The 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil kicked off over the weekend, and the opening day of qualifying games saw easy wins for most European teams ranked in the world’s top 10.
England crushed Moldova 5-0, and the Germans got three goals from the minnows from the Faroe Islands, with Mario Götze and Mesut Özil inking their names on the scorers sheet. Under their new manager Louis Van Gaal the Netherlands recovered from their disappointing Euro 2012 by beating Turkey, while Portugal and Croatia both beat their opponents by small margins. There were no big team clashes in this first round of 2014 World Cup qualifications, so we just saw very expected results.
The only disappointed big-team manager was Italy’s Cesare Prandelli. The Azzurri travelled to Sofia to face Bulgaria, and despite AS Roma striker Pablo Osvaldo scoring twice, the Italians left with a draw. Prandelli criticized his team’s performance, hoping they can lift their game against Malta in the second round.
In South America, Brazil was missing due to their automatic qualification as the host. This made the qualification games somewhat less interesting, but Uruguay gave us a big surprise. Oscar Tabarez’s team was defeated in Colombia, with the 4-0 final score humiliating the 2010 World Cup fourth-place finishers. The Uruguayan attacking trio was missing its focal point due to the suspension of Luis Suarez. Diego Forlán and Cavani could not match Falcao’s incredible performance of late. Argentina started their World Cup mission with a 3-1 win against Paraguay.
The second round of World Cup qualifying sees Uruguay host Ecuador. Will Luis Suarez‘s return help Uruguay to their first win? And more importantly, will the controversial striker help Liverpool get their first three-point result for the new EPL season against Sunderland this weekend?
