Italy V Costa Rica Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Pregame bets:

All eyes on Balotelli

Italy race to 5 corners 4/6
Balotelli to score a/t 1/1 (top bet)
over 2.5 goals 19/20
Italy to win 8/15 (top bet)

Very disappointed with Italy, no heart, no fire, no clue and Balotelli missed a few golden chances, not good Italy!

Full betting review here>http://thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-world-cup/

Beers: Group D of Beer World Cup: http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-group-d/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Birra Moretti V Imperial Beer? Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit?

Click on picture for a preview of the beers.

Get the beer result after, much after!

Imperial Beer V Birra Moretti: Imperial wins 1-0. Just like the game, Imperial pulls of a shock here against a more established opponent. Imperial tastes, smells, and looks like what a good lager should be like: Sweet aromas, clear golden colour, with good flavours and a nice aftertaste of dry corn that lingers. It’s a beer that’s not going to blow your mind but it does the job, it will quench that thirst. Birra Moretti, is typically Italian. Comes in a lovely looking bottle with a logo that stands out, the pour shows a fine clear lager, and the aroma is a rustic smell of toasted barley and some hops. It looks and smells the part. For the taste there is a light honey flavour and a small hop aftertaste. A nice balanced and smooth beer. But I give the victory to Imperial, it is more of a beer for a game, whereas Birra might be more suitable to enjoy sitting down with some food, probably Italian. Click on links below for full beer information and reviews.

PreGame:

Italy were good in their first game against England, and despite all the huffing and puffing from the English players, the Italian victory was relatively assured in the end. Maybe a little suspect at the back, but overall they looked a decent team. Pirlo was a magician, pinning balls all around the park, and unlucky not to score from a brilliant free kick, hitting the crossbar. Great stuff to watch and its such a pity this will be his last world cup. A draw or win against CR and they are through with minimum fuss. I am also fully expecting Mario to put on a show tonight.

Costa Rica: An excellent performance from Costa Rica in their game against Uruguay certainly got everyone’s attention. Not only was it a great scoreline but the overall performance was of high quality. Costa Rica were well worth their victory and all three goals were great.

Looking forward to seeing Joel Campbell again.He was simply magnificent in the first game, harrowing and tracking back, good mazy runs, good support play, all round top performance. Brilliant.

Wonder will CR try and play for a draw this evening, thinking that they could also get a result from England and rely on Italy beating Uruguay?

Some interesting stats to seriously consider: Italy have scored in their last 15 World Cup games, and Mario Balotelli has scored 11 of his 13 goals for Italy in competitive matches. remember when Mario scores…………

A more detailed review on Italy here and on Costa Rica here

Costa Rica produced their second stunning upset in a week to beat a very poor Italian side, proving that their win against Uruguay was no fluke. They played well and thoroughly deserved to win the game and head into the next round with a game to spare. Who would have predicted that at the start of the competition!

Costa Rica made the Italian defence look really ordinary. Now I know this defence had serious question marks pre tournament, but still you would reckon that basic defending is one thing the Italians would get right before a world cup campaign. But they were all over the place in this game. Particularly hopeless was Abate who was having a nice stroll around all evening in the park, not working up too much of a sweat. The mighty Chiellini was also made to look mightily ordinary and Buffon in goals was a bit wobbly.

Up front Balotelli was showing why he cant be included as a world class player as of yet. When he is good he is brilliant, not so good he is petulant, stroppy, and not much use to his team. Missed a few relatively easy chances in the game and also got a yellow card for a cynical challenge after he lost the ball. The Queen wont be getting that kiss after all. Big headed buffoon.

Italians were up to their usual diving once the result was not going their way. They ruined the 2006 world cup as a spectacle with that rubbish, so its always a pleasure to see them getting beat once they have to resort to cheating. Delighted for them.

Joel Campbell was excellent again and was denied a stone wall penalty.One of the worst decisions in this world cup. The referee couldn’t see it or didn’t want to see it, despite just behind the play. Everyone else in the stadium seen it though. Shocking. The linesmen also made a few questionable calls for offside, but it was hard to tell as the Italians strayed offside about a hundred times in this game.

Also was impressed with another Campbell on the Costa Rican team. The excellent defender Diaz Campbell who always was ready to turn defence into attack as quick as possible, and didn’t panic in defence. Solid defending.

Next up is a game against England for Costa Rica, a chance to relax and go out and enjoy themselves, knowing they are in the next round. Might win too as England are no great shakes.

Italy have a do or die clash with Uruguay and with Suarez in form it will be a tough tie for them. Could go either way but Uruguay looked good for their win against England, so they might start as favourites.

Music to get you in the mood

Yolanda Be Cool Vrs DCup V Malpaís