Costa Rica 0, England 0
Uruguay 1, Italy 0
Greece 2, Ivory Coast 1
Colombia 4, Japan 1
- It is so very English to enter the third game with nothing to lose (or gain) because they have been eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 1958, and exit that game with 0 goals. Not because they sat back and played boring soccer, but because they simply could not finish.
- I thought Italy went overboard with the play-acting, time-wasting, and diving in the second half looking for calls in their match against Uruguay, which made me loathe to support them moving on...and then Luis Suarez bit someone...again. No, really, this is the third time he's bitten an opposing player during the run of play (both previous times it was for club and not country). Unfortunately, the officials didn't fully catch it, and Suarez escaped picking up any sort of card for his ill-timed snacking. FIFA retains the right to discipline him though, and I hope they throw the book at him. He should be out of the remainder of the World Cup, but if the suspension stops there, I'll be very disappointed. Suarez clearly has problems, and he needs to deal with them, which he clearly won't do if he only gets a few games worth of a suspension. FIFA can suspend him for up to 24 months. I'd argue he should at least be suspended for a full year of play.
- The Ivory Coast has qualified for 3 World Cups: 2006, 2010, and 2014. Before all 3 of these World Cups, they were talked up as a dark-horse to make a deep tournament run. In 2006, they were in a group with Argentina, the Netherlands, and Serbia. They lost to both Argentina and the Netherlands and failed to advance. In 2010 they drew Brazil, Portugal, and North Korea. They drew with Portugal, lost to Brazil, and beat the Koreans. That left them a point behind Portugal (who drew Brazil and matched the other results) and again eliminated after group play.
This year they drew Colombia, Japan, and Greece. Surely this would finally be the year the Ivory Coast would prove their supporters right...right? They started off by beating Japan, then lost to Colombia (no shame there), but then gave up 2 goals to Greece (it usually takes Greece about a month to score that many goals), including a penalty kick in stoppage time to fall 2-1 and exit the tournament once again without seeing the knockout round.
As for the penalty, it was justified. It wasn't the strongest challenge, but it was clumsy, it was from behind, and it was on an attacker with an unimpeded shot at the net except for the challenge. For a team that would have advanced with a draw, it was unforgivable that they'd put themselves in that situation where they'd be in danger of giving up the penalty.
- Finally, Colombia is a dangerous team. They have skill, athletcism, and self-belief. If a Brazil-Colombia quarterfinal matchup happens, it very well may be the match of the tournament.
Today's Games:
|
GROUP F
|
||||||||
|
TEAM
|
GP
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
GF
|
GA
|
PTS
|
|
Argentina (5)
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
6
|
|
Nigeria (44)
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
|
Iran (43)
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Bosnia-Herzegovina (21)
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
-2
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
note, all games are available streaming on ESPN3/the WatchESPN app
Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Iran (12:00 PM, ESPN2)
Nigeria vs Argentina (12:00 PM, ESPN)
Notes:
Argentina has advanced to the knockout round
Argentina wins the group with
- a win
- a draw
Nigeria advances with
- a win
- a draw
- a loss AND an Iran loss or draw
- a loss AND an Iran win that does not overcome Nigeria's goal differential advantage (+2)
Nigeria wins the group with
- a win
Iran advances with
- a win that overcomes Nigeria's goal differential advantage (+2) AND a Nigeria loss
Iran cannot win the group.
Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot advance to the knockout round.
Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot advance to the knockout round.
|
GROUP E
|
||||||||
|
TEAM
|
GP
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
GF
|
GA
|
PTS
|
|
France (17)
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
8
|
2
|
6
|
|
Ecuador (26)
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
|
Switzerland (6)
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
-2
|
4
|
6
|
3
|
|
Honduras (33)
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
-4
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
note, all games are available streaming on ESPN3/the WatchESPN app
Ecuador vs France (4:00 PM, ESPN)
Honduras vs Switzerland (4:00 PM, ESPN2)
Notes:
France advances to the knockout round with
- a win
- a draw
- a loss AND a Switzerland loss
- a loss AND a Switzerland draw
- a loss AND either Ecuador (+6) or Switzerland (+8) failing to overcome France's goal differential advantage
France wins the group with
- a win
- a draw
- a loss with Ecuador failing to overcome France's goal differential advantage (+6) AND a Switzerland loss
- a loss with Ecuador failing to overcome France's goal differential advantage (+6) AND a Switzerland draw
- a loss with Ecuador failing to overcome France's goal differential advantage (+6) AND Switzerland failing to overcome France's goal differential advantage (+8)
Ecuador advances with
- a win AND a Switzerland loss
- a win AND a Switzerland draw
- a win AND Switzerland failing to overcome Ecuador's goal differential advantage (+2)
- a draw AND a Switzerland loss
- a draw AND a Switzerland draw
- a loss AND a Switzerland loss where Ecuador maintains their goal differential advantage (+2)
Ecuador wins the group with
- a win that overcomes France's goal differential advantage (+6) AND a Switzerland loss
- a win that overcomes France's goal differential advantage (+6) AND a Switzerland draw
- a win that overcomes France's goal differential advantage (+6) AND Switzerland failing to overcome Ecuador's goal differential advantage (+2)
Switzerland advances with
- a win AND an Ecuador loss
- a win AND an Ecuador draw
- a win AND overcoming Ecuador's goal differential advantage (+2)
- a win overcoming France's goal differential advantage (+8) AND an Ecuador win
- a draw AND an Ecuador loss
- a loss AND an Ecuador loss overcoming Ecuador's goal differential advantage (+2) while maintaining a goal differential advantage over Honduras (+2)
Switzerland wins the group with
- a win overcoming the goal differential advantages of France (+8) and Ecuador (+2) AND an Ecuador win
- a win overcoming the goal differential advantages of Ecuador (+4) and Switzerland (+2) AND an Ecuador loss
Honduras cannot win the group.
A reminder: the number in parentheses next to each team name is the latest FIFA World Ranking.
Qualified for Knockout Round: Netherlands (B1), Chile (B2), Colombia (C1), Costa Rica (D1), Argentina, Belgium, Brazil (A1), Mexico (A2), Uruguay (D2), Greece (C2)
Eliminated from the Knockout Round: Cameroon, Australia, Spain, England, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Italy
|
GROUP A
|
||||||||
|
TEAM
|
GP
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
GF
|
GA
|
PTS
|
|
Brazil (3)
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
7
|
2
|
7
|
|
Mexico (20)
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
1
|
7
|
|
Croatia (18)
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
6
|
6
|
3
|
|
Cameroon (56)
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
-8
|
1
|
9
|
0
|
|
GROUP B
|
||||||||
|
TEAM
|
GP
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
GF
|
GA
|
PTS
|
|
Netherlands (15)
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
10
|
3
|
9
|
|
Chile (14)
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
5
|
3
|
6
|
|
Spain (1)
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
-3
|
4
|
7
|
3
|
|
Australia (62)
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
-6
|
3
|
9
|
0
|
|
GROUP C
|
||||||||
|
TEAM
|
GP
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
GF
|
GA
|
PTS
|
|
Colombia (8)
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
9
|
2
|
9
|
|
Greece (12)
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
-2
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
|
Ivory Coast (23)
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
-1
|
4
|
5
|
3
|
|
Japan (46)
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
-4
|
2
|
6
|
1
|
|
GROUP D
|
||||||||
|
TEAM
|
GP
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
GF
|
GA
|
PTS
|
|
Costa Rica (28)
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
1
|
7
|
|
Uruguay (7)
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
6
|
|
Italy (9)
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
-1
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
|
England (10)
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
-2
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
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