Day 13; An almost 'bite-pun-free' roundup.

Was today even a day? Like, there was the England game, in all it's mind numbingly depressing glory, then Luis Suarez bit someone again, then there were some other games afterwards, I think. After checking BBC Sports' results page, I can tell you in hindsight that today was the day that as well as Group D's ugly curtain coming down, was also filled with Japan versus Colombia and Greece against Ivory Coast.

To the tune of; 'Don't look back in anger, I heard you say.'

But undoubtedly the main even kicked off at 5pm as England's 'young lions', so, cubs, opened up the surprise package, Costa Rica. Sadly, inside the package was a dull game, despite containing England's first point of these finals. Insult to injury for those among us who remain optimistic, defend Roy, defend Rooney and defend the way we defend, as our loyalty was still not rewarded with anything to shout about, other than an appeal for a penalty when Sturridge, on the cusp of surely scoring, was tripped up, to the disinterest of the referee. 

Simultaneously, another rather dull game was being carried out. In contrast to England-Costa Rica though, this may have been due to the nerves of what Italy and Uruguay were playing for, rather than the so called 'pride' that we were competing for, which is just a gift-wrapped way to describe having nothing to play for. England's conquerors were playing for the final Group D place in the last 16, after the first one was stolen (fairly) by Costa Rica. However, a draw would've been enough for the Italians, famous for being able to frustrate the world's greatest strikers, throwing clean sheets over them regularly when needed. And they literally did frustrate the world's greatest striker, the very frustratable, Luis Suarez.

With less than ten minutes to go, his country needed a goal to make all of his hard work worthwhile, not just in destroying England, but on the training ground and medical rooms to even get fit for this World Cup. The anger and deep, deep content this could cause on a player is obviously serious, especially in the adrenaline-filled mania that is professional sport, but not for the first time, the way Luis Suarez dealt with all this was simply unthinkable and inexcusable, especially considering he'd done this all already. Twice.

This picture genuinely makes me feel sad 

Suarez took a bite out of Georgio Chiellini as the two tangled inside the box, and in doing so, created the biggest controversy of the World Cup so far. The weird thing is, this tenacious, almost animalistic side to the Liverpool striker was supposed to have been well and truly tamed. A year on after sinking his teeth into Branislav Ivanovic, the impact of Rodgers' arm around Suarez and other man management methods had turned his disciplinary record around. Missing a chunk of the season, Suarez returned to football in October, instantly winning back the respect of many, scoring goal after goal and bar a Gerrard slip and Crystal Palace collapse, would've possibly fired Liverpool all the way back to the top, picking up the PFA Player of the Year award in the process. Along the way, we all got an insight into his lime, the negative attention allowed us to see Suarez, the family man, a seemingly genuine nice guy, albeit with a nasty temper.

Which leads this quizzical onlooker to thinking, surely this little genius of a footballer is actually a bit mental? I find it hard to believe, a man clearly so intelligent within his field, likeable off the pitch as far as I'm aware, (through such thorough research as a FourFourTwo interview with him and what Stevie G says about him) would really have an underlying evil enough side to him to think it's logical and justifiable to bite an opponent. Of course what he did is in no way defendable, but rather than trying to disgrace this man, maybe an element of sympathy should be donated as well, for there is undoubtedly something going on in Luis Suarez's fascinating brain that we, and maybe even he himself, does not quite understand.

Away from psychology, the match was settled by Diego Godin, shortly after Suarez's gnaw, and Uruguay qualified for the last sixteen at the expense of Italy, who many raved about after they narrowly beat England, maybe an indication of just poor we really are currently. Another indication was the final result in the previously mentioned dull-affair with Costa Rica, which despite the attacking prowess in our weaponry, finished nil-nil.

Not how a happy ending to a World Cup looks

The day's later events featured Greece's late gasp victory against Ivory Coast and consequent qualification to the the knockout round for the first, with the uncomfortably feminine looking Giorgos Samaras converting a softly awarded late penalty. Greece were yet to score in their campaign before this game and progressed on the traditional 'skin on their teeth' total, that is fourn points, at the expense of their African opponents. The other group C game's final score was much more one sided. Colombia, one of the most impressive and enjoyable teams to watch at these finals so far, defeated Japan by four goals to one, with help of yet another classy display from James Rodriguez, typified with the piffest of piffy goals. Already with two assists earlier in the match, the youngster whose name is pronounced 'Ha-Mez,' not James, ran onto the ball with a defender blocking his route to goal, with a jig-like shimmy the last man was thrown the wrong way before Rodriguez just lifted this deft chip over the keeper's head and peeled away to celebrate the most suave goal of the World Cup 2014. But all of this was eclipsed by a Uruguayan man biting an Italian, and all of the easy puns in headlines that it has caused. Food for thought?

Piff goal.