World Cups are always full of excitement, drama, top class skill and sheer entertainment, and when it's your nation's turn to take centre stage the fans are buzzing!
When England lose a game in a major tournament, fans are usually quick to criticise the players on their poor showing. Clearly it was a poor start in terms of qualification but, despite the result, there wasn't too much we could complain about following the 2-1 loss to Italy.
I half expected it to be a rather cagey clash but instead England showed a lot of hunger and desire to attack from the off. Inside just four minutes cheers erupted inside the pub as everyone thought Raheem Sterling had scored. Even the BBC flashed up 'goal' and temporarily had the scoreline at 1-0, only for fans to be left momentarily confused as the shot had actually crashed into the side netting.
England didn't let this deter them and continued to threaten. Sterling was excellent on his World Cup debut and his club colleague Daniel Sturridge was equally as impressive!
The pessimism from when the groups were first drawn was slowly turning into confidence as we looked like a team that could really threaten a top side. But when Italy suddenly took the lead through Claudio Marchisio's fine strike a lot of people were probably thinking 'oh great, here we go again'. But did we then implode and struggle to create chances? No, we responded with an equaliser from Sturridge within 2 minutes and that sheer desire and determination was very good to see.
Unfortunately it wasn't enough to get anything out of the game. Mario Balotelli put Italy back in front before Wayne Rooney wasted a decent chance, to ensure victory for the side who knocked us out of Euro 2012.
There was a slight consolation for England as Costa Rica pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament so far to beat Uruguay 3-1. Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas produced a world class save to deny Diego Forlan before the underdogs turned the game on its head with two goals in three minutes. Navas pulled off another great save to stop the South Americans from equalising before Marcos Urena's late goal ensured victory for Ticos. There was still time for more drama as Maximiliano Pereira was sent off in injury time for a silly challenge on the impressive Joel Campbell.
Our clash with Uruguay was already going to be important but it is now a definite make or break game for both sides as they bid to qualify for the knockout stages. Costa Rica were predicted to be the side to finish bottom of the group and one that the other three sides could guarantee three points against. But after their performance against Uruguay, Italy and England will have to be sure not to take them too lightly and even they can't be ruled out of a top-two finish.
Focus must now be firmly on the Uruguay game. They could have Luis Suarez back from injury in time to face us so England's defence cannot afford any mistakes. We need to show the same determination in attack but make sure we take more of our chances and we might, just might, be able to get a result against Uruguay. It is hard to predict how the rest of Group D will unfold.
Earlier in the day Colombia thumped Greece 3-0 with some well-worked goals. Greece had some decent chances and Theofanis Gekas really should have scored his header that crashed against the crossbar.
The following day Ivory Coast came from behind to earn a 2-1 over Japan. Serge Aurier produced two world class crosses to set up goals for Wilfried Bony and Gervinho.
Ecuador looked set to get their first ever draw in a World Cup before substitute Haris Seferovic scored deep in to stoppage time to hand Switzerland a 2-1 win. But the highlight of the game was off the field as commentator Clark Carlisle questioned why Jackson Martinez couldn't get into the Ecuador team...um, maybe because he's Colombian!
The 2014 World Cup has already provided plenty drama and shock results that few would have expected, so here's hoping the quality of entertainment continues to the end, providing England's results improve.
QUE SERA SERA
EN-GER-LAND
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