World Cup Recaps and Previews, Tuesday July 7: The Red Devils Went Up To Seattle
And the Americans showed their entire ass
About Yesterday's Games
Norway 2, Brazil 1
Kind of...: Bit of a strange game. Norway, who conceded possession to Senegal, and was about even with Ivory Coast, dominated it vs. Brazil. At the same time, Brazil won in expected goals: 2.61-1.05. Yet, it didn't really feel like some injustice that Norway won. What?
First, Brazil missed a first half penalty...that someone other than Vinicius Junior took. And Brazil's near meaningless late goal came on a PK, so there's your goal differential. In the run of play, Brazil seemed content to let Norway have possession as long as it was up high. It was working well enough, relatively even game I'd say, until Haaland did his thing. The way he's playing in this competition– low number of touches, lethal finishing--Norway can just assume they're winning any tied game because he'll find a way. That's really how it felt in much of the second half prior to his first goal. And then he scored.
Obviously Brazil missing a PK was huge. Lot of different ways things could have gone if they're up. But they didn't, and that encapsulated the number of ways this side is not a classic Brazilian squad. Norway is on to their first quarterfinals ever.
HoustonBoiler: Brazil had a great opportunity to take the lead with a first half penalty kick, BUT Norwegian goal keeper Ørjan Nyland made a nice save on Bruno Guimarães' shot. Otherwise, Norway possessed the ball for a majority of the match while looking for openings to feed their goal scoring machine, Erling Haaland. Norway finally broke the deadlock when Haaland hammered home a header in the 79th minute. Haaland scored again on a blistering shot in the 90th minute. The combination of controlling possession, getting Haaland great chances, and Nyland making saves propelled Norway past Brazil and into the Round of 8.
England 3, Mexico 2
Kind of...: The roughly middle 45 minutes, say 30:00-75:00, was the most entertaining soccer of this competition so far. No disrespect to Argentina/Cape Verde (or a few others), but it was such an exchange of uppercuts, the latter few coming when the team "ahead on the scorer's cards" was bleeding from a cut (down a man). And, in particular, each of England's goals was sudden.
-Bellingham put England up 1-0 off a beautiful cross less than 15 seconds after a Pickford save. Just lightning down the pitch.
-Less than two minutes later, England forced a turnover just inside Mexico's half that finished with Bellingham and Kane essentially running a give and go with Bellingham putting England up 2-0.
-With it 2-1, and England down to 10 players, a loooong goal kick bounced right and turned into a PK that Kane coolly converted.
Three England goals, probably thirty seconds, total, of possession time. Stupendous.
Mexico had their own highlights. Quinones's goal--wide open, off a rebound--was as forceful as they come. And Jiminez's penalty showed no sign of nerves. Mexico just couldn't break down England's defense the last 20 minutes (31 with stoppage time). In retrospect, the most critical period came right before halftime when Mexico was denied a tying goal on two separate chances in stoppage time. First, Pickford deftly tipped a well-struck header over the net. Then, a minute or so later, Bellingham (the man of the match) broke up a point-blank scoring opportunity with a perfect tackle in the box. A truly electrifying night of soccer.
HoustonBoiler: This was just an unbelievable match. While there have been fantastic matches thus far in this World Cup, including Portugal-Croatia and Argentina-Cabo Verde, this one was arguably the best. While Kind Of... covered most of the details already, I will add that Mexico came out strong and aggressive, as they have been throughout this tournament. England seemed to be on their heals early, but picked things up after the hydration break. Then lightning struck! Jude Bellingham found the back of the net twice in 1:48. Facing a 2-0 hole, Mexico responded with Julián Quiñones scoring just before halftime to reignite the home crowd.
Early in the second half, England's Jarell Quansah received a red card forcing them to play the remainder of the match down a man. At this point, the Mexican onslaught began. England scored again on a penalty kick and then turtled up. Mexico then scored a penalty kick to narrow the lead to 3-2, but they would not find the back of the net again. Shout out to the England goal keeper, Jordan Pickford, who played an exceptional match, and the England defense that withstood the Mexican barrage.
I also want to give kudos to Mexico for giving their all. But for a few incredible saves, they would have won this match. Their fans were also engaged and very loud throughout.
Today's Matchups
Portugal v Spain
Arlington, TX. 3:00 ET/2:00 GTZ.
Kind of...: Portugal has to feel good that they might have, finally, found their way to their best lineup, netting the winner after Ronaldo had been subbed off. Will tonight's lineup reflect that fact? Spain has to feel good that they blew through Austria in their best performance so far. Will they stay healthy enough?
Let's settle some scores, Iberian style!
HoustonBoiler: Can the battle for Iberian supremacy top last night's match? I expect this one to be a good one. Spain has been the possession kings in this tournament thus far so the question will be whether they can keep that going and score while denying Portugal opportunities. Will Portugal have the ball enough to give their scorers some shots?
USA v Belgium
Seattle, WA. 8:00 ET/7:00 GTZ.
Kind of...: Belgium's, and UEFA's, disbelief about the Balogun's 1-game suspension being, um, suspended, is understandable. Even for FIFA, this is some audacious shit. There's precedent, generally. But to my knowledge, this is the first time this catch-all power is being used inside of an ongoing event. Maybe that gets addressed after the World Cup. Maybe not. Maybe it just gets made worse. Who can say. It's FIFA.
Yes, on the merits, this is probably the right outcome (not process-wise, obviously). Most people didn't think Balogun deserved a red, and, though I haven't seen this followed up on too much, it does seem that the VAR went off script. I'll just quote the ESPN account:
VAR made their recommendation to the referee based on slow-motion and still replays, which is not aligned with VAR protocols, as these should be used for only point-of-contact purposes in a red card tackle situation.
Obviously the whole thing stinks (from the awarding of the red card forward, but especially the last 36 hours), and it's too bad. But it really wouldn't be a World Cup without some sort of stupid drama, and none of the favorites had spectacularly imploded (you really weren't a favorite Germany, and you didn't have enough infighting to call it an implosion), so it had to come from somewhere else.
Before that happened, I saw the US and Belgium both at +160. Now I see the US +150 and Belgium +170. In other words, it's a good development for the US, but don't treat it as the titanic sea change some are making it out to be. The fundamentals are still the fundamentals. For the US, someone is going to have to get the ball into Balogun. Is Pulisic 100%. Can he make Belgium look like Paraguay? Who else is ready to show out for the US? McKinnie, Adams, and Tillman have all been great and need to continue to be.
Defensively, the US hasn't been challenged the way Jeremy Doku can pressure them from the wing. And, obviously, whenever Romelu Lukaku is on the pitch, he needs to be accounted for. Frankly, the US is probably the better all-around side. They're younger and clearly seem to function better as a unit. But, Belgium has some truly elite players. It might not equal the sum of its parts, but it can still be lethal, as Senegal found out.
HoustonBoiler: Belgium formally objected to Florian Balogun being able to play today, but this afternoon FIFA dismissed the challenge. Regardless of how you feel about the decision to give Balogun a red card, allowing him to play tonight sets a precedent. The genie is now out of the bottle and FIFA will face the consequences every time a red card is shown in the future. If Balogun makes a difference tonight and the US prevail, the result will be forever marred by FIFA's decision, rightly or wrongly.
Regarding the match, the US team has played well in this tournament and hopefully that continues. The level of competition will continue to rachet upward the longer they remain. As Kind Of... noted, Belgium has a few elite players that the US will have to deal with. I think this match will boil down to which side's difference makers produce more. I expect a close, well-played match, basically a coin flip.
