A1-France peppered A4-Nigeria with 22 shots but only had 4 on goal and were bailed out by VAR in a 1-0 victory to clinch Group A with the maximum 9 points. Like the ITAvJAM match, VAR first confirmed the penalty kick and then upon FRA missing off the left post, that the GK was off her line. By inches! I guess you pay the price by jumping around that you may accidentally fall in front of the line. FRA converted in the 79' (seriously from the first foul to the goal the dead time was 6 minutes and 45 seconds (72:08 to 78:53)). Hence, 8 minutes of stoppage time that extended the match to an even 100:00. Had NGR, who had no shots on goal (2 shots overall) held on to the 0-0 tie, they would have advanced to the R16. Now they must wait on goal differential as the other 3rd place finishers are known and they are at -2. In one bizarre scenario, if Group E and Group F bottom two teams tie (they both have zero points and face each other), then not only would NGR make it, but D3-Argentina could with TWO points if they tie D2-Scotland. That's how lopsided and predictable this tourney has been so far (except Group C).
A2-Korea Republic was facing an uphill battle, needing a big victory combined with a big France win and neither happened. KOR outplayed A3-Norway but did themselves no favors committing not one, but two fouls in the box (somehow the last foul, as painful as it looked did not draw a yellow card) and NOR scored on both PKs, their only two shots on goal in the match. KOR had 23 shots and finally managed to score in the 78' but fell short 2-1. NOR finishes 2nd in Group B.
Talk about doing the minimum to advance. CHN scored just one goal and gave up just one goal and had just four shots on goal in 3 matches to reach the R16. GKs had a big day with CHN making 9 saves, RSA's 8 saves, and NOR's 6 saves. ESP has taken 65 shots with 23 of them on goal but have only scored 3 times. Take out the 2 PKs, then they have one goal on 21 shots on goal. NOR had six goals but two were scored on own goals by the opponent and two on PKs. Eight of the 9 UEFA teams are in, with only SCO left to clinch.
Tuesday, Group C is in action and interestingly, head-to-head is not the first tiebreaker so if C3-Brazil beats C2-Italy by one goal and C1-Australia does not win, ITA would win the Group despite losing to BRA (both with 6 points). Only if GD and GF are the same would the head-to-head factor in. AUS advances with a tie or better and jumps ahead of NGR for 3rd place consideration with a 1 or 2 goal loss. C4-Jamaica needs at least a 4-goal win for any hope of making the R16.
On Monday, Group B: 13 went 2-0 (13 TIE, 40 GER) while 4 went 0-2, 40 got all 3 teams in while 4 got 2 teams (44 GER, 43 ESP, 41 CHN), on placement (44 had GER 1st, 24 ESP 2nd, 21 CHN 3rd (12 as BEF, 9 as ABF))
Group A: 27 went 2-0 while 4 went 0-2 (27 NOR, 40 FRA), 43 got both teams while Hereforthecommentary missed NOR (44 FRA, 43 NOR), on placement (43 had FRA 1st, 31 NOR 2nd)
Overall, 6 went 4-0 while 2 went 0-4 (Poolraider (41st-T, 33), Coco (41st-T)), 39 got all 5 teams in R16 while 5 got 4 of 5, 6 picked up max of 19 points while 2 got just 14 (BENSANCHO (34th-T, 35), Hereforthecomentary), 4 tied for 1st with 40 pts (Eleanor Abernathy, Fotografo il Migliore, Pazzo Americano, Spermicidal FC) and two tied for last with 32 pts (Hereforethecommentary, Soccerhorn)
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