June 26 – From hero to zero to hero. Suarez provides reasons to be pious as Colombian keeper Mondragon provides inspiration for the older generation.
Suarez dominantes, again
If you were in any doubt that Luis Suarez has stolen the world’s media attention away from discussion of the football action on the pitch, then see the graphic below. Data compiled by Moreover Technologies comparing the media coverage of yesterday’s matches compared to mentions of Luis Suarez leaves Suarez way out in front showing a grinning set of teeth to his national team competitors. Suarez romps in with a 79.76% share of media coverage against just over 20% for the combined might of Messi’s Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, France, Honduras, Nigeria, and Switzerland.
One ticket missing…
Much has been made by FIFA of fans taking care not to buy black market tickets, not least in case of forgeries. But it isn’t every day that an participating team ticket goes missing. Chile bought 700 “football family” tickets for friends and relatives of players and officials but their media spokesman has confirmed that one of them has somehow ended up in the wrong hands. At the time of writing an investigation as to who passed on the ticket had failed to come up trumps.
Beach balls up
Towards the end of England’s goalless with Costa Rica on Tuesday, just to the right of the media tribune, a section of fans decided to play their own game with a beach ball, much to the hilarity of onlookers. Maybe they were getting restless with the lack of goal action on the pitch though that won’t bother the Costa Ricans one iota after their unexpected success in reach the knockout stage.
Staying on topic
Every day FIFA holds a mid-morning briefing for attending journalists, choosing a specific topic for discussion before going on to general questions about the tournament. But at Wednesday’s briefing on ground-breaking state-of-the-start technology, all reporters wanted to know was the extent to which it could capture Luis Suarez’s already infamous bite. They tried every which way to get the panellists to discuss Suarez, only to be knocked back on every occasion by the FIFA representative who ensured all questions on Suarez were made in the relevant post-special topic part of the briefing.
Age no concern
Colombia have provided some of the most thrilling moments in the World Cup but special mention should be made of reserve goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon who wiped away the tears in making World Cup history in the 4-1 victory over Japan on Tuesday as the oldest man to play in the finals at the age of 43 years and three days. He broke the record held by former Cameroon striker Roger Milla, who played at the age of 42 in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Colombia coach Jose Pekerman sent Mondragon off the bench in the 85th minute so that he could enter the annals of the game.
