Atlantic Week Mailbag Request
Get your Rutgers and Maryland questions in now! They're like bad seafood after a few days.
About Yesterday's Games
Czechia 1, South Africa 1
Kind of...: South Africa salvaged a draw on a late penalty, meaning both teams have a point through two games. Not great! Czechia finishes with Mexico and has to be hoping they bring out a lineup full of backups given that they've already clinched the group. However, playing on home turf makes that less likely. South Africa plays South Korea and just has to hope South Korea continues to play as offensively challenged as they did last night.
HoustonBoiler: While I was happy that Bafana Bafana was able to earn a point, the late draw did neither team a favor. Both teams will need a win in their final group match to move on to the round of 32. Unfortunately, I expect both to come up short and head home.
Switzerland 4, Bosnia-Herzegovina 1
Kind of...: Switzerland was up 1-0 when, in the 80th minute, Bosnia-Herzegovina went down a man. After that, the floodgates opened. Still, Switzerland will need a win over Canada to win the group. But with 4 points, they're already guaranteed no worse than third (and, practically, no worse than second) and likely passage to the knockouts.
Canada 6, Qatar 0
Kind of...: Canada was up 2-0 when midfielder Ismael Kone suffered a broken leg that everybody is calling horrific but that I purposely didn't watch any replays of because it was probably horrific. Canada extended to 3-0 just before halftime and, when Qatar went two men down early in the second, the floodgates really opened. The coup de grace came when Jonathan David finished off his hat trick in stoppage time. Canada is almost certainly through to the knockouts, and can win the group with a draw or better against Switzerland.
HoustonBoiler: Oh Canada! They came out aggressive and scored early - at the 16 and 29 minute marks - as if they had read Kind Of...'s comment yesterday regarding goal differential. Then at the 33 minute mark, Ismaël Koné sent a great pass forward to Tajon Buchanan, who had broken free. Without making a play on the ball, Al-Amin tackled Buchanan from behind in the penalty box. Initially, this was ruled a penalty kick for Canada and a yellow card for Al-Amin. However, a review showed that the contact was initiated just outside the box, so Canada received a free kick and Al-Amin's yellow was upgraded to red. Canada scored later, during the extra time at the end of the first half, to take a 3-0 lead into the locker room.
Early in the second half, Koné suffered a broken leg. I hadn't seen exactly what happened to him so I wanted to know what happened, but no replay was shown on the Fox broadcast. The announcer even stated that they did not control what replays were shown. I figured that it must have been gruesome, so it's probably for the best that a replay was not shown. This resulted in a red card for Assim Madibo. With Qatar down two players, the rout was on. Unfortunately for Canada, they will be without Koné for the remainder of the World Cup. He was playing very well and will be missed.
Mexico 1, South Korea 0
Kind of...: Congrats to Mexico for clinching Group A and officially moving on to the knockouts. This game sucked, though. The only goal came on a terrible mistake by South Korea's keeper, and South Korea spend the first 75 minutes playing like you earned points merely for possession. Blech.
HoustonBoiler: I only watched most of the first half of this match. While I was watching, the Mexican players were very aggressive with their tackling but they weren't pushing the ball forward as hard as they could. They seemed content to pass the ball around while probing. When the Mexicans did move forward, the Koreans responded well on defense though the goal keeper did make one nice save in the first half.
Today's Matchups
Group D: USA (1-0-0) v Australia (1-0-0)
Seattle, WA. 3:00 PM ET, 2:00 GTZ.
Kind of...: Pulisic status up in air...USMNT has never won two games in group stage at same tournament...win won't clinch group if Turkey wins later.
MaximumSam: It's long past time someone nuked Australia.
HoustonBoiler: LOL'd at MaximumSam's comment.
Group C: Scotland (1-0-0) v Morocco (0-1-0)
Foxborough, MA. 6:00 ET, 5:00 GTZ.
Kind of...: The Tartan Army's prodigiousness has already made Scotland winners in all of our hearts...A win for either team essentially sees them through to knockouts...both would probably not be devastated by a draw, either...hopefully that doesn't mean they both play conservatively...either way, don't put a photo of the beer you're drinking on social media if you live anywhere near Boston, otherwise there might be an unexpected knock on the door.
HoustonBoiler: Scotland played well in their opener, but that was against Haiti. It was a match Scotland needed to win and they did. Morocco represents a big step up in competition. Perhaps the Scots can steal a point.
All that said, the key question on my mind is whether Boston was able to restock with sufficient quantities of beer to quench the thirst of the Tartan Army.
Group C: Brazil (0-1-0) v Haiti (0-0-1)
Philadelphia, PA. 8:30 ET, 7:30 GTZ
Kind of...: Brazil's fans weren't happy with the draw vs. Morocco. Undoubtedly that fan base will find something to be unhappy about after tonight. But it really should be nitpicking a victory. If not, the criticisms will be fully justified.
MaximumSam: Philadelphia plus Brazil muddling around looking dumb? The mother of all boos.
HoustonBoiler: There is no shame in a draw with Morocco as they are very good. Haiti is not, so I expect Brazil to dominate this one.
Group D: Turkiye (0-0-1) v Paraguay (0-0-1)
Santa Clara, CA. 11:00 ET, 10:00 GTZ
Kind of...: USMNT win + Paraguay win or draw = USMNT clinches group. Turkey was supposed to be USMNT's stiffest challenged. Loss to Australia was pretty fluky. Interesting to see what happens tonight.
HoustonBoiler: The loser of this match will likely be heading home after group play. A draw won't eliminate either team, but the math will definitely not be in either team's favor.
