While Group B was matches for garbage time, Group A provided two excellent matches in day 12 of the World Cup as Brazil beat Cameroon and Mexico ran over Croatia to qualify from the group, while the Netherlands beat Chile to finish first in the group ahead of the South American team, while Spain won against Australia to leave the tournament with a slightly less bitter taste.
Australia 0 Spain 3: One of the saddest wins you’ve ever seen from a team in the caliber of Spain. Not just because of David Villa crying on the bench for playing his final international match, but for easily winning when knowing it means nothing. Villa himself scored an easy tap in during the first half, and the second and third goals from Fernando Torres and Juan Mata weren’t much more difficult, as Australia ruined the wonderful impression they left from their first two losses.
Netherlands 2 Chile 0: An entertaining match for the right to finish first in the group and also avoid a certain host nation in the next round. The Netherlands might not have been the better team for most of the match but they set the one in the final 15 minutes, as Leroy Fer and then Memphis Depay showed the depth of this side and it’s quality with goals in the 77th and 90th minutes.
Cameroon 1 Brazil 4: Not the perfect Brazil performance, but a much hungrier and livelier one from the host nation, getting a fantastic first half from Neymar who scored twice and the finishing touches in the second half from Fred and Fernandinho, while Joel Matip made things interesting for a few minutes in the first half. Brazil are in the round of 16 from the first place, meeting Chile in the next round.
Croatia 1 Mexico 3: Mexico keep the trend of playing a solid first half before vastly improving in the second half. This time it was the entrance of Javier Hernandez that turned things upside down, as Croatia fell apart like most Europeans teams have in this tournament against the Central and South American teams. Rafael Marquez, Andres Guardado and Javier Hernandez scored within seven minutes to stun Croatia. Ivan Perisic gave Croatia a goal that wasn’t enough a bit later enough. Mexico are in the round of 16 for a sixth consecutive time, headed towards a meeting with the Netherlands.
We have two matches in the round of 16: Brazil facing Chile, Netherlands facing Mexico. In terms of goals, it was another excellent day as we saw 14 goals from the four matches, bringing us to 108 goals in 36 matches: A perfect three goals per match. Croatia provided us with another red card as Ante Rebic got sent off.
Group A
Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 7 |
Mexico | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 |
Croatia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 |
Group B
Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 9 |
Chile | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 |
Spain | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 3 |
Australia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 0 |
Top Scorers
1. Neymar (Brazil) – 4 goals
2. Thomas Muller (Germany), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Robin van Persie (Netherlands), Karim Benzema (France), Enner Valencia (Ecuador) – 3 goals
3. Tim Cahill (Australia), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Andre Ayew (Ghana), Clint Dempsey (United States), Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Ivan Perisic (Croatia) – 2 goals
4. Oscar (Brazil), Oribe Peralta (Mexico), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Stefan de Vrij (Netherlands), Alexis Sanchez (Chile), Jorge Valdivia (Chile), Jean Beausejour (Chile), Pablo Armero (Colombia), Teofilo Gutierrez (Colombia), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Joel Campbell (Costa Rica), Oscar Duarte (Costa Rica), Marco Urena (Costa Rica), Claudio Marchisio (Italy), Mario Balotelli (Italy), Daniel Sturridge (England), Keisuke Honda (Japan), Wilfried Bony (Ivory Coast), Gervinho (Ivory Coast), Admir Mehmedi (Switzerland), Haris Seferovic (Switzerland), , Vedad Ibisevic (Bosnia), Mats Hummels (Germany), , Josh Brooks (United States), Sofiane Feghouli (Algeria), Marouane Fellaini (Belgium), Dries Mertens (Belgium), Mile Jedinak (Australia), Eduardo Vargas (Chile), Charles Aranguiz (Chile), Ivica Olic (Croatia), Juan Fernando Quintero (Colombia), Wayne Rooney (England), Bryant Ruiz (Costa Rica), Olivier Giroud (France), Blaise Matuidi (France), Mathieu Valbuena (France), Moussa Sissoko (France), Blerim Dzemaili (Switzerland), Grant Xhaka (Switzerland), Carlo Costly (Honduras), Mario Gotze (Germany), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Peter Odemwingie (Nigeria), Divock Origi (Belgium), Islam Slimani (Algeria), Rafik Halliche (Algeria), Abdelmoumene Djabou (Algeria), Aleksandr Kerzahkov (Russia), Lee Keun-Ho (South Korea), Son Heung-Min (South Korea), Koo Ja-cheol (South Korea), Yacine Brahimi (Algeria), Jermaine Jones (United States), Nani (Portugal), Silvestre Verela (Portugal), David Villa (Spain), Fernando Torres (Spain), Leroy Fer (Netherlands), Juan Mata (Spain), Fred (Brazil), Joel Matip (Cameroon), Fernandinho (Brazil), Rafa Marquez (Mexico), Andres Guardado (Mexico), Javier Hernandez (Mexico) – 1 goal
Tomorrow
Italy vs Uruguay
Costa Rica vs England
Japan vs Colombia
Greece vs Ivory Coast