It could still be Japan. But apparently it will likely be Nigeria. I am not sure how all of this is decided. We won all of our games but we play the best third place team?
It’s just based on random combinations of the 4 groups whose 3rd placed teams advance. You’re right that Japan is an option if Tunisia or Uruguay thumps the other. If Tunisia loses by more than 2 goals, that could open up the door for Japan.
It's as follows: We'll play Nigeria unless these two conditions are met... -France v Honduras ends in a draw. -in the Uruguay v Tunisia match, either Uruguay wins by 3+ goals or Tunisia wins by 4+ goals. If both things happen we'll play Japan. But it looks unlikely.
Yeah, that last minute goal by Israel really screwed it up for Japan. Nigeria will be a solid test. We’ve played better in the last two matches but this will really test the kids and Masche.
Most sub-Saharan teams at this level never are but might as well get it out of the way. I’m starting to really like this side.‘I hope we can make a deep run.
They ended up winning 3-1 but still fail to qualify for the KO stages. Somewhat of a shame because Brasil could have a cakewalk. Their only completion on their side of the bracket is Uruguay. Because they play Tunisia and then the winner of Israel v Uzbekistan. The USA is on their side as well but the USA will always be average. Our side of the bracket has Nigeria, England, Ecuador, SK, Colombia and Italy. Sure Italy and England play each other and so does SK-Ecuador. If we win, we play the winner of SK-Ecuador.
It is funny reading people underestimate this team, particularly those who just look at the qualifications and believe it is the same squad.
Just like people put England, Brazil, Spain and France ahead of us in WC. Even when we won Copa and unbeaten in qualifier, they still underestimated us, which is the best scenario.
How many f'ing times are we going to face Nigeria in tournaments? They have to be the most team we've faced the most in tournaments (discounting Copa Americas b/c its always the same team).
10 fckin times! 1994 WC 1995 Conf 1996 (u23) 2002 WC 2005 (u20) 2008 (u23) 2010 WC 2014 WC 2018 WC 2023 (u20) I believe we never beat them by more than 1 goal margin , except in friendlies. Its always been 1-0, 2-1, 3-2.
We’ve also faced them a few times in friendlies. It seems generation after generation we run into them in some capacity.
Yep, Messi alone has faced them 5 times in tournaments , twice in friendlies. I think we lost to them 4-2 the last time we played them in friendlies, thanks to Sampa brilliant team.
we got the hardest team in the round of 16 by a lot, if you look at the other matchups (except maybe england-italy) theres no comparison! BUT we cant really complain since we got the easiest group and we didnt qualify in the first place anyways, we should win against this classic rival as we always do