Day 4

DAY 4 (THE MISSING ONE)

6/15/14. SALVADOR DE BAHIA - Ouch! Ouch! Ooouuuuch! The unthinkable happened to Mini Papi, as one of his wisdom teeth had to be removed by someone who said was a "dentist" in the middle of a favela. The Red Sox DH was given very little anesthesia and suffered a lot while his wisdom tooth was being taken out, and is now dealing with a swollen left cheek and stitches in the back of his mouth, drinking liquids and taking some Brazilian medication.

Bosnia, the only debutant in the World Cup, made things difficult for Argentina in the opener of Group F and could have begun the tournament with a decent tie, but Messi's goal proved to be the difference in a match where the equalizer never came for the European squad. 

SWITZERLAND 2 - 1 ECUADOR

FRANCE 3 - 0 HONDURAS

ARGENTINA 2 - 1 BOSNIA

Day 33

DAY 33

7/14/14. BOSTON - Mini Papi is back home. He wants to thank you for following and being a part of his journey at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It has been a blast and an unforgettable experience.

Thank you, Brazil!

By the way, as for World Cup awards, I would have given the "Golden Ball" to Robben (Netherlands), and the "Golden Glove" to Navas (Costa Rica). I agree with FIFA naming Pogba (France) the "Young Player" of the tournament, I don't know about Colombia getting "FIFA Fair Play" Honors… but I am really happy Rodriguez (Colombia) got the "Golden Boot" trophy, as he was the top goalscorer (6) of the entire competition.

Day 32

DAY 32

7/13/14. RIO DE JANEIRO - After the invasion of Rio by over one thousand Argentinians and the resell of tickets going at an average of four thousand dollars each, Mini Papi decided to not deal with chaos and watch the FIFA World Cup final match between Argentina and Germany from an unusual but cool place: the Corcovado mountain. Christ the Redeemer and him enjoyed a great view of Maracana, where Germany captain Philipp Lahm raised the fourth 1st place trophy his nation has conquered in World Cup history.

Germany had a splendid tournament from beginning to end, and truly deserved to win the World Cup. I'm not an Argentina hater or anything like that, but one has got to admit that Argentina didn't do enough to claim  the 1st place of the competition… at least, it didn't do as much as the Germans did. As  a matter of fact, I thought Germany was a level above the rest of the teams, tactically, mentally and in terms of organization, too. And just like that, they became the first European squad to win the World Cup in the Americas.

TODAY'S RESULT:

GERMANY 1 - 0 ARGENTINA (OT)

Here is another view from the Corcovado mountain. Beautiful, huh?

Day 31

DAY 31

7/12/14. RIO DE JANEIRO - Two personal goals have been achieved by Mini Papi this month. One was to watch a World Cup match from the stadium, and the other one was to go all the way up to the Corcovado mountain to take a very close look at one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World: Christ the Redeemer. This piece of art is such a big symbol in the Catholic religion that even late Pope John Paul II came himself to visit it in 1980.

SOME HISTORY BETWEEN ARGENTINA & GERMANY:

In 1986, the Argentinian squad of Diego Maradona defeated Germany (3 – 2) to claim the World Cup in Mexico; however, 4 years later, it would be the Germans who beat Argentina (1-0) in the final match of Italy 1990 to become champions.

The last World Cup encounter between the two current finalists was in the quarter-finals of South Africa 2010, when the “albicelestes” suffered an embarrassing loss by Germany (4-0).

TODAY'S RESULT:
BRAZIL 0 - 3 NETHERLANDS

The Dutch won third place of a tournament where its host failed in too many aspects of the game. Brazil's super stars didn't play their characteristic "jogo bonito", didn't know how to play as a team, was too disorganized in the middle and the back, and lacked ideas offensively. And, on top of that, they showed no respect to the Netherlands for not staying for the third place award presentation. Maybe they did that because they knew deep down they didn't even belong there, as they should have been out of the competition back when they played Chile.

Day 30

DAY 30

 

 

7/11/14. RIO DE JANEIRO - If you go to Rio and don't visit Copacabana Fort, you will miss out a pleasant surprise. This large fort with thick concrete walls and giant cannons was inaugurated in 1914 as a defensive point of attack and is now a landmark that not many tourists know about. Mini Papi highly recommends it!

Hopefully, the rumors of seventy thousand Argentinians invading Rio de Janeiro this weekend are true, because the World Cup atmosphere has gone down a little ever since Brazil and Colombia are out of the championship run. Street sellers are not all over the sidewalks of the most transited streets of Brazil anymore, jerseys of Neymar and James Rodriguez are not being sold on every single corner of the streets, people don’t wear Brazil and Colombia jerseys as much, and national chants are not as common as they used to be.

NO GAME TODAY

Day 29

DAY 29

 

 

7/10/14. SAO PAULO – Mini Papi couldn’t get enough of the stadium where it all began, so he decided to stay an extra day to enjoy every part of it. Of course, there were still some Argentinians celebrating around the Arena Corinthians… and some others were just passed out.

Hopefully, the rumors of seventy thousand Argentinians invading Rio de Janeiro this weekend are true, because the World Cup atmosphere has gone down a little ever since Brazil and Colombia are out of the championship run. Street sellers are not all over the sidewalks of the most transited streets of Brazil anymore, jerseys of Neymar and James Rodriguez are not being sold on every single corner of the streets, people don’t wear Brazil and Colombia jerseys as much, and national chants are not as common as they used to be.

NO GAME TODAY

 

Day 28

DAY 28

7/9/11. SAO PAULO – Brazil didn’t get its wish one way or the other, as they lost to Germany and Argentina beat the Netherlands in penalty kicks, so, after all, the two South American teams won’t play each other in the World Cup.

Argentina will play Germany in the final match on July 13 at Maracana (Rio), while Brazil will face the Netherlands for the third place at Mane Garrincha (Brasilia).

About the Argentina-Netherlands game, I must say that Mini Papi thought the Dutch would take care of Messi and his crew without too much problems… well, but what do I know? I had the same prediction when they played Costa Rica.

For Papi, more exciting than watching the PKs was to see tears of joy coming out of Argentinians’ eyes at the Arena Corinthians once they had won the match. It was awesome to witness the passion they have for soccer and their national team… it truly goes beyond great!

TODAY'S RESULT:

ARGENTINA 0 (4) - (2) 0 NETHERLANDS