JadedWolf

I am convinced that it was deliberate. Unless Neymar was wearing some sort of invisibility cloak, Zuniga knew exactly what was going to happen when he went up with his knee. Of course Zuninga didn't mean to break his vertebrae - though God only knows what he was thinking. Maybe it was frustration at Colombia not being able to play their game or whatnot. But his action was stupid and reckless. The ref was also to blame, of course. It was actually Brazil that started to get too physical, and the ref allowed it. Then the Columbian players started to get in on it too, figuring that if the ref was going to allow all that they might as well go along with it. As for this only being a thing because this happens to be Neymar - well, I am not a huge fan of the current Brazil team and Neymar out of the lot seems to be one of the few, if not the only, player in the whole team that's worth watching, so it really is a big loss to the tournament. But if it had been any other player that was sent out of the tournament with such a serious injury caused by thuggish behaviour like this I would still feel the same way.

Reminds of the demented Liverpool fans out to defend Suarez after the incident, saying it should get less penalty than a red for violent conduct, etc. A tackle gone wrong is a lot different from one intended to injure (see Witsel's famous one for an example) or just plain biting/spitting/punching someone. Please quote where I am defending Suarez. Also, this wasn't a tackle. There was no attempt at hitting a ball. He came from behind Neymar and put his knee in his back. He should be punished for it. End of story.

Well, speaking for myself, I would really rather be bitten than to have someone break one of my vertebrae, especially since if it had been one a bit higher up Neymar would have been paralyzed for life. But that's just me.

What they should do is ban the chap who did a job on Neymar for a couple of months. While not wanting to say that Suarez' punishment was undeserved. what Zuniga did sure was a lot worse.

It does not matter one way or the other, we failed to use the very good chances we got, we can't blame Costa Rica for that.

Eh, why?

Wow, I guess I've been proved wrong on both counts.

Don't understand the decision to change the keeper, just.... what the hell. Please don't let van Persie take a penalty, this really has not been his match.

If Costa Rica manages to keep a clean goal for another 15 minutes it's as good as over for us. We suck at penalty shoot outs.

Eh, if the Costa Rica coach complains about the ref at the end of this match he'll have plenty of cause.

I think the Argentinians will be feeling veeeeeery confident watching this travesty of a match. I feel sorry for Robben, he's been great but he can't do everything alone. Van Persie is just begging for a substitution.

Someone please inform van Persie about the rules regarding off-side. You can say what you want about Costa Rica' s defending but we have had our chances, and we butchered all of them so far.

Yeah, it's an awful match.

The first few moments of excitement in what has otherwise been a complete snorefest so far.

Poor Belgium, they played with too much respect for Argentina and never reached their potential in this match.

It seems the Germans got tired of trying to play attractive attacking football and went back to their roots.

Ik gun het jullie wel hoor. As far as I'm concerned, you may win all the friendly matches against us. It means so much to you, and so little to us.

Off-topic, and certainly not meant to disturb y'all's Indepence Day celebrations but... It really is ironic how that song with the lyrics... "Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A. Come back home to the refinery Hiring man said "son if it was up to me" Went down to see my V.A. man He said "son, don't you understand"" ... ended up seen by many as a tribute to the greatness of the USA. Not bashing, just... puzzled.

They've only been fun to watch their last game. If they can keep up that performance, they have a real good chance at beating Argentina. I very much enjoy watching Messi play as well, but I'd prefer my own country to win. I'll get my Messi fix outside the World Cup. Never before have I seen the Belgian people so universally invested in their national team, and it would be nice to keep this going for a while. Plus we're all just dying for a Belgium vs Netherlands semi-final (especially since we beat their arses last time in a friendly match 2 years ago). I think the Belgium-Netherlands matches are fun, but they don't mean the same to the Dutch as they seem to mean to the Belgians. For us, our arch-enemies are the Germans. There isn't any sort of match that holds the same sort of rivalry for us as a match against them. If we get to the finals, and that's a big IF, it would be hilarious if we got to play them. Of course we'd lose, giving us enough fuel to hate those blasted Germans for another 20 years over another lost WC finals, but c'est la vie.

A Croatian court fired its cleaning lady because she tried to commit suicide during working hours instead of cleaning. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140703/croatian-court-fires-cleaner-over-suicide-bid ... That's really caring of them.

Is it funny? Is it sad? A Finnish Hearthstone tournament has briefly banned female players from entering their competition. Because you know, playing Hearthstone can get really physical and women might not be able to keep up with the furious mouse clicking. Luckily, someone sane eventually decided that it was a really silly, silly idea. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/470146/finnish-hearthstone-tournament-bans-female-players/

Given the choice between Belgium progressing and Argentina progressing, it's an easy choice. Belgium all the way. They've been far more fun to watch.

Congratulations to Belgium, see you in the semi-finals

How could the Belgians have missed that chance? Oh my, and another. How many 100% chances can you miss, Belgium?