The Whole Delivery

FT: France 2-0 Nigeria (Pogba 79; Yobo 90 OG)  Even a great goalkeeper in fine form is always susceptible to a mistake. And that is what happened to Vincent Enyeama today.  Just his moment allowed Paul Pogba the difference making goal to have France survive a Nigerian side who had better tactics than them.  Deschamps decision to start Benzema with Giroud was a disaster, as Efe Ambrose was having his way all day due to Patrice Evra having no one helping him.  The change to Grizemann should have occurred sooner, but came on to push Les Blues back into the quaterfinals. But Pogba did well to maintain his composure and score what turned out to be the winner, with Joseph Yobo on his 100th (and maybe final) cap a bystander for the header.  France will need a lot better if they are to be a Germany team with Joachim Low's side get through a revenge laden Algerian side.  But he likely will return to supporting Benzema with two wingers inste...

Photo from  FIFA.com Whether it was the beginning of the match or the end, it was all about Keylor Navas. The 27-year-old keeper added to his amazing year by coming up with the denial of Theofanis Gekas to allow Michale Umaña to hit the winning penalty, sending Costa Rica through to their first World Cup quarterfinal. It was the latest great performance from the in-demand Levante man, as his stop of Gekas was the only penalty not given in the deciding kicks. Maybe the only man more coveted for Los Ticos than Navas is manager Jorge Luis Pinto, who saw his team muster up another magical display by his courageous underdog side when Michael Umana picked up a poor second yellow with a rash challenge on Jose Holebas in the 66th minute. That came 14 minutes after Bryan Ruiz added his second goal of the tournament with a clever finish past Orestis Karnezis to give Costa Rica the 1-0 lead. It seemed the CONCACAF side would produce another resolute defensive play with the Gree...

For explanation for the team can be found with the good folks at World Soccer Talk from me. The bench of the team included guys who obviously just missed out on the nod. However, it speaks to how you have to play really well in all three matches to get the nod. Also, being steadfast to not just pointing all "offensive players" in center midfield spots is vital here for the team selection. Bench : Guillermo Ochoa; Ricardo Rodriguez, Rafael Marquez, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Jerome Boateng; Thomas Muller, Juan Cuadrado, Miralem Pjanic, Alexis Sanchez, Karim Benzema, Asamoah Gyan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Cahill 

Postgame Version  Photo from Getty Images  Goalkeeper Fatau Dauda and defender John Boye were the determining factors in the US going through over Ghana, with Portugal realistically out of it because of goal difference.  Germany really could have found the opener early on, but good backline defending by the US kept them scoreless. The US even countered with a few moments on the other end, but it was all about Omar Gonzalez remerging as a vital cog for Jurgen Klinsmann's side.  But both Gyan and Portugal had their opportunities today, with Ronaldo guilty of spurring four golden chances to sum up how dreary his World Cup was. Paulo Bento had to deal with injuries (Coentrao, Almeida, Meireles, Postiga) and stupidity (Pepe) in these three matches, but his tenure looks set to be over.  For Kweshi Appaih's side, against a Portugal team that could have been exhausted after Manaus, they could not produce outside of Gyan's leadership. They fell behi...

It takes quite the achievement to top Lionel Messi on a day where he scores two goals at a World Cup, but that is what one young exciting Swiss has done. Xherdan Shaqiri's hat trick makes him the standout player of Day 14. Messi's two latest goals were matched in the same game by 21-year old Nigeria rising force Ahmed Musa , who was at his best against Argentina and showed why he is one of African football's luminous talents. Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic had fine departures to a World Cup that surely will not hurt their reputations. They earned the goals their performances in the previous two matches warranted and will be a major part in a Bosnia side that will be tough in Euro 2016.   While Shaqiri got all the praise, Gokhan Inler 's captaincy to a Swiss revenge victory over Honduras four years in the making shouldn't be overlooked. The Napoli man showed his underrated value with another solid display in midfield, including delivering the key pass...

FT: Netherlands 2-0 Chile  No Van Persie, no problem for a great mental performance today from the Dutch side. Although Chile did not have Arturo Vidal and Arjen Robben will get the headlines again, most encouraging for Van Gaal will be seeing the best defensive display of the three matches for his team. The inclusion of Dirk Kuyt at left back and moving Daley Blind on the inside in the three centerback role prove to be quite effective. Although Alexis Sanchez did have his moments,  most of them happened on the outside of the box. Eduardo Vargas didn't have anything significant in this match and that is a testament to the organized displays from Ron Vlaar and Stefan De Vrij. If there was one team in this tournament who do not fear facing Brazil in a Round of 16 encounter, it is certainly Chile. With Vidal fully rested now, they will need everything from the Juventus man to cause the big upset. Meanwhile, the Dutch will await Mexico or Croatia in the Round of 16. A...

Pre-game Thoughts Netherlands-Chile For the Dutch vs Chile, Dirk Kuyt's inclusion into this World Cup will be so key, as Van Gaal has placed him at outside wingback to make Alexis Sanchez have to defend a bit. You could also see Nigel de Jong play deeper to monitor Sanchez, especially with Arturo Vidal on the bench Jeremaine Lens is preferred over Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for the little more mobility up top to pressure the diminutive pairing of Medel and Jara. Isla may have to comeback and contend with that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Australia-Spain Meanwhile, as the final international game for Xabi Alonso (and maybe the last for David Villa as well) gets all the attention, it will be interesting to see what young Adam Taggart does as life after Tim Cahill begins. (Will be a Halftime and Postgame Thread) 

Best XI For Day 5  The undisputed choices were Muller, Kroos, and Khedira. Muller obviously with no further explanation needed, with Kroos showing once again how great his passing is no matter if he is deep or forward in the midfield. Sami Khedira has found maybe his best after a long term injury absence. Manager Jogi Low needed that so badly in his sea of injuries that now unfortunately includes Mats Hummels.  The rest was not so straight forward, but Hummels and Mehrdad Pooladi definitely deserved their place.  The Borussia Dormund man's fine header broke the game open for Germany before Pepe tried to break Muller's head, while Merhdad did so well to hold firm on the left for Iran while also providing a great ball that Ashkan Dejagah could have given the Persian princes a great victory.   Geoff Cameron throughout the day did as best a job on Asamoah Gyan as a centerback could do and wasn't responsible for that tremendous backheel he set up Ayew ...

Photo from Fifa  Mexico-Cameroon Pre-Match:  The Formations:  Cameroon                               Itandje        Djeugoue-   N'Koulou - Chedjou -  Assou Ekotto                         Mbia    -    Enoh                                    Song              Moukandjo          Choupo-Moting                                 Eto'o            ------------------------------------------------------------------------               ...

Photo from Getty Images Projected Lineup:                        Hart  Johnson  - Jagielka  - Cahill - Baines         Henderson -Gerrard- Lallana                           Rooney             Sturridge       Sterling Key Bench Options: Wilshere, Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Milner, Smalling, Jones, Shaw Team Runthrough  Once again the usual mix of internal pessimism and external castigation of the England program has visited us for another World Cup. Chants of "overrated" despite no one rationally rating the side to be a World Cup title contender has crept in, while the chorus of doom and gloom has pervaded over the country despite being encouraged by its bright young talents.  Roy Hodgson was slammed two summers ago for hi...

Photo from Getty Images Projected Formation:                            Cilessen                  De Vrij- Vlaar- Martins Indi Janmaat                                                   Blind                                     De Jong -  De Guzman/Cassie                                     Snjeder                    Robben             Van Persie    Key Bench Options: De Guzman/Cassie, Huntelaar, Depay, Lens, Verhaegh, Veltman, Wjnaldum   ...

Photo from Fresh Focus Projected Formation                                 Benalio  Lichtsteiner  - Schar   - von Bergen - Rodriguez                        Inler       - Behrami Shaqiri                      Xhaka                 Mehmedi                                  Drmic  Key Bench Options: Dzemaili, Barnetta, Seferovic, Ziegler, Senderos, Djourou, Gavranovic      The Runthrough    This Switzerland side may go down as the most disrespected seeded teams ever in a World Cup. Most are picking France to top Group E by a good margin, and that is after the departure of Fr...

Photo from Getty Images Europe  Projected Formation:                       Buffon  Abate - Bouncci - Chiellini - De Sciglio                          De Rossi           Verratti/Motta        Pirlo  Candreva                                  Marchiso                            Balotelli    Key Bench Options: Immobile, Motta, Insigne, Barzagli, Parolo, Aquilani, Cerci   The Runthrough A surprising runner up finish at Euro 2012 and a relatively smooth qualifying campaign for the four time world champions Italy hasn't stopped intense pressure from being placed onto the shoulders of manager C...

Photo from Getty Images Europe Projected Formation                     Bravo                       Medel- Silva - Jara      Isla                                         Beausejour                        Diaz                          Valdivia      Sanchez                  Vidal                       Vargas  Key Bench Options: Orellana, Carmona Albornoz, Mena, Pinilla, Jose Rojas, Felipe Gutierrez   The Runthrough:  Besides Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez, Arturo Vidal...

Projected Formation                         Ospina Zuniga -   Zapata - Yepes - Armero                  Aguilar - Sanchez          Rodriguez- Guarin- Cuardado                          Gutierrez  Key Bench Options: Martinez, Ramos, Bacca, Ibarbo,  Quintero, Alvarez Balanta      The Runthrough        Before the misfortune of seeing Radamel Falcao go down with a devastating ACL injury in January with Monaco, there was still  major fears for the Colombian nation about their shaky central defense that could ruin their long awaited return to the World Cup Finals.  Falcao's expected loss for the tournament was a psychological blow, but with the new golden generation of attacking talents available f...