Shocks Galore - Day 14 Round-Up

Well that was a turn for the books!

We actually began today with the culmination of Group F - yeah, I know, confusing, but hey, what Sepp Blatter wants, he gets. With matches between Slovakia and Italy, and Paraguay vs. New Zealand, it was certainly going to be a bumpy ride. One was very dull, one was the best of the tournament. Can you guess which one?! We had a dull 0-0 draw between Paraguay and New Zealand, but wow, the other game was incredible. Robert Vittek put one goal in for Slovakia in the 25th minute, and then scored again in the 73rd minute to give them a shock 2-0 lead. Antonio Di Natale pulled one back for Italy with 10 minutes to go, and it began to look an even better possibility that Italy would go through... Fabio Quagliarella scored a fabulous goal, for it to only be ruled out for offside. But Kamil Kopunek scored a further goal for Slovakia, and it killed the game... Or did it? Qualiarella then scored properly in 2 minutes of injury time, before having a strike scraped off the line with seconds to go. The game finished 3-2, which means Paraguay are group winners, with Slovakia going through as runners-up, and Italy, reigning world champions, finishing bottom of their group... For the highlights of Paraguay vs. New Zealand, click here, and for Slovakia vs. Italy, click here.

That meant that Group E finished off the second week, and finished off the third games. Matches between Denmark and Japan, and Cameroon and the Netherlands would decide who would follow Holland into the next round. It was first blood to Japan, after two absolutely stunning free kicks from Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo, and then the Netherlands went ahead through a brilliant goal from Robin van Persie. It stayed like that after the break, but after 65 minutes, Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon equalised through a penalty. Then, with 10 minutes to go, Jon Dahl Tomasson pulled a goal back for Denmark, before Klass-Jan Huntelaar scored another goal for Holland in the other game. The last goal of the day was from Japan, with Shinji Okazaki scoring a goal brilliantly teed up by Honda. He's gotta be a big player next season. It meant the Netherlands finished top, with Japan going through as runners up. To watch the highlights, click here for Denmark vs. Japan, and here for Cameroon vs. Netherlands.