The Soccer Thread (Version 13) — Winter World Cup Edition

Mexico played like crap in the lead up to the Cup and struggled to score. Exciting finish. My kiddos were going nuts in my room during lunch. So disappointed, but it was a fun game. Shit.

 

Isn't this usually the time in every WC yhe offsides sucks/low scores are boring crowd comes to life? To be followed by "why don't they play Stanley Cup style overtimes?"

 

Adios.

By the way, the SA goal didn't matter in terms of Mexico needing only 1 goal. That's because they would have won the goals scored tiebreaker, which is the next one after GD. So a 3-1 and a 3-0 in this case were identical results.

 

It is really great. I was talking with one of my kids about this the other day. The WC hasn't always done it this way has it?

Maybe I thinking of how the NFL went to all divisional games the last week, but I feel some time in recent history the WC changed how they scheduled the end of pool play.

 

This is why I became a sports journalist. Too much math.

 

for as long as I can remember

 

Remember when some third-place teams got in and even more last-day fuckery was involved?

 

In 1982, Austria and West Germany, knowing the score that would send both of them through to the next round, openly conspired to achieve that score to screw Algeria, who had already played. It's known as the Disgrace of Gijon. The final matchday of group play has been that way ever since, though when the tournament goes to 48 teams in 2026, that may no longer be possible unless they go to 12 groups of four, but I'd last heard the default was 16 groups of three.

 

I don’t want to think of how fucked up the 48 team field will be. It’s like opening March Madness up to more 18-14 schools with #brandz

 

Shit. Just realized you're right. ugh. Oh well. It was fun.

 

I wonder if the Mexican coach knew that giving up a late goal from up 2-0 wouldn't have made a difference. How aware were they of the Poland score and the fact that Poland seemed content with its 2-0 loss in the late stages of its match. Did Mexico turn its aggressiveness into overdrive as it got close to the 90th minute and especially in the 2-3 minutes between when the Poland-Argentina match went final and until Saudi Arabia scored the meaningless goal?