2G-England scored on Harry Kane's 3rd PK goal of the tournament and was poised for the win until 1H-Colombia became the 11th team to tie or win in stoppage time as Yerry Mina's 90'+3 sent the match into Extra Time. ENG, having lost all 3 PSOs in the WC plus one Euro PSO were making their fans' nervous as the 30 minutes ticked away. But ENG was prepared for a PSO. Even after falling behind 3-2, luck was on their side as COL hit the crossbar giving each side a miss. After COL's fifth was saved, ENG got lucky again as even though the GK guessed right and got a hand on the ball, the ball still powered into the net, giving ENG their first PSO victory, 4-3.
In a battle of evenly matched European teams that start with the letter "S",
TGI FRIDAY'S, LOS ANGELES - LADERA, CA -- #61 2H-Japan came out strategically and attacked when necessary to upset the #3 1G-Belgium's offense but instead of trying to play for a scoreless draw, Japan managed to score twice after the half and took a 2-0 lead. Two BEL subs in the 65' changed everything. Creating havoc off a corner kick, a routine header cross somehow managed to tuck away just under the crossbar to cut JPN's lead in half in the 69'.
Then five minutes later, sub Marouane Fellaini
Saturday, June 30, 2018
[ Foster's Football Brew: Euro 2012 | Euro 2016 | WC 2018 ]
 |
| Eric Foster, Erica Mapa, Reza Amidi, Alejandro Aragon |
The
Argentina match against Nigeria (26-JUNE) was surreal... 64.5K fans, about 80%
of which were Argentina supporters. As if it were a home game with AFC
Championship Game-like atmosphere in St Pete.
 |
| Fan Fest |
Got
to spend one hour walking around World Cup media center and Fan Fest in Moscow's
Red Square from 3-4am in morning during
NHA HANG TAI SUI RESTAURANT, ROSEMEAND, CA -- 2A-Russia, the worst-ranked team (70th) in the tournament, opened people's eyes with a 5-0 win to start the tournament. Now the host used a highly efficient defense to shut out the #10 team in the world for 120 minutes to prevail in the penalty shootout, 4-3 (1-1 tie). 1B-Spain's only goal came off an own goal in the 12' and despite playing a highly efficient possession game (completing 91% of their passes (1,031 passes completed vs RUS's 204), having 74% possession time, and having 60 minutes of playing time (vs RUS's 20)), ESP was almost too patient and couldn't score in 120 minutes. RUS's only shot on goal was their penalty kick goal in the 41'.
In the penalty shootout, RUS was a
The top dogs were in play today in UEFA vs CONMEBOL showdowns and first we got a power matchup between 1C-France and their young stars and 2D-Argentina featuring Messi. In a wild match, FRA scored first on a PK but then ARG scored twice to take the lead. But in a 11-minute span, 19-year old Kylian Mbappe, who was everywhere on the pitch, drawing fouls and the penalty, followed Benjamin Pavard's wicked strike to tie the match with two goals in 5 minutes. ARG managed to get one goal back in stoppage time off a great Messi cross but it was too little too late as FRA held on 4-3. FRA scored on all 4 shots on goal.
In another power matchup, 1A-Uruguay and 2B-Portugal faced off. 7 minutes after
Friday, June 29, 2018
OLD GERMANY OUSTED; JAPAN SNEAKS
IN
Kds911 leads by 2; 22 lost Germany as their
champ
TERMINAL 21, WASHINGTON REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT, VA (smt) -- F4-Korea
Republic shocked F1-Germany in stoppage time... twice, to send the defending
champs out of the Knockout Stage or the first time since 1954. KOR's win
saved F2-Mexico the embarrassment of being the team to win their first two
matches and fail to make the Round of 16 (getting trounced by eventual Group F
winner F3-Sweden 3-0). B1-Portugal was eerily close to being eliminated as
B4-Iran had tied them 1-1 and threatened a couple times late to win which would
have sent the Portuguese out on
Fair Play Points against B2-Spain. Spain
got a stoppage time goal using a quick restart just to make sure they made the
R16 and with IRN's late goal, won Group B.
H2-Japan did advance via Fair Play Points, however, as both they and H4-Senegal
WASHINGTON REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT, VA -- Both H2-Japan and H4-Senegal just need a draw to advance to the Round of 16 and both failed to do so, by identical 1-0 scores. As such, both teams were level on points (4), goal differential (4), goals for(4), and head-to-head (2-2). So we headed to the next tiebreaker, Fair Play Points. This was instituted by FIFA in 2016 so this is the first World Cup to use it. At the start, Japan led Senegal -3 pts to -5 pts on yellow cards and SEN picked one up in 51' to put it out reach, -3 to -6. JPN did pick one up in the 66' but still held on to a 2 point margin. JPN joins MEX as the only non-European, non-South American teams in the R16.
What if? SEN had favorable results in all three matches but
FREDERICKSBURG, VA -- One team was going to have one of the biggest collapses ever. Either F2-Mexico was going to be the team to win their first two matches and get eliminated or defending champion F1-Germany was going to bow out of the Group Stage for the first time since 1954. With F3-Sweden handily ahead of MEX, GER and F4-Korea Rep were still scoreless. A GER goal would eliminate MEX and they had 26 shots to try to get that one goal. But then the unthinkable happened as KOR scored off a corner kick in stoppage time (ruled not offsides by VAR (in either case - GER played the ball to a teammate or KOR was onside anyway) overturning the sideline ref). With GER needing two goals now, GER GK became the 11th attacker but quickly KOR took advantage and scored an empty netter (wow, so many hockey terms this World Cup) to seal GER's fate, 2-0. So who picked GER to finish LAST in Group F? In 2002, KOR helped another CONCACAF team, the USA, advance to the R16 with their 70' goal against Portugal to eliminate Portugal. MEX is the only non-European, non-South American team to qualify thus far (H2-Senegal and/or H4-Japan still have a chance). Just two spots remain among 3 Group H teams (Group G's Belgium and England have already qualified).
In Group E, E1-Brazil took care of business
Sunday, June 24, 2018
ARGENTINA IN TROUBLE, SIX TEAMS
IN
Ilvecchio and Spermicidal FC are tied
for 1st; Next four days will
pile up 64 points
LOS
ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (LAX->ATL->DCA), CA (smt) -- The second
group of matches saw redemptions for some teams such as E1-Brazil and F1-Germany
needed stoppage time goals to pull out wins, H3-Colombia dominated the Group H
seed 3-0, and B1-Portugal and B2-Spain rebounded to narrow 1-0 wins after all
five had disappointing starts. The only world power who failed to bounce
back was D1-Argentina who got shut out by D3-Croatia, 3-0, and now need help to
qualify for the Round of 16. A1-Russia (3-1), H1-Belgium (5-2), and
H4-England (6-1) remained perfect after dominating victories while A4-Uruguay
and C1-France struggled to 1-0 wins to remain perfect. F2-Mexico and
Croatia are the other teams to start 2-0. Of the 7 teams at 2-0, Mexico is
the only one to have not qualified for the Round of 16 yet.
The E2-Swiss became the first team to win after allowing the first goal rallying
to beat
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
DAHLGREN, VA -- B4-Iran nearly scored a stoppage time goal that would have eliminated B1-Portugal but had to settle for a hard-fought 1-1 tie that featured three VAR reviews. Ronaldo missed an early PK after getting the benefit of a PK via VAR but had to settle for 2nd in Group B after Iran scored a PK in stoppage time. B2-Spain had to rally twice against B3-Morocco (who had scored zero goals), the latter on a smart quick corner kick late in stoppage time that VAR review looked at and overruled the lineman's offside flag. The 2-2 tie gave Spain the Group on goals scored over Portugal and still hasn't lost in 23 matches. Due to goals scored, ESP still would've advanced with a 2-1 loss.
In the battle for first, A4-Uruguay scored
LAX, CA -- G4-England's Kane scored one of the easiest hat tricks in his life, two via PKs and one shot that went off his heel and deflected into the net. G2-Panama managed a goal after being down 6-0 but were still eliminated along with Tunisia. H4-Japan rallied twice to tie H2-Senegal 2-2 with the latter goal by Honda surprising the GK who could only look behind him. H3-Colombia rebounded with a
F1-Germany fell behind 1-0 to F3-Sweden and after tying the game, saw Jerome Boateng go out with his second yellow in 11 minutes in the 82'. Germany was following in Argentina's footsteps of needing help in their 3rd match and no chance at winning the group. But a foul outside the box in the fourth minute of stoppage time (of five minutes added) saw Germany execute a perfect free kick play as Toni Kroos took the free kick and a quick short pass to Marco Reus to stop the ball gave Kroos a better angle and his kick bent around the charging Swedish players and curled in just past the outstretched hands of the SWE goalkeeper. It was a first-class, world-class goal in the clutchest moment possible. The 90'+5 goal meant they can still win the group and now have more paths to make the Round of 16 although GER should not be
doing classless acts after the match.
F2-Mexico took care of F4-Korea Rep, 2-1 and missed clinching a spot in the Round of 16 when
E3-Costa Rica was headed to a scoreless tie with E1-Brazil despite taking no shots on goal and having just one corner kick but Brazil scored twice in stoppage time to dash those hopes. E2-Switzerland was also heading to a tie in their match with E4-Serbia before Xherdan Shaqiri's great effort as he slipped the ball under the GK in the 90' to give them a 2-1 win. Brazil and the Swiss are tied atop Group E with 4 points while Costa Rica is eliminated. Serbia became the first team to score first and lose as well as have a lead at halftime and lose.
In a team that didn't play today, D1-Argentina benefited as
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ -- D1-Argentina GK Wilfredo Caballero miskicked a ball played back to him straight into the air and D3-Croatia's Ante Rebic's eyes were wide with opportunity and hit a wicked shot past the keeper for the first score in the 53'. Although it looked like an easy put in by Rebic, if you look at the replay, it was a great finish, a finish 98% of MLS players would not be able to do -- most would settle the ball, wait for it to stop, and then try to kick it past the keeper. Croatia then took major advantage of two more opportunities against an Argentine team desperately trying to score and before you knew it, Messi and Argentina went down 3-0 and will need a lot of help if they want to make it to the Round of 16. Croatia qualified for their 2nd trip to the Knockout Stage and like Switzerland vs Brazil, took advantage of a lenient ref to commit 23 fouls and spread the cautions among four players.
Meanwhile, C1-France qualified for the Round of 16 in the most
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