World Cup 2026 – Day 4

4 days in and this game schedule is already killing. Also, there are too many teams in this tournament. But at least we have Telemundo. #TMundo

Socceroos (Australia) 2 v Turkeys (Turkey) 0
I definitely did not put this down as a game for today because I didn’t realize that it started at midnight. Anyways, what an interesting game this was. Obviously the kangaroos got the win, but for the US that is not the most important thing. Turkey looked good. They had tons of chances and played very good soccer. Out of the two teams I think Turkey is the more dangerous team (Possession 72% to 28%, Passes 705 to 270, Shots 30 to 9, Fouls 4 to 12) however, it may matter less because our next game is against Australia. I say it may matter less because if we win our next game we are in the knockout stage and could rest players in our final group play game against Turkey. The Kangaroos played a classic World Cup game. They dedicated themselves to defense and to the counter attack, and they pulled it off. I expect that they will do the same against us in the next game and our backline is easily our weakest part of our team. However, USA has two things that Turkey doesn’t, (1) game tape of how Australia wants to play and (2) Poch. Our Coach is very good and he has famously used the same type of tactics that Australia is now using (see his Champions League Finals run with Tottenham in 2019)**. That should mean that he knows how to prepare his team against that and how to attack it.

Das Team (Germany) 7 v Blue Puddle (Curaçao) 1
Germany is good, Curacao are not. This is 100% a tournament expansion game. At least the Blues got the one moment where they tied the game at 1-1. That was nice.

Orange (Netherlands) 2 v Samaria (Japan) 2
Great game. Two sides that can do something in this tournament and they showed why. It was back and forth with great chances from both sides. Netherlands took the lead twice and Japan fought back twice. Netherlands is a solid team but they tend to have hiccups and defensive errors. Japan historically has been a well run team that plays together, but they tend to not have enough size or speed. This year however, those last two things are less true and they have some of their best talent ever (ie a golden generation). But, they are coming into this tournament with their star and caption Waturo Endo injured and off the team and now their left wing, who had to get subbed off with injury, may be out. Japan had tremendous heart and we will have to see if their injuries derail them. Netherlands just have to put together a full 90 mins and they will be fine.

The Elephants (Ivory Coast) 1 v La Tri (translation: the three) (Ecuador) 0
The Rocky Curse strikes again

Ecuador comes into this tournament as a team many have their eye on as a team with an outside chance, but you tend to not be able to win a game when you hit the posts three times instead of putting the ball in the back of the net (AI has nothing on me). Ivory Coast played well and took the chance. They also have a solid team and an outside chance. It is a hard loss for Ecuador but if they can put it behind them they will be fine. Ivory Coast needs to take this and build momentum off of it.

The Yetis (Sweden) 5 v Eagles of Carthage (Tunisia) 1
Swedes came out swinging and scored in the 6th and continued early domination. The Eagles could/should have scored in the 12th. Game evening out after that. Isaak (Liverpool striker) is very good. Sweden up 2 in the 30th. Tuni goal 43 min. Sweden fell asleep on the thrown in that started the play. The first half overral was a relatively even affair. Then the second half happened and things got out of control for Tunis. One thing i loved though, the fans in the stadium BOOING the water break.

*this game schedule is already killing me and there are to many teams in the tournament. Blaaaaahhhhhh

** the 2019 Champions League had two of the greatest comebacks ever and both happened in the 2nd leg games of the semifinals – Spurs v Ajax (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35_G6R6rD94) and Liverpool v Barca (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buoMlAshKXQ) – just watch and enjoy – also this one to also enjoy Jurgen Klopp again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTQFCJTli5A)