Your daily World Cup tip sheet for who's playing when, and what to watch for. We'll deliver a new briefing the evening before every game day, setting up the matches and pinpointing the underlying storylines.
Netherlands vs Mexico
Despite leading the Netherlands into the last 16 of the
World Cup by playing some rampant soccer at times – most
memorably in the 5-1 dismantling of defending champions Spain
in the first game – Dutch coach Louis van Gaal is now under
fire from the country’s press back home for abandoning the
team’s tradition of “Total Football” and playing with five
defenders at the back. Considering the turnaround from an
abomination of a performance turned in by the Dutch in a 1-0
loss to Spain in the World Cup final four years ago, you would
think they’d be happy, but clearly there’s just no pleasing
some people. Either way, Manchester United striker Robin van
Persie and Bayern Munich livewire Arjen Robben are providing
most of the firepower for Holland, with three goals each, and
Mexico will have its hands full trying to put the brakes on
that pair as well as the rest of the highest-scoring team in
Brazil. Head coach Miguel Herrera has garnered much of the
spotlight for his ostentatious style on the touchline, but he
has his team playing well after a dicey qualifying campaign,
and El Tri will take heart that it was able to hold host Brazil
to a 0-0 draw, with goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa putting on a
performance for the ages to keep a clean sheet.
Costa Rica vs Greece
A matchup too improbable to predict before the tournament
started, this second-round clash nonetheless features some
intriguing storylines. Costa Rica may well be the surprise
package of the tournament, emerging as it did on top of a tough
group featuring three former world champions, with impressive
wins over two of them. Head coach Jorge Luis Pinto has proved
an excellent tactician thus far, extracting some fabulous
performances from Cristian Gamboa and Junior Diaz on the
flanks, while a deep defensive back five has conceded just one
goal in the competition. Costa Rica is no stranger to the
knockout rounds of the World Cup – it advanced to this stage in
the 1990 edition in Italy – but a contest against Greece will
prove very different from anything this CONCACAF representative
has seen thus far. The Europeans have run the gamut in their
opening three games, starting with defeat against Colombia,
followed by a backs-to-the-wall effort to earn a point against
Japan before last Wednesday’s controversial, last-gasp win over
the Ivory Coast to secure qualification. That last game in
particular showed the attacking intent that Greece can inject
into its game when needs must, but given that the country’s
Euro 2004 victory – by some distance the greatest moment in
Greek soccer history – was grounded in a solid rearguard
action, the temptation to revert to a defence-first strategy
will likely prevail here.