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RESULTS

Sunday 15th June 2014; 15:00; Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre; 35,000
Group D
Ghana 0 - 0 Israel

The 6th game of the tournament, and we have our first goalless draw. When has that happened before?

It’s a mystery that Ghana didn’t win it, they were so dominant. The answer may lie in the fact that they had 13 shots on goal, but only 3 on target. Packed full of Premiership players, Ghana need to be careful as 3 of their players picked up yellow cards. For Israel, a point may be all they get from this trip and whether they have the fire-power to scare Mexico or Argentina is extremely debatable.

Sunday 15th June 2014; 17:00; Albertao, Teresina; 60,000
Group D
Mexico 0 - 2 Argentina
Aguero (5), Fazio (40)

Easily the most eagerly awaited game of the tournament so far, and it didn’t disappoint. A fascinating battle between two confident sides, but in the end Argentina had just too much class. There was hardly anything between the sides by way of possession or chances and so the difference lay in Argentina’s superior finishing.

Just 5 minutes into the game and Atletico Madrid’s Sergio Aguero finished a stunning move with a quality finish and that put Mexico under pressure. As the first half came to a close, Sevilla’s Federico Fazio made it 2-0 and that was it. Mexico kept trying in the second half, but were always wary of the counter-attack and so never committed enough resources to be able to break down a well organised defence.

With the draw in the Ghana/Israel game, Argentina will confirm their place in the next round if they beat Ghana on Friday

Sunday 15th June 2014; 19:00; Estadio Castelao, Sao Luis; 75,000
Group C
Chile 2 - 0 USA
Beausejour (4), Alexis Sanchez (pen, 70)

After Mali’s win over Sweden yesterday, Chile and USA locked horns in Sao Luis. A capacity crowd saw Chile take the points. They made a great start, as Jean Beausejour, who plays his football in Mexico, put them in front in the 4th minute. USA then came at Chile for the rest of the half, but couldn’t get level. The 2nd half was about cards. 8 of them were issued, 2 to Chile’s Gonzalo Jara and then 3 mins later, USA’s Oguchi Onyewu earned a straight red and both teams were down to 10 men. In the 61st minute, USA were awarded a penalty. Jamie Clark stepped up, and missed. 10 minutes later, Chile got a penalty. Alexis Sanchez stepped up, and scored.

Mali and Chile have 3 points in Group C. USA and Sweden meet next, in a game both teams must win.



So we’ve seen 2 matches in 4 groups and tomorrow we’ll move onto Groups E and F.

Here are the standings from the Groups who’ve been in action so far.

Group A
3 – France
3 – Czech Rep
0 – Paraguay
0 – Iran

Group B
3 – Serbia
1 – Colombia
1 – Netherlands
0 – Canada

Group C
3 – Chile
3 – Mali
0 – Sweden
0 – USA

Group D
3 – Argentina
1 – Ghana
1 – Israel
0 – Mexico


Tomorrow sees the opening game for India. This is an historic moment for Indian football, and they seem very relaxed about it. Here’s Pop Adom’s report


5 O’clock local time at the Vivaldao Stadium is where 11 Indian footballers will make history. It’ll be 2am in Calcutta, but you can rest assured that there will be plenty of people huddled around tv and radio sets, listening intently.

The talk ‘back home’ is of the young Prince, Vinod Kambli.

Will he start up front, or on the bench?

Anshuman Gaekwad was the coach who found Kambli and brought him into the Mumbai side. What was it about the young man that Gaekwad saw.


He had great strength for a young man, and a great eye for goal. It’s rare that you see such a player and he really stood out. We worked on his pace and strength and as he has grown, he has developed into a real powerhouse. This is unusual in Indian players and so this gives him an advantage domestically.

He has been top scorer at Mumbai in each season and so it was only a matter of time before other clubs came calling

22 year old, Kambli scored at least 15 goals in each of his first 4 seasons, and then 12 in, what turned out to be, his final season for the club. Iranian club, Persepolis came calling and Mumbai accepted £275,000, easily a club record, and Kambli was gone.

He is battling with Sunil Chetri and Ghulam Parkar to play alongside the vastly experienced Bhutia, up front. Manager, Gedupta Singh, seems to prefer Bhutia and Chetri, who have almost 200 caps between them. Kambli and Parkar are certainly the future, and you feel they will have their chance in this competition, but for safety it looks as though they will have to warm the bench first.



Pop Adom there. Now tomorrow doesn’t just see India’s appearance in this World Cup, but the hosts are in action. They play Japan, in the Maracana tomorrow evening. There is a great excitement around the country, and one fears for the backlash if they don’t win. Should be a good day, see you then.

15:00 Group E Belgium v Cameroon; Mineirao, Belo Horizonte

17:00 Group F India v Slovenia; Vivaldao, Manaus

19:00 Group E Brazil v Japan; Maracana, Rio