World Cup Day 4: Match Coverage And Discussion

Ready for another day of awesome World Cup football? We have three matches on tap today (well, two and a half because someone slept in), and they're matchups that look like they're shaping up to be every bit as compelling as the rest of what we've seen so far.

The matches

Any Napoli players involved?

The Swiss Trio of Gokhan Inler, Valon Behrami, and Blerim Dzemaili are all in the squad for Switzerland, though only the broken partnership of Inler and Behrami started, with Granit Xhaka somewhat understandably preferred over Dzei as a playmaker. Napoli have no one in the second match, but Argentina features three partenopei players: Gonzalo Higuain, Federico Fernandez, and Mariano Andujar. Fernandez is a virtual lock to start on the back line, and Higuain should be a lock to start up front, but apparently Alejandro Sabella is contemplating going insane.

Any transfer targets or rival players I'm probably interested in?

Want a new center back? Check out Johan Djourou on the Swiss backline. He's pretty dang good, and with Hamburg being terrible in Germany, will likely be wanting a new challenge. Want to drool over something that's probably unrealistic? Watch Granit Xhaka, and think about how good a vice-Hamsik he'd make.

Elsewhere, Napoli have been linked to France's Laurent Koscielny in the past, though those rumors have been quiet for some time now. Bosnia and Herzegovina have a couple interesting players, though one that Kirsten pointed out in her overture to Sabella to start Higuain is particularly so. Young defensive mid Muhamed Bešić has shown a degree of physical and technical talent that far outstrip what you would expect from the league he plays in. He could be a good low-cost flier pickup.

How do I watch these games?

In Italy? You're on SkyGO or Sky Mondiale. In the US it's ABC for the first two matches and ESPN for the last in English and Univision in Spanish, and both have online streaming platforms, while Canadians friends have CBC and the CBC Sports player. In the UK you can watch  ITV for the first match and BBC One for the rest of the day, or use the ITV player online. If you live elsewhere, check LiveSoccerTV for listings in your country.