Yawner and Thriller (6/26)

RICHMOND, VA -- In the fight of their lives, D1-Argentina got an early goal from Messi (finally) but D4-Nigeria fought back to tie it.  With elimination near, a great Marcos Rojo strike put ARG back in the lead in the 86' but with D2-Iceland still tied with D3-Croatia, an Icelandic goal would eliminate ARG.  But Croatia scored instead, in the 90', to secure Group D and helped ARG advance to the Round of 16 to the delight of Diego Maradona who was so excited he double-flipped the crowd and then had to be taken to the hospital.

Meanwhile, C4-Denmark were content to just

advance and give C1-France Group C so while there spurts of action, for the most part, a lot of ball passing in settling for the first 0-0 tie of this World Cup.  Didn't matter as C2-Australia lost to C3-Peru 2-0 in a hard-fought battle with Peru scoring their first goal since 1982.

Kds911 is our new leader with 49 points.  He got 15 of 16 points to lead by one over 8 entries.  Sir Kyle (12th-T, 46) and Watching in Korea (2nd-T) got all 16 points while Tjnunes only got 6 points to move into last (31).  16 have picked all 8 Round of 16 teams while 11 have five correct.  Ilvecchio (10th-47) has the most group stage wins with 26.

For Group C, 22 picked FRA-DEN tie and 52 picked PER with 16 getting both matches and 21 missing both.  All 79  picked FRA and 45 picked DEN into the Round of 16 with 45 getting both and 34 getting one.  9 got all 8 points while 7 got just 3 points.

For Group D, 67 picked ARG and 37 picked the CRO with 35 getting both correct and 10 missing both.  38 got CRO and all 79 got ARG into the Round of 16 with 38 getting both teams and 41 getting one. 29 got all 8 points while 9 got just 3 points.

Round of 16 (10 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

Eliminated (12 of 16)
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

Won Group (4 of 8)
A-URU via URU>RUS

B-ESP via ESP=MAR & IRN=POR

C-FRA via FRA=DEN

D-CRO via CRO>ISL

Possible Group Winners (after 2 matches each team):

E: BRA or SUI or SRB

F: MEX or GER, or SWE

G: BEL or ENG

H: JPN or SEN or COL