Hell yeah Ticos!
Man, England is all-in on this “find new and painful ways to exit major tournaments” thing, aren’t they?
Ha! Oops.
I do think the future looks better for England though.
Pura vida, Costa Rica!
European team struggle outside Europe*.Is that a surprise? I mean a slightly warm day and their game goes to shit. Never won in the Americas or the Far East. According form I would say.
RSA was essentially European conditions in the southern winter of 2010.
Good job, Costa Rica.
I’m looking forward to seeing Italy battle it out with Uruguay. As always, I’m pulling for mis hermanos.
Well done Costa Rica, Even had Italy scraped a win here, England’s game against Costa Rica would be every bit as hard the other two games we played.
Italy v Uruguay could end up being a bit fruity.
Good for the Ticos! They didn’t let Italy get that equalizer.
Fifa is investigating the use of the chant “Puto!!!” by Mexican fans and others during goal kicks. Some organizations have claimed that this constitutes a normalization of disparagement of gays and should be sanctioned under Fifa’s “no-tolerance” policy. Croatia and Russia might also face sanction for what’s been describe as “far-right” banners at their games. I haven’t seen them myself. I’m not sure how I feel about this.
Lalas is kinda dumb yes but at least he’ll give respect and eat crow when he has to. I prefer him over Keller.
Costa Rica! 
I’m a tender soul, so as usual when there’s something at stake, I could barely watch the game at all, especially towards the end. I kept switching to another tab and just checking back to see the scoreline now and then.
Costa Rica vs. England will be awesome, with neither team having anything to play for, as one is through and the other one is out already. It’ll probably be a snoozefest, but at least I get to watch and enjoy it without my heart rate going up.
Yes, this has the potential for an epic game.
Costa Rica will still be playing for position, no? If they get any points from England they finish first in the group and presumably get a better matchup in the round of 16. If they lose it potentially comes down to goal differential, or is head-to-head the first tiebreaker?
Costa Rica playing for position. Their fans must think they’re dreaming right now.
Oh yes, should be fun. I wonder what the odds are on more than two sendings-off?
If you’d told me two weeks ago that a team from a small Central American nation in a group with three former champions would be the first to advance from that group, I’d have thought you were drunk or insane. Or both. It’s amazing.
There have been 24 matches played in this World Cup and there have been 0 goals directly from direct free kicks. That seems a bit surprising considering how common they are in league football.
What a header! And now 2-0!
Ok I won’t make predictions anymore. France just smashed Switzerland with 2 nice goals.
Are goals from direct free kicks all that common in league football? I had a mini-rant upthread about commentators getting excited about them being great goalscoring opportunities - I’m not convinced that they are.
Here’s some stats from the EPL a few seasons ago (compiled by someone with some time on their hands it seems 
)
http://www.soccerbythenumbers.com/2011/05/uselessness-of-free-kicks-in-premier.html
Oh, oh, my stream has just caught up. Allez les Bleus!
Phew, what a shock for Switzerland. They didn’t look so bad before the first goal.
Unless Italy and Uruguay tie. 