What a World Cup to remember and we are just done for group stages. I had mentioned in my previous blog that this is most talented teams we have ever seen and what was the outcome?
- We saw group A have Senegal make it through and an expected Netherlands. That's where the obvious results stopped.
- Group B saw a massive win by Iran over Wales. After many years being out of the World Cup, Wales bows out with a poor showing. England is a force to reckon with and the US have made it through the group where we could have easily seen Iran make it through.
- Group C came down to the last game where we were watching the tie breaker for second place coming down to fair play ie number of yellow cards. Ya ya! Argentina lost to Saudi but they have experience and you cant count them out. As I was saying each team is very talented and Saudi played a system that really shut them down. A 4-1-4-1 system is tough to play. At the end of the day Lewandowski gets to score his first in the world cup and Argentina had to show the world to just relax.
- Group D saw a huge surprise with Denmark to go through to end up last in the group. Tunisia beats France and ties with Denmark that in itself should have seen them through but the socceroos were also here to make a statement with 2 wins to knockout Denmark's spot.
- Group E, another group with a shocking result with Japan coming out number 1 and shocking wins against Germany and Spain! That makes two Asian teams through to the world cup and knocking out strong South American team.
- Group F, wow just wow! I did say that Canada will have a hard time coming out of this group ut who would have guessed that Belgium will not be coming out of this group and Morocco yes! Morocco coming out first in the group! Unbelievable! This is definitely a wake up call for Canada at this stage for the next world cup in bringing the level of playing a much more tactical game. Canada got their first goals but didn't secure a win and they could have actually secured one against Belgium. They underestimated Croatia and with the public comments woke up a sleeping lion. This better be a lesson to just play the game and don't give material to the other team to use in the locker room.
- Group G, wow a first win by an African team, Cameroon, against Brazil! What an amazing feat! Although not making it through and Switzerland game coming down the wire this became quite an exciting group.
- Group H, another surprise finish by Korea by them beating Portugal in style. And then Uruguay getting upset by the same win and not winning against Ghana with more goals knocked them out. Ghana once again choked in the world cup where they could have made it through but first Ayew misses a penalty and don't get. Win against a vulnerable team is very depressing. Korea however becomes the third Asian team into the knockout stages! I believe that is a record.
On to the knockout stages and don't be surprised with some incredible upsets! As I said the teams are getting talented across the world and the gap between the power houses and teams who are underdogs is closing rapidly. This will be another exciting round. Get your picks in!!
Vamos Vamos Argentina!!
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