stitchface

this is incredible - suddenly we are faced with Germany and Mexico both in big trouble.

correct. It would be quite shocking if Sweden wins and Germany gets bounced by not beating South Korea.

they were abysmally dull to watch. good riddance to 10 in the box defense. They had a lot of good chances in that match *shrug* yea, they had to come out and try today. Their first game was pathetic.

they were abysmally dull to watch. good riddance to 10 in the box defense.

It's a shame - how beautiful would it have been for Portugal to go out after a Ronaldo penalty miss? Why is no one declaring harry kane as the greatest thing ever after his hat trick?

GROUP F - Mexico need a point vs. Sweden to go through and top the group. They are definitely through with a defeat if Germany fail to win. - Sweden are guaranteed to qualify if they win or better Germany's result. If they beat Mexico and Germany fail to win, Sweden will top the group. - Germany must win by two or more goals or better Sweden's result to guarantee qualifying. - If both Germany and Sweden draw, the team in the higher-scoring game will finish second. If both draws are the same scoreline, Germany finish second on head-to-head. - South Korea must beat Germany and hope Sweden lose to Mexico to have a chance of qualifying. THREE-WAY TIE FOR FIRST AND SECOND - If Sweden and Germany win, they will finish level on six points with Mexico, and it will first come down to goal difference. - Sweden are guaranteed to qualify in all scenarios. - Germany are guaranteed to qualify if they win by two goals. - Mexico can only qualify if both games are won by one goal, and Mexico's game is either higher scoring or both the same score one-goal margin apart from 1-0 - If Sweden win by two or more goals, they are through, and that would mean Germany are guaranteed to qualify with any win (Mexico out). - If Germany win by two or more goals they are through, with Sweden through with any win (Mexico out). - If both Germany and Sweden win 1-0, the three teams would have identical records and it would go to head-to-head mini-league, and this would see Germany and Sweden through on goals scored. Mexico would be out by virtue of scoring one fewer goal in games between the three countries. First and second would be decided on Fair Play and at present Sweden's score is -3 and Germany's -5, so Sweden would finish top. Obviously this could change on the final matchday. - If both Germany and Sweden win 2-1, then Sweden would win the group on head-to-head goals scored (they would have three goals in games between the three countries to Germany and Mexico's two). Second and third would be decided by Fair Play, and at present Mexico's score is -2 and Germany's -5 (Jerome Boateng's red card worth -3 the difference). Each yellow card is worth -1 so Mexico would be through unless they have several players booked or someone sent off compared to Germany. - If both Germany and Sweden win 3-2 (or any higher one-goal identical margin of victory), then Sweden would win the group with Mexico second and Germany third on head-to-head mini-league goals scored. - The only other way Mexico can go through, at the expense of Germany, if is both games are won by one goal, but Mexico's defeat against Sweden is a higher-scoring game. - If Sweden win by one goal, and Germany win by one goal but in a higher-scoring game, Germany win the group with Sweden in second and Mexico out THREE-WAY TIE FOR SECOND - If South Korea win and Sweden lose there will be a three-way tie for second on three points for Germany, Sweden and South Korea. It will first come down to goal difference. - If South Korea beat Germany by two goals, they are guaranteed to finish second - If South Korea beat Germany 1-0 and Sweden lose 1-0 to Mexico, it will come down to Fair Play between Germany and Sweden with South Korea out on head-to-head goals scored. At present Sweden's score is -3 and Germany's -5, so Sweden best placed for second though that will change. - If both games are won by the same one-goal margin other than 1-0, then Germany finish second on head-to-head goals scored. - If South Korea beat Germany by a higher-scoring one-goal margin than Sweden lose to Mexico by, then South Korea would finish second on direct head-to-head against Germany with Sweden bottom. - If Sweden lose to Mexico by a higher-scoring one-goal margin than South Korea beat Germany, then Sweden would finish second on goals scored. - If Sweden lose by more than one goal, they cannot qualify, and South Korea would therefore finish second with any victory

new pick? I'll take Lukaku.

you're out of your mind if you're worrying about quarterfinals matchups at this point.

today is the first day that the VAR really failed in my opinion. There was a clear foul for Mexico to recover the ball before their second goal and even worse was the missed penalty for sweden. Why the latter wasn't reviewed is beyond me.

terrible refereeing - Sweden screwed twice already

no kidding. I didn't know that either. oh what a goal by Musa (yea, I'm a little behind). My dream scenario now is an Iran win Monday coupled with Argentina and Croatia wins Tuesday . . . it's ok to dream? Right?

It's not the Cubs, it's the regular season that is boring.

Games remaining against teams over .500 until the break: Cubs - 4 Brewers - 7 Games against teams within 1 game of .500 until the break: Cubs - 7 Brewers - 12 Missed the four against the braves. yea, that first half title may be out of reach.

that's what leadoff hitters do

They need a Nigeria win or draw tomorrow. A win would be ideal because then they could finish tied with Iceland on 4 points. A tie and they need Croatia to actually try because then they’d have to group locked up. Doesn't really matter - they aren't going to win anything with that midfield. Similar to US, they needed to invest in younger players earlier.

Unfortunately, I think the length of the tournament coupled with the timing at the end of the club season is leading to a lot of teams conserving energy and sitting on 1-0 leads. Should be even worse with 48 teams.

That's funny. Rizzo always whips the ball at Javy when he makes a great play. There was one last year where Javy was still on the ground when Rizzo whipped it at him.

It wasn't a sub - there is a rule that if you get injured and the training staff comes on, you have to leave the game and then get waved back in by the ref. It's intended to prevent wasting time by faking injuries (thankfully, teams have stopped playing the ball out every time someone stays down). They need to re-visit the rule as it doesn't do much if the player just gets waved back on in the middle of a play. That said, I think Poland needs to be more aware - its not like he was standing behind the defense - he ran like 60 yards to get to the ball.

I liked the infield in in the 5th inning of a 3-3 game with runners on second and third.

Seriously? Other than the last goal, what did he do? Costa had a better game.

Wacha has allowed 9 or fewer runs in 11 straight games.

is the fix on? Wth De Gea?

this game is a great example of why strikers get the glory and money - they aren't the best players but they are the difference of winning and losing.

I'm only in minute 39 but so far Egypt seems to have no threat without Salah. 0-0 but I don't see any way Egypt wins this game (and I do know the final)

No, Fox, Ronaldo is closer to the most hated man in Spain - Iniesta is the most loved soccer player in Spain.