World Cup, Brazil 2014: Day 5, Open Thread.

Yesterday may have seen a bit of a dip in the quality of matches, but there were still moments to make each game memorable. First up was Switzerland vs Ecuador. Ecuador took the lead, Switzerland tied it up and it looked to be heading for the tournament's first draw. Then, in injury time, Ecuador had a chance but took too long and a perfect tackle in the box stopped them, Switzerland wen the other way, there was a cynical foul but the Swiss guy popped back up and the ref played advantage, the ball was played out to the wing, the cross came in and Haris Seferovic roofed it at the near post, Switzerland win, a fantastic ending to the game.

Then it was Honduras who really brought their bag full of Concacaf tricks, a bit of rolling around, some sneaky fouls to antagonise the opposition, all that good stuff, but not much else really, as France strolled to a fairly comfortable 3-0 win, including the first proper test of the goal line technology, which brought a lot of confusion, but eventually the right result, goal.

I didn't see most of that game or any of the Argentian vs Bosnia and Herzegovina though it sounds like that one wasn't the greatest game, but Lionel Messi livened it up with a great goal, definitely good to see so many of the big name players getting off to a good start.

Moving on to today and the next big name player up is Cristiano Ronaldo. He and his Portugese team take on the Germans in what should theoretically at least be a cracking game at 12 o clock to get group G going.

Then it's back to group F, for Iran vs Nigeria at 3, which will hopefully be one of those times where two teams people don't really expect much from put on a great game.

After that, well that's when the world cup fully gets it's TFC on with USA vs Ghana at 6.  Yeah, Julio Cesar for Brazil, that was kind of fun, but as much as his short stint seemed to mean to Cesar, he's probably not coming back after is he, so to me it lest it didn't really feel like cheering one of our own. Bradley definitely takes it up a notch though, and I think his presence might well make the US my second favourite team of the group, though it's more about who I want to lose really. The Bloor and Lansdowne in me really can't get behind Portugal, the English in me just doesn't feel right supporting Germany, so by default, I guess it's USA! USA! USA! for me, at least after today's game. But really for this group, to once again quote the vocal minority podcast, I've got Ghana-rhea!

It's definitely a crucial game for the US with the two toughest games against Germany and Portugal to come, they'll need the 3 points here if they hope to get out of the group, and if Jurgen klinsmann wants to avoid Landon Donovan related second guessing building to a crescendo.

The veiwing marathon is starting to feel like a slog, but an hour or so until kick off, let's get going again.