Gallery: World Cup

The first of the day's matches saw Colombia meet Ivory Coast in Brazil's capital city of Brasília

Police were on hand to monitor the crowds at the Estádio Nacional, but all was calm on the gorgeous afternoon

Colombia fans came out in force, with many sporting blonde afro wigs to honour past national great Carlos Valderrama (pictured here, as the right of the two giant heads)

Ivory Coast fans were certainly enjoying the atmosphere of excitement as well

Ivory Coast midfielder Die Serey got choked up during his country's anthem...

... but, fans roared up again when kick-off time came, throwing a giant inflatable football on the field at the first minute, in the hopes that it might somehow find the goal and give their team the early lead

The two sides split the possession percentage to start. Here, Ivory Coast defender Arthur Boka (R) clears the ball away with Colombia midfielder Juan Cuadrado close by

And then, on the other end, Ivory Coast forward Gervinho watched as Colombia defender Cristian Zapata moved the ball back down the pitch

Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure couldn't find a way to make much of an impact in the first half. Here, Colombia defender Mario Yepes simply walks away from the helpless Toure

Ivory Coast consistently broke into the Colombian defence, forcing Juan Zuniga and the like to scramble in order to keep the score sheet clean

Colombia made nothing of a beautiful chance at 29' when an unmanned Teofilo Gutierrez failed to convert on a ball that fell perfectly at his feet

Both sides ramped up the tackles to try and assert themselves. Here, Serrey challenged Colombia midfielder James Rodriguez...

... while Cuadrado gave Serrey a - rather harsh - taste of his own medicine minutes later

Serrey let the pain sink in, as Ivory Coast and Colombia skidded into the half drawn scoreless

The Valderrama look-alikes were ready to get things started again after a stagnant first half

Ivory Coast forward Wilfired Bony tried his best...

... but, it was Rodriguez who put the first point on the board, with a header at 64'

The goal put Colombia up 1-0 midway through the second half and would spark the beginning of a brief scoring spree for both teams

Next to find the back of the net was Colombia midfielder Juan Quintero, who put his side up 2-0 at 70'

And just three minutes later, Gervinho pulled off a magical run and finished true, putting Ivory Coast back in it with plenty of time left

Colombia was able to hold off the tricky Ivory Coast side though, emerging from the dramatic match with a 2-1 victory and a virtual guarantee to move on to the knock-out stages

The second match of Day 8 saw Uruguay take on England at Arena Corinthians in chilly São Paulo

Some English knights got psyched for game time to come...

While a few cheerful fans of Uruguay painted their faces with the flag of their country to show some support...

... not bad at all lads

One of the major storylines leading up to the action was the questionable fitness of Uruguay star striker Luis Suarez who did not play in his squad's first match, a shocking loss to Costa Rica

England coach Roy Hodgson had one last moment of solitude and planning on the pitch before the kick-off of the must-win contest

England came into the match off the heals of a fantastic duel with Italy, which they lost 2-1

A view of the pitch during the first few minutes of play, making use of tilt shift and a variable vocal plane lens to transform the whole scene into something looking like a model

Play started off at a blistering pace, with both sides making multiple shots on target, which were saved by Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera...

... and England goalkeeper Joe Hart

Nineteen-year-old England midfielder Raheem Sterling drove the ball up the Uruguay defence

And England star striker Wayne Rooney - who came into the match under a tremendous amount of pressure to live up to his billing - had multiple chances to make his mark in the first half. Here, he just missed wide left on a free kick

Rooney watched on as Uruguay midfielder Alvaro Pereira and defender Diego Godin athletically controlled the ball

Then, at 32' Rooney saw his best chance of the afternoon so far, bouncing a header just over the crossbar

The miss was about as near as could be for England, and Rooney will surely remember the moment as a goal that should have been

Only five minutes later, Suarez proved his vitality with a class goal on Hart

The score put Uruguay on top at 38' and allowed them to slide into the halftime break to catch their breath with a shot of added confidence

The fans in the stands were about as happy as the squad themselves

Meanwhile, England was left to contemplate their comeback plan for the second half

Although their fans - in fairness - were still having a right great time

Uruguay came back out continuing their relentless attack on goal, as Cahill cleared away this ball from Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani

England soon took control, though, dominating possession for the majority of the the second half, as here England forward Danny Welbeck forced Muslera to make a quick save

Uruguay had a scare at 56' when Pereira got knocked hard in the head by Sterling's knee. The midfielder seemed completely out of it for a few moments, but he eventually played out the rest of the match

And then - finally, amazingly - Wayne Rooney made it happen. The poster boy scored his first World Cup goal at 75' with a little left foot tap off a beautiful through-the-legs pass from Daniel Sturridge

Rooney celebrated his World Cup redemption, which also equalised the score for England at 1-1

In the end, though, it was Suarez who decided the day. His powerful strike at 85' came off a disastrous down-field header - and assist - from England captain Gerrard

Suarez celebrated lifting his side to a 2-1 victory, re-asserting his dominance and adding to his World Cup goal tally, which now stands at 41 and Uruguay's most ever

Uruguay fans at Copacabana in Rio rejoiced alongside Suarez, as the side now have a clear chance to make it out of Group D

And finally, on to the Estádio das Dunas in Natal, where Japan were set to take on Greece. Let us pause for a moment to appreciate the sublime get-ups put together by the Japanese for the occasion

Oh yeah

That's right

Bowling pins, love it

Why?

Sumo man. Yes.

As for the Greeks? Well...

... they tried

Both sides started the match off slowly. Here, Greece forward Konstantinos Mitroglou controlled the ball against Japan defender Yasuyuki Konno

Japan midfielder Makoto Hasebe broke up the monotony at 12' when he received a yellow card for a sloppy tackle

Japan star striker Keisuke Honda failed to make anything of some fleeting chances in the first half, as Greece midfielder Panagiotis Kone and the like kept him in check

Eventually, Greece forced Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima to make some clutch saves. He vented his frustration to the defenders following each close call

Greece suffered a blow midway through the first half when Mitroglou went down with a bizarre hip injury. Replays didn't show much heavy contact on the play, but Mitroglou had to leave the pitch less than 10 minutes later

Around that time - at 38' - Greece lost another key figure, when midfielder and captain Konstantinos Katsouranis received his second yellow card on the match for another mindless challenge. Greece went into the half drawn scoreless with Japan

The second half continued much like the first, with Honda attempting to create in space with nothing much doing around him

Honda seemed baffled by his side's lack of success

Although the bowling pin ladies were still having a fine time

While Japan kept something to the tune of 70 percent possession during the second half, Greece managed to keep the score sheet clean. Here, Greece midfielder Giorgos Karagounis sticks close to Japan forward Shinji Kagawa

Japan defender Atsuto Uchida made a late go at Greece goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis...

... with nothing doing ultimately. Greece managed to drive Japan to a 0-0 draw, even while playing all of the second half with only 10 men

Gallery: World Cup - Day 8

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