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Fans of Switzerland and Ecuador sit together. EMPICS Sport

World Cup hangout: Messi takes centre stage and plenty more football chat

We’ve got the ideal place to discuss all things World Cup – from Argentina’s prospects to the best places to watch games in Ireland.

IT HAS BEEN an utterly enjoyable World Cup thus far and today promises to be just as entertaining. 

Email us at ben@thescore.ie, tweet us @thescore_ie or with the hashtag #ScoreWCHangout, post a message to Facebook, or leave a comment below.

Good evening and welcome along to our daily World Cup liveblog! It’s the turn of teams from Group E and F to get their finals underway and, importantly, our first chance to see just how good this heavily-backed Argentina team are.

Leo Messi and the boys take on Bosnia & Herzegovina at 11pm at the Maracana but, over in Brasilia, Ecuador have just gone ahead against Switzerland. There’s also the meeting of France and Honduras at 8pm.

Soccer - FIFA World Cup 2014 - Group E - Switzerland v Ecuador - Estadio Nacional An ageless Ecuadorian fan at the Estadio Nacional. EMPICS Sport EMPICS Sport

With thanks to the good folk at Budweiser, we will be giving away a number of snazzy Sony Xperia Z1 Compact smartphones from tomorrow onwards.

Phone

I can also exclusively reveal that 1997 world snooker champion and all-round good guy Ken Doherty will be coming into the office as our very first World Cup hangout guest host on Tuesday.

Ken is famously a big Manchester United fan but the first thing we’ll be asking him is who he has chosen to support in Brazil this month.

SNOOKER Ken Doherty3 PA Archive / Press Association Images PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Here’s the Valencia (Enner, not Antonio) goal which has put Ecuador 1-0 ahead against Switzerland:

Clarke Carlisle may be known as Britain’s brainiest footballer, but the Ecuador team is definitely not his specialist subject.

So, let’s get some discussion going… What did you make of England’s performance last night in their defeat to Italy? Can the Azzurri go all the way in Brazil?  Are Uruguay a spent force and over-reliant on Luis Suarez?

Also, is this the worst corner in the history of football?

Switzerland have equalised against Ecuador early in the second half thanks to a header from substitute Admir Mehmedi — only on the field three minutes.

At 11pm tonight, Lionel Messi will take to the pitch with Argentine team-mates intent on doing themselves justice on the world stage after going out of the 2010 finals at the quarter-final stage.

Soccer - FIFA World Cup 2014 - Group F - Argentina v Bosnia-Herzegovina - Argentina Training Session - Estadio do Maracana Adam Davy Adam Davy

Much has been made of the Barcelona star’s indifferent performances at major tournaments to-date but does he need to win a World Cup to cement his name alongside Pele and Maradona as an all-time great or has he already done so?


Poll Results:

No, he's one of the greatest regardless (353)
Yes, he must win the World Cup (228)

Predictions time. I’ve just quizzed those present on the TheScore.ie sports desk this evening on which way they see Argentina v Bosnia & Herzegovina going:

Paul Fennessy – Argentina 3-1

Steve O’Rourke – Argentina 2-1

Pat McCarry – Argentina 3-0

Eoin O’Callaghan – Argentina 3-2

Ben Blake – Argentina 4-2

Robin van Persie’s header against Spain… in flipbook form.

LATE DRAMA KLAXON! With 90 minutes played, it looked as if Switzerland and Ecuador were about to play out the first draw of this year’s finals.

That was until former West Ham player Valon Behrami made a last-ditch challenge and started a Swiss attack which ended in substitute Haris Seferovic scoring an injury time winner.

Before I go, the team news for France v Honduras at 8pm is in.

France: Lloris, Debuchy, Varane, Sakho, Evra, Cabaye, Pogba, Matuidi, Valbuena, Benzema, Griezmann.

Honduras: Valladares, Figueroa, Bernardez, Emilio, Palacios, Bengtson, Costly, Espinoza, Najar, Garrido, Beckeles.

Thanks for the company and all your comments. The night’s football is only getting started and we’ll have loads more goals, incidents, reports and reaction over the next few hours.

Robin van Persie’s already legendary header now in flipbook form

Spain better than in 2010, claims Torres

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