Italy's players take part in a training session at the ABC Frasqueiro Stadium in Natal, Brazil on Sunday (Brazilian time) during the 2014 World Cup . Photo: AFP

Fate, bad luck and the will of various gods are about to be cursed for results that send one team to the knockouts and another to the airport lounge.

Tuesday sees both Groups C and D playing their final first-round games to work out who might need to make sneaky enquiries into Rio party planners and who might need to look into look­alikes to deflect deserved flak.

Group C has not been a classic so far, and that's being kind. Colombia were favorites going into the World Cup and that has not changed much, but their ­victory over Greece was more labored than a set of naturally born sextuplets. They improved in their tight victory over Cote d'Ivoire, enough so that people are mentioning them in the same breath as the trophy.

Cote d'Ivoire didn't really impose themselves in their win over a Japan side that appears to have been sent overseas as part of a diplomatic mission to bring passive politeness to South America.

Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba ­remain the best players but could shine ­regardless of age. The Toure brothers may have their minds elsewhere after the death of their brother at 28.

Meanwhile, Japan seem hellbent on not getting any points in case it might upset anyone.

Both Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda need to show why they were so ­recently respected and are so ­often ­subject to lucrative marketing campaigns.

Greece were also in Brazil. However, their performances so far are why the fast forward button was invented.

In Group D, Costa Rica have shocked more people than an unqualified electrician with their ascent to the zenith on a maximum six points. They will have no fear of an England team that was the most impressive in years but also the fastest to be knocked out of international competition since the Norman Conquest.

England should look to blood the youth who will shoulder the disproportionate burden of the next few international tournaments alongside those who will never feature for the Three Lions again. Shaw, Lambert, Sterling, Lallana, Sturridge and Welbeck would expect to play in what is a meaningless friendly for the Queen's men, as they look to build to the future.

Italy have their fate in their own hands and that is where they want it. The problem is that they face a strike force as potent as Suarez and Cavani having just ditched the remarkably frustrating Catennaccio.

Pirlo will need to pull the strings to prevent the Azzuri from a premature departure.

As for Uruguay? Give the ball to ­Suarez and pray. It's worked so far.



The author is a copy editor with the Global Times. jonathanwhite@globaltimes.com.cn