World Cup 2022

And I KNOW Hatter is thrilled to hear Ian Darke IS in Qatar and calling matches on the FOX broadcasts!

 

^^^

Landon Donovan was brutal as Drake’s sidekick.

 

And I’m just ecstatic that I get to hear Alexi Lalas’ commentary between matches. What a twerp.

 

I like starting Sargeant up top. He’s an in form striker, and nearly scored on a nifty cross by (I think) Weah. Weah’s causing Neco and that side of the Welsh back line heartburn.

 

I don't suppose anyone else was up to watch the Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia match, but it was incredible. Argentina put the ball in the net three times in the first half only to have them all called back for offside. The only goal in the first half was a penalty scored by Messi after a pretty soft call against Saudi Arabia. The Saudis came out in the second half and score two quick beautiful goals and then played suffocating defense to see out the match and get the upset. To get the win a Saudi player delivered the best tackle I have ever seen to deny what looked to be an inevitable goal from Messi. Then later after the Saudi goal keeper had been pulled out of the box a defender on the goal line headed away a shot. Late in the match the Saudi keeper knocked one of his own players unconscious and was inconsolable while they treated the injured player. The keeper got himself together to make one last amazing save to get the win.

I hate FIFA. I hate they way Qatar treated people to build this event. I hate the Saudi regime. But the game is still amazing and I can help but love matches like the one this morning.

 

Argentina. Wow. The Saudis earned that result, goals ruled out for being offside notwithstanding. I thought all of the calls were legit. For me, upsets are the lifeblood of sports…as long as it ain’t our team. Losing to England wouldn’t be an upset. Losing to Iran would be. But La Albiceleste losing to the Saudis? Just. Wow. I’m gonna predict that El Tri knock the Messis out on Saturday. There always seems to be one footy superpower who goes out early.

 

^^ Not sure which I laughed more at (Lalas or Ruiz’s age),

• Well the shellacking Japan gave us doesn’t look so bad (the Saudi draw neither). The level of fitness of the Japanese team was phenomenal, they just kept running at the Germans.

• Canada was all over Belgium and hard to believe they didn’t get a point (Davies will be rueing his weak PK). The Belgians while winning looks like a team that probably should’ve changed the voice in the room (love Roberto Martinez, but 2 cycles is a very long time). Their performance today was listless from them and simply won’t cut it.

 

The Canadians deserved more from that one. They made the Belgians look old…which they kinda are now. But for much jittery impatience in front of goal, they would have gotten at least a point, probably three. You really have to pull Courtois way out of position to get the ball by him. Average efforts on goal when he’s anywhere in the middle of the sticks get eaten like Pac-Man. At least one of those probably sneaks in if anybody but the agile, long-armed, 6’6” Real man is in the goal.
Not a real big surprise to see Spain hang a big number on the Brian Ruizs while not conceding. And you’re spot on Joe. The Japanese followed the shocker pulled off by the Saudis with an equally strong unexpected comeback win over Deutschland. The Germans certainly didn’t look like the pseudo juggernaut they were for most of Jogi Low’s tenure. Now, suddenly, the Germans are looking at sudden death on Sunday afternoon against the guys who hung the 7 spot on Costa Rica today. The Spaniards will no doubt be favored to send Germany packing without so much as a sniff of the knockout round. That won’t sit well in the Fatherland.
All the Canadians have to do is get a result against the defending runners up Croatia, who drew nil-nil with Morocco today. The best Canadian team in generations, maybe ever, might also be wheels up alongside Germany and Argentina within a week.

 

I like how Doug Ray and Ali Wagner, the FOX announcers on the Portugal-Ghana match, keep promoting the next match as “Neymar and Brazil versus Serbia,” as if Mitro is an unknown nobody. As we all know, he ain’t exactly chopped liver, and although he’s not in the same class as Neymar. However, he does the things he does extremely well, and should be mentioned the same way Neymar is in such references. Now I’m really rooting for he and his countrymen to upset A Seleção this afternoon in the big ground in Lusail.

 

I bet two long shots in these first round of games. I bet Japan to tie Germany (didn't think they'd actually win) and I bet to Serbia to win or draw. I was optimistic at the half, but they went south quickly. At least my Wales wager came off. I guess I'll head over to Illinois on Saturday to place a few more wagers. If you find yourself in north st Louis county tomorrow I'll be at rookie's. I'll be the guy yelling at the TV.

 

Wales, and in particular GK Hennessey, really crapped the bed against Iran. Hennessey's ridiculous charge that saw him sent off doomed them. Wales played very risky in injury time looking to score a while man down and they had no one playing in the midfield to help clear the ball or apply pressure on the winning goal. Now if the US doesn't get points today they'll be looking at a must-win situation against Iran.

 

Would’ve preferred the 0-0 tie, but better Iran then Wales.

Ecuador gave up an early cracker, but they clearly outplayed Holland over the 90, the Dutch lucky to escape.

 

The Socceroos get only win number 3 EVER in the World Cup with a squeaky bum 1-nil win over Tunisia (Rene Meulensteen is an assistant to gaffer Graham Arnold, by the way). Some big names might bite the dust today.

 

Credit to Costa Rica for coming back from humiliation and stunning Japan 1-0. The Blue Samurai got lulled into playing at the Ticos pace. Good for Concacaf (and the Germans) they were able to turn back the clock.

Speaking of Father Time, Belgium’s Golden Generation has turned old and rusty, and that slamming sound you hear is the window shutting on a great run w/this group.

 

Both the early games were crazy end to enders..Serbia blew a 3-1 lead to Cameroon (3-3 Final), while the Ghana v S.Korea game saw Ghana take a 2-0 lead, give it back in a couple minutes, score to go up again and somehow hold on in a frenzied finish…Great Stuff for the neutral.

Canada’s coach committed the first rule of media relations..Don’t tell the truth!! What you say to the team you don’t tell reporters. Instead of ‘we are going to Eff Crotia’ you say ‘we won’t back down of the challenge of playing a great team like Crotia’.. It’s not brain surgery. For those who don’t think World Cup games need extra motivation. I would agree, but disrespect can & does raise the level of play of the team that gets spated on. Throw in Canada forgetting how they played to get here (guys weren’t even getting back) and it was a predictable shellacking.

 

Today was absolutely bonkers. At some point during the afternoon matches every team in Group E had qualified for the knockout round and at some point every team in Group E had failed to qualify. When the dust settled, Costa Rica's improbable lead had succumbed to relentless pressure from Germany, but the convincing win that Germany thought would see them through was all for naught when Japan pulled off their second shocking win of the tournament - this time against Spain. If not for that chaos it would have been much bigger news that Morocco won their group and Belgium (my pick to win it all) were sent packing. I've given up on making any claims to know what will happen next in this tournament!

 

I wanted to freeze time for those short three minutes when both Germany and Spain were on the outside looking in. So much fun.

I filled out a bracket as well and I'm not doing too bad but, yeah, it's a total crapshoot (I went with the sentimental pick of Messi and Argentina). I always look to the FIFA rankings but they're even more of a guessing game than college rankings. Trying to figure out the level of, say, Japan relative to European or South American teams is like trying to figure out if USC football would still be a top 5 team if they played in the SEC or Big 10. The group stage limits freak results, but we all know that in a single elimination tournament, EVERYBODY has a chance.