26 June 2014
ALGERIA 1 (Slimani 60)
RUSSIA 1 (Kokorin 6)
Kokorin gave the Russians a sixth minute lead one the best vertical header of the tournament, a simply majestic leap. Slimani met Brahimi's free kick with a bullet header, a combination of slack marking and Akinfeev making a balls up when coming off his line. Nothing else really happened though Halilhodzic was grinning wildly at full time.
32 years after getting jobbed out of a place in the knockout stages by Germany, Algeria qualify and as fate would have it play Germany.
Attendance : 39,311
Assists : Kombarov, Brahimi (fk)
SOUTH KOREA 0
BELGIUM 1 (Vertonghen 77)
Defour was sent off for stamping on Kim's ankle as he slid across the turf to gather a team-mates pass. A heinous foul and one worthy of a ban from the rest of the tournament. Despite their man advantage the Koreans were shit and failed to trouble Courtois. A cross hitting the woodwork isn't really a chance. Lee played a ball out of defence straight to Vertonghen, he passed to Origi, Kim saved his shot (not the Kim that was tackled another Kim, who cares no one will remember them) and Vertonghen snared the rebound. Hazard almost added a second.
Belgium are a huge side that are very hard to break down. They obviously have the talent to play a more expansive brand of football but for some reason it hasn't come together, as yet.
Attendance : 61,397
Assists : n/a
22 June 2014
SOUTH KOREA 2 (Heung-Min 50, Ja-Cheol 72)
ALGERIA 4 (Slimani 26, Halliche 28, Djabou 38, Brahimi 62)
Who saw this coming? Medjani hit a longball between two Korean defenders, Slimani ran through, got very lucky as he never had control of the ball but managed to lob Sung-Ryong as he came off his line. Heihachi Mishima headed in the second from a Djabou corner. Ten minutes later the Koreans, who I believe are actually the second tallest team after Germany (average height 1.84m, Germany 1.85m), were once again undone by a longball. Jeong-Ho headed straight to Slimani and Djabou tapped in his centre.
The Koreans took a leaf out of the Algerian playbook when Sung-Yueng launched a hail Mary ball into the Algeria box, Bougherra made a complete mess of it and Heung-Min nutmegged M'Bolhi. The Algerians scored an exquisite fourth, one of the goals of the tournament. Bougherra fired a pass out of defence to Feghouli, he passed a one-two with 'Oh Mandy well you came and you gave without taking, but I sent you away, Oh, Mandy' then turned Kook-Young, played a double one-two with Brahimi and he fired through Sung-Ryong's legs. Young-Gwon chipped a longball to the giant Shin-Wook (nicknamed the Wookie), he headed down to Heung-Min, Bougherra blocked his shot, the ball broke to Keun-Ho and Ja-Cheol tapped in his centre. These bloody names.
Attendance : 42,723
Assists : Medjani, Djabou (ck), Slimani, Sung-Yueng, Feghouli, Keun-Ho
BELGIUM 1 (Origi 88)
RUSSIA 0
This absolute turd of game was won late on the break. De Bruyne passed the ball out wide to Origi and he was shadowed by Hazard as he ran forward, Origi laid the ball off to Hazard and headed for the box, Hazard dropped a shoulder to go past a defender and pulled the ball back for Origi to smash home the winner. At 19 I believe he's the youngest goalscorer at the World Cup and he's been far more impressive than Lukaku.
Attendance : 73,819
Assist : Hazard
17 June 2014
RUSSIA 1 (Kerzhakov 74)
SOUTH KOREA 1 (Keun-Ho 68)
The game was complete arse until a terrible mistake forced the hands of the un-ambitious Russians. Keun-Ho took a shot from miles out, Akinfeev, who had been poor all night, slapped the ball, it bounced up off his hands, hit his head and then bounced into the net. Kerzhakov scored within three minutes of replacing Zhirkov. Sung-Ryong parried from Dzagoev, Seok-Ho's clearance hit Eshchenko, ricochet to Kerzhakov and he swivelled to shoot inside Sung-Ryong's near post.
No Bums, Suks or Dongs in the Korean line-up. Shame.
Attendance : 37,603
Assists : Kook-Young, Eshchenko
BELGIUM 2 (Fellaini 70, Mertens 80)
ALGERIA 1 (Feghouli 25 Pen)
Vertonghen hauled down Feghouli to concede the penalty. Algeria's first World Cup goal in 28 years. De Bruyne, who looks 12, swung a cross onto Fellaini's head for the equaliser. Fellow substitute Mertens, who I said in a Serie A report would score a World Cup goal, hit the winner on the break. Feghouli dived near the Belgian penalty area and Vertonghen released Hazard, he drew in three defenders before slipping a pass out right to Mertens who took a touch before thundering a shot into the roof of the net. Brilliant goal. Lukaku was poor.
Attendance : 56,800
Assists : Feghouli (won pen), De Bruyne, Hazard