As Spain, Italy and England head for the exit door, the knockout stages are starting to take shape in Brazil and Wednesday’s action sees groups E and F draw to a close on day 14 at the World Cup, live on BBC and ITV.
Wednesday’s action opens up with Nigeria, who need to avoid defeat in their final Group F game to guarantee a place in the next round, against Argentina in Porto Alegre.
Argentina have already booked their spot in the last 16 after winning their opening two matches and only require a draw to win the group, which would most likely mean they avoid France and instead face the Group E runners-up in Sao Paulo next Tuesday.
Alejandro Sabella’s side will be looking for more than a point, though, having failed to shine in either of their games so far and been made to work for a 2-1 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina and 1-0 success against Iran.
Claudio Caniggia netted twice when Nigeria and Argentina met in the group stages at the 1994 World Cup, and 20 years on, Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain and, without doubt, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi will be looking to get on the score sheet for the South Americans and ensure top spot in the group.
In the other game in the group, Iran must beat Bosnia and Herzegovina to stand any chance of advancing to the last 16 of the World Cup.
Both sides have acquitted themselves well in narrow defeats against Group F leaders Argentina, but Bosnia have already been eliminated following a 1-0 loss to Nigeria and Iran’s fate is no longer in their own hands.
Iran need Argentina to beat Nigeria in Porto Alegre and then have to pick up three points against Bosnia, which would leave goal difference to determine who continues in the tournament.
In the evening, Group E reaches its conclusion with the feature match seeing Ecuador play France at the Maracana stadium in Rio.
France have failed to perform well at a major tournament since reaching the World Cup final in 2006 but coach Didier Deschamps has brought in a new generation of players and united a previously mutinous squad.
Ecuador pose a threat on the counter-attack, with wingers Antonio Valencia and Jefferson Montero key to their success, but the likes of Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema will be looking to expose their frailty in defence.
The other match in the group sees Honduras play seeded nation Switzerland at the Amazonian city of Manaus.
Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld retires after the World Cup but he has rebuilt the side over the last few years into a slick, more attack-minded unit.
Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri is their chief creative threat and one of many players in the team to have been born outside Switzerland.
Honduras failed to win a game in their two previous World Cup campaigns but have plenty of players with top-level experience in Britain, including Stoke’s Wilson Palacios, Maynor Figueroa of Hull City, Celtic left-back Emilio Izaguirre and Arnold Peralta of Rangers.
You can watch all 64 matches from the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil live across the BBC and ITV, with live streaming available online across multiple platforms.
Visit our dedicated World Cup page – sport-onthebox.com/worldcup – for a full rundown of both channel’s comprehensive coverage of the tournament.
SOTB’s TV viewing guide to Day 14 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup:
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DAY 14: WEDNESDAY 25th JUNE
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| GROUP F LIVE: 4.00pm-7.10pm Venue: Porto Alegre |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via ITV PLAYER
Nigeria and Argentina go head-to-head once again at a World Cup as they meet for the third time in four tournaments in the group stages at the Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre.
Both teams have already faced Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran, and Argentina clinched their progression with narrow victories over both, while Nigeria are still in contention for a place in the last 16 having claimed four points so far.
The sides have met in three previous World Cups, with the Argentines winning by one goal on each occasion, most recently in the group stage of the 2010 tournament, when defender Gabriel Heinze was the unlikely scorer of the only goal of the game.
The nations have since met in two friendlies, with the African outfit claiming a 4-1 home win against their under-strength opponents in June 2011, but the South Americans avenging that defeat three months later with a 3-1 victory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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| GROUP F LIVE: 4.00pm-7.05pm Venue: Salvador |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via ITV PLAYER
Bosnia have already been eliminated following narrow defeats to Argentina and Nigeria, while Iran have a chance of qualifying if they can win here and Argentina do them a favour by beating the Nigerians.
Iran manager Carlos Queiroz has a positive previous experience of facing today’s opponents, having guided his native Portugal to a 2-0 aggregate play-off victory over them to qualify for Euro 2010.
Queiroz has no players of Cristiano Ronaldo’s ilk to call upon on this occasion though, and the key man in this match could prove to be Manchester City’s prolific Bosnian Edin Dzeko.
ITV4’s build-up programme will be a simulcast of ITV’s coverage of the other match between Argentina and Iran.
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| GROUP E LIVE: 8.00pm-11.10pm Venue: Rio de Janeiro |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via BBC iPLAYER
Group E draws to a close with a clash between 1998 world champions France and South American opposition in Ecuador at the iconic Estadio do Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.
The French national side are not considered to be the force they were just over a decade ago, when they won the World Cup they were hosting in 1998 before going on to triumph in the European Championships two years later.
But have been impressive so far in their wins over Honduras and Switzerland and a point against Ecuador in tonight’s final match would be enough to secure top spot in the group, with the Swiss, who play Honduras (see below), favourites to finish second.
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| GROUP E LIVE: 8.30pm-11.00pm Venue: Manaus |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via BBC iPLAYER
The Arena Amazonia in Manaus plays host to Honduras and Switzerland’s final match in Group E.
This will be the second time the two sides have faced each other at a World Cup finals, having also been drawn in the same group at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
Coincidentally, they met in the third round of fixtures on that occasion too, and produced a drab 0-0 affair that saw the Hondurans finish bottom of the group with one point, while the Swiss missed out on progressing to the knockout stage.
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SPORT ON THE BOX’S COMPLETE WORLD CUP TV GUIDE
Wednesday 25th June Match of the Day: World Cup Highlights – Day 13 7.35am-8.15am BBC Two NIGERIA v ARGENTINA Group F – Porto Alegre | Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.00pm-7.10pm ITV BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA v IRAN Group F – Salvador | Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.00pm-7.05pm ITV4 ECUADOR v FRANCE Group E – Rio de Janeiro | Kick-off: 21:00 LIVE: 8.30pm-11.10pm BBC One HONDURAS v SWITZERLAND Group E – Manaus | Kick-off: 21:00 LIVE: 8.30pm-11.00pm BBC Three Match Replay: 1.50am-3.35am (Thu) BBC Two.
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