Argentina vs Nigeria

Perhaps the match most affected by me drinking thus far.

We gathered to watch the latter two matches at my parents' house on Saturday: such affairs normally turn into a day at the nursery with my 2 year old nephew and 5 month old dj junior the centre of attention, but despite dj junior managing to dribble so much on his new England kit that he looked like he had a Vieira style amount of decongestent smeared on his chest, beer, grilled meat and football remained the centre of attention.

I watched the whole game, but don't really remember much about it. I wanted to see more of Di Maria, who was a bit peripheral. Messi did well, but should have scored a couple of his easier chances. Presumably once they reach the knockout stage, Gutierrez will be replaced with Burdisso, given his ability to play at right back. Argentina should have won by several more, but Martins looked pretty good, and Nigeria shouldn't lose heart with regard to getting through; their key match will be with South Korea.

Higuain's miss from Messi's run was a bit of a shocker obviously, but some of Messi's silky running was a joy to watch, and I got the impression that Mascherano had a fine game.