World Cup 2022

[Charger]

Well Uruguay improved their playing but because Portugal went down the French way I see that wasn't enough and win by 2 goals didn't get them through...so Portugal and South Korea advance..

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

South Korea beat Portugal and go through on goals scored ahead of Uruguay who would have gone through if they could have got a 3rd against Ghana finally finishing 2-0.

[Charger]

And look at that Brazil did a france too and ended up losing with a b-team!

The Swiss took the win from Serbia so both teams move on.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The Round of 16

Sat
Netherlands v USA
Argentina v Australia

Sun
France v Poland
England v Senegal

Mon
Japan v Croatia
Brazil v South Korea

Tue
Marroco v Spain
Portugal v Switzerland


The top goal scorers

Morata - Spain 3   
Mbappé - France 3   
Rashford - England 3
Gakpo - Netherlands 3
Valencia - Ecuador 3

Valencia is now out so won't add to his total. And, of course, others could over take these in later rounds.

Shock Exits
Germany
Belgium
Denmark
Uruguay

[Charger]

If England moves on Rashford has a good chance of scoring again...same with Morata, that guy is playing at the top of his game right now.

[Charger]

So todays matches...


Netherlands vs USA
I'd like to say USA doesn't stand a chance but that's not entirely true. The dutch haven't had their machine rolling quite right and the US team as found a second gear somewhere...This could go into over time...But I'd like to see the dutch win for sure...it's been too long for them.

Argentina vs Australia
Eventhough the Aussies managed to fight even against the lucky danes and come on top I do think their road ends here...might even be a quite a big defeat as well as Argentina has started to found their stride.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Wins for Netherlands and Argentina would certainly be the outcomes on paper... but there have been too many games this last fortnight where the best teams "on paper" haven't won.

I would really like Argentina to lose!

[Zzzptm]

USA and Australia advance. Maybe. Or maybe not.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

... maybe not, at least for the USA.

I didn't see the match but a 3-1 win for The Netherlands sounds  reasonably comprehensive. Now we see what the other match comes to.

[Zzzptm]

And now, millions of Americans will go back to watching football, basketball, and hockey.

[Jack the Stripper]

Australia did as well as could be. They pushed Argentina in the 2nd half. Can’t help but think what might’ve been if not for that howler by the keeper that caused the 2nd goal. Still though, making the knockout phase and going down 2-1 to one one of the best teams in the world is something to be proud of. Argentina would’ve been stoked who they drew in the rd of 16, but at least we didn’t make it easy for them.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
You're quite right, Australia battled hard to limit the chances for the Argies. Glad that the Australians made a battle of it, pulling it back to 2-1 made for an exciting last 15 minutes, and the shot with virtually the last kick of the game could have made it 2-2.

I do wonder how Argentina will do against a traditionally more difficult team who will test their defence more.

[Zzzptm]

It's like the group play in the 2022 World Cup is a "well done, you made it" round of games, the first knockouts are swan songs for the also-rans, and then the quarter-final stages are getting down to the business of REAL steel-on-steel competition. Without a Group of Doom or two, there was a big muddle of games and quite a few that didn't matter at all. So I'm hoping that the randomizers of the 2026 cup manage to get a Group of Doom or two for some truly meaty matches up front.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

There should be wins today for France and England, but neither Poland or Senegal are going to be easy opponents. As an Englishman I'm sorta happy that Senegal's Mane was ruled out before the tournament.

[Charger]

France took a rather easy win from Poland...I have to say I was expecting bit more from Poland...

Mbappe seems to be taking the best scorer title...


England vs Senegal
England should take the win out of this one...Senegal isn't all that strong...they got bit of a lucky win from Ecuador...England is in a whole another league.