Since the World Cup Draw took place Group D was for many the most complicated off all groups because it was composed of three former World Cup champions-Uruguay, England, and Italy. No one would have predicted that going into the third match of group play that Costa Rica would be the first to qualify.
Unfortunately, this great story has taken a back seat to controversy involving Uruguayan and Liverpool star Luis Suarez, who once again appears to have bitten an opponent during a match.
Uruguay and Italy faced off in a foul-filled, underwhelming game that decided the second team to qualify into the round of 16 out of Group D. The action on the pitch though, was overshadowed by what occurred in the Italian penalty box in the 79th minute.
Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez, who had already sent off an Italian player and should have sent off Suarez. Instead Uruguay went on to score the winning goal just moments after the incident at the expense of a clearly shaken up Italian defense. That kind of behavior has no place on a soccer field and Luis Suarez could now face a suspension that prevents him from playing in the rest of the tournament.
Costa Rica took the pitch for a third time in Brazil 2014, after beating both Italy and Uruguay, against already eliminated England. England took the field with a team full of substitutes to face the group leaders, who needed just a tie to ensure a first place group finish.
The game in Belo Horizonte finished in a scoreless draw after 90 minutes. The result continues the truly historical run for the Central Americans, who are definitely the Cinderella story of the tournament.
The Standings in Group D finish with Costa Rica and Uruguay advancing with 7 and 6 points respectively. Italy follows with 3 points and the English finish at the bottom with 1.
Uruguay will face the first place of Group C, likely to be fellow South American Colombia, while Costa Rica awaits the second place from the same group that will be decided between Ivory Coast, Japan and Greece.
Luis Gonzalez may be reached at [email protected]
