An Awkward Day at the World Cup.

Today at the World Cup began with the Group F games of Nigeria Versus Argentina and Bosnia & Herzegovina Versus Iran. Argentina were already through and Bosnia were already out so in order to qualify Iran needed to beat Bosnia and for Argentina to qualify. Nigeria simply needed Iran not to beat Bosnia meaning that Iran's performance alone would decide the group.

This made the Nigeria V Argentina game a bit of a strange affair because it wasn't a meaningless match like the final Group B games but the result of the Bosnia V Iran could easily make it so. As a result neither team could fully relax and make it an exhibition game but by the same token weren't under any real pressure to push hard. The game got off to a barn storming start with Lionel Messi putting Argentina 1-0 up after just three minutes. Still worried they might need a draw Nigeria retaliated from the re-start with Ahmed Musa levelling things for Nigeria after the 4th minute with a goal Messi would have been proud of.

Whatever pressure there was on Nigeria lifted in the 23rd minute when Edin Dzeko put Bosnia 1-0 up in the other match with an impressive left-footed shot from around 20 yards out. From here Nigeria started to relax a bit and ended up giving away a series of free-kicks on the edge of the penalty area from where Messi is so deadly. It was with the second of these that Messi punished Nigeria with a near perfect curling free-kick in the 46th (45+2min stoppage) meaning that Argentina went into the half-time break 2-1 up.

With Iran still 1-0 down Nigeria didn't really need to press but did anyway with Musa levelling the score with another great goal in the 47th minute. This made him the first Nigerian to score two goals in the same World Cup finals match and meant that the Iran result no longer mattered. That confidence lasted for all of four minutes when Marcos Rojo put Argentina 3-2 up with an almost comedy goal when the ball bounced in off his knee following a 50th minute corner that Nigeria failed to defend properly.

Things quickly got better for Nigeria in the other match with Miralem Pjanic putting Bosnia 2-0 up in the 59th minute with a goal that was only just onside. This might have proved hugely controversial when Reza Ghoochannejhad (Gucci) got one back for Iran in the 82nd minute scoring Iran's first goal of the tournament. However it was quickly cancelled out with another goal by Dzeko just 50 seconds later. As a result the match ended 3-1 to Bosnia meaning that Iran would be going out regardless of the result in the Nigeria V Argentina game.

By that point the Nigeria V Argentina game had slowed right down with Argentina taking Messi off in the 65th minute and seeming happy to sit back and coast. Although they did make some effort to equalise for a third time Nigeria knew that it seemed unlikely that Iran would come back so were also happy to sit back and rest. As a result it finished 3-2 to Argentina but both sides went through anyway.

The situation in Group E which made up today's second bloc of games was more complicated. Here France topped the group with 6 points, Ecuador and Switzerland sat in the middle both with 3 points and Honduras were in last place with 0 points. As a result if Ecuador beat France and Switzerland beat Honduras it was possible that Ecuador and France would go through provided that Switzerland didn't win by a lot of goals and France lost by a lot of goals in which case Ecuador and Switzerland would go through. Alternatively if Switzerland beat Honduras and Ecuador drew with France then France and Switzerland would go through.

As a consequence it wasn't really possible to say which game was the most important because it was a combination of the results that would decide the group. However I decided to watch the Ecuador V France game because based on their previous performances they seemed to be the most attacking teams in the group creating the highest chance of goals. Boy did I get that wrong because the action came from the Honduras V Switzerland game with Switzerland really going for it.

Xherdan Shaqiri opened the scoring for Switzerland after just five minutes with a screamer of a shot from 25-30 yards out which has to be a contender for the goal of the tournament. Shaqiri doubled Switzerland's lead in the 31st minute and scored his and Switzerland's third in the 71st minute giving him the second hat-trick of the tournament and the 50th hat-trick ever scored in a World Cup finals. With Honduras averaging a World Cup goal roughly once every 30 years it goes without saying that they never seemed to threaten Switzerland who went on to win 3-0.

By contrast the Ecuador V France game was something of a dull affair with France making five changes in order to rest their key players and possibly to give Ecuador a better chance of qualifying over France's neighbour Switzerland. Although both sides created half-decent chances it ended 0-0. The only key incident of note came in the 50th minute when Ecuador's Antonio Valencia was shown a straight red card for a foul on Lucas Digne. Essentially what happened is that both Valencia and Digne lunged for a loose ball. Valenica got there first coming in on top of the ball with his studs showing. Unfortunately as he made contact with the ball his foot bounced onto Digne's leg raking up his shin and eventually smashing into his knee no doubt causing him a lot of pain. There was no malicious intent on Valencia's part so I personally would have only shown him a yellow card. However it was a reckless challenge and referees are under instructions from FIFA to clamp down on challenges where studs are showing. So although harsh neither Valencia nor Ecuador have anything to complain about really. 

As a result of these games the winners of Group E (France) will take on the runner-up from Group F (Nigeria) while the winners of Group F (Argentina) will take on the runner-up from Group E (Switzerland) in the last 16 knock-out phase.

Another day of excellent football has though been marred by the continuing fall-out from yesterday's game (if you wish to call it that) between Uruguay and Italy and the conduct of Luis Suarez in particular. Following his biting of Italy's Giorgio Chiellini FIFA have charged Suarez with violent conduct although they have yet to make a statement regarding the conduct of Uruguay's Edinson Cavani or the referee Marco Rodríguez. If Uruguay wish to contest the allegation they should have done so by 20:00 (GMT) today meaning that sentence is likely to be passed on Suarez at some point tomorrow.

Given the severity of the offence and the fact this is now the third time Suarez has committed the same offence it is highly likely that he will face the maximum penalty of being banned from international football for the next two years (24 games). The problem is that Uruguay are scheduled to play Columbia on Saturday (28/6/14) meaning that if either Suarez or Uruguay wish to appeal the punishment it will all have to be done on Friday (27/6/14).

This is where I think FIFA have made a huge mess of the situation because they should have immediately suspended the result of the Uruguay V Italy game while they investigate the conduct of the referee and a number of Uruguay players. They then could have annulled the result today allowing for Uruguay's appeal to be heard on Friday morning. Instead this nasty business is going to drag on until Saturday and a match that should leave any football fan furious for simple reason that Uruguay have no right to be playing in it. Even if Columbia knock Uruguay out there will still be a long shadow cast over their quarter-final because the question will remain of whether Columbia would have been able to beat Italy?

23:15 on 25/6/14 (UK date).