It was a day of disbelief at the World Cup.
Marcin Gortat Jersey . A day where thousands sat in stunned silence. A day when a minnow deservedly beat a European
powerhouse; when a former European powerhouse awoke from years of discontent and
immaturity to put it all together on the biggest stage of all. Italy 0-1 Costa
Rica D4. It stood right there on the board. It was the World Cup draw and every
country was represented. D4, where hopes and dreams would have to go through not
one, not two but three extremely hot Northern locations in group play. Manuas,
Recife and then Natal. Three matches, including two at 1pm local time. Once the
draw was made D4 got even worse, becoming the position where two non-European
seeded teams came together. Two former winners. Englands entourage at the draw
may have made headlines for the famous cut-throat gesture when handed their
three opponents but this was far from what Italy wanted. Yet, still they
remained in their base, at the seaside resort of Mangaratiba, over a thousand
miles away from all three locations. The Italians put aside any worries about
slow starts with a master class against England in their opener and arrived in
Recife hoping to book their place in the next round against the groups apparent
whipping boys, Costa Rica. For 30 minutes it was going to plan. Daniele De Rossi
sat deep, allowed the full backs to motor on and Andrea Pirlo pulled the strings
for the others to dance to. Mario Balotelli should have scored at least once and
Claudio Marchisio, a misplaced backpass aside, was outstanding. Then the
heavyweights hit the deck. Hard. Giorgio Chiellini misplaced a back pass,
allowed Joel Campbell to blow by him before fouling in the box. Penalty. Except
the referee missed it. Of course he did, look where he was? Apparently the
counter-attacking World Cup isnt as easy to ref as people would hope. Italy got
away with a standing count but a minute later they were floored again, this time
for real. Their narrow 4-3-3 can be very successful with the ball but the wide
members of their attack do tuck in and when Junior Diaz motored down the left
wing the hapless Ignazio Abate had no help. Diaz whipped in a wonderful cross
and Bryan Ruiz completed a miserable two minutes for the ball-watching Chiellini
by heading in at the back post. Italy were down and apparently out; a wounded
heavyweight with no energy or quality to help them back up. The biggest surprise
was not them losing a competitive first half 1-0, it was their pathetic display
in the second. Once again, just like Spain, we saw a European powerhouse labor
through a game in South America devoid of ideas in the unfamiliar scenario of
being behind. Cesare Prandelli, one of the games great flexible coaches, played
three cards with his subs and they were all wrong. Instead of looking like a
complete side, knowing what each others roles can be, against England, Italy
were clueless against a magnificently organized Costa Rican back five. The image
of Antonio Cassano rather than Ciro Immobile, for example, trying to get them
back in the game was as sad as seeing the likes of Iker Casillas, Xavi and
Steven Gerrard underperform at this World Cup. The game is changing in front of
our very eyes and if Italy dont get back to what makes them special theyll soon
be flying home just like Spain and England. Despite mistakes on Friday, their
back seven - Buffon, back four, De Rossi and Pirlo - is good enough to win a
World Cup. Who plays with them, and how they play, will ensure just when this
teams tournament will end. France 5-2 Switzerland If you read any previews
heading into this World Cup you probably had them tell you how difficult
Switzerland are to break down and how mentally fragile France are. Welcome to
the 2014 World Cup where stereotypes and form guides are being broken down as
quickly as the Maracana security. Switzerland had a nightmare from start to
finish. Everything went wrong for them, from a key early injury to massive
errors by usually reliable players it was simply a game they just need to forget
immediately. Win their last match against Honduras and they should qualify. If
you cant beat them then they dont deserve to advance. France was magnificent. It
was the best performance they have produced post- Zinedine Zidane and it wasnt
even close. When France got to the final in 2006 they never produced
back-to-back halves as good as this one. They scored five, missed a penalty and
scored another fine goal less than a second after the final whistle blew. It was
only fitting this game ended with the ball in the back of the net. In three
matches in Salvador this World Cup has now produced SEVENTEEN goals. Or, the
same amount of goals Norwich City scored at home all of last season. Suddenly,
France looks like a legitimate, serious contender for this World Cup. Hated by
their own people back in October after losing the opening leg against Ukraine,
Les Bleus have gone from a bunch of arrogant, unlikeable underachievers to a
formidable power with tremendous depth, full of players with Champions League
experience who fear no one. Even their key nemesis in recent years, Spain, cant
get in their way now. Guaranteed winners of a comfortable group, the tournament
opens up for them now and Germany in the quarterfinals looks like a real
possibility. Just dont call them dark horses. They were always too talented for
that. The moment the draw was made, these so-called dark horses left the stable
as a shiny white horse more than capable of easily jumping the first fence at
the World Cup. Now that star striker Karim Benzema is finally playing as good as
he does for Real Madrid this once lazy, uninterested horse is trotting hard
towards the last week of this tournament. Ecuador 2-1 Honduras This was another
great game at the World Cup. Honduras took the lead through Carlo Costly and it
was then that we saw what Ecuador could do. Enner Valencia, their new goal
scoring hero, grabbed a brace with a combination of good finishing and poor
defending. Honduras will be furious with how they conceded, particularly the
winning goal, which was another header from another good cross at this World
Cup. Man of the Day Nominees Bryan Ruiz - No matter what this proud country do
at this World Cup from here on in, they have their moment and their hero.
Giancarlo Gonzalez - The Columbus Crew defender was absolutely marvelous against
the Italians, leading a very high line and spending much of the game with Mario
Balotelli in his pocket. Jorge Luis Pinto - The Costa Rica boss has got his
tactics spot on in back-to-back games. Olivier Giroud - It proved to be a
masterstroke inserting the Arsenal man into the lineup by Didier Deschamps. A
superb header opened the floodgates but his buildup and attacking run - allowing
Mathieu Valbuena to be onside - for the third goal was just as good. Enner
Valencia - Every World Cup has a player from a smaller nation who some target in
their pool heading in. The Ecuadorian hitman is no Lucas Barrios from 2010 thats
for sure. The Winner… Jose Luis Pinto - Games are won and lost by players but
Pinto, a veteran coach of 19 teams in 30 years, has outcoached Oscar Tabarez and
Cesare Prandelli inside a week. A phenomenal achievement. What comes next?
Argentina vs Iran (12pm/9am), Germany vs Ghana (3pm/Noon), Bosnia-Herzegovina vs
Nigeria (6pm/3pm). Burning question for tomorrow Will Iran be the perfect
opponent for Lionel Messi to score some more goals at a World Cup and quiet
those who only think he plays well when he scores? Key stat of Day 9 Honduran
goal scorer Carlo Costly was not even born the last time his country scored at
the World Cup (1982).
Authentic Juwan Howard Jersey .Do you have to be that close? Federer snapped at a TV cameraman hovering nearby as he received
medical advice after losing a set on Wednesday.For Nadal and Sharapova, the
nuisance was coming from the lowly-ranked qualifiers across the net.
John Wall Jersey . When the Dallas Mavericks needed to stop a Golden State rally in the fourth quarter, they looked for
defensive help from the rookie point guard playing in just his sixth game.PRAGUE
- Veteran Czech centre Petr Nedved has retired from ice hockey, a month after
playing in the Sochi Olympics. The 42-year-old Nedved made the announcement on
Thursday after his White Tigers Liberec were knocked out of the Czech league
playoffs. "I can hardly find anything as beautiful as hockey in my life," an
emotional Nedved said. Nedved returned to the Olympics to play for the Czech
Republic two decades after winning a silver medal in Lillehammer playing for
Canada. He emigrated from then-communist Czechoslovvakia in 1989 to start his
NHL career in 1990 with three seasons for the Vancouver Canucks.
Michael Jordan Jersey. . In 1995-96, his best season, he scored 45 goals and had 54 assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins before
adding 10 goals and 10 assists in the playoffs. In 982 NHL regular season games,
Nedved scored 310 goals and added 407 assists. He also played for the St. Louis
Blues, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes and Philadelphia
Flyers. He returned home when he retired from the NHL after the 2006-07 season.
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