Monday June 15 Links and Banter
It's Monday.
About Last Night/Afternoon
Germany 7, Curacao 1
Kind of...: The Curacao players will always be able to tell their children about the time they were tied with Germany for a while. And Germany once beat Saudi Arabia 8-0 (2002), so...way to not do that, Curacao!!!
AlmaOtter: The legend of Curacao manager Dick Advocaat rose up, came quickly, and then flaccidly limped away.
Japan 2, Netherlands 2
Kind of...: Game of the event so far. All the goals came in the second half with Japan rallying from a goal down twice. And it really was more a story of creative offense than porous defense. Things tend to tighten up in the knockout round, so hopefully we get a couple more of these before we get there.
AlmaOtter: Dang, this one was fun. It's hard to explain a near walk-off equalizer to an American fan, but that was some wild shit. Great match, more of that please.
Ivory Coast 1, Ecuador 0.
AlmaOtter: Ah, the Game of the Crossbar. Ask not who the crossbar bars; it bars for thee. A whole lot of near misses in this one, but Cote d'Ivoire avoided the doink on the shot that mattered.
Kind of...: It's fine to be a defense-oriented team the way Ecuador is. And, yeah, hitting the crossbar a couple of times feels like cosmic injustice. But Ivory Coast hit it too, and the advanced numbers say that they were a deserving victory (especially based on open play). If nothing else, good for the team that was looking to create offense.
Sweden 5, Tunisia 1.
Kind of...: Sweden is usually a good candidate to park the bus and win 1-0 (14 goals in 13 previous World Cup games this century...exactly the same numbers as their last four appearances at the Euros). But, Tunisia isn't very good, and there are tiebreakers to consider, so here's five goals for you, including in the 84th minute and in stoppage time. The powers that be knew what they were doing when they scheduled this one late.
Today's Schedule
Spain v Cape Verde.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia. 12:00 PM ET, 11:00 AM GTZ.
Kind of...: I'm probably tempting fate here, but I don't think Spain will try to match what Germany did. For one, they're a bit banged up, so the goal is three points and no injuries. Second, Cape Verde, while not that good, probably isn't Curacao level bad. That said, Spain is my pick to win the whole thing, and they are loaded with talent.
MaximumSam: Spaniards take on the lemon pepper wings at Magic City. I can't wait.
Belgium v Egypt.
Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington. 3:00 ET, 2:00 GTZ.
Kind of...: Belgium might be my pick of the clear group favorites to flame out. They have a "golden generation" that is aging out. Of course, they crashed out in 2022, so I guess I'm a bit late with the pick. Plus, with 48 teams, a solid squad is going to have to try harder to disappoint. And, on paper, this is a really weak group.
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay.
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, Florida. 6:00 ET, 5:00 GTZ
Kind of...: Uruguay should coast to second place in this group. They didn't get out of their group in 2022, but had made the knockouts in three straight appearances before that, highlighted by a fourth place finish in 2010. Compared to Brazil and Argentina, almost nobody lives in Uruguay (about 3,500,000 people), but they're pretty clearly established as generally the third best side in South America. They ARE, however, having travel troubles. They're blaming FIFA. Probably not the only entity to blame. Anyway, getting in 24 hours before the game isn't optimal. We'll see.
Iran v New Zealand.
SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California. 9:00 ET, 8:00 GTZ
Kind of...: New Zealand's last appearance was 2010, where they went 0-3-0, scoring only two goals in the process. YUCK. Iran, with whom we are totally no longer at war, has won a group stage match each of the last two world cups and would have made the knockouts with a draw against the US in 2022. Solid squad, but far from a lock to win this one.
AlmaOtter: KO, there are still at least 9-10 hours before the match. There's plenty of time for us to go back to war.
MaximumSam: It's possible we win the war on Iran at least three times before kickoff and perhaps once or twice during the game. For national pride, we must be rooting for the All Whites.
