At Least No Coin Flip (6/28)

WASHINGTON REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT, VA -- Both H2-Japan and H4-Senegal just need a draw to advance to the Round of 16 and both failed to do so, by identical 1-0 scores.  As such, both teams were level on points (4), goal differential (4), goals for(4), and head-to-head (2-2).  So we headed to the next tiebreaker, Fair Play Points.  This was instituted by FIFA in 2016 so this is the first World Cup to use it.  At the start, Japan led Senegal -3 pts to -5 pts on yellow cards and SEN picked one up in 51' to put it out reach, -3 to -6.  JPN did pick one up in the 66' but still held on to a 2 point margin.  JPN joins MEX as the only non-European, non-South American teams in the R16.

What if?  SEN had favorable results in all three matches but
allowed late goals in each.  They were cruising to a 2-0 win over H1-Poland but allowed an 86' goal to win 2-1.  SEN were winning 2-1 over JPN but allowed a 76' tying goal that ended 2-2.  Then, needing just a tie, a favorable scoreless match was dashed by a 74' goal in their 1-0 loss to H3-Colombia.

G1-Belgium held off G4-England 1-0 to win Group G while G3-Tunisia picked up a 2-1 win over G2-Panama in a meaningless match which meant the CAF teams went 3-10-2 (11 pts) while CONCACAF went 2-6-1 (7 pts).  When not beating each other up, UEFA went 17-7-6 (21-11-10 overall) (57 pts / 73 pts).  The AFC went 4-8-3 (15 pts) and CONMEBOL went 9-4-2 (29 pts).

Kds911 ends the group stage with 73 points.  He got 13 of 16 points to lead by two over Blitzkrieg813, Flying Elvi, and The Mighty Mobelfakta. The Mighty Zlatans (9th-T, 68), Poolraider (26th-T, 65), OurZoo (9th-T), Socal_562 (15th-T, 67), and Ramos Tackles (46th-T, 60) got 15 points while Tjnunes only got 3 points to move into last (44).  18 have picked 14 of 16 Round of 16 teams while Soccerhorn and Tjnunes only got 9 correct.  Ilvecchio (29) lost 5 of the last 6 group stage matches to cede the most wins to Kds911 and himself (Toshiyori (15th-T, 67)) with 31.  Sokkerbix (51st-T, 59), TroJen (70th-T, 53), and Tjnunes got just 17 of 48 matches correct.

60 had picked POL in the R16, just 8 in the Quarters, 3 had them in the Final, and 2 had them as their champ.  POL and GER (79) were the teams most entries missed picking.

For Group G, 34 picked BEL and 30 picked TUN with 15 getting both matches and 30 missing both.  All 79 picked BEL and 75 picked ENG into the Round of 16 with 75 getting both and 4 getting one.  15 got all 8 points while Goolazo (67th-T, 55) and Tjnunes (79th, 44) got just 3 points.

For Group H, just 56 picked POL and 56 picked the COL with 41 getting both correct and 8 missing both.  70 got COL and 10 got JPN into the Round of 16 with 7 getting both and 6 missing both.  5 got all 8 points while Tjnunes got no points, the first person to be shut out in a Group this year.

Round of 16 

A-RUS via URU>EGY
A-URU via URU>EGY
C-FRA via FRA>PER

D-CRO via CRO>ARG

G-BEL via ENG>PAN

G-ENG via ENG>PAN

B-ESP via ESP=MAR

B-POR via POR=IRN

C-DEN via DEN=FRA

D-ARG via ARG>NGA & CRO>ISL

F-SWE via SWE>MEX

F-MEX via KOR>GER

E-BRA via BRA>SRB

E-SUI via SUI=KOR

H-COL via COL>SEN

H-JPN via COL>SEN & FairPlayPoints (4)

Eliminated
A-KSA via URU>EGY
A-EGY via URU>EGY
B-MAR via ESP>IRN
C-PER via FRA>PER

E-CRC via SUI>SRB

G-PAN via ENG>PAN

G-TUN via ENG>PAN

H-POL via COL>POL

B-IRN via IRN=POR & ESP=MAR

C-AUS via PER>AUS

D-NGA via ARG>NGA

D-ISL via CRO>ISL

F-GER via KOR>GER

F-KOR via SWE>MEX

E-SRB via BRA>SRB

H-SEN via COL>SEN & FairPlayPoints (6)

Won Group
A-URU via URU>RUS

B-ESP via ESP=MAR & IRN=POR

C-FRA via FRA=DEN

D-CRO via CRO>ISL

F-SWE via SWE>MEX & KOR>GER

E-BRA via BRA>SRB & SUI=KOR

H-COL via COL>SEN & POL>JPN

G-BEL via BEL>ENG

Bottom 16 (Pts - (GD - GF))
17. SEN 4 (0 - 4)
18. IRN 4  (0  - 2)
19. KOR 3 (0 - 3)
20. PER 3 (0 - 3)
21. NGA 3 (-1 - 3)
22t. SRB 3 (-2 - 2)
22t. GER 3 (-2 - 2)
24. TUN 3 (-3 - 5)
25. POL 3 (-3 - 2)
26. KSA 3 (-5 - 2)
27. MAR 1 (-2 - 2)
28t. AUS 1 (-3 - 2)
28t. CRC 1 (-3 - 2)
28t. ISL 1 (-3 - 2)
31. EGY 0 (-4 - 2)
32. PAN 0 (-9 - 2)