Russia 2018

[rowan]

Who needs what...

A
Russia: win or draw v Uruguay to top the group. Lose they finish 2nd.
Uruguay: Win v Russia to top the gorup. Lose or draw they finish 2nd.

B
Spain: win or draw v Morocco to progress. Win by more than Portugal or Iran to finish 1st
Portugal: win or draw v Iran to progress. Win by more than Spain to finish 1st
Iran: must beat Portugal to finish 2nd

C
France: win or draw v Denmark to finish 1st
Denmark: win v France to finish 1st, draw to finish 2nd
Australia: win v Peru, and Denmark to lose to France, to finish 2nd

D
Croatia: Win or draw v Iceland to secure 1st place. Lose they could finish 2nd if Nigeria win big
Nigeria: Win or draw v Argentina to finish 2nd.
Argentina: Win v Nigeria, and Croatia not to lose, to finish 2nd
Iceland: Win v Croatia, and Nigeria not to win, to finish 2nd

E
Brazil: Win v Serbia by as much or more as Swiss to finish 1st, win or draw to progress (unless Swiss draw or lose)
Swiss: Win v Costa Rica by more than Brazil to finish 1st, win or draw to progress (unless Brazil lose)
Serbia: Win v Brazil, and Swiss to lose, to finish 1st. Win v Brazil to progress

F
Mexico: Win or draw v Sweden to finish 1st. Draw v Sweden to progress
Germany: Win v Korea, and Mexico to lose, to finish 1st. Win v Korea to progress, or draw (and Sweden not to win)
Sweden: Win v Mexico to progress. Draw will be enough only if Germany lose

G
England: Win or draw v Belgium to top the group. Lose they finish 2nd
Belgium: Win v England to top the group. Win or draw they finish 2nd.

H
Japan: Win v Poland, by more than Senegal v Colombia, to top the group. Win or draw to progress (or Colombia not to win)
Senegal: Win v Colombia, by more than Japan v Poland, to top the group. Win or draw to progress (unless Japan lose by more)
Colombia: Win v Senegal, and Japan not to win, to finish 1st. Must win to progress at all

[rowan]

A & B will be answered today

[rowan]

I'll pick a Russia-Uruguay draw, hosts top the group. Spanish and Portuguese wins, Spanish top group with superior margin.

Suarez opens the scoring against Russia from a freekick after just 10 mins. 0-1.
Saudi - Egypt scoreless at this point (though I'm not seeing that game)

0-2 Uruguay! Strange goal, seemed to happen in slow motion, took a deflection and the keeper was very slow to react - undoubtedly unsighted. Shocker for the hosts, who have gone very close a couple of times for no return.

Salah has scored for Egypt, meanwhile, as they lead the Saudis 1-0. midway first half.

Suarez very nearly made it 0-3. What a wake-up call for Russia this is. Doesn't matter too much if they finish first or second in the group, given they'll almost certainly be stuck with Spain or Portugal either way, but Uruguay are really exposing some serious weaknesses in their game.

& Russia get a red card just before halftime. The defense cannot deal with the Uruguayan pace and keep bringing them down from behind. Looks like they'll have to settle for second place in this group.

HT Uruguay lead 0-2
Saudis have pulled 1 back in first half injury-time to make it 1-1 at the break.

Just saw Kim Jong-un in the crowd, dancing around and exchanging high-fives with other fans. Amazing!

Russia simply cannot break down the Uruguayan defense and are starting to look a little nonplussed. There's no real sting in their attack anymore. Uruguay are simply too organized and skillful - and will pose as serious threat to whoever they face in the round of 16.

Uruguay with a late goal. 0-3. This is a huge reality check for the home fans, who appear very demoralized, obviously; as do their players. At least their expectations won't be too high for the round of 16, because I don't see them winning there.

Still 1-1 in the other game. Appears headed for an honorable draw...
Nope, Saudis got a winner about 5 mins into injury time! 2-1. North Africans go 0-7 at this tournament so far...

[rowan]

Amazing football nations, Uruguay - 3 million people, and two World Cup titles. Those were way back (1930 & 50), but they also managed to cheat their way into the semis 8 years ago.

[Galfon]

The '30 finals were on home turf with very few European teams participating due to travel & cost issues.
The '50 finals in Brazil was notable for one of the favourites England going down 1-0 to minnows USA, as well as losing 1-0 to Spain.
That being said, Uru were reigning Olympic champs from 1928 and also 1924.
Certainly their purple patch.
As Sir Robert Ch. reputedly once said ' they're all built like brick sh!thouses!..'

[Galfon]

Morocco nudging Spain..bravo.

[Galfon]

Morocco nudging Spain..bravo.

Are you sure about that?

they nudged them into a late equaliser.(var gratis).top spot it is, at the death.

[Galfon]

Great finish by Messi on his wrong foot without even looking up.
Nga 0 - 1 Arg, 14 mins gone.
Nigeria pacy and will get chances.

[Galfon]

HT Nga 0 - 1 Arg
Nga getting forward at end of half but Arg largely in control.
'1 goal never enough' (unless the refs. blown.)

[Galfon]

Mascherano has been shoite all match..foolish even though harsh..cool penalty by Moses, the oldest player ever.
1 - 1 after 51 min.

[Galfon]

A proper ref..ball-to-arm aint hand ball.
still 1 - 1, anyone's game. 10 mins. left.
Aguerro on.

[Galfon]

2 - 1 Arg after 86 min..Rojo up from back !
Smart finish.

[Galfon]

FT: Arg 2 - 1 Nga
Next up la Fraance.

[rowan]

Argentina back from the dead, and Germany likely to follow them into the round of 16 tomorrow. Sad for Nigeria, just 6 or 7 minutes away from a spot, but they really didn't deserve it in the end.

So far we've got Spain v Russia, Uruguay v Portugal, Croatia v Denmark, France v Argentina. That's a pretty mouthwatering lineup.

[rowan]

So at most we are going to have just one representative from each of the 'minor' confederations in the round of 16 - but none of them are confirmed, and the only thing that is certain is there will be either an African or Asian qualifier from group H - if not both. Basically the situation is as follows:

CONCACAF: Mexico must avoid defeat to Sweden, unless Germany fails to beat SKorea.

Africa: Senegal must avoid defeat to Colombia, unless Japan loses to Poland.

Asia: Japan must avoid defeat to Poland, unless Senegal loses to Colombia.

Mexico are in action this afternoon, of course, while we'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to learn the fate of Senegal and Japan.

[rowan]

I guess the story with Africa is pretty simple. They exploded onto the scene in the 1980s because they suddenly had so many players competing in Europe that they were able to field fully professional teams for the first time. But they have never been able to provide a similarly professional environment for the national team, so that the players are drawn together from different clubs and have limited opportunities to develop as a team. So I'm not sure we're really going to see the African nations move forward in the foreseeable future, let alone win the tournament, and will just have to be content with the fact that they are at least competitive.

[rowan]

What a sensational exit by the Germans. We have to go back to 1938 to find the last time they failed to get out of their group. In fact, the only time. They didn't enter in 1930 and were banned in 1950. Since then they've progressed every time and made 8 finals - winning 4. They've also been in the last 4 semis, and won the last tournament, of course. They are tied with Italy in second place behind Brazil (5) with 4 trophies. So that's one thing Brazil don't have to worry about now; as well as the prospect of facing their 2014 nemesis in the round of 16. They'll likely get Mexico now, which should be a romp in the park, given today's results. It's a shame we won't see more of the Asians and Africans at this tournament. They really showed us their best in the final round of games, with this stunning result following on from the 2 draws in group A - where Portugal actually came close to getting knocked out by a late strike. Nigeria also had a late chance against Argentina, which would have tied the game and sent them through. So the tournament may be a little light on teams from Africa and Asia in the KO rounds, with only Japan and Senegal remaining in contention (Japan looks likely, Senegal not so much), but they certainly made their mark here

[Galfon]

What an F 'in turnaround...Sweden top the group, mighty Ger bottom after 3 - 0 win v Mexico & 2 - 0 loss v S Korea.
respectively.Champs to Chumps in just 2 weeks!

[rowan]

Chumps to Champs and back to Chumps in Germany's case. Still pinching myself. When I saw that second Swedish goal I gave up on Mexico, who were crap tbh. But from what I saw, SKorea were full value for their win, creating the majority of opportunities. This really does make a statement for the non-European/South American teams. & who is actually playing well right now? Belgium & England (in a soft group), Croatia, France, maybe Brazil...

Should've seen it coming, really:

1998 France wins
2002 France out first round
2006 Italy wins
2010 Italy out first round
2010 Spain wins
2014 Spain out first round
2014 Germany wins
2018

[rowan]

A joyous day of football, for sure. Nothing bores me more than lack of variety, and seeing the Germans crash out to Korea made my day. Mexico's progress is a bitter-sweet, because they appear to have no chance against a Brazilian side on top of its game. The 5-time winners were a genuine pleasure to watch this evening, outclassing a dangerous Serbian team but also withstanding periods of intense pressure. Whether they can go all the way and atone for the disaster of 2014 is another question entirely. & a nice little touch to finish it all off was Costa Rica's injury time equalizer, so they won't go home empty-handed. Very few teams will. Egypt, of course, the loser of Tunisia v Panama if there is one, and Poland if they go down to Japan. All will be revealed tomorrow as the group stages come to a close...

[rowan]

Well, enough of the schadenfruede (sorry, couldn't resist ) and onto today's final round of group games. Unfortunately it's all a bit of an anti-climax with the only question being which 2 out of Japan, Senegal and Colombia will progress. The former two need only draw, the latter needs to win. Frankly I'll be sorry to see any of them miss out. I suspect it will be Colombia with Senegal hanging on for a nervous draw. But that's by no means certain. The South Americans are a dangerous outfit, as we saw in their last encounter. England only need a draw against Belgium to top the group, and will likely meet Senegal or Portugal in the round of 16. But some are suggesting the path might be easier for the runner-up in group G, so let's hope we don't see another half-hearted encounter like the latter stages of France v Denmark.

[rowan]

So no African team goes through for the first time since 1982. Senegal didn't take their chances and ultimately didn't deserve to win. Not sure Colombia did either, but they took advantage of a moment of tactical naivety on the part of the Africans and slipped through in top place. They'll be a good opponent for Belgium or England and probably stand a better chance of upsetting one of the European sides. Japan are apparently through in second place, but I'm still not sure how. Their record is identical to Senegal's in every conceivable way.

Ok, just found out: Japan are through because of less yellow cards! How harsh is that?!

[rowan]

Big wake-up call for the Africans. They sent 5 good teams to the World Cup and failed to get a team into the round of 16 for the first time in 9 tournaments. The video replays had a bit to do with that, denying both Nigeria and Senegal crucial penalties, and that needs to be looked at before the next World Cup. Still, that's football, and in the final analysis none of the African teams were really good enough to progress. The North Africans made a tame start and didn't wake up till it was too late, and the West Africans showed a bit of tactical naivety and inability to capitalize on their chances. Senegal's finishing might have been about the worst I've seen.

Meanwhile, Poland go home with a win, leaving Egypt as the only team so far to go home empty-handed. Panama will probably join them this evening, but I wouldn't write them off against Tunisia, especially with nothing riding on it.

[Galfon]

No yellae's for Eng. & no injury time after Eng - Bel stalemate at half-time, & few boos as they go off.
Steady if not spectacular showing by the second stringers (mostly).
Rose, Delph & Loftus-Cheek most prominent.

[Stom]

I tell you what, tonight gives me sympathy for Mourinho...Rashford has been utter gash.