Pride and Glory at stake as Mexico take on Cameroon

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Cameroon and Mexico take the field in the second televised match at the World Cup at the Arena das Dunas in Natal, Brazil. After yesterday’s match between Brazil and Croatia, fans would be looking forward to another entertaining 90 minutes between two sides that are not considered favorites.

Cameroon reportedly arrived to Brazil four days later due to issues on bonuses within the squad. Two of their important players, the talented captain Samuel Eto’o and Oribe Peralta have injury concerns. Eto’o had a decent season with North London side Chelsea under Jose Mourinho scoring nine goals in 21 appearances. He is also Cameroon’s top goal-scorer and has previously played in the 1998,2002, and 2010 World Cups.

The former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker is currently looking for a club and is hoping to impress some potential suitors, reportedly Everton and Arsenal, with his performances in this summer’s tournament. However, it may not be the best start if he is unable to play against Mexico due to injury.

Mexico possesses a relatively stronger side but manager Miguel Herrera cannot take anything for granted considering how Brazil conceded an own-goal against underdogs Croatia in their opener. Brazil eventually won by 2 goals due to the quality of their attack.

Villarreal forward Giovani dos Santos will be leading the line instead of Manchester United forward Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez who has been out of form going goal-less in nine games. The Mexico side has not been the same since their 2012 London Olympics gold medal and is hoping to use the World Cup as an opportunity to re-establish themselves in world football.

Mexico did not win their pre-tournament friendly matches but will be looking to have a winning start against Cameroon. It should be an interesting match between two sides looking to prove themselves and may the best team win!

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Spider-Man returns to screens in 'Amazing' action-packed 3D sequel! *may contain spoilers*

(Image credit: ps4.sx)
Rating: 8/10

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return to Marvel’s rebooted ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ franchise with high expectations. Filmed in 3D by director Marc Webb, it takes you inside the web-slinger’s world unlike ever before.

Garfield finally looks comfortable playing the lead role and gets very close to erasing Tobey Maguire’s memorable role as the ‘Amazing’ hero. Emma Stone is brilliant as Gwen Stacy, his love interest. Their love story is one of the highlights of this action packed 3D adventure.

The wall-crawler faces multiple villains this time around. Unlike Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man 3’, the villains do not feel overwhelming. Garfield is the star and every time he is on screen, he shines as both Peter Parker and Spidey.

The film kicks off with Spider-Man swinging the skies of New York looking for trouble. He tackles Russian criminal Aleksei Sytsevich in a get-away truck holding flammable liquids. Sytsevich is portrayed by Paul Giamatti who looks like he is really enjoying the role. He later gets his own super-villian moment as ‘Rhino’.

Spidey eventually succeeds taking down Sytsevich and makes it to his high school graduation as Peter, missing girlfriend Gwen’s speech. The primary antagonist in the film is surprisingly a good guy turned bad. 

Versatile talent Jamie Foxx plays nerdy Spider-Man obsessed engineer Max Dillon working at Oscorp. Having been saved by Spider-Man in the beginning, he becomes his fan-boy. 

Poor Max stumbles into a tub full of electric eels and gets transformed into electric-powered being later known as ‘Electro’. Electro turns against his hero when he blames him for not protecting him from the cops.

The web-swinger succeeds in restraining him with water. In the midst of all this chaos, as both Peter and Spider-Man, he has to deal with his relationship with Gwen and also tackle a returning Electro and former best-friend turned super villain Harry Osborne who becomes the Green Goblin. At the same time, he discovers the mystery behind his parents leaving him as a child.

Dane DeHaan’s portrayal as Harry Osborne is lot more sinister than James Franco’s in Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ films. Franco edges out Dehaan and the relationship between Peter and Harry as buddies was better played out relatively.

The film ends on a bittersweet note that leaves you in tears with some hope for the future. Spider-Man according to Peter is all about hope and you really believe it coming from Garfield, especially when he shows emotions.

The film is great entertainment. The 3D scenes are brilliantly done with spectacular scenes as you follow the friendly neighborhood web-head swinging around the city. They come to life especially during the epic action sequences. There is even a sneak preview to a future Marvel film during the credits not to be missed.

‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ is an entertaining super-hero film with lot of heart worthy of another sequel!

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