Good morning, Happy Friday everyone, and here’s a quick World Cup recap for you.
Obviously there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to Japan, Spain and Germany and the position of football in the build up to the game-winning goal, but before all that, can we take a moment to give Japan what they want? corresponds? have done in this group.
Trailing 1-0 at half-time to Germany in their opener, they transform in the second half, capitalizing on German arrogance and turning the game around to win 2-1. They then lose to Costa Rica, who were absolutely demolished by Spain in their first game. And then last night they were again 1-0 down at half time, after conceding early as well, and once again they turned that deficit around to go on and win the game.
All else aside, it’s a remarkable sequence of results and topping the pack the way they did deserves a lot of credit. I’ve seen people talk about how Spain didn’t really try last night, and I’m a bit confused as to what game people were watching. Japan defended very well, and they had to defend very well because Spain was trying to score. I don’t think they sat down or anything like that.
As for the Japanese goals, Unai Simón was not very good in the first one, he had Almunia’s wrists for that one, but all the discussion is about the second one and if the ball was out of play before it was resent. we were served on tv, definitely looks:
But when you look at it from above, you can see that by the slightest margin, the entire ball hasn’t crossed the line:
Honestly, I think this is a topic that people will continue to discuss until the kingdom comes, and I suspect that opinions in Germany will differ from those in Japan. Perhaps one thing that was lost in the discussion is the quality of the ball return; maybe it was just fortuitous, but the cut between the post and the defender to allow Tanaka to score was pretty brilliant.
And like I said, Japan defended very well after that. We saw Takehiro Tomiyasu come in and play the role of him for the remainder of the game and injury time, and that’s one aspect of this game that won’t get as much discussion as the small amount of ball that went/didn’t go. Don’t touch the line, depending on the point of view of it.
In the other game, Costa Rica actually beat Germany 2-1 for a couple of minutes, giving us a scenario where the two big European teams would have been knocked out, but in the end they proved too strong and ran out. 4. -2 winners.
An underrated feature of this World Cup has been the coy Man of the Match photos. For example, Kevin de Bruyne after Belgium’s lucky victory over Canada in his first game:
And now we can add Kai Havertz to the list, standing there with his Budweiser trophy after Germany were knocked out:
I mean haha.
Japan won the group and now face Croatia on Monday, while Morocco’s ‘reward’ for topping their group is a match against Spain on Tuesday. On paper, they probably would have thought it would be Spain or Germany anyway, and they’ve done well enough in the tournament so far to feel confident they can get a result in that game.
Earlier in the day, Belgium came off in vaguely ridiculous fashion after a 0-0 draw to Croatia. The first half was endlessly boring, the second an astonishing sequence of missed chances by the Belgians and Romelu Lukaku. In fairness to him, he’s barely played this season due to a hamstring problem, but a player of his experience really should have done better with some of the chances he’s had. You just can’t miss the ones at this level and expect to pass.
It is also worth noting the entry of the tournament so far by the central midfielder Josko Gvardiol. Later, as Lukaku swiveled his leg for a shot near the post (which probably would have ended up in the parking lot anyway), the 20-year-old stuck a foot in at the last second to put the ball away. We’ll probably be asked to vote for the tournament goal and tournament save, but we may need a new award so defenders can get the support they deserve.
Today, Arsenal’s interest in Brazil is expected as both Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli are scheduled to start against Cameroon, while Switzerland v Serbia, with Granit Xhaka captaining the Swiss, could well be tasty. There is some history there, as there is with Ghana v Uruguay this afternoon.
Ok, let’s leave it there for now. There’s a new Arsecast for you below in which I speak with the writer and producer of the excellent Netflix documentary FIFA Uncovered. Enjoy!
