Thanks!
Cautions and send-offs make sense, but how would FIFA rankings work? I could make an argument that a lower ranked nation should advance on the idea that they were overperforming and should be rewarded for it.
I don’t know. Them’s the rules.
Read in the Spanish press after the game against Saudi Arabia that Spain won 4 : 0 and quoting for the sheer pleasure of it:
‘Just think, these palookas from Saudi Arabia are the top eleven in the league where Cristiano Ronaldo plays – the very league the Portuguese star is using to break goal-scoring records.’
Specially considering that FIFA rankings are shite, they should use Elo rankings.
The current ELO rankings, which are (I think) updated after each match, now show Belgium as #15. Iran is #34.
The other two in the group? Egypt is #42, and New Zealand is #69.
CPV scores on a very solid free kick.
An analytics guy’s projections up to the QFs: Detailed Knockout Paths and Projections by Venue
USA being the third most likely team to make the quarters, mostly owing to favorable R32 and R16 matchups. Brazil might have to play the Netherlands, England likely vs Mexico in Azteca, France likely vs Germany are harm their chances a lot.
That’s the most useless wall I’ve ever seen.
Yup, that’s the worst wall in a very long time. Still a nice hit.
Yeah, the two man wall with a big hole in the middle was a joke, but you must have an eye to spot this and score so perfectly.
I shouldn’t be happy for Uruguay’s remontada, if things go according to logic we’ll probably face them now instead of Cape Verde.
But Rioplatense brotherhood is stronger.
Even if it’s famously not reciprocated.
Agreed about the wall. Hugely problematic for Uruguay.
If all teams in a group go 0-0 for every game, all draws…who advances to the next round?
Let’s also say, just for fun, there are no red cards issued to any team.
“the network’s resident carrot.” 
Personally, I don’t much care that Alexi wasn’t some elite player. The pool of American players that have credible international experience, American audience name recognition, and camera presence is quite small. Throw in decent analytical skills and the pool shrinks to just about nothing. So Alexi just soldiers on more or less by default because the alternatives aren’t that much better. But Alexi has learned all of the wrong lessons from his place of privilege and is akin to Rush Limbaugh doing NFL commentary. If only his career would end just as ignominiously.
The 2 with best FIFA rating. It should be with a coin like in the old days but Infantino ruins everything.
He’s perfectly adequate. Reminds me of Jim Courier when he was starting out as a tennis commentator. He was…OK.
They should do like shots on goal or corner kicks or something first. If it ever goes to a trie-breaker that isn’t what happened on the field, that’s a failure of the system.
Yes, corners were used in some old OLD tournaments in Argentina (think late nineteenth century)
In any case the probabilities of something like that happening are so low that it’s was thought better to just go for “we’ll leave it to random chance”.
If the match ends 2-2 Muslera and Olivera better not return to Uruguay.