NFT: FIFA World Cup Wednesday, 11/30

It’s been their problem for as long as I can remember. Play good football but struggle to score goals.

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All four teams can advance. Also, avoiding a Rd of 16 matchup against France will add additional incentive to win the group.

POL is the only team that could play a conservative match and take a draw, but a draw could leave them runners up if KSA wins.

ARG will likely win the group if they beat POL. KSA will have a difficult time overcoming the current two goal differential tiebreaker with ARG. A draw should see them through as runner up, because MEX would need to put up a +4 goal difference win.

KSA and MEX will both need to play for a win to advance. SA will have officials watching the ARG/POL match and may adjust their approach based on the ongoing score.

MEX will need to win, likely big, and hope for a POL victory to make advancement easier.

And we get Lewandowski v. Messi!

Lots of scoreboard watching going on today by team officials.

In comment 15926943 giantBCP said:

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It’s been their problem for as long as I can remember. Play good football but struggle to score goals.

You can't call it football. It's a non-football thread

I really hope we can advance

Has Denmark underperformed so far in the opinion of Danes back home?

for starting and keeping these threads front and center, makes it easy to track

are looking like huge beneficiaries of France rotating their squad at the moment. They’re going through unless the AUS - DEN ends up with a winner.

not looking good for Denmark

In comment 15927146 ColHowPepper said:

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for starting and keeping these threads front and center, makes it easy to track

Thanks, glad to do it! WC is such an incredible tournament.

Boy do they look poor. Absolutely nothing moving forward, no possession of any consequence, and their defending is nothing to write home about. Australia absolutely deserves to win this (now watch Denmark tie it up).

ranked #39, bottom of their group

to overturn? Good for TUN

In comment 15927206 ColHowPepper said:

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to overturn? Good for TUN

Yes, a victory over France is a nice consolation.

But we are pulling hard for Poland this afternoon. Winner of USA/Ned plays AUS/group C winner.

In comment 15927186 PatersonPlank said:

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Boy do they look poor. Absolutely nothing moving forward, no possession of any consequence, and their defending is nothing to write home about. Australia absolutely deserves to win this (now watch Denmark tie it up).

Denmark didn't finish well, but I thought they dominated play – possession, shots, corners, and just the eye test. Although they're not a flashy or aggressive team, they're precise and clinical over the entire field. Australia's goal reminded me of the PK our Zimmerman gave up to England. One defender's mistake made the difference.

none of them is definitively in or out yet. Guess I'll be doing some channel-surfing. Fun stuff.

In comment 15927136 Rick in Dallas said:

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Has Denmark underperformed so far in the opinion of Danes back home?

Oh yeah we have underperformed badly, even before this mess today :-(
My former students' lil brother is the backup goalkeeper (yeah cool story bro :-) ).

Everybody in Denmark expected us to beat Tunisia and Australia.

In comment 15927186 PatersonPlank said:

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Boy do they look poor. Absolutely nothing moving forward, no possession of any consequence, and their defending is nothing to write home about. Australia absolutely deserves to win this (now watch Denmark tie it up).

Agreed

Nothing like the Euros where we were a very good team and story with Eriksen.

In comment 15927185 bluefin said:

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In comment 15927146 ColHowPepper said: Quote: for starting and keeping these threads front and center, makes it easy to track Thanks, glad to do it! WC is such an incredible tournament.

I preferred the consolidated thread that we had before.

In comment 15927250 Jerry in_DC said:

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But we are pulling hard for Poland this afternoon. Winner of USA/Ned plays AUS/group C winner.

Wouldn't you pull for a draw? Poland is already ahead of Argentina, and if Saudi Arabia beats Mexico with Poland/Argentina tying, they could win the group

Is the one we'd want to avoid if we advance. As long as Argentina doesn't win, that would be on of AUS, POL, or KSA right? Any of those is pretty nice for a potential QF game

ARG w/ a PK here

I will not attempt to spell his name - what a stop

Goalkeepers are protected. Never before in the history of the sport has that been called a penalty.

In comment 15927362 bluefin said:

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I will not attempt to spell his name - what a stop

Ha! Szczeny with two saves on PKs in this WC...minutes after stopping DiMaria on a seeing eye corner...with a wink and a nod to Angel

Argentina completely dominating

In comment 15927360 ColHowPepper said:

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ARG w/ a PK here

Easy decision for FIFA, it's Messi.

In comment 15927373 jomps said:

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Easy decision for FIFA, it's Messi.

Well, maybe, but Clattenburg, who in my opinion is beyond reproach, called it as penalty, the doubt being whether the ball had gone over end line when contact made. IFAB and at all levels have gotten tough at head/face shots.

That said, I don't see how Szczesny could have avoided it, tough decision.

di Maria is closing in on 35 years old yet his work rate is second to none. He continues to play at such a high level

Can't remember last time seeing ARG wearing Brooklyn Dodgers blue. Ha!

You gotta love Szczesny, making save after save to keep ARG in this match, and his demeanor doesn't change, having fun out there, love that. Nearing shouting distance of Tim Howard's WC one match saves record vs Belgium, remember that game vividly

Wonder if ARG changes tactics 2H, if they're playing the Group outcomes too closely

In comment 15927380 ColHowPepper said:

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di Maria is closing in on 35 years old yet his work rate is second to none. He continues to play at such a high level Can't remember last time seeing ARG wearing Brooklyn Dodgers blue. Ha! You gotta love Szczesny, making save after save to keep ARG in this match, and his demeanor doesn't change, having fun out there, love that. Nearing shouting distance of Tim Howard's WC one match saves record vs Belgium, remember that game vividly Wonder if ARG changes tactics 2H, if they're playing the Group outcomes too closely

If they keep playing like this game they’ll be hard to beat.

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In comment 15927382 Jints in Carolina said:

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Mexico scored again, but they are chasing a 4 goal differential and i beleive they are behind in fair play points so they'll need to win 4-0 if Argentia - Poland remains 1-0 or at this score have Argentina score another two goals to clear Poland outright in GD. 2-0 Mexico and 2-0 Argentia would get them level with Poland and come down to fair play points, hence that 5 goal swing required.

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Polish must do something. Anything.

interesting note (and I may be missing something), but if the group C games stay the same, Poland and Mexico tie for points to move on, goal differential, goals scored, and head to head. So they go to fair play. Don't care enough to go through 6 box score games to figure that one out. If they are tied with that, they draw lots
Link - ( New Window )

In comment 15927410 KDavies said:

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interesting note (and I may be missing something), but if the group C games stay the same, Poland and Mexico tie for points to move on, goal differential, goals scored, and head to head. So they go to fair play. Don't care enough to go through 6 box score games to figure that one out. If they are tied with that, they draw lots Link - ( New Window )

Poland has the fair play tiebreak so Mexico would have needed to win 3-0. Saudis just scored so it's over.

2nd half in the Mexico game where they score a third goal, but are offsides and then SA scores to cut the goal differential and Mexico can't get a late goal and are out

meant nothing for Mexico. They needed on more goal before, to have a greater goal differential, but if they scored one more goal after SA scored, they would be ahead on goals scored if the goal differential was the same. Before SA scored, they were going out on fair play points.

vs POL compared to MEX, which match resembled a somewhat glorified CONCACAF match (hopefully the meaning won't be lost). Its side today looked worthy of its ranking, must be the Dodgers' royal blue they were wearing (:

ARG not in CONCACAF

In comment 15927293 giantBCP said:

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In comment 15927185 bluefin said: Quote: In comment 15927146 ColHowPepper said: Quote: for starting and keeping these threads front and center, makes it easy to track Thanks, glad to do it! WC is such an incredible tournament. I preferred the consolidated thread that we had before.

Didn’t realize there was previously a different format. I’ll start a thread in the AM as usual, but if you or anyone else wants to post your preferred format tomorrow feel free, and I’ll delete. Whatever works best for the soccer fans here.

Was at a bar with both the Argentina and Mexico games on, plus a lot of Mexico fans were screaming. Back and forth, goal called back, Argentina had 3 or 4 good shots. I actually felt bad for the Mexican fans at the end.

Love the tv showing the Poland fans still in their seats after their match was over, watching the final frantic minutes of the Mexico match

In comment 15927435 ColHowPepper said:

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vs POL compared to MEX, which match resembled a somewhat glorified CONCACAF match (hopefully the meaning won't be lost). Its side today looked worthy of its ranking, must be the Dodgers' royal blue they were wearing (:

Touche