World Cup Diary – Day Three
ANGE HAMSTRUNG
Sadly for Ivan Franjic his tournament is over. A cruel hamstring injury has ended his cup, and handed the right back position to inexperienced defender Ryan McGowan. Before the tournament Postecoglu took a massive gamble leaving out Luke Wilshire and now faces a selection dilemma. The road doesn’t get easier for the Socceroos facing the red hot Dutch on Wednesday morning (Australian time).
BALOTELLI FINDS WINNER FOR ITALY
Mario Balotelli reminded many of his English fans about his exploits in front of goal in the worst possible way, scoring the winner against them. England started the game off the better of the two teams before a pin point corner set piece gave Mario Marchisio the perfect opportunity to find the back of the net, Joe Hart never stood a chance. Italian fans had barely finished celebrating when Wayne Rooney’s excuisite pass saw a Daniel Sturridge volley make the score 1-1.
Shortly after half time Balotelli scored the header that would ultimately be the difference between the two teams. Pirlo gave fans a reminder of his brilliance with an incredible free kick from distance that hit the crossbar, keeper Joe Hart could only stand and admire. The only injury from the game was ironically to England Physio with a dislocated ankle whilst celebrating the goal.
THE DROGBA EFFECT
For 60 minutes Japan held firm against the more favoured Cote d’Ivoire opponents. Enter Didier Drogba. Drogba was the catalyst for both goals, and turned the game on it’s head. Japanese keeper Kawashima could have done better for the second goal, but a glancing header from Bony for the first goal was unstoppable. Japan were flat after the 90 second attack, and will need to pick themselves up for their next match. Kagawa was disappointing to say the least, maybe an affect from his limited playing time at Manchester United.
In the other matchers COSTA RICA shocked URUGUAY 3-1, and COLOMBIA defeated GREECE 3-0
THE TABLES
GROUP C
| COLOMBIA | 1 | 3 | +3 |
| COTE D’IVOIRE | 1 | 3 | +1 |
| JAPAN | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| GREECE | 1 | 0 | -3 |
GROUP D
| COSTA RICA | 1 | 3 | +2 |
| ITALY | 1 | 3 | +1 |
| ENGLAND | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| URUGUAY | 1 | 0 | -2 |
PICTURE OF THE DAY
TOMORROWS SCHEDULE (Predictions in brackets)
SWITZERLAND v ECADOR (Switzerland 2-1)
2am AEST
FRANCE v HONDURAS (Draw 2-2)
5am AEST
ARGENTINA v BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA (Argentina 4-2)
8am AEST
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