Three Meek Lions, or Eleven Samurai Equal Ten Pirates

The middle match of the day so pointless Uruguay face off against England. Costa Rica and Italy currently lead the group with 3 points a piece, so a win was greatly needed. Uruguay was a little desperate and so unleashed World Cup 2010 villain Luis Suarez against the Three Lions. Though he had arthroscopic surgery on his knee a month ago, he became the catalyst for this chemical reaction. 39 minutes in, Suarez would put Uruguay ahead 1-0. The game would go nowhere until the 75th minute when Wayne Rooney would equalize and all was up for grabs. Just ten minutes later Suarez scored a second decisive goal giving Uruguay three vital points. England is pretty much out of the tournament, though they have a chance. The only fans more pro Italy at this point are actual Italians. England needs for Italy to beat Costa Rica by a large margin tomorrow, then repeat with a big win against Uruguay, while the Lions must themselves take care of business against Costa Rica. The odds of all this happening are as likely as my last sentence being the best way to phrase all that. Stevie G! Your team needs you!



The old saying goes that the captain goes down with the ship. Nobody told Greece. The Pirates entered the nightcap game against Japan with both teams pointless. Japan lost a heartbreaker to Cote D'Ivoire after taking a 1-0 lead, only to fall 2-1. Greece was outplayed by Colombia from the word go. So, when Greek captain Konstantinos Katsouranis earned two yellow cards, which equals a red, and a sending off, it looked like the Samurai would make easy work of their opponents. Not so. On this sea of green, the Greek pirates didn't go anywhere. They didn't score. They didn't concede. And so, each team has a vital point that leaves their sliver of World Cup dreams still existent. Cote D'Ivoire have three points, so a win on the final day could send either of these two teams to the knockouts.

Uruguay 2:1 England
Japan 0:0 Greece

Praeceptor: Uruguay 3:2 England
                   Japan 2:1 Greece
IoannesNix: Uruguay 0:2 England
                     Japan 2:1 Greece
Ferrarius: Uruguay 3:2 England
                 Japan 2:1 Greece
Musicus: Uruguay 3:0 England
                Japan 1:1 Greece
Artifex: Uruguay 1:2 England
              Japan 1:2 Greece
Scriptor: Uruguay 1:1 England
               Japan 1:1 Greece

STANDINGS:

15/3    YC

14/2    YC

14/3    YC

13/3

12/4

11/1    YC







Two contestants had three point days. While Praeceptor picked up two points plus a bonus point keeping first place, Ferrarius did the same storming up from a 4th place tie to battle for second. For your ability to heat and beat the competition, you are today's player of the day. Congratulations contestant. Here is your Niko Kovac smile…

The tournament continues tomorrow. There are only 7 days of games left for round one. The pace quickens and teams will be knocked out. How will your brackets stand up? I hope pretty well. It only gets harder from here.

The Grand Salmon Alpaca