FIFA World Cup 2014 Last 16 Fixtures

Now we've moved on to the last 16.

Question is, who will make it to the quarter-finals?

28 June 2014

18:00

Brazil v Chile

Estadio Mineirão

22:00

Colombia v Uruguay

Estadio do Maracanã

29 June 2014

18:00

Netherlands v Mexico

Castelão

22:00

Costa Rica v Greece

Arena Pernambuco

30 June 2014

18:00

France v Nigeria

Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha

22:00

Germany v Algeria

Estadio Beira-Rio

1 July 2014

18:00

Argentina v Switzerland

Arena de São Paulo

22:00

Belgium v USA

Arena Fonte Nova

(These are South African times.) I couldn't cover the whole world, I'd go insane.

The underdogs showed us. Unless you support teams like Chile, Colombia, Greece, Costa Rica, Algeria, and any team you thought would not make it out of the group stages, you were surprised like the rest of us.

The champions, Spain are out of the tournament. We all know, you can't win it all. I wonder if they all left since at the end of the World Cup, the captain has to hand over the coveted trophy.

Most of these teams are favourites to move on to the next round. Unfortunately, it doesn't look promising for teams such as Greece, Switzerland and the USA. I'm not so sure about Algeria or Belgium who always win it late.

I won't mention my favourites in case they don't make it or win the title because I hate losing and I hate being wrong.

FIFA World Cup 2014 Last 16 & the Others

GROUP A

Brazil

Mexico

Croatia

Cameroon

GROUP B

Netherlands

Chile

Spain

Australia

GROUP C

Colombia

Greece

Côte d’Ivoire

Japan

GROUP D

Uruguay

Costa Rica

Italy

England

GROUP E

Switzerland

France

Ecuador

Honduras

GROUP F

Argentina

Nigeria

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Iran

GROUP G

Germany

USA

Portugal

Ghana

GROUP H

Belgium

Algeria

Russia

Korea Republic

A Chile End to the Spanish Era

Spain bowed out of the FIFA World Cup 2014 after losing 2-0 to Chile.

Statistics show that no champions have lost two of their games in the following world cup. Unfortunately, Spain was on that path. Having come from a 5-1 spanking at the hands of the Dutch, Spain were looking unsure of themselves.

Eduardo Vargas gave Chile the lead when he skipped past Iker Casillas to slide the ball into the back of the net.

Diego Costa was not as effective as he could have been. Overall Spain didn't play well or defend well. As a result, Chile exploited their weaknesses. It was also clear that Casillas was still suffering from the 5-1 defeat.

Just before halftime, a free-kick awarded to Chile was punched away by Casillas off a Sanchez shot. On the rebound, the ball belonged to Aránguiz who fired it home to make it 2-0 to Chile.

Spain found themselves 2-0 down at halftime against Chile in their second match of the tournament. Importantly, they were facing an early exit. All the jokes about England, Bafana Bafana and Italy were put on hold.

It wasn't over yet. Spain could still come back and create history that'll be in their favour. However, after the break, the players didn't look like they were up for a fight.

Vicente del Bosque put his faith in Fernando Torres who scored 5 goals and won the golden boot in the Confederations Cup in 2013.

It's not just the end of the Spanish era, but also the dawn of a new one. Some of the Spanish footballers have to make decisions on their international careers.

Is it the end of del Bosque?

The German 4 - 0 Portuguese War

The first match of Group G produced quite a scene. A penalty, 4 goals, a red card, a hat-trick and 3 injuries kept people watching.

On his 50th cap, Thomas Müller scored his first hat-trick and that of the FIFA World Cup 2014. It was also the first German World Cup hat-trick since Miroslav Klose in 2002.

At the start Portugal was the attacking team, the Germans only got the ball every once in a while. However, that changed very quickly.

Müller gave Germany the lead after Mario Götze was brought down in the box. It was a soft challenge but there was contact and so the penalty was awarded.

The head of Hummels then scored Germany's second goal after a Toni Kroos delivery from a corner.

To add more misery to the Portuguese first FIFA World Cup 2014 match, Pepe was then handed a red card after he gave Müller a little punch on the face. It appeared that Pepe was furious and in the heat of the moment he leaned over Müller who had remained on the ground after the incident and began insulting him and gave him a headbutt. As a senior player, Pepe should have kept his cool, he wouldn't have been given a red card.

Germany kept punishing Portugal when Müller scored his second goal of the match just before heading down the tunnel at the break.

As if things weren't going bad enough for Portugal, Fabio Coentrao and Nani failed to communicate and ended up bumping into each other and messing up a chance for a goal.

It was not Portugal's day. In the first half Almeida was substituted after sustaining an injury. In the second half, Coentrao also incurred an injury while going after the ball. However, Almeida and Coentrao wouldn't be the only casualties. Goal scorer Hummels was also amongst the injured.

Apparently Portugal's penalty shout should have been given, however, even if it was awarded, it wouldn't have changed the result by much.

It could've been a lot worse for Portugal. If players like Götze had scored from the chances they had, Portugal would have been mortified. CR7 could only do so much. Just a few free-kicks for him to try his magic, but nothing came of it.

Understanding Goal Line Technology

In March 2010, FIFA president Sepp Blatter decreed that goal-line technology (GLT) had no place in football - a "game for human beings, with errors on the field of play".

A few months later he changed his mind and admitted that Lampard's "ghost goal" had paved the way for a "historic" decision to introduce GLT for international football.

The plan was that no football team should leave Brazil in a similar sense of injustice like England 4 years ago.

THEN

Germany v England FIFA World Cup 2010

Lampard's 'ghost goal' arrived as England trailed Germany 2-1. Seconds after England midfielder Frank Lampard crashed an effort in off the underside of the crossbar in the last World Cup against Germany, only for the 'goal' not to be given. Replays clearly show that the ball had crossed the line. Unfortunately for England, the linesman had missed it and so did the referee. They eventually lost 4-1.

NOW

France v Honduras FIFA World Cup 2014

Benzema struck the ball, it hit the far post but it did not cross the line. But when it came back, it hit goalkeeper Valladares arm and trickled over the line, which then made it a goal, an own goal. The confusion was probably caused by the first part of the action where GLT said it's not a goal. Then the final part of the action, GLT said it is a goal.

The only difference from the two incidents is that NOW, the goal was awarded to France, while THEN, the goal was not awarded to England wasn't.

The confusion and uproar from the crowd opened our eyes to something else. For those seconds that GLT is making its decision, should play continue and then award or not award the goal at a later stage in the game? Or, should the decision be made immediately regardless of the confusion or delay it might cause before the restart?

How Goal-Line Technology Works

With the use of Hawk-Eye, GoalControl would be the first system to assist referees at a World Cup. The system was used at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil but no goal-line incidents took place.

Before being introduced into any football tournament or league, the system that consists of 14 cameras which track the co-ordinates of the ball was rigorously tested. Even before the World Cup, it was tested a number of times.

Generally the cameras will be placed on the roof or walls of the stadium. The cameras used are capable of removing the players from the image, to ensure the ball is fully visible. They track the ball when it comes into their range and they can tell when the ball crosses the goal line. Every time the ball crosses the line, the referee's watch will vibrate and signal that it is a goal.

The Hawk-Eye system betters the FIFA margin-of-error requirement of +/-3cm.

The climate cannot disrupt the cameras' view of the goal. The cameras are able to ensure that if visibility is good enough for officials to allow the match to go on, then it is also good enough for them to do their job. Moreover, mud on the ball will not affect the system.

Those watching at the stadium are able to see GLT in action when it is necessary or a decision has been made. The videos will be shown on the screens available at the stadiums. Television viewers will also be able to watch the Hawk-Eye videos.

Payback is 5-1

Spain embarrassed, humiliated, thrashed, humbled ... Whichever word you use, the Netherlands made sure they punished Spain for the World Cup 2010 1-0 defeat that saw them lose out on the title.

At the start of the match, Spain was the dominant team, and enforced their dominance by taking a 1-0 lead after being handed a controversial penalty when Diego Costa was allegedly brought down in the penalty box.

However, van Persie scored the equaliser with a perfect header before the teams headed down the tunnel.

Moments from the start of the second half, Robben put the Netherlands in front. Then after a scuffle in the box after a corner, de Vrij made it 3-1. Van Persie's second goal wasn't as good as the first, but it came after a mistake made by Casillas. The keeper had failed to clear the ball and therefore conceded a goal. Once again, Casillas disappointed Spain when he allowed Robben to also get a brace.

The extraction of Alonso gave the Netherlands the space they needed to score more goals. Unfortunately, the introduction of Torres was just as disappointing. With two clear chances, Torres couldn't score. Looking at the bench, the likes of Villa, Martinez and others could've been used instead of the introduction of Torres.

This huge thrashing could've been even bigger when Robben was given the space to score a 6th and even 7th goals.

That's not how the defending champions should play. That was a huge defeat. It wasn't just a victory for the Netherlands, but a psychological blow to Spain. The defeat does not mean Spain has been written off, it just means they will come back even stronger against Chile. They need to go back to the drawing board and take a look at where they went wrong.

FIFA World Cup 2014 Opening Ceremony

The centrepiece of the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony was a ball, right in the middle of the pitch.

The first thing the ball did was to welcome each of the 32 countries in the native language.

The aerial view, of the opening ceremony was better than the other camera angles, and this was beautiful. The colour and movement of every item was scenic.

I listened to the narration, and this is what I gathered from the opening ceremony:

With a cast of 660 dancers, the opening ceremony portrayed Brazil's nature, people, music and obviously, football.

The nature:

The trees, flowers and rain represented the amazon, the vegetation and plants in Brazil. To be obvious, rain and trees are inevitable in the amazon.

The people:

A Native Indian in a canoe, probably making his way down a river in the amazon.

The music:

There was a big Brazilian musical instruments which are obviously used in music. Accompanied by dancing. If you've watched a telenovela from Brazil, you'd see their love for music and dance.

The football:

Acrobatics in the form of soccer balls were doing just that, acrobats. Then little boys and 1 girl walked into the pitch with the flags of the competing nations on their T-shirts.

The spectacular image was the ball. When it opened up, Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte popped out, ready to sing the official FIFA World Cup 2014 song - We Are One (Ole Ola). I couldn't hear the song though.

What the people thought ...

South Africa was better

Disappointing

Primary School function

South Africa 1-0 Brazil

Was that walking broccoli ...

I expected a carnival

Who cares, when's kick-off?

And complaints about Pitbull's pants

For more views on the opening ceremony, just head to social media, there's tons. I assure you, you might get a sore stomach from people's comments.

Miroslav Klose for World Cup Glory

With only 6 days left to the FIFA World Cup 2014, Miroslav Klose and German legend Gerd Müller were level on 68 goals. However, 35 year old Klose came off the bench to score his 69th international goal during the friendly match against Armenia, to become Germany's top goalscorer.

TOP GERMAN GOAL SCORERS

Miroslav Klose 69

Gerd Müller 68

Jürgen Klinsmann 47

Rudi Völler 47

Lukas Podolski 47

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 45

With 14 goals in three previous World Cup finals, Klose is just one short of Brazil striker Ronaldo's record of 15 for the all-time goalscorer. If Klose scores two goals in the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil, he will become the leading scorer in World Cup history.

In one of his interviews leading to the World Cup, Klose said, "For me, the main thing is to be fit and the most important thing is the team," he said. "I am convinced that when the team plays well, then the striker will also get his chances. But anyone who knows me is aware that the goal record is a target of mine."

Germany start their World Cup campaign against Portugal on 16 June.

ALL-TIME WORLD CUP FINALS SCORERS

15 goals - Ronaldo (Brazil)

14 goals - Gerd Müller, Miroslav Klose (Germany)

13 goals - Just Fontaine (France)

12 goals - Pelé (Brazil)