World Cup 2014 scores, reaction and analysis

• The Elephants are coming
  

  by Andi Thomas

  England's loss to Uruguay will take the headlines, but the 2-1 victory that came beforehand was the real entertainment. Colombia, horses of an indeterminate but certainly quite dark shade, were ebullient in their attacking and dogged in defence, but the really heart-warming performance came from the Ivory Coast.

  Yes, they lost. But they looked excellent in doing so. This tournament is the last hurrah for a generation of Ivorians. Yaya Toure is 31, his brother Kolo is 33, the Didiers, Zokora and Drogba, are 33 and 36 respectively. That quality has seen them qualify for both the last two World Cups, only to be thrown into groups of distinctly deathly shades, and squeezed out by Brazil and Portugal in 2010, and by Argentina and the Netherlands in 2006.

  This time, though, they've been luckier with the draw and they're looking good. Having brushed aside a disappointing Japan in the first game, they went toe to toe with Colombia and were unfortunate not to emerge with a point. Of particular note is the strength of their bench: with Drogba being used as an impact substitute, they have improved through both their games so far, and only the end-game heroics of Mario Yepes kept Colombia's lead intact.

  It's been a little late coming, but this might well be the year that we finally get to enjoy Toure and friends making it into the knockout stages. And once there, they've enough about them to inconvenience anybody, particularly with Gervinho starting to buzz. All hail the defiantly orange elephants.

• Suárez's revenge is in his mind only

  by Kirsten Schlewitz

  On Thursday, Luis Suárez scored twice to propel Uruguay to victory over England. After the match, the player took the opportunity to claim that his brace had been "revenge" for the constant criticism from "too many people in England". Said Suárez: "I'm enjoying this moment, because of all I suffered, the criticism I received."

  Suárez has been a villain at many times in his footballing career. He bit Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax, directed racist remarks toward Patrice Evra following his move to England, and followed that up by deciding to sample the taste of Branislav Ivanovic, perhaps for comparative purposes. The bites set him up as a fantastic punchline, a perfect caricature of a villain, but the racism goes beyond comedy and beyond sport.

  So to describe him as "vindicated" or as "redeemed", or to set him up as a hero only in contrast to the villainy that came at the last World Cup, is absurd. In 2010, Suárez was only a villain to the Ghanaians, and even they have others to blame. When his hand went up to block Dominic Adiyiah's shot from heading into goal, Suárez became a hero. He took a chance, both he and his team were punished for it, and had Asamoah Gyan scored the resulting penalty, all would have been well (apart from in Uruguay).

  The match against England was his next appearance in the World Cup; Suárez scored twice to give Uruguay newfound hope of reaching the knockout rounds. But that doesn't mean he's vindicated himself; in pure footballing terms he's never needed needed that vindication, and if he considers scoring goals to be on the same moral spectrum as biting fellow competitors or racially abusing them he is, like so many superstars, completely off his rocker.

  There has never been much wrong with Luis Suárez, the footballer. He plays the game as close to the edge as possible, but if that's what it takes to win, so be it. Suárez put Uruguay through to the next round in South Africa. Suárez scored eleven goals in CONMEBOL qualifying, the most on the continent. It was Suárez's knee injury that prompted a nation to panic, and it was Suárez's return that brought confidence.

  But pointing to his play -- no matter how much it's managed to upset the English -- as redemption for his sins, as though goals for Liverpool or Uruguay are a sort of indulgence for racism or cannibalism? Stop being silly.

• Greece are gonna Greece
  

  by Graham MacAree

  To give you a hint of just how defensive Greece were expected to be in this tournament, observers following their match against Colombia were actually surprised when they cross the halfway line with the ball. "They're attacking?" the world wondered, "Have they really learned to do that?"

  A defence-first setup is not uncommon in football: La Liga champions Atlético Madrid were build on strong defensive foundations, so too are Champions League semifinalists Chelsea. Both are perfectly capable of holding off the opponent, luring them into committing more bodies forward, and then hitting them with a sucker punch once they overreached. Defend-and-counter is a classic technique.

  The Greeks never really did the 'and counter' part. The reason they're considered so, well ... boring is that their favoured technique is to defend and defend some more, retreating into an ever-deepening semicircle around their own goal and daring the opposition to break them down. That they're getting less capable and less organised at the back as they move away from that somehow-triumphant Euro 2004 squad only makes giving the other team the ball and hoping they don't score seem all the more ridiculous.

  Against Colombia, there were some signs of life on the attacking front. Pablo Armero's flank was exploitable; Greece duly did some exploiting. Giorgos Samaras and Panagiotis Kone threatened intermittently. Sure, Greece lost 3-0, but at least the game was at least mildly entertaining.

  The 0-0 draw against Japan was less fun. Kostas Katsouranis got himself sent off in the first half, and from then on Greece, as if by reflex, went into that defensive shell. And Japan never quite found their way around it, handing Greece a precious first point, condemning both teams to a probably fate as first-round dropouts, and boring the life out of every neutral watching.

  That's not to blame Greece for the boredom, of course -- any team going down to ten will play more defensively. But it's a sign that when push comes to shove, Greece are gonna Greece. Fortunately for the viewing public, they won't be Greeceing much longer.

Stephan Lichtsteiner

Switzerland have a tough task ahead of them in the most exciting Friday game. Getting a result against France, who breezed past Honduras in the opening round, would put them in prime position to top Group E and thus avoid the prospect of running into Argentina in the second round. Lose, and Lionel Messi and friends await them even if the Swiss do get out of the group stages. This match might turn on how the fullbacks perform -- Switzerland rely on Ricardo Rodriguez and Stephan Lichtsteiner for both attack and defence, and if Lichtsteiner can support the forwards without leaving too much space behind him for the likes of Antoine Griezmann to attack, they should be in good shape. If he can't, uh oh.