World Cup Day 10: Germany still alive; Mexico, Belgium almost through taken at BSJ Headquarters (Revolution)

(Getty Images)

Revolution

World Cup Day 10: Germany still alive; Mexico, Belgium almost through

By Sean Sweeney

Jun 23, 2018 • 6:23 pm

0comment-bubble

Couldn't keep up with all the action in Russia on Saturday? Don't worry, BostonSportsJournal.com has you covered with all the highlights, all in quickie form with BSJ insight and analysis.

FIVE THOUGHTS ON SATURDAY'S PLAY

Don't close the book on Germany just yet: Trailing by a goal to nil, Germany had 45 minutes to turn around its hopes to get out of the group, and boy, it used every second on that clock. The reason for being down? A bad Toni Kroos pass went to the Blue and Yellow, with Ola Toivonen ending the counterattack with a chip past Germany keeper Manuel Neuer in the 32nd minute. Then the turnaround began: Three minutes into the second half, Marco Reus scored off his knee to pull level, but a cynical challenge by Jerome Boateng, already on a yellow card, with 10 minutes of regular time remaining forced referee Szymon Marciniak to show a second yellow, and Boateng was off and Germany down to 10 men. Swedish goalkeeper Robin Olsen then made an incredible rising save to deny Mario Gomez; four minutes later, the post came to the rescue in stoppage time. But with one of the last German kicks of the match, on an indirect free kick mere inches into the box in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Kroos curled it and got it beyond Olsen to give Die Mannschaft -- they're still in town -- life in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

El Tri wins, needs a result Wednesday: Mexico had loads of possession and 87 percent passing accuracy, but with South Korea playing almost in El Tri's shorts, CONCACAF's top representative had difficulty in getting things working -- until Andres Guardado's cross into the box caromed off an out-stretched hand, and it was a penalty to Mexico. LAFC's Carlos Vela booted it home in the 26th minute, and Mexico was well on its way. 40 minutes later, on a 3-on-2 break with Hirving "Chucky" Lozano, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez scored his 50th career international goal, and that had Mexico with one foot in the knockout stages. The South Koreans got on the board three minutes into second-half stoppage time as Heung-min Son scored a beauty of a left-footer. South Korea had other opportunities, but Memo Ochoa made all the right stops in the 2-1 win. South Korea was certainly frustrated, but they found themselves saddled with yellow cards for reckless, cynical play. A draw against Sweden will see Mexico through.

Belgium routs Tunisia; almost through to the knockouts: Americans love scoring, so if you're one of those people who complain, "There's no scoring in soccer!" you need to let your eyes feast on Saturday's opener. Three goals in the first 18 minutes highlighted a bright start in this one, but even after that, confident Belgium -- now unbeaten in its last 21 matches -- were seriously peckish in a 5-2 win over Tunisia, and are practically through from Group G. Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku both potted a pair for the Red Devils, with Lukaku drawing level with Cristiano Ronaldo in the Golden Boot race (four goals each). Hazard drew a fifth-minute penalty and easily kicked it in, before Lukaku scored on the counter in the 16th. Tunisia defender Dylan Bronn headed in a free kick not two minutes later. Action would settle and Tunisia would make two changes before the interval, and Lukaku added the third goal in the third minute of first-half stoppage time to restore Belgium's two-goal lead. Hazard scored the fourth just after the restart, and Michy Batshuayi added the fifth at the end of the regular 90. Tunisia's Wahbi Khazri wrapped up the scoring in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

Looking ahead: Let's do the If Team X beats Team Y does that mean Team Z will be champions thing: given Belgium's performance against Tunisia Saturday, and given that England couldn't put the Eagles of Carthage away until second-half stoppage time early this week... does that mean that the Red Devils will throttle the Three Lions when they play -- possibly for the top of the Group G table, depending on what happens with England-Panama Sunday morning -- on Thursday? This Belgium side can be a quarterfinal side regardless of the Round of 16 competition from Group H, and have the ability to break down Brazil, Mexico, or Germany. Semifinals? Finalists? Champions? There's lots of football to play, yes... but don't be shocked if Belgium make a really strong run this year.

Is it time for fans of Powers That Be nations to truly take CONCACAF sides seriously?: I'm not saying that a CONCACAF side -- in this year’s case, Mexico -- is going to win the World Cup any time soon, but I think a lot of football supporters around the globe need to stop looking at North/Central American sides in their groups as easy pickings, or that any result earned by same is a fluke or an aberration. Look at Friday with the defensive performance of Costa Rica -- and it almost scored first, I might add -- and both of Mexico’s performances in the last week: both sides were difficult to play against. Ask Brazil if they want to play against Costa Rica any time soon. And look at the last few tournaments: in '14, three of the four CONCACAF sides got out of the group, and Costa Rica made it to the quarters, only to lose on penalties. In '10, two of the three sides got to the Round of 16. Mexico has been a regular participant in the Round of 16 every tournament since 1994. Face it: this ain't the 90's any longer, there is good football in CONCACAF, and CONCACAF sides consistently emerge from the group stages; in fact, the last time CONCACAF was shut out? 1982.

OFF THE PITCH


  • Panama manager Hernan Dario Gomez isn't too impressed with England: "England doesn't have a lot of individual stars like Belgium with (Eden) Hazard)." Well, then... I guess he's never heard of Harry Kane, right?

  • After we filed on Friday, reports surfaced that Colombian midfielder Carlos Sanchez has received death threats on social media for his red card on Tuesday. The reports became known 24 years to the day of Andres Escobar's own goal against the United States which eliminated Colombia in 1994; Escobar was murdered on July 2, 1994. Sanchez will miss Sunday's match with Poland. Colombian police are investigating the threats.


STATS OF THE DAY


  • Vela's penalty was the 14th penalty of the tournament taken.

  • Today's opponents, Germany and Sweden, had an interesting bit of history intertwine as they faced off in Sochi: Germany hadn't lost two World Cup matches in a row in any tournament since 1958 -- the same year Sweden last won two World Cup matches in a row, doing so on home soil.

  • Mexico and South Korea had met in World Cup competition once previous to Saturday: El Tri beat the South Koreans, 3-1, in their '98 World Cup Group E opener. Saturday was the 13th meeting overall.

  • Mexico's Guardado made his 150th international appearance Saturday.

  • South Korea's loss to Mexico means it won't get out of the group stage for the second consecutive time; in South Korea's World Cup history (10 tournaments), it has only advanced out of the group twice: 2010, where they only got to the Round of 16 (lost to Uruguay, 2-1), and 2002, when they reached the semifinals (lost to Germany, 1-0; lost to Turkey in the third-place game, 3-2).

  • Tunisia and Belgium played once before in the World Cup: a group stage game in 2002. It was a 1-1 draw, one of four draws by the Eagles of Carthage in World Cup action.

  • Belgium carried a 20-match unbeaten streak (15 wins, 5 draws) into Saturday.


PLAYERS OF THE DAY


Romelu Lukaku, striker, Belgium; Eden Hazard, striker, Belgium; Hirving Lozano, striker, Mexico


El Tri


TOP PLAYS






































Die Mannschaft












WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON SUNDAY


Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
0
Show comments for this article