World Cup Day 13: Five Thoughts

Suarez makes his mark

Only one place to start of course with the footage from the Uruguay v Italy game that appeared to show Luis Suarez biting (yes, biting) Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder. If you think we may have been down this road before then you would be correct. Ever the master of understatement Suarez said post-game: 'there was contact with his shoulder'. Given the widespread footage it seems inevitable that FIFA will act retrospectively, which you would imagine means his tournament is over. Interestingly, as Graham Macaree pointed out on the main dot com page here at SBNation this is the third time Suarez hasn't bitten an opponent. And on no occasion has he received so much as a booking.

England stumble to goalless draw

I didn't see the England game earlier as I was  watching this instead, which really was fantastic viewing. A much-changed England side of course with the fringe players all given a start. Joe Hart dropped to the bench whilst James Milner came in for the start. Costa Rica had already qualified and the point earned meant they topped the group, with Uruguay in second place. Who'd have though both England and Italy would head home at the first hurdle? As for as England are concerned it will be interesting to see if they go all out with youth for the next Euro qualifications. Both Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were non-committal regarding their futures but surely their time has drawn to a close?

Prandelli resigns, Pirlo retires

Following Italy's defeat Cesare Prandelli announced that he has resigned his position as Italy's manager. Since winning the World Cup back in 2006 Italy have failed to progress from the group stages in the two subsequent tournaments. Needing just a point from their final game they were undone by Diego Godin's late header, resulting in a controversial exit following Claudio Marchisio's red card and the apparent bite from Luis Suarez. Things had looked promising following the win over England but successive defeats perhaps illustrated their true problems. Idle speculation this may be but what chance a certain Roberto Mancini taking charge of the Azzurri?

Samaras wins it at the death

With just under twenty minutes remaining Ivory Coast were staring at another exit at the group stages before substitute Wilfried Bony slotted home to put them in possession of second place in Group C. However, in injury time former-Blue Giorgios Samaras was fouled, before stepping up to coolly slot home to send Greece through after failing to score in their first two games. You think this has been the last chance for this generation of Ivory Coast players to make an impact on a World Cup (and have failed to lift an African Cup of Nations) and despite possessing plenty of attacking talent they have been disappointing in the games I have seen them play. Yaya Toure joins a growing list of City players making early departures from Brazil

Knock-out matches

The round of 16 is beginning to take shape now with four matches set in stone: Brazil v Chile, Holland v Mexico, Uruguay v Colombia and Costa Rica v Greece. The all-South American ties look mouth watering and what price Costa Rica for the quarter finals? It has by and large been an excellent tournament to date, with duff games few and far between. Long may this continue into the knock-out stages.