(SportingAlert.com) — World Cup round of 16 action continues on Sunday with two more games, as teams seek to secure places in the quarter-finals.
The schedule will see Netherlands taking on Mexico in Fortaleza and Costa Rica facing Greece in Recife. Live coverage of the games will be at 12pm and 4pm ET, respective, on ESPN, ESPN3.com and WatchESPN. Other live providers are beIN Sports 1 HD, beIN Sports 2 HD, beIN Sports 11 HD, beIN Sports 13 HD, Nederland 1, NOS Live Streaming, STV Scotland, ITV 1 UK, BBC Radio 5 Live, UTV, ITV Player, RTE 2, RTE Player, Azteca Deportes En Vivo, Sky Mexico, Totalplay…and more here
Netherlands welcome back captain and leading forward Robin van Persie after he missed the win over Chile in final match in their group stage because of suspension. The Manchester United striker has so far scored three goals and will form a dangerous attacking partnership with Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, who has also scored three times at this year’s World Cup thus far. Defender Bruno Martins Indi isn’t fully covered from a concussion and looks set to miss out again.
Mexico, who struggled during the qualifiers to get to Brazil, looked a different team in the group stage and head into this clash against Holland, confident that they can avoid another round of 16 World Cup exit.
The CONCACAF side, which finished second to Brazil in a difficult Group A, will hope to avoid another last 16 exit from the World Cup.
Javier Hernandez is expected to start on the bench again, despite his lively contributions as a sub, but Carlos Salcido looks well set to start for the suspended Jose Vasquez.
The second game of the day sees the battle of the two surprised teams in the last 16. Costa Rica and Greece, two sides which started the tournament very far down the pecking order, will be seeking to win a quarter-finals place.
Costa Rica defeated both Uruguay and Italy and then tie with England in their last game of the group stage to top Group D with seven points. Greece, meanwhile, picked up a late 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast to book their World Cup last 16 place by finishing second to Colombia in Group C.
Costa Rica, with Arsenal forward Joel Campbell leading the attack, will start as the favourites to progress to their first ever World Cup quarter-finals, as well as becoming the first CONCACAF team to go beyond the last 16 at the tournament since the USA in 2002.
