:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/34239401/476827755.0.jpg)
How do you follow up a rather interesting opening day to the 2014 World Cup? Well, you have a rematch of the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa between the Netherlands and defending champions Spain.
Not bad, right?
That, of course, is just one of the three games as we hit the first-full day of action in Brazil.
Friday's first game features Mexico vs. Cameroon and closes with Arturo Vidal's Chile squad square off against the Socceroos from Australia. And even though there is a serious question mark as to whether Vidal will play as he continues to try and regain full fitness following his knee surgery he underwent last month, there's still at least one Juventus player playing tomorrow (Mauricio Isla) and possibly another (Alexis Sanchez).
So all is not lost just because King Arturo might or might not face the Socceroos today.
(Just a piece of advice, Chile: DON'T RISK ARTURO VIDAL, PLEASE. HE IS IMPORTANT AND CANNOT BE MESSED WITH.)
And maybe we'll be lucky enough to have a couple of referees who actually know how to recognize what a dive is compared to an actual foul. Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah, it would.
Quiero desear mucha suerte a mis compañeros en su debut de hoy en el Mundial. Vaaaaamos España!!!
— fernando llorente (@llorentefer19) June 13, 2014
Don't forget about Fernando, you guys. He's probably sitting on a nice sunny beach somewhere and thinking about how he'd score that goal Fernando Torres is likely to miss if he gets off the bench today.
FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE
Group A: Mexico vs. Cameroon, 1 p.m. local time, 12 p.m. on the East Coast, 9 a.m. on the West Coast
Group B: Spain vs. Netherlands, 4 p.m. local time, 3 p.m. on the East Coast, 12 p.m. on the West Coast
Group B: Chile vs. Australia, 7 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. on the East Coast, 3 p.m. on the West Coast
