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To play devil's advocate:

- Cameroon were fairly shite against Mexico in Natal before they went near Manaus - remember Mexico had two good goals disallowed and Hernandez missed a tap in late on.

- With England/Italy its harder to separate an effect as it was their first game; but if there was a hangover, you might have expected Uruguay to win more easily against Italy yesterday. As it was, they needed an Italy sending off and a bit of a fluke goal (in off his shoulder!) to win.

- Croatia are more interesting. Played well against Brazil in the opener and smashed Cameroon up in Manaus, but the Brazil / Mexico draw meant they had to beat Mexico to stay in the competition. I think Mexico were the better team on the night and deserved the win. Once they scored, Croatia had to go for it and were picked off mercilessly for the second. Croatia actually had their best chances after that, having a shot cleared off the line before Mexico's third and then scoring a late consolation. Croatia's biggest problem? An incredibly poor goalkeeper.

There may be an effect, but has it been enough to change any results so far? The only post-Manaus performance that would really raise an eyebrow for me was Italy's against Costa Rica.

<blockquote data-quote="Harbinger" data-source="post: 2487404" data-attributes="member: 65089">To play devil&#039;s advocate:- Cameroon were fairly shite against Mexico in Natal before they went near Manaus - remember Mexico had two good goals disallowed and Hernandez missed a tap in late on.- With England/Italy its harder to separate an effect as it was their first game; but if there was a hangover, you might have expected Uruguay to win more easily against Italy yesterday. As it was, they needed an Italy sending off and a bit of a fluke goal (in off his shoulder!) to win.- Croatia are more interesting. Played well against Brazil in the opener and smashed Cameroon up in Manaus, but the Brazil / Mexico draw meant they had to beat Mexico to stay in the competition. I think Mexico were the better team on the night and deserved the win. Once they scored, Croatia had to go for it and were picked off mercilessly for the second. Croatia actually had their best chances after that, having a shot cleared off the line before Mexico&#039;s third and then scoring a late consolation. Croatia&#039;s biggest problem? An incredibly poor goalkeeper.There may be an effect, but has it been enough to change any results so far? The only post-Manaus performance that would really raise an eyebrow for me was Italy&#039;s against Costa Rica.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Harbinger, post: 2487404, member: 65089"] To play devil's advocate: - Cameroon were fairly shite against Mexico in Natal before they went near Manaus - remember Mexico had two good goals disallowed and Hernandez missed a tap in late on. - With England/Italy its harder to separate an effect as it was their first game; but if there was a hangover, you might have expected Uruguay to win more easily against Italy yesterday. As it was, they needed an Italy sending off and a bit of a fluke goal (in off his shoulder!) to win. - Croatia are more interesting. Played well against Brazil in the opener and smashed Cameroon up in Manaus, but the Brazil / Mexico draw meant they had to beat Mexico to stay in the competition. I think Mexico were the better team on the night and deserved the win. Once they scored, Croatia had to go for it and were picked off mercilessly for the second. Croatia actually had their best chances after that, having a shot cleared off the line before Mexico's third and then scoring a late consolation. Croatia's biggest problem? An incredibly poor goalkeeper. There may be an effect, but has it been enough to change any results so far? The only post-Manaus performance that would really raise an eyebrow for me was Italy's against Costa Rica. [/QUOTE]

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