Sunday, July 30, 2023

Stoppage Time Game Winner (7/30)

HOME, CA - Let's start of with Group H, which were the buns to the meat of Group A for some reason.  The day started with H2-Morocco scoring on a diving header in the 6' that stood up for their first-ever win, beating H4-Korea Rep, 1-0.  The #73 ranked team nearly held KOR with zero shots on goal (FIFA after the match had KOR with 14 shots, none on goal; ESPN had 17 shots, 3 on goal; FIFA corrected itself to 17-1) to stay alive in Group H. 

The day ended with a shocking H3-Colombian 2-1 upset of #2 H1-Germany on a wicked header off a corner kick in the 7th minute of stoppage time (only +6 was revealed).  GER had tied in on a PK in the 89' but the Colombian fans were passionate and loud in the stadium to help put COL on top of the group.  COL, who upset KOR earlier, actually kept KOR alive with the win, as a GER win/draw would have eliminated the South Koreans.  All four teams are still alive.

In between the Group H matches, Group A had their final stage and A2-Norway, scoreless through two matches, needed a big win and they got it, routing A3-Philippines, 6-0, to take second.  Co-host A1-New Zealand, needing to win after NOR went up 3-0 at halftime, could not push through despite their GK helping (and getting a shot) in the 7 minutes of stoppage time.  A4-Switzerland, needing just a draw, got it with the tourney's 4th nil-nil draw to win Group A.  NZL becomes the first WWC host (maybe B1-Australia is next?) to not make the knockout stage and did it in the most improbable way - beating #12 NOR, tying #20 SUI, and losing to #49 PHI.  What could've been, and hopefully the Kiwis will still support the rest of the WWC.

With four GER players and one NOR player playing for FC Bayen München, wore my 2021 home FC Bayen München jersey, complete with 5th star (30th title), UCL 6 starball, and 2020 FIFA World Champion patch.  Those palm leaves are getting HUGE!

Looking at just Group H matches, Firewire (38th-Tied, 17 pts) and last place Tiny Destroyer (13) were the only two to pick both upsets COL (picked by 2) and MAR (picked by 7).  Eggman 2 was one of 38 to go 0-2 in Group H but keeps first (23). 

With Groups concluding, you now get the 3 points per R16 team.  Group A saw 23 get both SUI and NOR into the R16 while the other 14 got just 1 of 2.  All 47 got NOR's win and 9 got the SUIvNZL draw correct.  Five entries got the full 8 points in Group A while 19 got just 4 points. 

For the whole day (Groups A and H), five entries got 8 points and 13 got 4 points.  Eggman 2 is still in first (31) with Hawkeye second (29).


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