World Cup 2014, Matchday 4: Goal fest as Argentina, France, Swiss win

Click here for the Live Match Centre | Click here for the World Cup Schedule | Click here for the best World Cup quotes Number Cruncher: All the stats from Argentina vs Bosnia 03.30 am: Argentina vs Bosnia-Hercegovina - click here for match report. - GOAL! 84th minute: Ibisevic — the man whose goal sent Bosnia to the World Cup has come on, made a clever run and slipped a low shot past Romero. It’s 2-1 and it’s game on! - GOAL! 65th minute: He gets booed and within seconds provides a sensational goal! Messi picks up the ball around the halfway line, exchanges a couple of passes, goes past two challenges and finds a yard on his left foot before curling in a low shot in and off the post. Brilliant. - 64th minute: Messi sets up a freekick from a scoring position — and puts it over. Argentina’s fans erupt, possible in anger than in joy. The four-time world player of the year is slightly struggling. - Substitutions: Higuain and Gago are on, Maxi and Campagnaro off. Looks like a change in formation for Argentina.- 41st minute: Lulic gets ahead of his marker and cracks in a header which forces Romero to make a smart save. Great corner, great header – goalie’s up to his task though. - 33rd minute: Dzeko fends off a challenge and had Pjanic to his left but decides to spin and take a shot which is high, wide and not so handsome. - 25th minute: Excellent stuff from Bosnia – continuously harrying the Argentinians while keeping the ball well when they have it. It’s evident they’re looking for a cross as soon as possible and Garay and Rojo have been busy in the middle of defence.

- 12th minute: Oh glorious lobbed ball for Hajrovic whose touch to control is slightly heavy allowing Romero to rush and save. Bosnia are seeing a fair deal of the ball as of now.

- GOAL! 3rd minute: Ridiculous tackle on the left wing on Aguero and Lionel Messi swings it in — Rojo’s glancing header takes a massive deflection off Kolasinac and goes in for an own goal! 1-0. Argentina XI: Romero; Rojo, Garay, Campagnaro, Zabaleta; Mascherano, Di Maria, Messi, Rodriguez, Fernandez, Aguero. Bosnia-Hercegovina XI: Begovic, Bicakcic, Spahic, Kolasinac, Besic, Pjanic, Misimovic, Dzeko, Mujdza, Lulic, Hajrovic. 00.30 am: France vs Honduras -  click here for the match report. Numbers Game: All the stats from France vs Honduras FRAvsHON in tweets: Even Robbie Savage wasn’t confused by goal-line tech - Full time: Solid win for France against a team whose strategy to win games seems to be to out-muscle their opponents. A Palacios red card and a Benzema penalty set France on course for 3-0 — now they’ve already scored more goals than they did in all their three games in South Africa 2010 (1). - GOAL! 71st minute: Freekick sent to Debuchy outside the box, and the right back’s ripper is blocked. The rebound falls to Benzema who composes himself before hitting it into the roof of the net. This time it’s his goal and it’s 3-0. - 63rd minute: Honduras don’t look like they can get back into this match. A high ball is sent into the box but it’s an easy catch for Hugo Lloris.

- GOAL! 47th minute: Cabaye sends in another peach of a through ball to Benzema at the far post — the striker hits it first time and the ball cannons off the post, hits goalkeeper Valladares and bounces inside the line. Goal line tech comes into play and it says, ‘goal’. Quite a bit of confusion as the managers get into a discussion with the referee in the technical area. The goal stands anyway. It’s 2-0. [caption id=“attachment_1571903” align=“alignleft” width=“620”] Benzema puts France ahead from the spot. Reuters[/caption] - GOAL and red card! 43rd minute: Palacios barges into the back of Pogba as he chests down a Cabaye lobbed through ball — it’s his second yellow and Palacios walks. Karim Benzema does the rest, calmly slotting the penalty.

- 27th minute: Palacios roughs up Pogba as both player tangle and the latter then kicks out at him. Beckham (WC 1998) and Rooney (Euro 2004) were sent of for such reactions, but Pogba only sees yellow — and so does Palacios. - 22nd minute: Off the bar again! Griezmann this time as France start getting into the groove. A minute later, Valbuena breaks down the right and crosses for Benzeman who cannot keep it down. - 14th minute: France have had three freekicks from the same area and got really close with the third as it fell to Matuidi, the PSG man’s shot clattering the bar. France XI: Lloris; Debuchy, Varane, Sakho, Evra; Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi; Griezmann, Benzema, Valbuena. Honduras XI: Valladares, Figueroa, Bernardez, Emilio, Palacios, Bengtson, Costly, Espinoza, Najar, Garrido, Beckeles. **Robin van Persie – people can’t stop thinking about that goal:**Neymar’s new hairstyle - will it work? [caption id=“attachment_1571779” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AFP[/caption] Neymar’s head was shaved on the sides, with the front dyed blond. Alves’ shorter cut had a grayish tinge to it. Click here to read more 9.30 pm: SWITZERLAND 2-1 ECUADOR - click here for match report. [caption id=“attachment_1571801” align=“alignleft” width=“620”] Seferovic scores the winner in the 92nd minute. AFP[/caption] - GOAL! 90+2 minutes: Seferovic!!!! Ecuador’s Arroya had a clear chance at the other end but took too long to pull the trigger — Behrami wins it with a last ditch tackle, and the play reaches Rodriguez on the left whose low cross is tapped in by super-sub Seferovic! Brilliant! 2-1 to Switzerland and it’s full time. - 71st minute: It’s three-on-two for the Swiss and Mehmedi chooses to play in Shaqiri on his left, the Bayern winger hitting the side-netting with his powerful drive. That should have been 2-1. - GOAL! 46th minute: Can you head it in from there? We can too. Mehmedi rises highest and turns in a corner from the left to level things up. 1-1 now. - GOAL! 22nd minute: Walter Ayovi takes a freekick from the left which Enner Valencia thumps in with a header. Ecuador 1-0! - 15th minute: Shaqiri collects a ball in a tight area outside the box, sees off a challenge and sends a low left-footed strike which is well saved by Dominguez. 6.53 pm: Wayne Rooney faces strong criticism from pundits after performance against Italy Rooney faced strong criticism from former top players and pundits after his performance against Italy last night. Former England midfielder Alan Mullery said that the Manchester United star should be dropped. “I don’t think Wayne Rooney should start against Uruguay. He did not look like he was enjoying himself. I would leave him out because we have to get the balance right. Rooney is a big star but he cannot play wide on the left so we should pick someone who can.” Former France and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry too was critical of Rooney. “I have missed chances like the one Rooney did in the second half at 2-1 down, but Wayne will know that in a game like this one, he has to score there. He didn’t, and that was the turning point for me,” Henry told BBC. AFP 5.33 pm: Stunning stat on Arjen Robben: Arjen Robben scored a fantastic solo goal against Spain to make it 5-1. He outpaced Ramos, controlled the ball before rounding off the keeper and hammering it into the net. In scoring that wonderful goal, he created an extraordinary record.4.50 pm: Enjoy all the 10 World Cup Qualifier goals from Lionel Messi All eyes will be on Lionel Messi as Argentina take on Bosnia tonight. The little genius has often been criticised for not reproducing his club form for his country. But Messi had a decent outing in the Qualifiers scoring 10 goals.  

   4.12 pm: Casillas must not be World Cup scapegoat says Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque Spain coach Vicente del Bosque insisted that goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas must not shoulder all the blame for the World Cup holders’ 5-1 thrashing by the Netherlands. The 33-year-old Casillas made a public apology after the humiliating defeat on Friday night in Spain’s first game at the tournament. Del Bosque said the whole team must be held to account however. “If a team loses it’s not down to the performance of a single player,” said Del Bosque when asked if he would drop Casillas for Wednesday’s crucial Group B game against Chile at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. “Defeats happen as a result of weaknesses in the entire squad, but least of all because of the performance of Iker Casillas,” added the normally low-key Del Bosque. AFP 2.30 PM - Re-live the Pirlo magical freekick against England  Andrea Pirlo wielded his magic last night against England and if you missed out on his sumptuous free-kick that hit the cross bar - here it is.   Click here for the Live Match Centre | Click here for the World Cup Schedule | Click here for the best World Cup quotes 1.50 pm: This video is why they call football the beautiful game

1.45 pm: World Cup debut on legendary grounds awaits Bosnia Rio de Janeiro: Bosnia-Herzegovina will make its World Cup debut against a two-time world champion led by one of the greatest players in the game at the legendary Maracana stadium. It’s not like the Bosnians need smelling salt to get excited before Sunday’s match against Lionel Messi’s Argentina. “The very fact that we are here for the first time, that we play a great team, that we are playing against the best player in the world … that’s motivation enough,” Bosnia coach Safet Susic said Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_1571415” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of the members of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Reuters[/caption] The match comes nearly 20 years after Bosnia played its first match as an independent nation in 1995, at the end of a civil war that followed the violent breakup of Yugoslavia. It will also be the first World Cup game at the Maracana since Brazil lost to Uruguay in the last round of the 1950 tournament, which remains a deep wound in Brazilian football history. “If we could choose the city or the grounds or stadium where we should play the first match we couldn’t have chosen any better than the Maracana and Rio de Janeiro,” Susic said. Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero said he, too, was inspired by the location of his team’s World Cup opener. “It’s incredible to play in this stadium, which has so much history. It’s the first time I’m here,” he said. Argentina hasn’t won at the Maracana since it beat Brazil 1-0 in a friendly in 1998 AP 1.30 pm: Honduras coach says team not violent Porto Alegre: Honduras coach Luis Suarez says his team may be an outsider, even “the Cinderella of our group”, but he rejects any suggestion it plays dirty. “Some call it a good style of aggression, others might call it an intense style of play” he said ahead of his team’s World Cup opener against France on Sunday. “We want to win, but certainly can’t be called violent.” Honduras played a bruising pre-tournament friendly against England littered with fouls, one of which saw defender Brayan Beckeles sent off. Earlier Saturday, French coach Didier Deschamps said Honduras was “combative” but “I certainly don’t want to limit this team to just being aggressive fighters.” Suarez noted his team didn’t get any red cards in the qualifying matches, suggesting the focus on the team’s physicality was misplaced. Honduras has made it to the World Cup finals just twice, but has never won a match. In South Africa it failed to score. But with Suarez at the helm, Honduras might have found the manager who can cause an upset. In 2006, he was in charge of Ecuador — which is in the same group as Honduras this time around — when it stunned Poland 2-0 and reached the quarterfinals. In September, Honduras became only the second team to defeat Mexico at Estadio Azteca during World Cup qualifying. The team also beat the United States and Costa Rica on its way to Brazil. “We are the Cinderella of our group,” he said. “If someone wants to beat us, they are going to have to try very hard.” AP 1.15 pm: England physio injured during goal celebration Manaus: England’s physiotherapist required treatment himself after being injured while celebrating a goal during Saturday’s World Cup game against Italy. Gary Lewin dislocated an ankle after Daniel Sturridge equalized for England during the first half in Manaus as the England backroom staff celebrated on the bench. Lewin received treatment on the pitch before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to a Manaus hospital. He will now return to England. England coach Roy Hodgson says “that was a very sad moment for us. In celebrating the goal he jumped up, landed on a water bottle and dislocated his ankle.” England, which lost 2-1, has another physiotherapist with the squad, Steve Kemp. AP