World Cup Day 9: Open Thread

Today's schedule:

- Italy v Costa Rica, 12pm EST (ESPN), Group D, Recife
- Switzerland v France, 3pm EST (ESPN), Group E, Salvador
- Honduras v Ecuador, 6pm EST (ESPN), Group E, Curitiba

Huge implications for England in the day's first match. If my calculations are correct, England need Italy to beat Costa Rica and Uruguay (they should be favorites for both), and England need to defeat Costa Rica by at least a 2 goal margin (might even be only 1 goal depending on Italy-Uruguay result) on the final day in order to advance. If Costa Rica manage to win or draw today, England's tournament is over.

Switzerland v France should be an interesting affair and a much better test for the French than Honduras were. We will see what they are about today.

I don't really see much reason to be excited about the final matchup other than my personal desire of hoping Honduras represents CONCACAF well.

City players in action: Should have been Nasri and Clichy.

Former City players in action: Super Mario (Italy), Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland).

Players I'd love to see in City blue: Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland), Paul Pogba (France)

Comment away...