Live Match Centre | World Cup Stats | Best World Cup quotes
ARGENTINA vs SWITZERLAND: click here for the Live Match Centre
Remember Chilean striker Pinilla who hit the crossbar against Brazil in the dying seconds? This is how he commemorates his miss.
First real shot of the match, and it comes from Switzerland! 28 minutes
Shaqiri with a silky run down the right and he enters the box before pulling it for Xhaka whose low shot is kept out by Romero. What a chance and he took it first time too. At the other end, Lavezzi has half a chance to volley from a tight angle but Benaglio is comfy with that.
Messi opts to cross freekick. Just shoot man. 25 minutes
Di Maria fouled about 25 yards from goal and in the right channel. It's perfect for a left footer but Messi, rather than shooting puts in a cross which is headed over.
So this is how you stop Messi? 20 minutes
Messi executes a stunning piece of skill and almost goes through two Swiss defenders on the right wing before being brought down as Rodriguez clutches at his thigh and stops the Argentina star. No foul, but that's the only way you can stop Messi in this form.
Stat: SUI has not won a KO Round match in the World Cup in 76 years (4-2 vs. GER, 06.09.1938).
Di Maria and Shaqiri show-boat early on - 10 minutes
Messi has been shackled so far but it's Di Maria who is causing problems for Switzerland. The tricky winger swiftly clipped the ball to one side of the defender and tries to run past him from the other side, but has been pulled back. No yellow but Di Maria asks for a yellow — which isn't really in the spirit of the game. At the other end, Shaqiri shows his quick feet and plays a few quick passes and wins a corner. Nothing comes off it though.
Argentina XI: Romero; Zabaleta, Fernandez, Garay, Rojo; Mascherano, Gago; Di Maria, Lavezzi, Messi; Higuain
Switzerland XI: Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Rodriguez, Schar, Djourou; Inler, Xhaka, Behrami, Shaqiri; Mehmedi, Drmic
6.30 pm: Netherlands team offered space trip if they win World Cup
In an 'out of the world' incentive, a Dutch aerospace engineering company has offered the entire Netherlands team a flight into space if they win the World Cup.
After finishing runners-up on three occasions, the Netherlands are keener than most to secure their
elusive maiden World Cup title.
If that motivation is not enough for the players, this year's squad have been given an even bigger incentive to bring the trophy home.
Dutch aerospace engineering company 'Ruimtevaartbedrijf SXC', or SXC for short, have promised the 23-man squad all a flight into space if they win their maiden World Cup trophy, The Independent reported.
The offer is apparently inspired by Robin van Persie 'taking flight' to score his spectacular headed goal in the 5-1 thrashing of Spain.
PTI
5.30 pm: South Korea team pelted with 'toffees' on World Cup return
In a 'bitter-sweet' experience, the South Korean football team that finished last in Group H was
pelted with "toffees" on their arrival here at Incheon airport.
As unsavoury post-World Cup welcomes go it may not have been up there with Italy's tomato-pelting in 1966 or Hungary's lengthy hideout in Tata in 1954 to avoid riots in the streets of Budapest, but the South Korean team had its share of unwelcoming fans greeting them at Incheon airport on yesterday.
The South Korean squad, who picked up a solitary point from their three games in Brazil, had toffees thrown at them by angry fans as the team lined up for photographs.
PTI
5.15 pm: Argentina practicing penalties before Switzerland match
With two World Cup matches already decided in shootouts, Argentina is practicing penalties ahead of its second round game against Switzerland on Tuesday.
File picture of Argentina players celebrating. AP
Coach Alejandro Sabella on Monday said the Argentines have been shooting spot kicks "in an informal way," though he added that doing it in practice is very different from doing it in front of tens of thousands of spectators with the team's World Cup survival at stake.
Brazil beat Chile and Costa Rica defeated Greece in shootouts after the games had finished level after extra time.
Sabella said those matches showed that mental strength and character are crucial to advancing in the World Cup, adding that "a gram of brains weighs more than a kilogram of muscle."
AP
No comments:
Post a Comment