FIFA World Cup: A look at the ups and downs of the first week

New Delhi: It has been a week since the biggest carnival of football began in Brazil where the world cup returned after 64 years. The opening week has seen almost all the actions associated with the game of football. The opening match won by the host country Brazil where it defeated Croatia 3-1 with the Brazilian star Neymar playing a crucial part in his team's victory. Let's take a look on the major events that took place on the football field in the opening week.Spain receives the worst drubbing: The two finalist of the last edition of world cup met again this time in the group stage. It was seen by many as a perfect stage for Netherlands to take their revenge on the same stage. The match was first of the major encounter in the group stage. As the match started the Spaniards open the account and took an early lead but that was just a one side of the picture. Van Persie ran onto a 40-yard pass from Daley Blind, glanced up, saw Iker Casillas off his line and dived full length to send a looping header over the Spain goalie.The players of the Dutch team then produced some exemplary shots and played such an attacking game of football that took the Spanish team by shock. The flying header by Robin Van Persie and the amazing sprint of Arjen Robben just took the game away from the Spanish players. Iker Casillas who was once seen as one of the most safest pair of hands was looking for the ball as the Dutch players kept scoring at will. The final score line between the two teams were 5-1 and it was seen as a perfect revenge by the Dutch players against the same team at whose hands they lost four years ago. Uruguay's loss to Costa Rica: It was the first match in the group of death. The Latin American nation was much favoured in this encounter against Costa Rica. This match can be said to be the biggest upset in the first week of FIFA world cup 2014. Uruguay took the lead with the goal from Edisson Cavani who scored from the penalty. But it was the second half in which the Costa Ricans came with rejuvenated energy to topple the much fancied Uruguay. The Costa Rican player Joel Campbell who was playing a good game scored in the 54th minute and his first goal was a thing of beauty. It was just after a couple of minutes that team Costa Rica stike back to take the lead with Oscar Duarte's brilliant header. The team was already on the way to create the first major upset of the tournament. The Uruguans seemed to lost their touch and with their star player Luis Suarez sitting in the bench things were indeed looking bleak for Uruguay. The final nail in the coffin was put by Marcos Urena who scored a late goal at the 84th minute for Costa Rica and thus helping his team to take a comfortable lead over Uruguay. The Costa Rican players have shown that they are here to play and are not mere pushovers. England still searching for a win: It was the second match in the group of death. The ‘three lions' were against the champions of 2006 who had a dismal 2010 world cup and were eliminated in the group stage. The match lived upto its billing of being a perfect potboiler. The azurris opened their account in the 35th minute. Italy's Marchisio's accuracy from a range of 20 yards gave them the early lead and a classic set piece by Andrea Pirlo helped the Italian cause. But the joy were short lived as England's Daniel Sturridge scred the equalizer for England. Both the teams went level at the half time. It was in the 50th minute that the star striker and Italy's hero Mario Balotelli who is playing in his first world Cup scored his first goal to give Italy the lead in the 50th minute. Both the teams then tried to make inroads into each other's defences but were unable to find the goal. The another thing which the football fans were eagerly waiting to see was the first goal by England's Wayne Rooney who had disappointed his fans once again. Rooney had a couple of chances to equalise but could not hit the target on either occasion.Messi delight: It was the first game of Argentina in the group stage and the opponents were Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Latin American neighbour of Brazil was expected to make early inroads against their opponents. It happened so but the situation was bit anti climax as Argentina took an early lead thanks to an own goal by Kolasinac .Then it was in the 66th minute of the game that finally the moment came. The one of the biggest footballing stars of the present era Lionel Messi scores his second world cup goal after eight long years. It was just when his fans were starting to gey impatient and were booing Messi that he shot the ball in the net. Messi beats two defenders and his shot hits the left post and ricochets into the net. It was in the dying moments of the game that Bosnia and Herzegovina were able to bring down the deficit. In the 85th minute of the game Ibisevic gets a ball in good space after beating the Argentine defender to bring down the deficit and have some solace for the Bosnian fans. It although added some spark in the dying moments of the game. The star and the villain: Germany against Portugal was seen as one of the few matches which were closely watched by the football fans all over the world. This match was a battle between the best team at the moment and the best footballer to play at the moment. Christiano Ronaldo was seen by many to become the hero of the match but it was not him , but German midfielder Thomas Muller who scored the first hattrick of the World cup. It was once again a one sided affair as the German team with their brilliant style of play scored goals at will and did not gave the Portuguese any chance of opening their acvount in score sheet. It was a bad day for Portugal as they first lost Pepe who headbutted Muller and after that they lost Fabio Coentrao with an hamstring injury.Finally Ronaldo gets a free kick but he manages to hit it straight at Germany's one-man wall, consisting of Lahm. Muller at the age of 24 has already scored eight world cup goals and is looking to score many more. If he carries on his form like this then it can be pretty sure that he can find his name inscribed in all time high goal scorer list. Ronaldo need s to get his act together for his team as soon as possible otherwise it will of no use for his individual brilliance to score goals and he will definitely look to see his side through in their next encounter against a rejuvenated United states of America. USA vs Ghana: Ghana has knocked the USA out of the last two World Cups and the US team looked that they came out with a mission to change the history of the previous two encounters in the world cup .This league match has seen almost all the elements of the football. It saw the fastest goal of World cup 2014 when Clint Dempsey scored a goal within the first minute of the game to give his side a 1-0 lead. The US team then had to lose their one of the player Altidore due to hamstring. The game also got physical as the duel between the US and Ghana players became violent at time. The scorer Clint Dempsey got hurt in his nose but he returned back on to the field, The Ghana players then scored in the 83rd minute. A brilliant strike by Ayew . when it seemed that the game was heading for a draw then the US manager Klinsman made an effective change and introduced John Brooks. It was master stroke as he scored in the final moments of the game to give his side an impressive win over the Ghana team. USA won the match with a scoreline of 2-1. The US team will be pretty much confident that the can take on the depleted Portuguese side when the both teams meet each other.

FIFA World Cup: A look at the ups and downs of the first week

New Delhi: It has been a week since the biggest carnival of football began in Brazil where the world cup returned after 64 years. The opening week has seen almost all the actions associated with

Read all the Breaking News Live on indiatvnews.com and Get Latest English News & Updates from Sports and Soccer Section