Category: Latest

The 200% World Cup: Chile vs Australia – Live!

The 200% World Cup: Chile vs Australia – Live!

Posted by | Jun 13, 2014 | , | 1 |

The first big concern in this one is whether Chile’s star midfielder Arturo Vidal is fit and able to play tonight. The Juventus player has been struggling with inflammation in his right knee following an operation on his meniscus last month and was expected to be out for the whole of the group phase. They are far from a one man band though, as their third place finish in the South American qualifying section shows. They ended the campaign just four points behind Argentina, three ahead of Uruguay and now sit 14th in the FIFA rankings – above the...

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The 200% World Cup: Artist’s Impression number 1

The 200% World Cup: Artist’s Impression number 1

Posted by | Jun 13, 2014 | , , | 0 |

Every morning during the World Cup we are going to send an expeditionary force down to the fetid lair of our semi-trained hominid and resident artist Dotmund to prod him with a stick and see if he’s got any drawings of the previous night’s action lying around. This morning’s dawn raid yielded fruit, as he mourns those players on the fringes of the Brazilian squad who just missed out on the final 23. You can follow Twohundredpercent on Twitter here. Dotmund also has a Twitter, another blow for the...

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The 200% World Cup: World Cup Breakfast, Day One

The 200% World Cup: World Cup Breakfast, Day One

Posted by | Jun 13, 2014 | , | 5 |

When is a fix not a fix? It’s a riddle, for sure, and it’s a question that many people will be asking in all seriousness after the host nation Brazil eventually overcame an impressive performance by Croatia to win by three goals to one in Sao Paulo last night. The host nation are up and running, but they only did so with considerable assistance from the rub of the green, and they will have to improve if they wish to find a way past better opposition than that which they faced last night. Meanwhile, protests against the tournament being...

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The 200% World Cup: Brazil vs Croatia – Live!

The 200% World Cup: Brazil vs Croatia – Live!

Posted by | Jun 12, 2014 | , | 0 |

No pressure, Brazil, no pressure. Thoughts inevitably turn to 1950, when FIFA’s peculiar decision to have a group stage for the final round of the competition left Brazil – hosts then, as now – needing a draw from their final match against Uruguay to win the competition. So it was that over 199,000 turned out at the Maracana and saw the host nation take the lead, before freezing and allowing Uruguay to win the competition for a second time. This loss turned out to be a psychological scar that some say the country never quite recovered from, even though...

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The 200% World Cup: The Opening Ceremony – Live!

The 200% World Cup: The Opening Ceremony – Live!

Posted by | Jun 12, 2014 | , | 4 |

Good evening, everybody! Well, after literally hours of anticipation it’s finally time to get our coverage of the World Cup finals under way. We’ll be back at 7.00 (BST) with this very live-blog of the opening ceremony, and as soon as that’s done we’ll be back for the opening match of the tournament, which to be played between Brazil and Croatia in São Paulo at 9.00. In the meantime, here’s a small sample of World Cup opening ceremonies from days gone by. https://youtube.com/watch?v=NaU-MdB0HWo You can follow Twohundredpercent on Twitter by clicking here. You can follow Richard Grinham on Twitter...

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