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Written by: World Cup

World Cup Recap: Day 19

Day 19 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup was the final day of Round of 16 games which featured Argentina v Switzerland and USA v Belgium.

Argentina faced Switzerland in the first game of the day in Arena Corinthians. Switzerland hoped to stop the Argentine’s chances of winning the World Cup by neutralizing Leo Messi as Switzerland constantly had Messi marked by at least two men, however Messi managed to break free and show his old form and way of weaving around defenses to strike fear in their hearts. Despite his and Angel Di Maria’s efforts they were unable to break the Swiss defense as the first half ended tied 0-0. The second half would prove to be the same except Switzerland gave up attacking and dedicated themselves to defending which proved harder than expected. Argentina was unable to break the tie and the game went to extra time, and after missed chances, it seemed like the game would go to penalties but Leo Messi had another moment of brilliance and created a wide space for Di Maria to have a clear shot at goal which went past the Swiss goalkeeper to give Argentina the 1-0 win at the 118 minute.

USA faced Belgium as the clear underdogs but the Americans were determined to prove everyone wrong and after the first half it looked like it could go either way even if Belgium had a clear advantage on the game with more shots and more shots on goal that were met with Tim Howard’s hands over and over again. The second half saw the Americans step back and allow Belgium to attack more but despite their efforts the 90 minutes ended level and the game headed to extra time. After 3 minutes of extra time, Belgium was finally able to see the ball past Tim Howard to give them the 1-0 lead over USA. Nearing the end of the first half of ET Lukaku netted the second goal for Belgium, giving USA the seemingly impossible task to tie when down by two. However a substitution wold prove inspiring for The United States as 19 year-old Julian Green, who was brought instead of veteran Landon Donovan, netted USA’s only goal of the game which gave the USMNT a glimpse of hope that would eventually die down as Belgium eliminated The United States 2-1.

Quarter-Finals begin on friday with

France v Germany @Noon

Brazil v Colombia @4PM

and follow on Saturday

Argentina v Belgium @Noon

Netherlands v Costa Rica @4PM

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Tags: , , , , , , Last modified: July 7, 2014