Costa Rica have been a breath of fresh air this summer and continued to defy the odds after beating Italy 1-0 in Recife.
Even after the World Cup minnows claimed an impressive 3-1 win over Uruguay in their opening group game, few expected them to cause yet another upset.
England's World Cup hopes were already hanging by a thread after they failed to register a point in their opening two matches against Italy and Uruguay. But some fans remained optimistically hopeful, including myself, that we could still sneak into the knockout stages of the tournament.
If Italy gained an expected win over Costa Rica, it would set up a tense final round of matches in Group D. The chances of Italy winning seemed very high and many fans at least thought our fate wouldn't get decided for a further week.
But, not only did Costa Rica produce another shock result, it was also no fluke! Costa Rica fully deserved their win against a lacklustre Italy side whose performance left a lot to be desired.
From the first whistle until the last, Italy were truly woeful. Admittedly, we weren't great in our last match, but Italy's performance in Recife was arguably the worst performance by any side in Group D so far.
Mario Balotelli wasted a good chance for Italy when he missed with a lobbed effort before later forcing a save from Keylor Navas, but that's about as good as it got for Cesare Prandelli's men. Italy were nothing like the side who had beaten us in the opening group game. It was almost as if they had forgotten that they needed to get something out of this game, not just to help us, to ensure they would progress from Group D and not follow us on the plane home.
Costa Rica should have taken the lead when Joel Campbell, who is having a great tournament so far, was barged over in the box by Giorgio Chiellini. But Costa Rica got their just rewards soon after as Fulham striker Bryan Ruiz headed home a minute before half-time. It was a shock lead but a thoroughly deserved one for Ticos.
Italy forced another save from Navas and did have a few decent chances in the second half. But they really didn't live up to their favourites tag in this game as, apart from the odd glimpse, they didn't look like getting anything out of the game. Costa Rica really were good value for the win and, as an Arsenal fan, it was great to see Campbell looking so lively. Maybe, just maybe, he is ready for a regular place in the first-team squad next season, let's wait and see, but he has certainly impressed.
It is a truly remarkable story for Costa Rica and head coach Jorge Luis Pinto deserves huge credit for orchestrating wins over Uruguay and Italy and securing his side's place in the knockout stages of the tournament. Ticos had expected to be the whipping boys in Group D, with Italy, Uruguay and England set to battle it out for the top two spots. Instead Costa Rica have been by far the best team in the group and will be the ones in a happier mood when they play us next week.
For England, that result meant an early exit from the tournament and a now meaningless game, other than playing for pride, against Costa Rica. Before the tournament most people were saying we would struggle to get out of the group, so when we have done just that it seems slightly harsh to see some of the reactions coming out. Yes, it is truly gutting to be knocked out of the World Cup and it is simply not good enough! But, why be so harsh on the players, when in reality we didn't expect much more from them in the tough group we were drawn into.
Many will admit that the performance against Italy was actually better than expected and there were a lot of positive signs on show such as the performance of youngster Raheem Sterling. The performance against Uruguay was sub-standard compared to the previous game's. Any positives will be forgotten by many as the focus remains on the fact we failed to win either of our opening games and exited a World Cup in the group stages for the first time since 1958. Such a shame, but there is no point thinking about the what ifs. The reality is we are out! I'm usually all for being positive, and I can see some positives in individual performances, but collectively we weren't good enough.
You could argue that this World Cup has been full of surprises and, with holders Spain also exiting early, we shouldn't be too harsh on our beloved nation. But at the same time you can't hide behind the results and results say we didn't do well enough!
It would be easy to analyse England's World Cup performance further and to go in depth into every little detail, but I think we have to accept we just weren't good enough and ensure something is done about it to help us be better for the next major tournament.
Italy beating Costa Rica really did leave me feeling truly gutted, so much so that for the first time in this summer's tournament I didn't watch much of the remaining two games that day so had to instead reflect on the highlights.
I have been predicting games with a friend, taking it in turns to pick a team each per game, and I have been on the wrong end on most occasions. I had a good feeling about France getting far in the tournament and winning all their group games, yet for some reason I predicted Switzerland to get the points in their clash. Well, that backfired!
Two goals inside two minutes set France on their way to a 5-2 victory. Olivier Giroud powered in an unstoppable header after 17 minutes before Blaise Matuidi coolly slotted home from inside the box just 66 seconds later. Karim Benzema saw his penalty saved but there was still time for Les Bleus to find a third before the break. Giroud set up Mathieu Valbuena to score from close range.
After two goals in their opening group game against Honduras, Benzema continued his fine form with a clinical finish after 67 minutes before Moussa Sissoko completed the rout soon after. That was France's eighth goal of the tournament and if they keep up this clinical finishing maybe my prediction will be right and they will go a long way!
Despite being thumped by the French, Switzerland did manage to score a superb goal when Blerim Dzemaili drilled a long-range free-kick beyond Hugo Lloris with nine minutes remaining. Granit Xhaka latched onto a ball over the top before hitting it first time for a well taken goal to restore some pride for the Swiss.
It looked like France had added another with a top class goal from Benzema late on, only for it to be disallowed as the full-time whistle had already blown.
Many people have talked about Brazil and Argentina being among the favourites to win it, but France have quietly gone about their business and got the results needed and certainly can't be written off as possible winners this summer.
The defeat saw Switzerland drop into third place in Group E, ahead of the final round of matches, after their group rivals Ecuador claimed a 2-1 win over Honduras.
Honduras had done little to endear themselves to the neutrals with their somewhat aggressive approach in their defeat by France, but they took a shock lead shortly after the half hour mark in Curitiba. Carlo Costly latched on to a long clearance from his team-mate before controlling the ball and firing a shot beyond Alexander Dominguez in the Ecuador goal. But the lead didn't last long as a deflected cross allowed Enner Valencia to score with a simple finish from close range three minutes later.
Honduras almost regained the lead soon after but Costly's header was disallowed for an infringement. Costly's disallowed goal proved, well, costly for Honduras as Valencia's 65th-minute header gave Ecuador all three points and, more importantly second place in Group E.
Reflecting on the action the following day it is still hard to comprehend that we are out of the tournament and, even though it was what many realists expected, I am still truly gutted. Rather than dwell on it let's just hope the younger players gained some positives from the experience and can build on this in the next major tournament.
Roll on Euro 2016 in France! Who knows what will happen there!
QUE SERA SERA!
EN-GER-LAND!
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