Good morning, TSFers. We’ve made it to the weekend and to the last day of the World Cup group stage. I’ve got high hopes for the Ro32, which starts tomorrow. I think we could see some surprise results and traditional big teams go home early.
Today’s matches:
Panama vs. England, 5 pm ET, FOX
Croatia vs. Ghana, 5 pm ET, FS1
Both England and Ghana are through to the knockouts based on other MD3 results. England will win the group if they match or better Ghana’s result against Croatia. Croatia advance with
a result but a loss puts them in jeopardy of being jumped for a third-place spot but even then, they’re in decent shape as long as they don’t lose heavily.
Colombia vs. Portugal, 7:30 pm ET, FOX
DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan, 7:30 pm ET, FS1
Colombia and Portugal have advanced. DR Congo advance with a win and only a win. Uzbekistan can only advance if they beat DR Congo by five or six goals.
Argentina vs. Jordan, 10 pm ET, FOX
Algeria vs. Austria, 10 pm ET, FS1
Argentina have already won the group and will face Cape Verde in the Ro32. Both Austria and Algeria advance with a result, so expect a bit of a snoozer as neither team is really incentivized to play for anything other than a draw. Jordan are eliminated.
France 4 – Norway 1
Senegal 5 – Iraq 0
Ousmane Dembele scored a 32-minute hat trick against a heavily rotated Norway side (10 changes!). Senegal went up a goal in the 4th minute, up a man in the 13th, and smashed Iraq in the second half. The 5-0 thrashing was the biggest win by an African nation ever at the World Cup.
Cape Verde 0 – Saudi Arabia 0
Spain 1 – Uruguay 0
Cape Verde’s third draw of the tournament mean the tiny island nation advance to the knockouts in their first World Cup ever, where they’ll face Argentina. Alex Baena scored the only goal of the match for Spain on a Fernando Muslera howler. The veteran goalkeeper really struggled this World Cup and reportedly asked to come off at halftime. Augustin Canobbio, who was a red card waiting to happen all match, got himself sent off in the 95th minute. A really disappointing showing from Uruguay at the tournament.
