Day 11; Random Goalfest and the odds-on-outsiders-surprise-package-favourites-in-the-shape-of-dark-horses

The odds-on-outsiders-surprise-package-favourites-in-the-shape-of-dark-horses were on show again, this time versus Russia and Fabio Capello, trying to overcome his apparent World Cup voodoo. That was the day's first match, it's last saw USMNT face Portugal in an entertaining tie. However, the most exciting game of the day was sandwiched between these two matches, as Algeria and South Korea finally created the 'Random Goalfest' that I'd been falsely predicting would happen in games previous.

Capello either very sad or asleep.

The goal glut begun with a long ball over the Korean defence, which relied on Islan Slimani's pace to make the pass involved a good one. Latching onto the bouncing ball and emerging in between two opposition defenders, he opened the scoring on 26 minutes, lifting the ball ever so slightly over the goalkeeper's noggin. The lead was doubled when the same keeper made an abysmal decision to jump into the air and wait, to attempt to receive a corner. Halliche interrupted the goalie's plan, and headed Algeria into a two-nil lead. Rattled by this sudden collapse, South Korea's defence struggled to recover and dealt nervously with any long balls were fired towards them, and a third goal was conceded as the result of another failure to make a clearance, Slimani's composed pass and Djabou's finish. 3-0 at half time.

Algeria cruising, like the classic aeroplane celebration above

The general conception at the interval was that South Korea would need an early goal, similar to Liverpool vs AC Milan, Istanbul, 2005, which I've only mentioned once already in these Wolrd Cup blogs. And an early goal did come, the highly rated but so far ineffective, Son Heung-min was fortunate to control the ball on the back of head/neck/back, before beating his marker and applying a precise finish, through the legs of M'Bohli in the Algerian goal. Comeback on?

Nope. 12 minutes later, the three-goal cushion, in fact more like a three-goal barricade, was restored. Brahimi played a one-two to open the Korea defence, which had only been on the latch anyway, before rounding off the goal of the game with a tidy finish. But the fun wasn't over there, as Koo Ja-Cheol scrambled another goal over the line to return the deficit to two goals, and promote this game from a five-goal affair, to a six-goal thriller. #RandomGoalfest.

Taking plaudits for the Goalfest.

Other than the conceding of a penalty, Belgium's second match of their group campaign was etchings similar to their first, as they struggled to find any real rhythm in their play, and only advice from the punditry on show was to 'get Eden Hazard on the ball more.' Yet even getting the Chelsea player on the ball more was unlikely to liven this game up, with the slow tempo and frequent mistakes being greeted with boos and whistles from the neutral Brazilians in the crowd, spoilt by the vast amount entertaining football that has been in offer up until now. 

Comparisons with this fixture could be made with England versus USA in 2010, Algeria against England in 2010, and the 2010 meeting of England and Slovenia. And what do you know? Capello happened to be involved in all three of those dull sporting events. As well as Brazilian boo-boys, there was also the occasional sleeper in the crowd, caught delightfully by TV cameras.

The saviour of Belguim, and the game of football, came in the shape of 19 year old, Divock Origi, on as a sub for the again disappointing, and angry on the bench, Romelu Lukaku, who like the rest of his team, has failed to live up to pre-tournament expectations. Origi's goal came in the 88th minute, with the number seventeen applying the finish to Hazard's pull back, revelling in the tactical genius that was to 'get Hazard on the ball... more.'

"...and then they, give you the ball more."

The United States of America or the USMNT as they're referred to when it comes to 'soccer,' met Portugal on the back of their damaging defeat to Germany. However, it was the morally damaged side who took the lead, through a certain tricky winger, once of Sporting Lisbon, and one of the true footballing superstars of our generation; Nani. If you thought it was Ronaldo I wouldn't be surprised as Phil Neville in the BBC studio claims, there is little in terms of ability between the pair, just one of his baffling opinions he offered during coverage of the game. 

There were more strange goings on in the stadium, Clint Dempsey, a player who seemed to be past his prime about two years ago, was leading the States brilliantly up front, playing with youth behind his years, and a broken nose. He was the only one with a facial injury, Football Hipster God, Raul Meireles injured his exquisite beard in a collision with the dreadlocked Beckerman.

#BeardProblems

After half-time, an even game in statistics came an even game on the scoreboard, as a powerful shot from the alliteratingly named, Jermaine Jones beat Beto in Portugal's goal, who was favoured to the awful Rui Patricio. Then, further pain for Portugal and their captain who seemed to be having a bad day at the office/football stadium in Manaus, Brazil. Somewhat of a scramble in the box, with shots and blocks exchanging blows, eventually found Clint Dempsey's stars and stripes covered chest, and rolled over the line to send all of America, or at least Chicago, into scenes of elation.

Chicago thinks soccer rules

The lead held until seconds left, a lead which would've guaranteed American qualification if it had lasted those extra moments. Cristiano Ronaldo was allowed ample time and space on the right hand flank, to produce a flash of brilliance when his team needed it most, similar to Messi, although less obviously spectacular. CR7 as he's referred to for merchandise and branding reasons, whipped in a perfect cross for Varela, who was left with a simple header thanks to the quality of the ball, Beckham-esque. A point for each team leaves USA needing a draw at least against Coach Klinsmann's fellow Germans, whereas Portugal will need a victory against Ghana and US defeat to make Ronaldo's World Cup dreams come true in movie style fashion.

Day 10; Messi and the Power Horse

Iran versus Argentina was either going to be a five nil victory for the favourites with a Messi hat-trick, or a tedious affair of attack against defence where commenators frequently state that it's going to require 'something special' to make the breakthrough, and "Messi is the man provide that." Predictions for the Germany-Ghana fixture didn't offer an alternative to a win for the overwhelming favourites, unless of course it was the opinion of a Ghana fan revelling in the spotlight of a BBC camera. Aside from passionate predictions of pedestrians, the BBC's coverage contained montages of the 100 World Cup goals Germany have scored in their history, whilst the closest thing to a Mercedes advert that the channel could possibly air accompanied it, to highlight the mechanic-like efficiency of the Germans down the years, further evidence of the perception that they were incapable of slipping up against a Ghana team, cruelly robbed of a point by an over dramatic late winner by USA. Also to mention in this long winded introduction, is Nigeria versus Bosnia, the late night football for those with no Saturday night plans.

As mentioned previously, Iran and Argentina's meeting could go two ways, and unfortunately it went in the direction of a tedious match. Argentina unsurprisingly had the majority of possession, but as we often see, this does not mean it's easy to break sides down, especially sides as compact as the passengers on the London Underground between the hours of 8 and 9, or Iran.

Carlos Queiroz's team had all ready shut out Nigeria in the dullest game of the competition to date, and unless the listed after 'something special' occurred, were in danger of doing the same to an attacking Argentina side boasting, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria, as well as Lionel Messi, longing to Maradona this World Cup. However his side lacked a cutting edge or a turn of pace that is so hard to simply conjure up when the opposition sit back so patiently, with a suction-tight midfield and defence begin the ball.

In fairness to Iran, they attempted to counter on occasion, with the pace of Dejagah allowing them to trouble the Argentina back four, committed to helping the attack. The game could've been very different if the referee had awared a deceivingly stone wall penalty, for Zabaleta's connecting with Dejagah, rather than ball. Iran also had other attempts on goal, but Romero in the Argentine goal rejected what would've been the most famous goal in Iran's football history, eclipsing those in the political match-up with USA in 1998.

But the ball still spent many more minutes up the other end of the field, eluding the goal on several occasions. The minutes ticked on and on, past 80 minutes, 90 minutes and into injury time as the game looked set to supply another victory/draw for the bus parkers, until...

Messi finally gets it as his feet, on the right of the box, skips past a defender like he does with such ease, almost as if he places his palm on the opposition's forehead with a stretched out arm, making it embarrassingly impossible for them to tackle him. Then he didn't release or striker, more like stroked a frighteningly accurate shot which curled into the top corner. 1 nil to Argentina, qualification confirmed and a possibly crucial moment in the tournament if Messi is to push on make this World Cup his own.

Germany's expected display of efficiency, ruthlessness and other words of German connotations aired next. The first half, and second half for that matter, was an even contest though. The low-socked and seemingly but surely not actually, shinpad-less goal scoring machine that is Thomas Müller went close with a sliding effort in the first half, before Muntari unlike Messi, did release a powerful left footed strike, which Neuer palmed away. 

But 'Ze Germanz,' to quote Lock Stock, in an attempt to show you all how much of a geezer I am, did take the lead. Müller, whose name I love using the 'ü' for, turned provider as he crossed in the assist for Mario Gotze to score a """""""header."""""""

Then, an outstanding game of World Cup football emerged, yet again in this remarkable, watchable tournament that has been worth all the late nights and early mornings with Adrian Chiles thus far. Andre Ayew did actually cleanly connect with a header to unexpectedly equalise for Ghana. And if the equaliser was unexpected, their next goal must've caused an astute stress reaction among the public, better known as 'shock.' Asamoah Gyan, formerly of Sunderland, now of Al Ain in the Arabian Gulf League, scoring goals and many Arabian dollars, put Ghana a goal ahead with a composed finish and composed enough celebration, to carry out a dance for everyone to enjoy. Everyone except Germany.

Typically though, they cut the joy short with a monumental goal from Miroslav Klose, who equalised Ronaldo's record of 15 World Cup goals. Whilst his goals may not possess some of the flair and brilliance of the Brazilian legend's, and his trademark front flip celebration may not now reach the full 360 degrees, it's hard to deny what an immense goal scorer Klose has been, as well as being an easy man to build puns off. In the end, a draw was if not arguably, at least a welcomed result for spectators not holding German citizenship, bar Kevin-Prince Boateng who played for Ghana against brother, Jerome. However, Germany did move KLOSE to the last sixteen.

IN OTHER NEWS...

A day of games involving clear favourites was rounded off with the unpredictable meeting of Bosnia and Nigeria. The European side impressed against Argentina in their opener, although defeated, whereas Nigeria, seen by many as Africa's best hope of success, disappointed against Iran.

The loser of the game would be eliminated, and this created a nervy atmosphere. So nervy and scary, that Bosnia's main man, Edin Dzeko appeared to be hiding, seeing almost none of the ball in the first half and not buying tickets for raffles he could well of won.

One man gambling, once on a transfer to QPR being completed, now in Bosnian penalty boxes, was Peter Odemwingie, who provided a finish to Emineke's great work down the right, displaying pace and power and good composure to find his team-mate. The assister came in for praise from Martin Keown, who confused the clichès; 'Work-horse' and 'power-house,' to describe Emineke as a 'POWER-HORSE,' which I can only imagine if some kind of super-powered horse, possibly what an ordinary horse would evolve into should it be a Pokèmon with adequate training.

Back out the studio and onto the pitch, Dzeko did appear, but only to miss chances that could've saved his country's World Cup dreams. Instead, Bosnia's debut in the tournament will expire after their final group game.

Day 9; Costa Rica qualify, England do not.

Let's not dwell on it any longer, I did that in Day 8, let's just move on enjoy the rest of the tournament as a neutral, knowing whatever the result of any game you witness as of now, is unable to leave you feeling like you've been punched in the heart. Day 9 was the day that Costa Rica, expected whipping boys of group D and faced with possibly the toughest group considering they were drawn against three former world champions (albeit one of them being England), have qualified for the knockout stages - with a game to spare.

With either lots of hard work and determination, or some good photoshop-ing, we could make this the England team.

On the back of their Joel Campbell inspired victory against Uruguay, they have produced an even bigger upsetting of the odds, and many England fans. Italy, a team most praised heavily after they defeated us, including the coolest man in football, and the man who thinks he's the coolest man in football (Pirlo and Balotelli, decide on which description is meant for each player depending on your mental age), were left waving their hands around in despair, like Italians do with every other emotion.

Far from a Fulham legend, Bryan Ruiz, scored the unscripted first half goal that along with an OCD level of defensive organisation, secured a historic victory for the football crazy nation. The result now means Uruguay must play their second 'cup final' in as many games, as the winner of themselves and Italy will qualify for the second round, whilst the loser will be on the plane home with Elimination Airways™. Whether or not Uruguay achieve a double of cliché cups will surely depend on which key players perform in that fixture. Currently topping my list of swaggy midfielders, ahead of Xabi Alonso and the retired, Clarence Seedorf, is Andrea Pirlo, and if he gets to caress the ball enough you'd expect the Azzurri to qualify. However, as 'End of England's World Cup' montages on BBC and ITV will show us, Luis Suarez is more than capable of punishing opposition, and he'll have an extra couple of percent to add to his 75% fitness which he tore up our dreams with.

Ruiz indirectly sinking England

Apologies to the many Costa Ricans who'll read this, and be annoyed that I've barely touched on just how good they were, and to satisfy my Central American fan base, I will say this - they seem to have a fair few useful players in amongst their rigid structure. Christian Bolanos, or 'the matey with the hair band,' is the most hard working number seven I've seen since Beckham versus Greece, and the 'Pacey Joel Campbell' (his full name) could have a role to play at Arsenal next season, or more realistically, a hit and miss loan spell at a relegation battling Premier League side. How they'll do in the knockout rounds is anyone's guess, I'm going for one more upset, then a demolishing at the hands of Brazil in the quarter finals.

The prime time World Cup viewing spot was filled by France against Switzerland, which was surely a foregone conclusion considering the mighty Switzerland are ranked sixth in the world, and minnows France are only 17th. Yet against all odds, France put in arguably the performance on the tournament so far, rivaled  only Holland's thrashing of Spain. Giroud met Valbuena's corner with his well groomed head to put them a goal up, before Matuidi raced through and double the lead a minute later. Benzema, France's talisman in the absence of many, won and missed a penalty, but his embarrassment was spared as Cabaye kindly took the negative attention off of his teammate by missing the rebound which looked much easier than the task of scoring from 12 yards.

If you thought the penalty miss would spur Switzerland on, you were wrong. The minuscule Valbuena added a third, before Benzema redeemed his misery from the spot to score his third of tournament. One of Newcastle's many French-Geordie contingent added the fifth goal in the shape of Moussa Sissoko, to create a result which in spite of all my earlier sarcasm, was actually a shock, as France picked apart a Swiss team that is highly thought of, not just by FIFA. A pair of consolation goals offered some hope for Switzerland in their remaining group game, but they were fortunate not to concede a sixth as Benzema smashed the ball home just after the final whistle, something which could come back into the spotlight should Benzema narrowly lose out on the Golden Boot.

Minuscule Valbuena. 

AND FINALLY...

Ecuador met bad boys Honduras in the day's final game, in a somewhat entertaining affair. The South American style of the side lead by Antonio Valencia, in the light of his signing of a new contract at Manchester United, was up against an extremely physical side, to the point of making the audience at home wince, with the help of super slo-mo replays highlighting the force of tackles on show. Standout performances and hairstyles were present, with Bernárdez, the blonde-topped centre-back who looked clumsy in his own half and a threat in the other. Collapsing to his knees instead of heading the ball, he conceded a comical corner when the ball plummeted onto his knees and out of touch. However, on the attacking front, the big man stood 15 yards away from a free-kick, giving himself a Roberto Carlos-like run up. The ball seemed destined for Row Z, especially in the light of his earlier display of a simple lack of technical ability. Yet his strike of the ball was clean and accurate, as well as dangerously powerful, as it more than tested the Ecuadorian(?) goalkeeper. 

The keeper in question was beaten though, Kevin Costly latched onto to a long ball that would make Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis weak at the knees, before the striker, literally chomping at the bit (of blue plastic he had in his mouth for some reason), he drilled a left footed effort home. 

Chomping at the bit of plastic, which must infuriate health and safety lovers.

Joy for Honduras, who before scoring only seemed to be capable of very few emotions, including angry and aggressive. But their joy sooned retracted into much more negative emotives, as Enner Valencia, no relation to Antonio Valencia in family terms or skill, turned the game on its head. First the in-form striker equalised with a poachers effort from a shot-turned-deflected-cross, before a second half winner via his head from a fairly simple set-piece, which was met with poor defending not for the first time in this tournament.

Being a South American side, the victory created yet another atmosphere that would make a fraction of the £800 flight price to Brazil, somewhat viable for any Englishman considering making the trip to Brazil.

Day 8; Summary mixed with live commentary of Italy vs Costa Rica

For the optimists among us, of which I'm embarrassed to say, I am one, it really really hurts. And what's perhaps even more painful is, it's not over yet. We're not technically eliminated as I begin to write this piece, watching the Italy vs Costa Rica game on which our fate depends, meaning there'll probably be more sadness to come, especially for those of us, again like myself, who still unfortunately believe.

Answers to why we have failed to deliver, yet again, cover a wide range of areas, varying from embodied ignorance in pubs saying 'coz we're shit', to the big-picture lookers, who point their fingers towards improving the English game at grass-roots level. But it's what happens on top of the grass that matters, as improving funding and level of coaching in the sport isn't going to make Johnson-Cahill-Jagielka-Baines a strong, well organised, capable back four. Whilst it may improve our back four, or even our whole squad in the future, hopefully in time for the 2052 World Cup, which will be played on Mars as the world's top players attempt to deal with the humidity and also lack of gravity, more short term fixes are surely available.

Day 7; Two shocks: World Champions are knocked out and Cahill scores with feet

The first of four footbally festival fantastic weeks has expired, and rather than be sad that a week has already gone, I can rest easy as there's still so long left, and so much has happened. Particularly on this, day 7, where there was so much to see that Sky Sports must be kicking themselves at not having the TV rights to the tournament, now more than ever, as they continue to broadcast mere photos of all the action.

Today saw without any doubt from mine or Radio 5 Live's Robbie Savage's mind, the best goal of the tournament so far. As well as the biggest shock yet, and probably the worst team performance so far as well, as Cameroon collapsed to Croatia.

Day 4; Goal-line Technology has Arrived, and so has Messi.

The dastardly football villain, Sepp Blatter, plots his plan to ruin the game.

Despite everything that has happened already, and all the words I've typed into iPad, iPhone and laptop along the way, only 4 whole days of World Cup action have passed. Day 4 produced a couple of firsts however, the loveable, inevitable, Hollywood-style, last minute winner made it's World Cup 2014 debut, and may there be many more. Perhaps something which has been strangely more anticipated than even injury time-tastic goals, is something we've all been waiting for for decades. The Goal-line Technology we've pined for has finally arrived and lifted football into the 21st Century, despite the best efforts of ultimate football villain, and hopefully soon to be 'disgraced Former FIFA President', rather than simply, FIFA President, Sepp Blatter.

The games providing such action were a climatised Ecuador, versus a Switzerland team, which although should be respected for their recent record in tournaments, and confidence in their own ability to field a team of almost a full eleven with questionable hairstyles, surely don't justify their FIFA ranking of being the sixth best team in the world. Also today was France against Honduras, a side whose physical/psychotic play has seen them receive some negative attention, in a game which was fittingly narrated by Johnathan Pearce, a man no stranger to violence thanks to his experience of providing vocal input to the work of real sporting bad boys; Sir Killalot and Sergeant Bash from Robot Wars. So unsurprisingly he wasn't phased by the likes of Wilson Palacios. The 11pm game was billed as 'Messi in the Maracana,' in spite of the fact 21 other professional footballers were also on the pitch situated in Brazil's most historic stadium as Argentina met Bosnia and Herzegovina, World Cup debutants.

Questionable hairstyles.

The first game's deadlock was unpicked by Ecuador, as a free-kick from out wide was warmly welcomed into the box by some of the worst set-piece defending seen since the dawn of time, when dinosaurs used to whip in free-kicks towards the heads of Brontosaurus'. The scorer was Enner Valencia, not to be confused with the imbecile who threatened to throttle little 19 year-old Raheem Sterling for making a fair tackle against himself, the 28 year old, somewhat of a powerhouse, Antonio Valencia, twice his width... tosser.

At half-time, Switzerland, the team who FIFA rate as factually and officially better than England, Italy and Netherlands, trailed Ecuador, a team who FIFA rate as factually and officially worse than Algeria and Slovenia and just one place above Scotland. But the combination of a classic super-sub and some of the worst set-piece defending since Jesus Christ, playing as an old fashion number 9, used to punish the poor zonal marking system of Bethlehem FC in 27 AD, lead to an equaliser off the head of the super-sub in question, Mehmedi. 

Then an open game emerged, the Swiss, boosted by nicking a goal back were using their momentum to take all three points which they and of course, FIFA, would've expected them to take. Whilst Ecuador were angered by losing their hard fought lead, and backed by many of their own fans which filled the stadium, creating another spectacular South Anerican atmosphere for an end to end game to occur in. And it was end to end until the very last minute, the 93rd to be precise. On as a sub, fresh legged tosser, Antonio Valencia broke into space out wide and lead a final attacking surge for his side, only for it eventually to breakdown as a result of a slide tackle ever so pleasing to the eye, from Behrami. The former West Ham underperformer, then broke with the ball himself, prancing from his own half to the next, going to ground after being fouled then tumbling back onto his feet and continuing with help of superb refereeing and text-book double hand pointing to signal to play on from the official, then play went wide, to the byline, where it was pulled back for the second #SuperSub of the game to become a national hero; Haris Seferović. Shades of the 'Tardelli Scream' of 1982 in the celebration, and possibly the odd goosebump for football fans onlooking.

France-Honduras commenced next, and with a tournament record of such inconsistency, the pressure and eyes, were on the French, and specifically their latest starlet, Paul Pogba. The ex-United midfielder must be keen to not just prove Sir Alex Ferguson how wrong he was to sell him, but also to prove that there's more to his game than just outrageous long shots that find their way onto Vine, accompanied with house or trap music that drops as the Juventus midfielder connects with the ball.

Pogba was fortunate not to be dismissed early on, fed up of being trampled on by Palacios over and over again, he appeared to lash out at the Stoke City player, who flew himself into the air and back down to earth again, so hard that a stretcher was called. Both escaped red, seeing yellow, but when Palacios pushed over the young midfielder inside the box, he was leaving the pitch again, this time without a stretcher in sight, as he saw and second yelp and red in a quick flash from the referee. Benzema netted the penalty, and also France's third goal in the second half, but it was the second goal of the game that had everyone's bums off their seat, and fingers tapping smart phones with Twitter apps open. GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY HAD ARRIVED. When Benzema's effort hit the inside of the post and trickled back out, the Hondurans must've thought they'd got away with conceding a goal which would surely fly open the floodgates. Yet some incapable ball collecting from their goalkeeper meant the ball actually re-trickled back over the line, just. OR DID IT!? Yes. It did, (See picture.) and France went on to win 3-0.

When 11pm arrived it was apparently the time that seemingly 'everyone', including allegedly, me, you, your mum, your cousin and Doreen next door, had been waiting for. It was time for Messi, and a wide range of other world class players, many of which are Champions League, Premier League and La Liga winners, but only Messi and Messi and Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi to the point where just hearing the word Messi didn't even sound like a word anymore, more of a noise that everyone was so obsessed with, in action. But in action he wasn't, not in the first half at all. Despite Argentina gaining an early lead from this tournament's early Golden Boot contender, 'Own Goal,' Messi struggled to manipulate the game like the billion watching had expected. Furthermore, many seemed to have written off Bosnia & Herzegovina before a ball was kicked, on a basis I can only imagine was due to people not being able to pronounce the latter part of their name. They're a nation that has been crippled by war after war, and less than 25 years old as an idependent nation, yet have already risen to 21st in FIFA's rankings, not that means too much, but they also boast top Premier League talent in Asmir Begovic and Edin Dzeko. But most impressive of all was Miralem Pjanic, who lovers of Football Manager and FIFA Career Modes, will know, is a class act. (90+ Overall potential ability on FIF/ 'leading star for most Premier League sides' according to scouts on FM.) His making of play, more commonly known as playmaking, caused an Argentina defence several problems before half time changes were made. Two half time changes involved personnel, as Higuain and Gago, who seem to do everything together, apart from excel at Real Madrid, entered The Fray.

See, he's decent. FM said so.

This gave Argentina a little more balance, and most importantly, allowed Messi to shine. A classic one-two and change of pace gave him space to unleash a trademark strike which beat Stoke City's Asmir Begovic, who like teammate, Wilson Palacios, wasn't enjoying World Cup 2014 as of yet. The so-called minnows did pull a goal back though, a goal which their play defintely deserved and they should go into their next fixture with confidence. The headlines, spotlight, limelight, flashlights, ALL OF THE LIGHTS, were on Messi however, as he helped his much favoured Argentines get off to a winning start, even if their performance left much to be desired.

This is what a man looks like whose just doubled his career tally of World Cup goals with one swift left-foot kick.

Day 6; Capello cursed by calamitous 'keeping?

The sixth day of these World Cup finals saw the first round of group stage fixtures surpass, and the second begin, meaning that the hosts were once again in action, this time against Mexico, lead by their manager, Miguel Herrera who not only appeared to be looking for a point from the Brazilians, but also looking for a reason as to why he doesn't have a neck.

Where is it? He's just all chin and face.