Crunching fixtures were placed across different match centres at the ongoing FIFA World cup in Brazil. Costa Rica continued their Cinderella run by recording a 1-0 victory over Italy in Recife. The Central Americans are now on top of group D with six points.
Mario Balotelli missed several scoring chances in that encounter while Buffon couldn't have a clean sheet on his return from injury.
Group E
Arena Fonte Nova stadium was the venue of the seven goal thriller between Switzerland and France. Didier Deschamps' men were very dominant throughout the game. Olivier Giroud scored the first goal for the 1998 champions before Valbuena,Sissoko and Karim Benzema added their goals. Benzema also missed a penalty in the first half.
The Swiss side scored two consolatory goals as the scoreline ended 5-2. France are now on top of group E with 6 points from two matches. Honduras were beaten 2-1 by Ecuador in an entertaining match that took place at the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba.
Group F
Argentina struggled to edge Iran by a lone goal in a match that was played at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte. The two time World champions laboured to break down a resolute Iranian defence for 90 minutes. Carlos Quieroz's Asian team were denied penalties by the centre referee. Romero was called into action on some few occasions as the Persian team tried to create an upset, but a last minute moment of magic from Lionel Messi was enough for Argentina to claim all the three points at stake.
Sabella's team are currently on top of the group standings with 6 points.
The Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba was the host venue for the encounter between Nigeria and Bosnia&Herzegovina. The African side recorded their first win in 16 years by claiming a controversial victory over Bosnia. Peter Odemwingie scored the only goal of the game in the 29th minute of action after Emmanuel Emenike has out-muscled a Bosnian defender on the right wing.
Edin Dzeko's goal was erroneously ruled out for offside. The Manchester City striker was furious after the match and alleged that the referee robbed his team of victory. Nigeria are now second in the group with 4 points.
Group G
Germany and Ghana played a 2-2 draw in Fortaleza. The encounter took place at the Estadio Castelao where Germany took the lead through a header from Mario Gotze. Andre Ayew equalised for Ghana before Gyan Asamoah put the African team in front the second half. Joachim Loew's German team were on the brink of suffering a shock defeat before Miroslav Klose came off the bench to equalise for the Germans. Klose has now equalled Ronaldo da Lima's 15 goal record in the World cup. The Germans are now on 4 points.
On Sunday night, Portugal scored a last minute goal to deny USA a memorable win. Nani's 5th minute goal seems to be the motivation that Bento's team needed to erase the memories of their 4-0 demolition against Germany, but the American scored two second half goals through Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey. The American were less than 10 seconds away from victory, but Cristiano Ronaldo provided a nice cross that was nodded into the back of the net. Portugal are at the bottom of the group.
Group H
Belgium booked their place in the last 16 of the tournament after a 1-0 win over Russia. Marc Wilmots' team was unconvincing throughout the match, but they managed to get a late goal and they are now through to the first knockout stage of Brazil 2014. The Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue of the match,
The other group match ended in a 4-2 win for Algeria. The desert foxes of Algeria defeated South Korea at the Estadio Beira Rio in Porto Alegre. The victory was the first World cup success for the North African team in 32 years. The team now have 3 points and they are second behind Belgium.
Mario Balotelli missed several scoring chances in that encounter while Buffon couldn't have a clean sheet on his return from injury.
Group E
Arena Fonte Nova stadium was the venue of the seven goal thriller between Switzerland and France. Didier Deschamps' men were very dominant throughout the game. Olivier Giroud scored the first goal for the 1998 champions before Valbuena,Sissoko and Karim Benzema added their goals. Benzema also missed a penalty in the first half.
The Swiss side scored two consolatory goals as the scoreline ended 5-2. France are now on top of group E with 6 points from two matches. Honduras were beaten 2-1 by Ecuador in an entertaining match that took place at the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba.
Group F
Argentina struggled to edge Iran by a lone goal in a match that was played at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte. The two time World champions laboured to break down a resolute Iranian defence for 90 minutes. Carlos Quieroz's Asian team were denied penalties by the centre referee. Romero was called into action on some few occasions as the Persian team tried to create an upset, but a last minute moment of magic from Lionel Messi was enough for Argentina to claim all the three points at stake.
Sabella's team are currently on top of the group standings with 6 points.
The Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba was the host venue for the encounter between Nigeria and Bosnia&Herzegovina. The African side recorded their first win in 16 years by claiming a controversial victory over Bosnia. Peter Odemwingie scored the only goal of the game in the 29th minute of action after Emmanuel Emenike has out-muscled a Bosnian defender on the right wing.
Edin Dzeko's goal was erroneously ruled out for offside. The Manchester City striker was furious after the match and alleged that the referee robbed his team of victory. Nigeria are now second in the group with 4 points.
Group G
Germany and Ghana played a 2-2 draw in Fortaleza. The encounter took place at the Estadio Castelao where Germany took the lead through a header from Mario Gotze. Andre Ayew equalised for Ghana before Gyan Asamoah put the African team in front the second half. Joachim Loew's German team were on the brink of suffering a shock defeat before Miroslav Klose came off the bench to equalise for the Germans. Klose has now equalled Ronaldo da Lima's 15 goal record in the World cup. The Germans are now on 4 points.
On Sunday night, Portugal scored a last minute goal to deny USA a memorable win. Nani's 5th minute goal seems to be the motivation that Bento's team needed to erase the memories of their 4-0 demolition against Germany, but the American scored two second half goals through Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey. The American were less than 10 seconds away from victory, but Cristiano Ronaldo provided a nice cross that was nodded into the back of the net. Portugal are at the bottom of the group.
Group H
Belgium booked their place in the last 16 of the tournament after a 1-0 win over Russia. Marc Wilmots' team was unconvincing throughout the match, but they managed to get a late goal and they are now through to the first knockout stage of Brazil 2014. The Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue of the match,
The other group match ended in a 4-2 win for Algeria. The desert foxes of Algeria defeated South Korea at the Estadio Beira Rio in Porto Alegre. The victory was the first World cup success for the North African team in 32 years. The team now have 3 points and they are second behind Belgium.
Results
Italy 0-1 Costa Rica
Switzerland 2-5 France
Honduras 1-2 Ecuador
Argentina 1-0 Iran
Germany 2-2 Ghana
Nigeria 1-0 Bosnia
Belgium 1-0 Russia
Algeria 4-2 South Korea
Portugal 2-2 USA
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