This World Cup Is Just Craziness At This Point
Well, soccer has taken the spotlight recently with the FIFA World Cup in full gear. Germany went 1-0-2 in group play and won’t advance to the knockout stage. Japan and Senegal might actually advance out of their group. And England might actually make a run at this thing? If you had Germany advancing far, I deeply apologize for your bracket but hey, you should already have experience from March Madness right? The World Cup is just craziness now.
It’s safe to say that the surprise of this World Cup has been the host nation of Russia. They finished in 2nd place in group A behind the Luis Suarez lead Uruguay and have a knockout stage date with Spain. If Russia pulls off that upset, the soccer world really look at Russia with squinted eyes as Russian athletes have been known for doping in years past in all sports.
Knockout Stage
The nations that have punched their ticket to the round of 32 are Uruguay and Russia (Group A), Spain and Portugal (Group B), France and Denmark (Group C), Croatia and Argentina (Group D), Brazil and Switzerland (Group E), Sweden and Mexico (Group F). No real big surprises here for the exception of Russia. Uruguay will play Portugal, Russia vs. Spain, France have a match-up against Argentina, and Denmark will take on Croatia. Sweden will take on Switzerland while Mexico will take on Brazil.
England and Belgium will move on in group G but we must wait until their match tomorrow (2pm) to see who will win that group. Group H has quite the situation as Japan, Senegal, and Colombia all could win that group. Colombia must win against Senegal if they wish to advance.
Is England Back?
England have been quite absent from the past few World Cups. However; this squad hasn’t let those demons haunt them as they have dominated so far with a +6 goal differential. They have a huge match-up vs. Belgium tomorrow to see who will win group G. If England can draw or even get a result vs. Belgium than they’ll be a team to watch out for going forward and could make a deep run.
England could face Colombia, Japan, or Senegal in the knockout stage depending on how that group plays out. And with all this drama it’s good to see soccer back in the spotlight and hopefully this will give US soccer a kick in the rear to get the national team back in the mix.
–Brian Berard (@RockyBerard)