Michael Burgess on the five talking points from the FIFA World Cup second round matches.

Argentina defender Pablo Zabaleta Argentina's dependence on Lionel Messi has been increasingly evident throughout this World Cup.

A report on the World Cup being hailed as one of the greatest ever will be compiled by Fifa's Technical Studies Group and presented to all national associations.

Steven Holloway looks at four things we have learned from the third week of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

A lucky Kiwi punter managed to make more than $50,000 from yesterday’s Football World Cup matches.

FIFA said Today it will let Cameroon football authorities lead the hunt for "seven bad apples" in the national team who have been linked to match-fixing at the World Cup.

The Uruguayan President, Jose Mujica, has stoked up the Luis Suarez row by calling Fifa "a bunch of old sons of bitches" as the fall-out from his ban continues.

We all know professional footballers feign injury. Is it getting worse? Probably.

The Fifa World Cup game between England and Italy drew the largest free-to-air television audience of the tournament so far.

World Cup sensation James Rodriguez says Colombia will feel "no pressure" against Brazil in the quarter-finals after inspiring his side to a 2-0 victory over Uruguay.

As Adidas stopped using Luis Suarez for marketing, other social media-savvy companies have seized the opportunity for free publicity.

Suspense during yesterday morning's Fifa World Cup match between Brazil and Chile proved too much for a Kiwi punter who bet $2000 in extra time on the losing side.

Colombia wiped away the stain of Luis Suarez in the best possible way, leaving this World Cup to reclaim its place as one of the great sporting tournaments of all time.

Always appearing older than he is, 30-year-old Arjen Robben seems to have been around, fully formed, for years. But what we are seeing at this World Cup is a player at last coming of age.

The Peter O'Learys of the world are crying foul over abuse being meted out to them instead of a controversial Kiwi referee with the same name.

There may be no All Whites this time but that hasn't slowed the willingness of Kiwis to take a punt on the Fifa World Cup.

The spirit of unity among the remaining World Cup contenders will be vital in the knockout stage.

With half of the World Cup teams heading home, we look back on the group stage of the 2014 World Cup and which teams and players stood out.

England staff were still dismantling the team games room and meeting room at their hotel yesterday but the hotel clearly anticipated their early early departure from the World Cup.

Lionel Messi did something that we had not seen from him before at this World Cup. Not the two goals, or the casual match-winning brilliance.