So, this happened…
Colombia: Rodriguez 64’, Quintero 70’
Cote d’Ivoire: Gervinho 73’
Lineups:
Colombia
Ospina, Armero, Zapata, Yepes, Zuniga, Rodriguez, Aguilar, Sanchez, Cuadrado, Ibarbo, Gutierrez
Cote d’Ivoire
Barry, Boka, Bamba, Zokora, Aurier, Tiote, Die, Yaya Toure, Gervinho, Bony, Gradel
Hey all. Apologies for the delay, but I had a busy couple of days. Anyways, I was excited for this match. And, personally, I don’t think it disappointed. Yes, the first half was a bit slow – the excitement didn’t really relate to the match, but I’ll take it. Obviously, it started with the anthems. Serge Die became very emotional.
Clearly, he takes representing his country seriously, and that is very touching. Even better, his teammates comforted him.
So the match begins. Drogba is again on the bench. You know you watch too much EPL when you recognize a ref at the World Cup.
Howard Webb. The man loves his cards.
7 minutes in and a giant beach ball lands on the pitch. The match was delayed while the beach ball was deflated. James Rodriguez had the honor of deflating it.
The rest of the half, while well-played, doesn’t really warrant comment. Both teams had chances. Cuadrado and Rodriguez looked dangerous, but Gervinho also looked like he could do some damage. And if anyone asked me if Arsenal should sign Aurier, I would scream “YES.” It was some good football. But no goals. And amazingly, no cards.
First card comes in the second half, when Zokora takes Cuadrado down.
I kind of thought the call was questionable , but you know Howard Webb loved it. Zokora will miss the next match. The free kick taken by Quintero does nothing. Oh well. So, again, your team isn’t scoring even though they are playing well. What do you do? Bring on Drogba of course!
Will the Drogba effect work again? Yes, but not for Ivory Coast. Within five minutes, Rodriguez scored on a beautiful header off of a corner kick. The goal celebration featured a choreographed group dance. I’m not kidding. (Video)
There are more internet videos of the dance than the goal. Anyways, play continues. After a poor corner from Aurier, Colombia steal the ball. Rodriguez passes the ball to Quintero who scores.
And then there was more dancing. Colombia loves it’s goal celebrations (and they are fun to watch).
Cote d’Ivoire gets possession of the ball and Gervinho scores this beauty:
Cote d’Ivoire does not have choreographed goal celebrations. For shame.
The rest of the match is really about Cote d’Ivoire attacking. They played their hearts out, but couldn’t make anything happen. Again, though, beautiful football.
In added time, there was some adorableness between the two old men on the pitch, Drogba, 36, and Yepes, 38. There was even some cheek pinching, but this was the best I could find.
As Lozil reported, the younger brother of Yaya and Kolo Toure, Ibrahim, passed away in Manchester on Thursday after a short battle with cancer. The BBC is reporting that the brothers have chosen to stay with the team in Brazil. Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time.
Finally, I leave you with these shots of some supporters. Enjoy!
-Dr. P
(Apologies, this should have gone up 4 days ago but I screwed it up! Sorry, Dr. P! – Lozil)
Of Headbands and Heartbreak
watishistacorrespondents
The last pic — I noticed her as well — fanTAStic!