Good morning, TSFers! Today is a good day for the Americans around here. The USMNT won their second World Cup knockout stage match ever, and it’s de facto Friday with tomorrow (actual Friday) as a holiday because July 4th falls on a Saturday this year.
Today’s matches:
Spain vs. Austria, 3 pm ET, FOX
Portugal vs. Croatia, 7 pm ET, FOX
Switzerland vs. Algeria, 11 pm ET, FOX
England 2 – DR Congo 1 Congo took a surprising lead in the 7th minute but couldn’t hold on down the stretch. A late Harry Kane
brace (75th, 86th) won the match for the Three Lions. Kane’s second was a tremendous shot. Congo played really well, particularly their goalkeeper Mpasi (he might have done a bit better on Kane’s first, tough to say). Djed Spence, while pacey and useful going forward, is a real weak link defensively. Noni Madueke was excellent. England didn’t score until the Arsenal triangle of Declan Rice at RB, Bukayo Saka, and Ebere Eze were on the field together working the right side.
Belgium 3 – Senegal 2
Senegal took a 2-0 lead deep into the match before late goals from Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans, assisted by Leandro Trossard, forced extra time. Tielemans won a penalty in the 120th minute, which he converted, to win the match for Belgium. My YouTube TV “key plays” function could use some work. It selected 10 moments from the match. None of them were the five goals scored. I had to find a highlight package elsewhere.
USA 2 – Bosnia & Herzegovina 0
Folarin Balogun joined Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, and Garrincha as the only players to score a knockout goal and also be sent off in a match. Malik Tillman scored a brilliant free kick goal to give the 10-man USMNT some breathing room for the last 8 minutes + 10 of added time.
I am not going to do referee discourse about the Balogun red. It was a really, really tough (bad) call. It’s really unfortunate that at a World Cup marked by fairly lax, permissive refereeing and very few cards shown that one referee decided to deviate from that established standard. Balogun’s suspension markedly lessens the Americans’ chances of getting past an unimpressive (so far) Belgium side.
