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Post by evilconempire on Jun 16, 2014 11:22:33 GMT -5
Pretty good so far. I've really enjoyed it. England v. Italy was the best match I've seen so far. France looks like it's put it's chemistry problems from 2010 behind them and are a stronger squad than many had anticipated. Argentina looked less than impressive. Brazil looked beatable.
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World Cup
Jun 20, 2014 13:08:09 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by evilconempire on Jun 20, 2014 13:08:09 GMT -5
Italy loses to Costa Rica, Spain is done, England is done, and USA beats Ghana. This has been one entertaining tourney so far.
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Post by bob0627 on Jun 23, 2014 7:50:13 GMT -5
Unbelievable! USA had the game won vs Portugal and the next round guaranteed. But nothing comes easy, a 90 + 5 mins injury time goal and USA now needs a result from the Germany game or help from the Portugal VS Ghana game. Any one of these scenarios and USA is through to the next round.
1. USA beats or draws Germany. A win and USA wins the group, it would be the 2nd consecutive World Cup where USA wins the group. A draw and Germany wins the group.
2. A Portugal vs Ghana draw and it doesn't matter what USA does, USA advances.
3. A USA loss and a Portugal win. Portugal would have to make up a 5 goal difference. That means USA cannot lose by more than 1 or 2 goals and Portugal must not win by more than 2 goals.
4. A USA loss and a Ghana win. This one is too dangerous because here the goal margin is USA has a 2 goal advantage. So USA loses by 1 goal and Ghana wins by 1 goal would tie up the goal difference. The next tie breaker is goals scored and here USA has one more than Ghana so USA still has a slight advantage. If Germany beats USA 1-0 and Ghana beats Portugal 1-0, then it's tied on goals (4-4) and the last tie breaker is used, head to head, where USA beat Ghana.
The pundits are saying USA and Germany will play for a tie to guarantee them both a spot in the next round. Note that Germany can also be eliminated with a loss but is in much better position than USA due to a larger goal difference.
If USA wins the group, they will play the 2nd place team from group H (Belgium 6, Algeria 3, Russia 1, South Korea 1) in the next round. If USA gets 2nd place, they will likely face Belgium in the next round. USA has a chance of a re-match with Algeria, the side they beat at the last minute with a Donovan goal to win the group 4 years ago. The last games in Group H are Belgium vs South Korea and Algeria vs Russia. Group G & H games will all be played on the same day (Thursday June 26).
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Post by evilconempire on Jun 23, 2014 9:36:34 GMT -5
The loss was stunning. I literally stood staring at the TV with my jaw on the floor. Literally a few seconds away from assuring an advance to the round of 16.
I can't imagine Germany not playing to win the group.
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Post by shaniqua on Jun 23, 2014 9:40:00 GMT -5
Amazing how a sport can overcome political animosities.
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Post by bob0627 on Jun 23, 2014 21:47:18 GMT -5
The loss was stunning. I literally stood staring at the TV with my jaw on the floor. Literally a few seconds away from assuring an advance to the round of 16. I can't imagine Germany not playing to win the group. I agree but all Germany needs is a draw to win the group and that would also put USA through to the round of 16. The question is will both teams play for the draw and give us a boring game or are they going to play to win? Germany's coach, Joachim Low, was an assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann at the 2006 World Cup, so there is a very interesting relationship here. Klinsmann publicly said he wants to beat Germany and win the group.
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