Happy Friday, TSFers! We’ve made it through another week and our reward is six World Cup matches today, six tomorrow, and the start of the knockouts on Sunday. Thank goodness. The expanded format has really put a damper on MD3 by eliminating so much of the jeopardy that teams faced when it was only the top two teams advancing from each group.
With the eight third-place finisher spots in the knockouts, teams know that if they get to four points, they’re almost assured of advancing and three points with
a decent goal difference will probably be good enough. That’s led to some pretty dull MD3 matches. Why spend the energy to try to win a game when both teams go through with a draw?
We’ve not reached Disgrace of Gijon levels (Austria-Germany in ’82, before simultaneous kickoffs, where both teams knew for certain they would advance with a draw and so basically didn’t play football), but it’s not great!
Today’s matches:
Norway vs. France, 3 pm ET, FOX
Senegal vs. Iraq, 3 pm ET, FS1
France and Norway are both through to the knockouts. Senegal would put themselves in good shape to advance with a win. Iraq need to win big (3+ goals) to advance. A draw almost certainly eliminates both.
Uruguay vs. Spain, 8 pm ET, FOX
Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, 8 pm ET, FS1
Spain are all but through. Uruguay and Cape Verde likely only need draws to advance, but wins would put them through for sure. Saudi Arabia needs to beat Cape Verde and improve their -4 GD.
New Zealand vs. Belgium, 11 pm ET, FOX
Egypt vs. Iran, 11 pm ET, FS1
Egypt are basically through to the knockouts. Belgium and Iran need results to feel confident in their place in the knockouts. New Zealand needs to win.
Yesterday’s results:
Ecuador 2 – Germany 1
Ivory Coast 2 – Curacao 0
Germany had already won the group and had nothing to play for against Ecuador. La Tri answered a 2nd minute Leroy Sane goal with an equalizer of their own in the 9th minute. Gonzalo Plata scored the winner to put them into the knockouts from a corner in the 77th minute. Ivory Coast rode a Nicolas Pepe brace into the next round.
Netherlands 3 – Tunisia 1
Japan 1 – Sweden 1
Sunderland man Brian Brobbey scored against for an impressive Dutch side. Japan and Sweden both advance after trading second half goals, both quite nice actually. The first half was dreadful.
Paraguay 0 – Australia 0
Turkiye 3 – USA 2
Australia advance and Paraguay are in solid shape to make the knockouts. Mauricio Pochettino made 9 changes to his starting lineup with the top spot in the group locked up. Auston Trusty scored an early goal for the US but Turkiye responded quickly, then took the lead into halftime. Seb Berhalter equalized in the second half, but Kaan Ayhan scored a 98th minute winner for Turkiye. Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler, as you’d expect, were excellent.
