I'll be DAMNED. I should be working right now. The only reason I'm not is because of my continued health issues, which I won't gross everyone out with here. Last night, I was assuming I would be working. I had to decide which games to DVR, because I would only have so much time to watch when I got home. I decided not to record the Spain/Cape Verde match because, well, there's no way in hell this match would ever be competitive in a hundred years, right? Right? Right? Holy crap. What an effort by Cape Verde, and our boy Steven Moreira. I actually thought they won it with that corner kick header in the 90th minute before it went right to the keeper. Wow.
That was a masterclass in defending. There was no dirty play, chippiness or other things that could sour the defensive strat. Verde's goalie played the game of his 40year old life.
During that one and only break away in the 88min I wish the other guy would have seen Steven streaking. Because I'm pretty sure he would have scored.
Ill be there on Friday. We are debating whether to rent a car or take an Uber. Whats the parking like?
I've been impressed with the tournament so far. Expansion hasn't hurt the quality of play so far. I was not expecting that. Games have been mostly competitive. I really like the semi-automatic offside. The game flows much better. I like the end of time-wasting on throws and goal/corner kicks. Again--saves time and gets more actual play. Long overdue. I understand the hydration breaks, even though it is clearly the camel's nose coming under the tent. Not fond of it, though.
Would transit work?? If I were in Philly, I'd take the Broad Street Subway, for example. I'd take MARTA in the ATL. And we took transit last time (1994) in Chicago (but not Detroit).
Moreira a free agent? Bez gotta get him locked down. 🇨🇻 Columbus Crew defender Steven Moreira starts today as Cape Verde make historic World Cup debut➕ Moreira, former MLS Defender of the Year, out of contract in six months. Will be coveted free agent if he gets there pic.twitter.com/DQBtmz8SlM— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) June 15, 2026
FWIW, Cape Verde are temporarily top of group based on disciplinary record. Fox has it wrong. As does ESPN. Shocking, I know. FIFA.com, too.
Good callouts. Not a fan of 8/12 third place teams making knockouts. There is zero consequence to Spain for their underperformance today. (With due respect to Cape Verde's commitment). Expand to 64. Top two from each group only qualify. Maximize the stakes of every group game.
Neither, take the Link light rail. Pioneer Square station is about 10 minutes from the stadium with plenty of bar and restaurant options to pregame. Chinatown station drops you off right at the gates.
Funny. I think Alexi Lalas said exactly this before the first game of the tournament. I agree, mostly. With 32 teams, you have some teams that don't qualify that are decent, but still manage to get some weaklings in. With expansion to 48, the quality of the teams that are excluded is lower, which is good, but the quality of some of the teams that get in also is lower, which is bad. Expand to 64, and the think the negatives outweigh the positives. I think the level of the extra teams that get in will be significantly worse. For starters, a lot of the cream of the crop will barely have to strain themselves during qualifying if we radically increase the number of teams that get in AGAIN. Plus, there is a point where you can have too much of a good thing. I've managed to watch every match of the tournament so far (a streak which will die most likely tomorrow), but if you have a 64-team field, there are going to be so many games in such a short period of time that it's going to oversaturate things. And it will require more stadiums in more cities and make it more spread out and more infrastructure. The only positive I see is that the math eliminates the need to advance the third-place finishers, and makes sure that teams that make the knockouts do so because they earned it.
Spain also has to play Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Assuming they finish in the top two, all of this becomes moot. Let's see what unfolds before we worry about third-place teams. This reminds me a bit of the yearly college basketball discussion that takes place every March. "If such-and-such team was the 4th seed in the Midwest vs the 5th seed in the South..." Ya know what? By the time 4-8 teams remain, both the NCAA Tournament and the World Cup will probably have the best teams remaining. Yes, the 11th seed (MAAC, champion or whoever) beat a 6th seed team from a power conference. Yes, Cape Verde managed a miracle tie. Both of their paths get harder and they probably won't be around too much longer. It's great for Cape Verde, but it probably won't matter a whole lot in a few weeks.
I get this line of thinking......but do not agree with it. You get higher stakes with 2/4 advancing. For sure. But you also get more games later on with 1 (or even both) teams already out. This way, almost everyone still has a shot going into matchday 3. You want more of the world tuned in for longer. Plus, some random niggling injury, fluke goal, or bad call is less likely to be fatal. And I would not say zero consequence for Spain. Winning the group just got tougher.
And, for the record, the winners of Spain's group (Group H) and Belgium's group (Group G) are the other two group winners in the quarter of the draw with the Group D winner (our group). If Egypt holds on, then our potential R16 opponent could by Egypt or Iran instead of Belgium. If Spain finish 2nd, we could be looking at Uruguay instead of Spain in the quarters. Spain finishing 2nd instead of 1st could have big consequences for us. Cart before horse, for sure. But that is something to watch. Groups G & H will impact us the most if we get to the KOs as group winners (knock on wood).
Look at the NCAA Tournament and the NBA for all the evidence you need that expanding is bad for everyone except TV networks and advertisers. The regular season is totally meaningless in those sports. The 24-team College Football Playoff is going to ruin that sport too. Qualifying should mean something and there will be a lot more blowouts in a 64-team field because all the top teams will be juicing their goal differentials.
It'll matter if Moreira gets sold to a European team before the season restarts next month. (And if so, more power to him.)