This round were are going to learn population density. For example Maine has a population of 1,421,310 and covers 35,380 square miles. So, it has a population density of 46.
What can I say, your expert strikes again! Soccer is the freaking best!
Today’s Games
England 2 (749) v. DR Congo 1 (133)
I told you, (1) England should win this game; (2) DR Congo was dangerous; (3) If Congo get an early goal this game will be very fun. What happen? DR Congo was dangerous, they got an early goal, the game was awesome, England (Harry Kane) won. Lets break it down.
DR Congo did not comet thinking anything other than they were going to win. England, on the other hand, thought they won the game before it started. 6th minute, DRC had a great build up and England made the interesting tactical decision to not guard an open player in their box. DRC up 1-0. (The flippy celebration freaking rocks). England was the dominant team for the rest of the game, but not France or Morocco dominant. Also, it helps that DRC’s goalie, Lionel Mpasi, had one of the best games I have ever seen from a goal keeper. He had unbelievable saves (saves that would be the best in a goalie’s season) in the 29th, 45+2, 45+5 and 52. Apart from the DRC goalie being a superhero, DRC also looked like equals to England for nearly the entire game. DRC had chances they could/should have scored. They were unlucky. In the end though, Harry Kane was too good and England overpowered and outlasted the DRC. Kane’s first goal was more a mistake by the DRC defense who last track of him when the ball switched sides of the field. The second goal, the game winner, was pure skill and class from him. He created something out of nothing.
England move on, and I think they will be dangerous. The fact that they survived this game and that they know how to play up to good teams (vs playing down to worse teams), they will come out next game ready. For the DRC, this is soccer. You can do nearly everything right, but one mistake and you lose.
One note – in the 43, England was ROBBED of a pk. Kane was fouled in the box and after VAR it still was not called. He may have gone down easily, but it is clear he was illegally touched by the DRC defender.
I am less frustrated that England did not get the pk, and more that what is a pk is so screwed up because of VAR. When you slow things down and see things from every angle imaginable, anything can look like anything (See rants below). Kane should have gotten the pk, but he didn’t and it is a missed call in my opinion.
Belgium 3 (1007) v. Senegal 2 (261)
The futbol gods did it again. The Red Devils get through when they had no business getting through. Obviously, I think that they are joke. But even more than that, I think that they are a waste of talent. Senegal got up 2-0 and looked ready to make their way to the next round. They were ready. They did what they needed to do. Atleast until the 86 minute. Then not only did the wheels fall off, but the engine blew up, the doors fell off, and the car broke in half. Senegal dominated, but in the 86th min, fairly out of nowhere, Lukaku (Belgium) scored their first. 2 minutes later, Belgium got number 2. So Sengal went from being up 2-0 and 4 to 8 minutes away from being in the next round, to being tied 2-2 and going into extra time.
Into extra time. Unlike many extra times we see, the two teams actually gave good effort and had good chances. But no one could break the deadlock. It looked like we were going to pks, but then this game’s ref/VAR-is-dumb call happened. In the 116 minute, a Senegalese defender slid to clear a cross and After he had already gone into his slide and was making his foot motion to cleat the ball, a Belgium attacker, from well behind the defender, got their leg in front of the defender’s foot and ended up being hit by the Senegales player that was well into his own motion. In real time, no one would/has called a pk for this action. With VAR who fucking knows what is a pk and what is not. When you stop the frame on this image, sure it could be a pk.
But when you stop it on this one, it seems impossible that a pk is about to come out of the action.
You should not be able to get a pk for getting your foot in the way of another that started their motion before you, in front of you, and with no intent to touch you. I hate VAR.
ALSO, it is BS that the ref/VAR gives this call at this point in the game. In the 116 the “foul” happens, the pk is no called until the 121, the pk is not taken until the 124. Have some respect of the game. That game deserved a pk shoot out, not a fluke pk to win the game.
Belgium is the worst. It is insane that they pulled this off. They don’t deserve to play us. On Monday at 8 pm, the USA has a chance to shut these morons down and kick them in the balls.
USA 2 (99) v. B&H 0 (158)
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! We did it! We have won our second knockout game ever in the newly made up 5th round knockout stage. We looked like a real team again! We showed skill and tactics and creativity, and then we also showed heart, determination, and grit. What happened in between those things? Folarin Balogun, the man that scored our first goal in the 45, the man that is the best strike the USA has ever had, the man that gives us our central and vertical shape and balance, he was given (objectively and without bias) one of the worst red cards in the history of the world cup. VAR again ruins everything. When the action was live, a foul was called, but the ref had not indication at ll that Balogun might even get a yellow. Then Big Brother in their freaking nerd cave somewhere on the other side of the country called their walkie-talkie to be a rat. Again, when you see this picture, it does not look great,
but when you see this one
you see that Balogun is looking at the ball and is readying to play the ball. You can also see the that the B&H player is behind Balogun as Balogun is readying his play. We can’t be reviewing everything frame by frame, that is not how the game is played. Also, the VAR protocols are for clear and obvious errors and they are not supposed to review things in a slow-mo way if they are overturning something on the field (or suggesting to overturn). This was a TERRIBLE red card, and while we can (and will) overcome it, I am furious. I won’t/would never say that the red and VAR ref should have to walk over hot coals or else have all their money stolen, but if someone suggested something like that, I would not say no to that.
After the red card (in the 64th), the US packed it in with the 10 players they had. We not only dealt with the pressure and kept our composure, we also continued to attack in the few moments we could. This is what you should do when you are up. It is instinct to just hold on for a win. All you want to do is hold you defensive shape and not stretch your team. The fear is that you make an attacking effort and are caught out, and then the other team finds a path through the area you were just caught out of. This instinct is BAD. We have seen, just in this tournament, how hard it is to withstand the pressure that builds from trying to just keep a defensive shape. You need to relieve that pressure by going on the attack. You also need to attack to try and find more goals. The best teams do not cower. They keep attacking. USA kept attacking as best as they could, and what did that get us? It get us defensive relief, it got us offensive pressure, it got us offensive fouls, and it got us our second goal! MALIK TILLMAN, what a shot, what a hero!
Having a free kick only 20-ish yards away is often harder than having it 30 yards away. That is because you have to get the ball over the wall but then back down into the goal in a much much shorter distance. But Tillman did it! And it was exactly what the US needed. (If I am honest though, the B&H goalie messed up by jumping to early which caused him to float and that caused him to have weaker hands when he tried to push the ball out, but who cares, right?, we scored!) It was 2-0 in the 82 and we dealt with the rest of the game well. As for Balogun, call your local congress person, call you senators, we need to get them to exert the most pressure FIFA has ever faced so that they reverse the red card before the next game on Monday at 8 pm.
Regardless of the red card, we now play Belgium on Monday at 8 pm. This is personal for me. Belgium should be in their retirement home playing backgammon. They are the worst and no one likes them because they are cry babies that don’t know how to play as a team. Also, Belgium isn’t even a real place. It is just a bunch of leftovers that all the other countries around it said they don’t want because their was too much fighting happening over that territory. Also, while we don’t need to be avenging things, we can’t forgot 2014 and what Timmy Howard did. We gotta does this for Timmy. Ill have more to say about this game on Sunday. Today, we celebrate a well won knockout stage game.
Tomorrow’s Games
3 pm – Spain v. Austria – Spain should dominate and win. Austria will fight but I don’t think they will have the same sort of fight that someone like DRC had.
7 pm – Portugal v. Croatia – This is the marquee game of the day. Two big time soccer countries. Also two teams with 40 year olds starting. There is no real favorite here, but it would be a shame to see CR7 not advance.
11 pm – Swiss v Algeria – I think that Algeria is actually the more exciting team in this match up, but the Swiss are well built, intelligent, and seasoned. It should make for a compelling game, as this is also a game without a strong favorite. (This is also a game that likely won’t effect the overall tournament all that much – ie the winner will likely lose in the next round).
Miscellaneous
It is too much to have soccer be continues for this many days. In the normal (previous) world cup format we would not have already had to watch 74 games before getting into the knock games, also we would not have had a 5th found of knockout games. Nobody asked for more teams at the world cup.
There are a total of 6.3 Gustavo-variants in this World Cup. On Paraguay, there are 3 Gustavo players and their coach is also Gustavo. Colombia has one Gustavo player. Sweden has two Gustaf players. Then, the 0.3 comes from France who has a player called Malo Gusto. What does that mean? Gustavo is clearly a key to success to Paraguay and Sweden flundered their opportunity to harness the power of Gustavo. Also, we should all hope to have a Gustavo in our life. If you don’t have one, I feel sorry for you. They are the best.
Leave a Reply