IT HAS BEEN an utterly enjoyable World Cup thus far and today promises to be just as entertaining.
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Good evening and welcome along to our daily World Cup liveblog! It’s the turn of teams from Group E and F to get their finals underway and, importantly, our first chance to see just how good this heavily-backed Argentina team are.
Leo Messi and the boys take on Bosnia & Herzegovina at 11pm at the Maracana but, over in Brasilia, Ecuador have just gone ahead against Switzerland. There’s also the meeting of France and Honduras at 8pm.
With thanks to the good folk at Budweiser, we will be giving away a number of snazzy Sony Xperia Z1 Compact smartphones from tomorrow onwards.
I can also exclusively reveal that 1997 world snooker champion and all-round good guy Ken Doherty will be coming into the office as our very first World Cup hangout guest host on Tuesday.
Ken is famously a big Manchester United fan but the first thing we’ll be asking him is who he has chosen to support in Brazil this month.
Here’s the Valencia (Enner, not Antonio) goal which has put Ecuador 1-0 ahead against Switzerland:
Clarke Carlisle may be known as Britain’s brainiest footballer, but the Ecuador team is definitely not his specialist subject.
So, let’s get some discussion going… What did you make of England’s performance last night in their defeat to Italy? Can the Azzurri go all the way in Brazil? Are Uruguay a spent force and over-reliant on Luis Suarez?
Also, is this the worst corner in the history of football?
Below is a (slightly blurry) pic of Sinnott’s Bar in Dublin city, where I took in last night’s games. Publin.ie have done a pretty good guide to the best beer gardens in the capital, but I want to hear where your favourite places in Ireland (or further afield) to watch the World Cup are…
Switzerland have equalised against Ecuador early in the second half thanks to a header from substitute Admir Mehmedi — only on the field three minutes.
At 11pm tonight, Lionel Messi will take to the pitch with Argentine team-mates intent on doing themselves justice on the world stage after going out of the 2010 finals at the quarter-final stage.
Much has been made of the Barcelona star’s indifferent performances at major tournaments to-date but does he need to win a World Cup to cement his name alongside Pele and Maradona as an all-time great or has he already done so?
Poll Results:
Predictions time. I’ve just quizzed those present on the TheScore.ie sports desk this evening on which way they see Argentina v Bosnia & Herzegovina going:
Paul Fennessy – Argentina 3-1
Steve O’Rourke – Argentina 2-1
Pat McCarry – Argentina 3-0
Eoin O’Callaghan – Argentina 3-2
Ben Blake – Argentina 4-2
Robin van Persie’s header against Spain… in flipbook form.
LATE DRAMA KLAXON! With 90 minutes played, it looked as if Switzerland and Ecuador were about to play out the first draw of this year’s finals.
That was until former West Ham player Valon Behrami made a last-ditch challenge and started a Swiss attack which ended in substitute Haris Seferovic scoring an injury time winner.
Before I go, the team news for France v Honduras at 8pm is in.
France: Lloris, Debuchy, Varane, Sakho, Evra, Cabaye, Pogba, Matuidi, Valbuena, Benzema, Griezmann.
Honduras: Valladares, Figueroa, Bernardez, Emilio, Palacios, Bengtson, Costly, Espinoza, Najar, Garrido, Beckeles.
Thanks for the company and all your comments. The night’s football is only getting started and we’ll have loads more goals, incidents, reports and reaction over the next few hours.
