New World Cup format produces some 3rd place drama

Sorry to all the Scotland fans who read the newsletter, this was an utterly disastrous set of results for you.

Group D: USA play a B team, look like it

With first place in the group locked up, the United States opted to rest all of its stars and keep everyone with a yellow card off the pitch. They’re short on good central midfielders with Christian Roldan hurt, though, so Weston McKennie still had to play. He’s arguably his country’s most important player, and was the only one who looked up to the USMNT’s previously high standard from their opening two matches.

This was Turkey’s first good performance of the tournament, with some of their shots actually coming from dangerous areas for once. They won 3-2 in rather dramatic fashion, scoring a 98th minute winner. While they were eliminated by the handshake draw in the other Group D game and definitely knew it, they still celebrated like the win meant a lot to them.

Ultimately this was a meaningless game, so enjoy the Telemundo announcers talking about “Country Roads.”

Australia and Paraguay do what we all expected

"We'll have a new format," they said. "What could go wrong?"

Here's Paraguay vs. Australia summed up:

With the shift to head-to-head tiebreakers and the 3rd-place finishers going through, games like this are effectively baked into the World Cup. Australia knew they were through in 2nd with a draw, and Paraguay knew that 4 points is a virtual mathematical lock to go through in 3rd.

So, everyone got what they wanted. Or, almost everyone: Feyenoord wingback Jordan Bos seemed to be the only player truly trying to win the game, while Brighton's Diego Gómez — for some reason still on the field for Paraguay — picked up a yellow that got him suspended.

It's not quite the debacle that Algeria vs. Austria looks like it'll be, but it also made for deeply uninspiring viewing. —JA

Group E: Ivory Coast turn in professional performance

Côte d'Ivoire took on Curaçao in a head-to-head battle for second spot in Group E. The Elephants were the clear favourites, needing just a draw to get the job done.

Curaçao came out looking to be quite competitive, but found themselves trailing just seven minutes in as Yan Diomande set Nicolas Pépé up for a tap-in. Côte d'Ivoire gradually grew their control over the game thereafter. While the Blue Wave managed odd forays forward, their shooting decisions rendered them quite unlikely to score.

Emerse Faé’s side slowed the game down even further after half-time, replacing Amad Diallo with tempo-controlling midfielder Christ Inao Oulaï. Pépé scored a second after the hour mark with a cool finish after running onto a good forward pass from Ibrahim Sangaré, effectively ending the contest. Côte d'Ivoire promptly took off their best players, calling it a day with a two-goal lead.

This was another impressive display from the Ivorians, who demonstrated both their tactical flexibility and intelligence to adapt to game states once again. They started off with a different setup in possession as a midfielder dropped in to form a close back-three while both full-backs pushed forward, with Guéla Doué looking lively as he linked up with Amad and Pépé in a nice triangle on the right side. While their defence didn’t face much of a tough test here, Les Éléphants should be confident in their ability to deal with different opponents and situations heading into their first-ever World Cup knockout stage. —NS

Ecuador produce the moment of the tournament

Much like the United States, Germany knew they had Group E locked up and had nothing to play for. They looked like it for the entirety of the match, sleepwalking towards what appeared to be a very boring draw.

But Ecuador still had something to play for. A one-goal win would put them on 4 points with an even goal differential, probably good enough to go through as one of the best third-placed teams. Around the hour mark, they started pushing hard for a winner, and Germany continued to look extremely casual.

It all led up to this 77th minute corner and a moment Ecuador fans will remember forever:

Please enjoy my favorite race chart of the tournament so far. Ecuador struggled through a boring game for 70+ minutes, then in less than 10 minutes, had 4 shots with a total xG value of over 1.2.

Group F: Japan’s reward for finishing ahead of Sweden is… Brazil

As interesting as Japan versus Sweden was in today’s fixture list of matches, some of the intrigue was also dependent on what happened between Tunisia and the Netherlands. In isolation, you had one of the more cohesive units in Japan vs a Swedish side which could soak up pressure and play direct when possible.

The first half kind of played out in that manner. Japan had the greater share of possession (55:45), trying to probe against Sweden’s passive 5-3-2 mid-block. On the other side, Sweden constantly tried to go long towards Viktor Gyökeres and play off of him. Compared to Japan at their peak, there was more of a risk averse nature to how they were operating. Maybe this was due to them only needing a draw to finish second, or respecting Sweden’s threat on the break.

Japan were consistently trying to find advantages on the left side. Arguably their best opportunity in the 44th minute which involved clever depth runs from Keito Nakamura and Daichi Kamada in close space before the former attempted a quick trigger shot which was saved by Jacob Widell Zetterström. One thing to appreciate with Japan even when not firing at all cylinders is their commitment to keeping the opposition honest with runs in behind from a variety of angles.

The second half was a more lively affair, in part due to Japan playing at a quicker tempo. This was seen in their beautiful team goal to take the lead in the 55th minute. You had Ritsu Doan and Ayase Ueda combining in the right pocket within the final third. All the while, Daizen Maeda made a clever run diagonal cut from the left halfspace towards goal and was found in stride by Doan before placing it past the outstretched Swedish keeper.

Out of almost nothing, Sweden equalized only a few minutes later courtesy of a wide angle curler from Anthony Elanga. It was a bit of a weird one because Japan’s keeper Zion Suzuki seemed to have trouble tracking the ball until it was too late. The shot was hit impressively by Elanga, and the trajectory being near head height might’ve been why Suzuki looked rooted to the ground. From there, both teams had their chances to take the lead, but it ended in a spirited 1-1 draw. This means Group F will have three representatives in the round of 32, with Sweden as one of the best third place sides. By finishing second, Japan gets to face Brazil in an overqualified round of 32 matchup. Brazil have shown some warts so far out of possession, and Japan on their A-game could certainly pose tons of problems en route to an upset victory. —MM

Netherlands-Tunisia was a football match

Not going to waste any of your time here. Netherlands had a two goal lead less than 10 minutes into this one, and that was effectively the end of the match. Shoutout to Hazem Mastouri and Tunisia for their 54th minute goal, which might have spared them the indignity of being remembered as the worst World Cup team of their generation.

Netherlands win the group comfortably, and will go on to face Morocco in what could be one of the most entertaining games of the entire tournament. —KM

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