In the first round of match day 13 games, Costa Rica took on England as Uruguay faced off with former champions Italy for a spot in the next round.
England had already sealed their fate with loses to Italy and Uruguay while Costa Rica needed a draw to seal top spot in the group. The British made a host of changes from the team that played previous group games.
Costa Rica’s control of the opening exchanges underlined the gulf in confidence between the two teams with Arsenal striker Joel Campbell failing to open the scoring in the second minute.
Sturridge was England’s main attacking threat and had England’s first chance in the 12th minute.
There wasn’t much intensity to the game with England already knocked out and Costa Rica through to the next round and this was visible from the match proceeding.
Sturridge had a 27th-minute penalty claim rejected and another half-chance fell his way but he could not keep his header down after Phil Jones nodded an England corner back across goal.
The teams went into the break with neither of them getting on the score sheet.
The second half picked up where the first had left and some late substitutions did nothing to increase the entertainment factor as Costa Rica held on to set up a knockout clash against the runner-up in Group C.
In the other match Italy and Uruguay faced off with the South Americans needing a win to progress whike the Italians needed only a draw.
Italy looked set out to absorb the pressure and shut out their opponents. Andrea Pirlo had the first chance on goal as Muslera was forced to tip over his 12th minute free kick.
Buffon was also on hand to deny Suarez on the other end with the first half ending at nil nil.
The second half was full of controversy that will dominate the headlines after the game.
It started out with Cavani’s appeal for a penalty being waved on before Marchisio was handed a straight red in the 59th minute.
The biggest drama of it all came from Uruguay’s striker Luis Suarez appeared to bite the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini. The ref failed to properly deal with the incident and the Italians will feel a bit undone as Godin headed in the winner in the 81st minute to ensure his team progressed to the next round.
The second round of the day’s matches say Colombia take on Japan as Ivory Coast faced off with Greece in a game that would determine who takes the second spot in the group.
Japan needed to win and hope the result between Cote d’Ivoire and Greece went their way in order to progress. It was the South Americans who’d take the lead however as Juan Cuadrado smashed home a penalty.
Japan equalized on the stroke of half-time to raise their hopes of qualifying with the teams going into the break level.
Colombia’s Martinez restored their lead in the second half as he took a touch and fired low beyond Eiji Kawashima after a nicely-weighted pass from James inside the area.
He then added Colombia’s third eight minutes from time before James, one of the players of the tournament so far, showed his class in the 90th minute to round off the scoring and maintain Colombia’s 100% record.
In the other match, Ivory Coast needed a point to progress while the Greeks were looking for nothing a short of a win.
Yaya and Kolo Toure both started, after deciding to stay in Brazil following the death of their brother, while captain Didier Drogba made his first start of the tournament, replacing Bony.
The Greeks were forced into making changes in the first half hour as Kone and goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis suffered injuries but almost took the lead in the 33rd minute with the crossbar denying them a goal.
They did get the opening goal in the dying minutes of the first half as Samaris pounced on to a loose ball by Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote, combined with Samaras and slotted in a cool finish.
Bony was introduced in the second half and he was on hand to draw his team level in the 74th minute, producing a composed first-time finish after Gervinho’s clever cut-back.
The Africans thought they had done enough to progress but there was enough time for a twist in the plot as Greece grabbed the winner in the 93rd minute. Samaras made no mistake from the penalty spot to make sure his team took second spot.
With Colombia topping Group C they will now face off with Uruguay, might be without striker Suarez, as Greece face off with the surprise of the tournament Costa Rica.