The Whole Delivery

FT: Brazil 2-1 Colombia  It was a team performance led by the centerbacks on both ends of the field to see the host nation progress.  David Luiz had his strongest game for his nation, while Thiago Silva displayed why he is the best in the world at his position. Silva unfortunately got the stupidest yellow card of the tournament, as he will not be out of the semifinal against Germany.  But Silva (and Neymar's possible absences) will be analyzed for days to come. Right now, Luis Scolari's team containing James Rodriguez for most of the evening was very good for the evening. Juan Cuadrado couldn't get things going on, and Teo Gutierrez showed once more how big the gap is when he has to replace Radamel Falcao.  The front four (along with Victor Ibrabo) for Colombia failed to do enough as they struggled throughout to get clear chances on a Brazilian defense that had its best performance this tournament. Helping in that was the great play from Fernand...

Final Thoughts For Croatia:  1) Stipe Pletikosa has been a reliable goalkeeper for so many years for Croatia, but may have seen his final night as his nation's #1. Monaco's Danijel Subastic surely would have at least saved at least two of those goals that went in, including that poor Nyemar penalty, and may have saved all three of them. It is something that Niko Kovac will ponder a lot on over the next few days 2) Kovac will be relieved to have Mario Mandzukic back in the lineup, as Nikica Jelavic showed tonight how far he has fallen from just last year. He offered nothing of significance despite a nervy defense and lively play from Ivica Olic on the left.  3) Considering it was an off night for Ivan Perisic, and the match was always going to be difficult for playmakers Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, Kovac can take confront in his side showing that they have the quality to cause major problems to anyone, anywhere. This performance will certainly make them ...

Photo from Ball72 Legendary Brazilian forward Rivaldo chastised his country Thursday afternoon, vowing that their hosting of the World Cup Finals would be a complete failure. The famous striker and World Cup winner of 2002 based his attack not on the many unfinished stadiums left around the country, but for how the money used for the global tournament should instead go to many public services that the nation requires at the moment. "We knew this would happen," Rivaldo said after his team Mogi Mirim lost to Sao Paulo 4-0 in the Sao Paulo State Championship. "Brazil has alot to do like school, health and prison, not soccer fields for the World Cup taking so much money for one month."  

Have some World Cup nostalgia, but likely, I won't be all over the place on Twitter with the constant play by play tonight: And hopefully this is the last game that Bob Bradley coaches for the US. Watch live video from VIP TV on Justin.tv

Photo from Getty Images and Fifa.com I suggest strongly, massively that Felipe Melo, Julio Cesar, and Dunga don't come back to Brazil........if it still exist. But hey, that's what those bandwagon Brazil fans get through, but I feel completely gutted for the nation of Brazil. And talk about it now, Wesley Snejider, a headed goal? A header goal. Even with him being the "Man of the Match", the real MVP today is without a question in my mind, Martin Stekelenburg. He was outstanding today, and has answered all the doubts about him in goal. He kept Holland in this game with his wonderful denial of a disappointing Kaka. The full more review is to come now, and the second half meltdown and last day as coach for Dunga in Brazil, as they suffer a second consecutive World Cup defeat. Shell socked are Brazil's star men (Photo from Getty Images and Fifa.com ) The full archive: Photo from Getty Images and FIFA.com The lineups : Netherlands: Stekenlenburg, van de...

Photo from AFP Same story, same result : The United Nations Security Council has overwhelmingly agreed to a new package of economic sanctions against Iran. 12 of the council's 15 members voted on Wednesday to approve the sanctions resolution. But Turkey and Brazil, fresh off their fuel swamp deal with Iran a few weeks back , casted their votes for the alternative, and Lebanon wasn't abstained their vote. Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice (especially Susan Rice) have been harping on with how these are the toughest sanctions ever on Iran. Susan Rice, the United States ambassador to the UN, praised the vote as a "decisive" move against Iran's nuclear programme, which she called a "grave threat to international security." "Iran has shunned opportunity after opportunity to verify the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme," she said. "Iran has given us all more reason, not less, to suspect that its goal is the ability to develop a nu...

Photo from the AFP The rest of the world has got to get it together, especially the country that I am from and currently in at the moment : Haiti's president has called on leaders from Europe and the Americas to keep their promises of aid for the Caribbean country as it struggles to rebuild from the January's devastating earthquake. Speaking at a donor conference in the neighbouring Dominican Republic on Wednesday, Rene Preval said that the nation faced an "immense challenge" to rebuild. According to aid experts, Haiti needs about $11.5bn for its anticipated decade-long rebuilding effort. But so far, Haitian government officials say, only Brazil has delivered its entire aid pledge of $55m. We can't even do consistent aid correctly right now. Hopefully that will change soon ladies and gentlemen. To Tevin, Goodnight:

Photo from the EPA As the US experiences its ups and downs with its current Census 2010 campaign, India is taking the steps necessary to avoid any problems with their own historic version of public allotment for next year . The process, that will see every resident fingerprinted and photographed, is expected to cost about $1.25bn and employ 2.5 million staff over an 11-month period. "It is the first time in human history that we will identify, enumerate, record and eventually issue an identity card to 1.2 billion people," said Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's home minister. Undertaken every decade since 1872, the census this year will collect biometric data on every person aged over 15 for a new national population register. And already, the counting has begun: The first person counted on Thursday was Pratibha Patil, the Indian president, at his official residence, in the first leg of a process called "houselisting". Houselisting entails recording infor...