World Cup Day 4: El Tri down the champs, Landon Donovan misfires taken at BSJ Headquarters (Revolution)

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Revolution

World Cup Day 4: El Tri down the champs, Landon Donovan misfires

By Sean Sweeney

Jun 17, 2018 • 4:43 pm

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Couldn't catch all of Sunday's action in Russia? BostonSportsJournal.com has you covered, in quickie form and with BSJ analysis and insight.

FOUR THOUGHTS FROM TODAY'S PLAY

Germany's title defense doesn't start out so well: In a match where it was end-to-end, Mexico's countering had lacked the final touch for the first half an hour -- until it didn't. Germany's surprisingly shaky defending finally broke down as Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez played a neat ball through to a hard-charging Hirving Lozano out on the left, who cut back around the right back and buried a healthy strike at the near post to give El Tri a 1-0 lead after 35 minutes played. Die Mannschaft had difficulty engineering things as Mexico's defending came up aces, and if didn't, Germany either shot over, or right at Mexican keeper Memo Ochoa. Mexico had a couple of chances at making it two -- Chicharito's pass to Carlos Vela was just off-line in the 57th, and Enemy of Yank Soccer Rafa Marquez had found Miguel Layun, but he blazed over in the 78th; Layun also had a go in the 82nd -- and Germany had plenty of chances to make it level, but El Tri held on for an impressive Group F result.

Thinking ahead: Sure, it's only one match in Group F, and there's still time for plenty of things to happen (like for Sweden and South Korea to get their tournaments started Monday), but Mexico's 1-0 win over Germany has El Tri -- again, for the moment -- in pole position to get out of the group in the top spot. And just to remind you: Group F plays Group E in the Round of 16, with the winner getting the runner-up of the opposite group. If Mexico can get out of the group in the top spot, it more than likely avoids Brazil and gets either Serbia or Switzerland standing in the way to the quarterfinals. And there have been a total of five contending nations who have either drawn or lost in the last three days of competition. That's going to tighten some players up and force them to play mistake-free football in their last two group matches.

Free kick stunner wins it for Serbia: Serbia was rather industrial as it tried to make things work in the attacking third in the first half, but didn't have that trailer near the top of the box to account for Costa Rica's defending and deflections; they could have been up two or three goals to nil at the break if they had the trailer. The Ticos also had good ideas in attack, yet couldn't find the finishing touch. But it remained scoreless until captain Aleksandar Kolarov, after a cynical takedown led to a free kick some 25 yards from goal, buried the uncontested 57th-minute blast at the near post, and Costa Rica -- and Real Madrid -- goalkeeper Keylor Navas had no chance. That's the way it ended as the Serbians saw the match out, but there were some handbags and haymakers thrown toward the end which didn't see discipline.

Brazil, Switzerland battle to 1-1 draw: Brazil, usually a shoe-in to grab three points in its World Cup opener, had 61 percent of the possession in the first 20 minutes, and it saw its possession paid for as Barcelona's Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring with a curling strike from the top of the box, popping it off the inside half of the far post. It would go into the locker room with the deserved lead, but five minutes into the second half, Switzerland equalized on a corner kick, with Steven Zuber rising above some rather stationary yellow jerseys to head the ball in. It would remain that way the rest of the way, but Brazil had a shout for a penalty near the 74th minute as Xhaka appeared to bear hug Gabriel Jesus much in the same way Antonio Delamea did with CJ Sapong in the Revolution opener in March. The referee ignored it -- he ignored a lot of fouls, including Zuber pushing off -- and didn't consult VAR. Even though it was the first time Brazil hadn't won its opener since Spain '82, it was still a rather competitive tie in Moscow.

A WORLD CUP TAKE SWEENS MAY LATER REGRET

He has sold his soul, and he will regret it: A little Landon Donovan hate sprang up on Twitter over the weekend, and in this writer's opinion, it's deserved. If you missed it, Wells Fargo hired the American leading scorer in international competition and in Major League Soccer for ads designed to get American fans to support Mexico during the World Cup, and predictably, several of his ex-teammates aren't too pleased with him. To be honest, we don't blame them. We don't really understand why Landon Donovan, who was 11-5-4 against Mexico in his career, 1-3-1 overall at Estadio Azteca, and lost two CONCACAF Gold Cups to Mexico, would ever support them. I guess he's still rather salty about being left off the US roster in '14.

Landon, it's been four years: get the hell over it. I know you're in Leon now -- oh, wait. I spoke too soon. You can root for whoever you want, and yeah, you can make a living however you want. But your legacy in this country is tarnished now. Never forget that.

STATS OF THE DAY

Heavy is he who wears the crown: Since the tournament resumed following World War II in 1950, the reigning holders had a good run of form in their first match as champions; the '50 winners, Uruguay, won its first match in the '54 tournament, '54 winners West Germany won its first match in '58, and so forth. But that run ended in '74, when '70 champ Brazil drew, 0-0, with Yugoslavia in their '74 opener. Since then, only three champions opened the next tournament with three points:

[table id=63 /]

Knowing that, does anyone really want to win this tournament knowing what's next?

It was nice while it lasted: Before Sunday's 1-nil defeat to Serbia, Costa Rica hadn't lost in normal time at the World Cup since they were ousted from the group stages in Germany '06. Costa Rica didn't qualify in 2010, won their group in '14, and made it to the last eight that year. They were defeated by the Netherlands on penalties in the quarterfinals but had battled the Dutch to a scoreless draw after extra time.

PLAYER OF THE DAY

Memo Ochoa, goalkeeper, Mexico

The Mexican goalkeeper -- he plays his club football with Standard de Liege in Belgium -- was lights out against the defending champions as he had nine saves. He was in the middle of a shooting gallery in the last 20 minutes as the Germans tried to pull level, but he did not break.

TOP PLAYS

This was pretty, and allegedly offside:








Andres Cantor




















WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON MONDAY


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