June 27, 2018, Day Fourteen
Games
Futbol Papa’s World Cup 2018 Diary, Day Thirteen, chronicled the Group F contest between Mexico and Sweden with progression on the line. The Swedes took over control of the match if not the early result they sought. But with goals at the 50, 62, and 74 minute marks the Swedes avenged their earlier unfair loss to Germany and qualified as first of their group with a 3—0 win.
Simultaneously, in Kazan, South Korea and Germany fought for the latter’s chance to progress. In one of the historic upsets of all World Cups the favorites to repeat, the defending champions, lost to the Koreans 2—0 and should have lost by a lot more. Producing the bravest and most effective performance by a minnow in Russia, particularly against the biggest of whales, the Koreans stymied all of the Germans’ efforts with timely tackles, blocks, and saves. Then, they countered brilliantly for two well-earned goals.
The afternoon games were both in Group E, beginning with Brazil playing Serbia in Moscow, with progression on the line for both. The Serbians seemed unsure of how to approach the match and were lucky Brazil was so timid they simply seemed to be sleepwalking all game long. When Marcelo limped off the pitch injured and had to be substituted at the 10th minute, Brazil seem demoralized and ineffectual. But a fortunate Paulinho goal (36th minute), poked over the goalkeeper off a great Phillipe Coutinho through ball, and a perfect Neymar corner headed in powerfully at the near post by Thiago Silva (68th minute), sealed the deal 2—0 for Brazil.
At the same time as the game in Moscow, in Nizhniy Novgorod, Switzerland met eliminated Costa Rica knowing a Brazilian win over Serbia would allow the Swiss to progress but with a tie. The ensuing game was tough and both sides had chances to pull the win, but in the end the 2—2 draw served the Ticos as consolation and helped the Swiss move on.
Brazil will next meet Mexico and Switzerland will play Sweden in the Group of 16. With France, Portugal, Belgium, Uruguay, and Argentina already in the same side of the bracket as Brazil, only Spain and Croatia seem like candidates for progression to a semifinal in the other side of the bracket.
Events
Futbol Papa’s World Cup 2018 Diary today chronicled how Diego Maradona’s antics during the Argentina—Nigeria match nearly cost him dearly.
News
Papa found that, as predicted, the German team walked into the 2018 World Cup assuming their stature as current champions and their stellar recent past performances would suffice to see them into the knockout rounds of the tournament. But that arrogance and their obvious misunderstanding of the quality of their early opposition cost them.
Similarly, Joachim Low’s reputation suffered as well since he seemed incapable of reacting in real time to the game plans of the teams he faced and seemed more likely to think the only change his side needed to make was bringing in Mario Gomez, or Thomas Muller off the bench if they had not started. The German Football Federation found it necessary to mention that the coach was not in danger of losing his job over the early exit of the title holders.
Fouls
With VAR being so poorly used in its inaugural World Cup Papa will keep track of the manner in which infractions and unsportsmanlike acts decide games throughout the cup. Today, in the Sweden-Mexico match, we had a clear hand ball in the box by Mexico’s Chicharito Hernandez go uncalled and several fouls gone begging in all four games, some of which could have been called as there were camera angles available to catch them. Fortunately, no blown calls affected the outcomes of today’s matches.
Goals
Futbol Papa’s World Cup 2018 Diary will continue to keep tabs on the tournament’s scorers to see if the initial goal scoring tendency continues, as so far, of the 110 goals actually scored in the cup (6 more have been own goals for a total of 116 tallies) 26% (28) have been converted by La Liga players while 25% (24) have been scored by Premiership stars. The remaining 50% have been scored by all other leagues combined.
Coming Up
On Thursday at 10:00 AM EST, in Volgograd, Group H play, Japan and Poland meet with the former only needing a draw to progress and the latter already eliminated. At the same time in Samara, Senegal and Colombia play in what feels like another of the cup’s classics coming up. The classy African team, who have been playing consistently well, can qualify with a draw, while the resurgent South Americans need another win to move on.
In the second slate of games, at 2:00 PM EST, in Group G, in Saransk, Tunisia and Panama, both eliminated, play a meaningless game with but pride on the line. While, at the same time in Kaliningrad, England and Belgium meet with top honors going to the winner or if they remain tied to England who hold the lesser number of yellow cards in the sixth tie breaker category.
Futbol Papa’s World Cup 2018 Diary Predictions
Forty-four games played. 59% correct calls
Right calls–(26)—Correctly called for Russia over Saudi Arabia, Uruguay over Egypt, Portugal-Spain draw, France over Australia, Denmark over Peru, Croatia over Nigeria, Sweden over South Korea, Belgium over Panama, England over Tunisia, Senegal over Poland, Portugal over Morocco, Uruguay over Saudi Arabia, Spain over Iran, France over Peru, Brazil over Costa Rica, Belgium over Tunisia, Mexico over South Korea, Germany over Sweden, England over Panama, Senegal over Japan, Colombia over Poland, Uruguay over Russia, France-Denmark draw, Peru over Australia, Argentina over Nigeria, Croatia over Iceland, Brazil over Serbia.
Papa made an “push (no call)” on the Iceland-Nigeria game, but called it for Iceland after the cup began, so this prediction is not credited as right or wrong (1).
Wrong calls–(17)—Called for a Morocco-Iran draw which ended with a 1-0 win for Iran off a Moroccan own goal at the 90+5 minute mark; for an Argentina win over Iceland which ended in a draw after Lionel Messi had a penalty saved; for a Costa Rica win and Serbia won 1-0 on a wonderful 56th minute free kick goal; and for Germany over Mexico, and the CONCACAF champion simply outplayed the current champions to earn a historic 1-0 win.
Picked a Brazilian win in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw between the overly fouled Neymar and the Swiss. Called for an easy Colombian win over Japan but instead the South Americans imploded for a loss; for Egypt over Russia but the latter cruised to a 3-1 win; for a Denmark win over Australia that ended in a 1-1 draw, and for a draw in the Croatia v Argentina match that ended with a 3—0 win for the Croats.
Opted for a Serbia-Switzerland draw which instead ended in a 2—1 Swiss win; for an Egypt-Saudi Arabia draw that ended a 2-1 win for the Saudis; for Spain over Morocco and Portugal over Iran and both games ended as draws; for a Costa Rica win over Switzerland that ended in a 2-2 draw; for a German win over South Korea that ended in a historic 2—0 win for the Asians; and for a Mexico win over Sweden that ended 3—0 for the Swedes.
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