FIFA Update

So, after two sets of games completed, we currently stand with a mass of confusion in most groups, and a couple of groups that have one side advancing. For the sake of clarity, I will split up this post into each group and explain how each team can advance into the knockout round.

Group A: No one has advanced or been eliminated

Both Mexico and Uruguay can advance with a draw or a win. A draw means that both sides advance, while a win means that one side advances while the other waits to see how the goal differential is played out in the France/South Africa match. South Africa and France can advance with a win over the other, a loss by one of the other two, and making up the goal differential between themselves and the other team. If France advances, consider it an act of divine intervention or something equivalent after what happened to them this weekend.

Who should advance: Uruguay and Mexico.

Group B: No one has advanced or been eliminated

Argentina can advance with just a draw. Argentina can also be eliminated with a loss to Greece that consists of them getting crushed and losing their goal difference tiebreaker. South Korea and Greece need draws to advance, with either side scoring more goals than the other (Greece needs to score two more goals than South Korea in the final match to advance, while South Korea needs zero with Greece only scoring one). Nigeria needs a win and a lot of help from Argentina.

Who should advance: Argentina and South Korea

Group C: No one has advanced or been eliminated

See Seth's post for advancement possibilities

Who should advance: Slovenia and the USA

Group D: No one has advanced or been eliminated

This is an extremely confusing scenario, as Ghana has 4 points, Germany and Serbia have 3, and Australia has 1. Ghana needs at least a draw to advance. Germany needs a draw to advance, with either Serbia and Australia drawing, or Australia winning, and neither side making up the goal differential. Serbia needs a draw and either a Germany or Ghana loss while making up the goal differential, and Australia needs a win with either a Germany or Ghana loss and also needs to make up the goal differential. In other words, quite confusing.

Who should advance: Germany and Serbia

Group E: Netherlands have advanced, Cameroon has been eliminated

Japan and Denmark go head to head to decide this one. Draw or win for Japan means advancing, win for Denmark means advancing.

Who should advance: Denmark

Group F: No one has advanced or been eliminated

After Italy was stunned, and nearly upset, by New Zealand, things got much more interesting. Paraguay needs a draw to advance, while maintaining its goal difference advantage. New Zealand can advance with a win or a draw, with Italy drawing to Slovakia and New Zealand scoring more goals overall. Italy needs the same thing, except New Zealand losing to Paraguay and Italy at least drawing would see Italy advance. Slovakia needs a win over Italy and a New Zealand loss or draw.

Who should advance: Paraguay and Italy

Group G: Brazil has advanced, North Korea has been eliminated

Basically put, Cote d'Ivoire needs a miracle to advance. They need a Portugal loss combined with at least an 8 goal thrashing of North Korea to advance. Portugal advances with a draw.

Who should advance: Portugal

Group H: No one has advanced or been eliminated

Chile needs a draw with Spain to advance. Spain needs a draw and either a Switzerland draw or loss to advance, with the Swiss not making up the goal difference. Switzerland needs a draw and a Spain loss to advance, or a win to advance and making up the goal difference in the process, while scoring more goals than Spain overall. Honduras needs a win over Switzerland and a Spain loss combined with making up the goal differential in order to advance. Note that if Spain and Switzerland both win, it comes down to goal differential overall, then to total goals, and then to head to head record. This could get quite confusing.

Who should advance: Chile and Spain

Second series of games notes:

Germany was screwed by a card happy ref. Also, Lukas Podolski missed the first PK for Germany since 1982.

The US got it even worse than Germany when a goal was called back for no apparent reason.

North Korea finally imploded, and Portugal could be fun to watch if they can beat up on teams that are actually good.

Brazil is dominate as always, while Italy looks to be in a load of trouble.

France sucks, what else is new?

0 Response to "FIFA Update"

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
powered by Blogger | WordPress by Newwpthemes | Converted by BloggerTheme