Asian Shocker Redux! (11/23)

LA MIRADA, CA - For the third straight major tournament, E3-Germany loses their first group match, this time to #24 E4-Japan, 2-1.  GER lost to France in Euro 2020 and was upset 1-0 by Mexico in 2018 where they eventually missed the 2018 Knockout Stage after getting upset by another Asian team, Korea Republic, in their 3rd match.  GER dominated for the first 2/3rds of the match with possession and shots but JPN got two late goals nine minutes apart (75', 83'), the latter a laser up past the GK near post at close range.  This reminded me of Landon Donovan's "aim for the head" laser shot in the 2010 World Cup vs Slovenia.  

E1-Spain, GER's next opponent, showed their dominance putting up 7 goals against E2-Costa Rica.  If GER were to lose against ESP, they would need CRC to beat JPN to have any chance of advancing.  CRC has no shots at all and had just 17% possession (they did have more offsides than ESP with 7).  

#2 in the world F1-Belgium struggled against F2-Canada (getting outshot 21-9) but saved an early PK in holding on, 1-0.  #12 F4-Croatia and #22 F3-Morocco played to the tourney's 3rd scoreless draw.

It was well worth getting up at 6:30 am (after going to sleep near 3 am after watching the satisfying season finale of Star Wars: Andor) to see JPN turn it on and get rewarded with two goals.  Wore my authentic 2020-21 home JPN jersey afterwards when taking my mom to get her car a smog check.  But JPN's WC jersey looks great as well.

Kona Coast Uno (10th-Tied, 7 pts) was the only one to pick JPN while 14 picked the MAR-CRO tie.  101 picked ESP and 96 picked BEL.  12 entries went 3-1 while Firewire (69th-T, 5) and Young Bloods (69th-T) went 0-4 today.  This left nine in a tie for first with 8 pts while Meli (108th-T) joins Markofthebeast in last with 3 pts.

NOTE: Unlucky (1st-T) and What Would Pep Do (69th-T) were inadvertently swapped in points (corrected 11/23).  Thanks for Keith J for finding this error.  I now have an additional check when Excel decides to outsmart me.