Wednesday was one hell of a day for football lovers, with the Oranje brigade marching past the Australians, the Spaniards crashing out of the World Cup reckoning and Cameroon sent out crashing by a 4-0 Croatian win.
Thumbs Up
The match between Australia and Netherlands was full of action. With five goals scored on the whole, there was no reason why any football lover wouldn’t have had a ball catching up the action live. Our first Thumbs Up would go to the Dutch team, for the valiant effort to come from behind and snatch the cake from the Australian kitty with a 3-2 win. Even though they managed to upset the Aussie set up by striking the first goal, the Aussies managed to level scores by halftime, and it was only in the second half that the Oranje brigade showed its true colours. Also, compared to Aussie’s 10 shots, Netherlands managed 15, of which 14 were on target against Australia’s 8. The Dutch team also had a ball possession of 52% compared to Australia’s 48. The second Thumbs Up goes to Robben, van Persie and Depay, who scored goals for the Netherlands. However, the biggest Thumbs Up goes to Australian striker Tim Cahill for his stupendous goal, that helped the Aussies equalise at halftime.
The biggest Thumbs Up in the second encounter between defending champions Spain and Chile goes to Chile, not just for winning the match 2-0, but also ending the reign of the Spanish team. Chile played aggressive and clinical football, to seal the deal and get the Spanish team packing. Compared to Spain’s 15 shots, Chile only had 7, but 4 of them were on target as against 9 by Spain. Even Spain’s ball possession was better compared to Chile’s 44%. How Chile managed to swing the tide in their favour was mesmerising. Big Thumbs Up for that!
The next one in our Thumbs Up series goes to Croatia, for defeating the living daylights of Cameroon and showing them the exit door, making them the second team to crash out. Although Cameroon began as the stronger team, Croatia scored their first goal well into the first half and then quickly doubled up the lead, leaving no chance for the Cameron men to come close to breaking the deadlock. Big Thumbs Up to Ivica Olić, Mario Mandžukić (who scored two goals) and Ivan Perišić.
Thumbs Down
The first Thumbs Down for Wednesday goes to Australia, not because they lost, but they just seemed to have given up towards the end. They began on a brilliant note, cramping the Dutchmen for room and never allowing them to get anywhere close to the goal. However, once the opponents broke the deadlock, the Australians seemed to have lost some morale, despite the equaliser coming in sooner than expected. Their poor defense also caused them this loss.
The Thumbs Down in the match between Chile and Spain goes to Spain, for obvious reasons. From being the defending champions to buckling down under pressure despite being the better team, this was the worst way in which Spain could have ended their World Cup sojourn. To add insult to injury, they are the first team to be kicked out of this edition. The one thing that let them down in this match was their frustration. Once Chile scored their first goal, it was clear from the Spaniards’ faces that not just were they under pressure but their frustration was also getting the better of them. Had they played with composure, you never know tides could have changed.
The next Thumbs Down goes to Cameroon for putting up a lacklustre show against Croatia and crashing out deservedly. They neither played technically well, nor did they try and change the way they played. Of the 18 shots they took, only 7 were on target and they had only 49% of the ball possession. Also some rash decisions by some players cost them the match and the tournament.