Late Comebacks & Heartache (12/9)

EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Two South American teams had leads late and both allowed European teams to rally and tie.  Only one overcame heartache to win.  

The #1 team in the world, 1G-Brazil, came off of dancing in the Round of 16 to struggle yet again on offense despite 20 shots.  In extra time, a couple of give-and-gos and great touch around the GK, provided a dramatic goal by Neymar as first half extra time expired.  Neymar's 77th goal for BRA tied him with Pele but the goal affected the team in the second half of extra time as they were confused, being passive, show-boating, and driving forward and that lack of defending focus allowed 2F-Croatia to counter with their first shot on goal slightly deflected and going into the net in the 117'.  

CRO's second straight comeback (third of this WC) sent the match to their second straight penalty shootout, a spot CRO is feeling comfortable having now played 4 in the last two WCs.  CRO's GK made another save (4th in the two PSOs) and with the PSO 4-2 in favor of CRO, BRA hit the left post, sending CRO to their second straight semifinal.  It'll be the "doink" heard around the world.  Neymar didn't even shoot as there was no fifth round of PSO.

6 of CRO's last 7 major tournament knockout matches have gone to extra time, and CRO is 4-0 if it goes to the PSO.  BRA has lost to a European team in the knockout stage in five straight WCs since their title in 2002.  

1C-Argentina scored in the first half and then Messi added a PK in 73' which seemed to put a 1A-Netherlands team who had yet to have a shot on goal. But then NED's Wout Weghorst, who already got a yellow while on the bench in the 1st half, came in in the 78' and proceeded to use his height to head a ball home in the 83'.   Then with +10 minutes of stoppage time thanks to couple of long scuffles (where amazingly, just offsetting yellow cards issued for incidents in the 74' and 88' (NED bench ran onto field after ball was struck at them)), NED earned a free kick in the 90'+10' and with a ballsy play, rolled it to the side of the wall where Weghorst dribbled and scored to tie it at 2-2 in the 90'+11' (100:31).  It was a successful conversion of a "trick" play that the USA nearly converted in their R16 match with Belgium in 2014 that would have tied it and likely sent it to a PSO.  

Unlike JPNvCRO and ESPvMAR, one team (ARG) aggressively tried to win in extra time and nearly did it a few times.  That momentum carried into the PSO as ARG GK made two saves to start en route to a 4-3 PSO win.  In the end, the players won and lost the match, but the ref was very inconsistent as there were cards shown early, cards shown to the bench, yet obvious intentional handballs (Messi) weren't called, and in addition to the two above skirmishes, benches were cleared after regulation and altercations during the actual PSO, with lots of slide tackles that usually would warrant a yellow.  So 18 yellows (plus 1 red for 2 yellows) were shown but 2 were to coaches, 3 during the PSO, and 1 to the bench. 

So we almost got CRO-NED but ARG is still alive.  Wore my 2014 NED home 125th anniversary jersey (held onto my Brazil jersey because didn't think they would already be out) and while watching my daughter's school band playing prior to watching the classic "Polar Express" movie, had interchanges with a few parents and even one parent wearing an ARG jersey saying he thought ARG was going to choke again!

In the pool, 79 had ARG making the QF and 4 had CRO.  Three got both (Indy Ari, TripleM (29th-Tied, 90 pts), and Free Merman (23rd-T, 92)) while 29 got none.  Indy Ari moves into first place with 99 points but does have BRA as champion (remember, it doesn't matter how teams get to QF).  Five are tied for 2nd with 98 pts and there are 38 entries within 10 points of first place.  Markofthebeast is still last with 57 pts.

BRA's loss means just 10 can now win the pool while 33 are still alive to finish in the top 5.  Soccerbix (2nd-T) had the best chance to win the pool (28.1%) and money (62.5%).  Five others have at least a 10% chance to win the pool and six others have at least a 30% chance to win money.  Bwakewey 2 is tied for 6th (97) but can't win the pool while Firewire is tied for 49th (85) but can still win the pool.  EEChick1400 is tied for 14th (94) but is eliminated while WEWIV is tied for 69th (81) but can still finish 3rd.