I don't know why I thought Poland had won. Looks like it's going to come down to Fair Play points. That seems so schoolboy, like the team with the best grades moves on if the other tiebreakers are even. I'd almost rather them flip a coin. What if the straight red was a GK pulling down an attacker in the box on a 1 v. 1, and not some guy kicking an opponent in the nutz when the center ref's back is turned?
Well, Poland didn't expend a ton of energy today, so they should have enough left in the tanke when they play . . . France, IIRC.
Poland winning by losing. By the way, Mexico have lost more games at the World Cup than other team. Mexico has the all time worst goals differential.
So in CONCACAF, only 1 side looks to be moving forward. CAF look to have at least 2 (Ghana and Senegal), and possibly 3 if Morocco work a miracle. Asia have 1 side (Australia) through, and possibly, a 2nd if Japan hold serve. UEFA have 7, 8, or 9, depending on results CONMEBOL have 2, and possibly 3, if Uruguay can work a miracle.
I don't see Japan advancing. I would not have predicted Australia to be the only Asian team to advance, especially as they finished 5th in Asian qualifying. It's worth noting CONCACAF swept the three games against Asia: US over Iran, Mexico over Saudi Arabia and Costa Rica over Japan.
The way Greece and Bulgaria jerked the Macedonians around over the name for silly nationalist reasons was shameful. The fact that they had to agree to the name change was a real fail by the international community.
Started already. The brave “Underdogs” ready to take on the world. It doesn’t matter which international sport. It’s a good team, maybe the manager has an inferiority complex. They have a good a chance as any. Holland isn’t the team we’ve seen in the past, so why does the media do this to them.
In a 64 team tournament, we’d roughly have 32 UEFA/CONMEBOL teams and 32 from the ROW. I would imagine the second groups stage would be closer to 22-24 UEFA/CONMEBOL and 8-10 ROW. If an Australia could get through 1) an initial group that is easier than their current WC group and 2) second group that is more difficult than their current group, then they will have earned the descriptor. 5 matches will require man management and roster depth. The more difficult second group would not be as forgiving. And some teams that were a year late in hitting their stride during quals would be there.
Maybe? But as things stand, they've got a match against Spain who have already won the group; Japan would have to win 7-0 for Spain to not win that group. So Spain probably aren't going to "go all in" for a game that means nothing to them. Japan also have a lead on both Germany and the ticos on points and GD. Both Costa Rica and Germany need to win, AND for a disinterested Spain to beat Japan. Oh, and for GD to slide in their favor. By contrast, Japan's task is to get a result against a good, but probably disinterested Spain.
Well, it's still too close for comfort. Of course, if you allow regular people to participate in choosing their government, one of the unfortunate side effects is that it will show us that common people are just as capable of being evil as powerful despots. (As if we didn't know that.) But all in all, I still prefer to be in a place where we depend on ourselves rather than on a despot.
On paper Netherlands is more talented than the US, but I haven't seen that reflected in the matches that both teams have played so far in this Cup.
Spain has not yet won the group or even clinched advancement. They can be eliminated if things don't go their way. It's unlikely - it would require a big combined goal difference in Japan and Germany's wins (edit to add: or Japan and Costa Rica both winning tomorrow, which is super unlikely) - but to say they're "disinterested" and will let Japan do whatever they want is not realistic. I would argue that Costa Rica has a better shot to advance than Japan - both teams' chances are very, very small, but Germany has shown they can be beaten while Spain has not.
Holland has had a half dozen "Golden Generations" that fell short so not having that tag hanging around their neck might just be a plus. A rematch with Portugal would be fun!