into a little over 3 miles before the World Cup opener between Brazil and Croatia.

But protesters are working their way around in Sao Paulo and at the airport in Rio de Janeiro (with the airport workers themselves) setting the stage for, what could be, a very nasty month.

This morning police with tear gas canisters met protesters in frint of CNN's Shasta Darlington


Word is that a CNN producer also had her arm broken covering these protests.

This may not go over well and there's Russia and Qatar four and eight years from now to look forward to...

DEVELOPING: Neymar Rolls Ankle In Training

((HT: The Score))

Well, this has put the collective breath and heartbeat of the host country in their throats...

Neymar rolled his ankle in training today...
((HT: World Football))


Word was that he was running "normally" a few minutes later, but this is something to keep an eye on as Brazil has had a lot of injuries leading up to the tournament that starts Thursday.

International Friendly Sunday Gives Some Answers

And yields more questions...

Will the guys at Team USA figure out their issues at the back...? They have another two weeks to figure it out...
The friendly in New Jersey against Turkey gave both teams a lot of offensive chances and the game could have been a lot more than the 2-1 final in favor of the stars and bars.

But Team USA showed some of the brilliance people expect...
((HT: ESPN))


And in the Belgium friendly with Sweden started with this shot from Romelu Lukaku
((HT: Footy Goals))


Looks like some folks are figuring it out...

So, Which USMNT Team Do We Believe In...???

((HT: ESPN))

The one where Michael Bradley showed what he does is world-class and Chris Wondolowski is back being an offensive force or the one that had the gaping hole directly in front of Nick Rimando for Rafa Marquez...???

The USMNT was up 2-0 at the break in Glendale last night, but gave up two in the second half to only leave the friendly with Mexico with a 2-2 draw.

Here's the highlights...


Who is writing this stuff, indeed...

Kawasaki's World Cup Predictions

((HT: Sportsnet))

Gotta love Kawasaki...

And by that, we mean the second baseman for the Blue Jays and not the motorcycle...

Barry Davis went up to him and asked about the upcoming World Cup of Soccer in Rio...
This is how his predictions went...

Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Japan, and Canada...

That just sings success...

DEVELOPING: Sao Paolo Stadium Collapse Kills 2

((HT: Sky News))

The stadium scheduled to be the centerpiece of the Rio/Brazil World Cup has collapsed- causing significant damage, setback, and killing two... the numbers, initially called three fatalities...

The Itaquerao stadium was claimed to be "94 percent" completed before the accident.

Some local media said the accident occurred when a crane collapsed on top of a metal structure inside the stadium.

Here's the breaker...


"The safety of workers is the top priority for FIFA, the LOC, the federal government. We know the safety of all workers has always been paramount for all the construction companies contracted to build the 12 FIFA World Cup stadiums," FIFA said in a statement.

More when we know more...

Here's a longer breaker from Brazilian news with aerials...