Good morning, TSFers! I was in Boston for a family wedding over the weekend, which was lovely. It was much nicer there than it is in D.C. particularly less humid. What I would give for a bit of that weather this week. Instead, we’re looking at 100+ degree days starting tomorrow through the weekend. The perfect excuse to stay inside with the World Cup on or at least in the background.
Today’s matches:
Ivory Coast vs. Norway, 1 pm ET, FOX
France vs. Sweden, 5 pm ET, FOX
Mexico vs. Ecuador, 9 pm ET, FOX
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Brazil 2 – Japan 1
Japan took a lead into the break but ran out of steam / played a bit too conservatively / struggled to deal with Brazil’s push in the second half. Gabriel Magalhaes found Casemiro’s head at the back post with an excellent cross in the 56th minute to level the score. Gabriel Martinelli scored a lovely control-and-shoot goal in the 96th minute to win the match, off a pass from potential future Arsenal teammate Bruno Guimaraes.
Paraguay 1 (4) – Germany 1 (3)
Julio Enciso put Paraguay ahead just before halftime very much against the run of play. Kai Havertz leveled the score in the 54th with a brilliant, glancing header. The Germans dominated possession and chances but couldn’t find the back of the net. Havertz missed his leadoff penalty but the sides got back on level terms, i.e. it wasn’t his miss that cost them, per se. Jonathan Tah’s blast over the bar was the decisive miss. I’m coming around to the view that you need to have a really good reason for a centerback to take a penalty.
Morocco 1 (3) – Netherlands 1 (2)
Cody Gakpo scored in the 72nd minute to give the Netherlands a late lead. What a moment – his partner recently announced that they’d recently lost their second child during her pregnancy – and he collapsed to the turf in tears after scoring and was mobbed by his entire team, substitutes included. Issa Diop scored a 91st minute equalizer for Morocco. The Netherlands played an oddly conservative game, not their usual style. In the periods where they had control, they didn’t really fashion much in the way of chances. Morocco were the protagonists for most of the match. The penalties were pretty poor, all around. Bart Verbruggen thought he’d saved an early one, but the ball bounced undernearth him and he ended up “kicking” it into the net with his heel as he landed from his dive. You don’t see that often!
