World Cup Day Eight: Open Thread

The banner news from day seven of the World Cup is, quite naturally, the dethroning of Spain, who, after dropping their first two matches in horrific fashion, is merely playing for pride at this point. It's a rather ignominious end for an unprecedented streak, but the mark Spain has left on this decade is indeed indelible. La Roja ran off an historic Euro-World Cup-Euro trifecta which, when coupled with Barcelona's domination of European club play, gives the first decade-and-a-half of the 21^st century a decidedly Spanish feel.

It may be quite some time before we see any single nation mount that sort of assault on global football, so take a moment to soak that in, unless you hate tiki taka, then by all means take a moment to rejoice.

The Matches

Last time out

Colombia jumped out to a fifth minute lead over Greece, a traditionally defensive side not known for their ability to play from behind, and buried them in a 3-0 victory. Roma target Jackson Martinez did not factor into the scoreline. But, I mean, come on...46 league goals in two season for Porto, we'd still take him, right?

Uruguay, meanwhile, could not hold onto their early lead, eventually falling to the Ticos of Costa Rica 3-1. The Three Lions of England could not contain the passing of Andrea Pirlo and Daniele De Rossi and were eventually done in by a Mario Balotelli header, vaulting the Azzurri to second place in Group D, while Gervinho helped steer the Ivory Coast to a victory over Japan.

Where to watch

You guessed it, ESPN has all three matches. For anyone like me who has since cut the cable cord, I'm hoping that it won't be long before these all migrate to ABC. As always, LiveSoccerTV has all your international listings. But the best viewing will probably be at a British pub, where you can watch all their hopes deflate in person once more.