Posted on 06/23/2014 12:22:55 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
The United States and Germany both have four points and are atop Group G over Ghana and Portugal who have one point each. In the group stage of the World Cup, wins are worth three points, and draws are worth one point. All four teams have one game remaining.
Germany and the U.S. will play Thursday in Recife, and Ghana and Portugal will kick off at the same time in Brasilia.
Here are the scenarios:
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I would like to introduce a motion that we henceforth refer to Cristiano Renaldo as “that b*****d” from this day forevermore.
Not necessarily. After yesterday's draw, Belgium might actually finish 2nd in Group H, and would play the Group G winner. I'd rather have, say, Russia or Algeria.
Yes, there are FReepers who care about this; you may have noticed that FReepers are a diverse lot.
Was Algeria that good, or South Korea that bad?
I’ve been thinking about that ball from Ronaldo. If that ball is six inches off in any direction, odds are that goal doesn’t happen, that’s how perfect that feed was. It was a one in a hundred shot.
Still had the US had better situational awareness, it never should have come down to that.
Saw a stat after the game that USA was something like 0 for 15 on crosses, and that b*****d was 1 for 1.
Great pass, but he should never have been allowed to have the ball and that kind of space. USA needs to do a much better job killing clock when protecting a lead.
It was the botched corner situation that really irked me.
The point of going to the corner is to get a corner kick or at least a throw in out of it, which takes more time off. It was like the US player said “I’m tired of this” and kicked the ball out, to let Portugal have it.
It sure is interesting how things can work.
Germany seem likely to win group G. They would play H2 who at this moment would be Algeria.
Did you note that only once since 1990 has Germany won their second group game?
So the result against Ghana should not have come as such a shock.
I just feel like the US squandered their chance to get out of the group. That was a MUST WIN game.
The scenario is still pretty good for Team USA. Obviously, beating Germany gets them through, as does a draw, or a POR-GHA draw.
After that, it comes down to goal difference - right now, they are +5 compared to Portugal and +2 compared to Ghana. Now, +2 of that gets wiped out automatically in a loss/win situation (since you have to win or lose by at least 1, after all), so we’d ironically need to be cheering for Portugal, otherwise we could get knocked out by Ghana for the third straight WC, despite having beaten them.
As far as USA-GER, Germany has no incentive to run up the score. If they get ahead 1-0, I can see them just parking the bus knowing that even a last-minute equalizer sees them win the group.
Best situation in POR-GHA: Portugal leading Ghana by 1 goal, late.
A narrow Portugal win won’t help Portugal, and the best Ghana would reasonably be ale to do is draw.
A 1-goal Ghana win would bring it to total goals scored, where USA is +1 over GHA right now. If Ghana wins by 2 or more, USA needs at least a draw against Germany; if the US loses to Germany by more than 1 goal, they need Portugal to draw Ghana or win by a small margin.
I still can’t believe that head-to-head isn’t the first tiebreaker, but the rules are the rules.
The problem is Ghana has played much better than Portugal.
They will also have had an extra day of rest, and Portugal played in Manaus.
If Ghana scores early, Portugal realizes it’s over and probably gives up the ghost.
There’s A Scenario Where A Coin Flip Would Decide If The US Advances In The World Cup
clint dempsey world cup usmnt
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Of all the possible scenarios for how the United States men’s national team could qualify for the knockout round of the World Cup, the most absurd is what happens if the U.S. and Portugal finish with the same number of points, the same goal difference, and the same number of goals scored.
There would be a coin flip to decide which team finishes second in the group. A horrible, horrible coin flip.
Here’s what would have to happen:
Portugal beats Ghana
U.S. loses to Germany
Portugal makes up exactly five goals in goal difference with the U.S.
Portugal scores exactly two more goals than the U.S. does
If all of those things happen, the U.S. and Portugal would be dead even on every metric. Here’s how the tiebreakers work:
If Portugal wins and the U.S. loses, the two teams would be tied on 4 points. The first tiebreaker is goal difference (which the U.S. currently leads by five goals). If the teams are tied on goal difference, the second tiebreaker is goals scored (which the U.S. currently leads by two goals). If the teams are tied on goal difference and goals scored, the third tiebreaker is head-to-head results. Since the U.S. and Portugal tied 2-2, we’d move to the final tiebreaker ... the drawing of lots, a.k.a. a coin flip.
Here are the six results that would lead to a coin flip:
U.S. loses 3-0, Portugal wins 2-0
U.S. loses 3-1, Portugal wins 3-0
U.S. loses 3-2, Portugal wins 4-0
U.S. loses 4-0, Portugal wins 2-1
U.S. loses 4-1, Portugal wins 3-1
U.S. loses 4-2, Portugal wins 4-1
It’d take an unlikely combination of wacky results, but it’s possible.
Ain’t gonna happen. I don’t see Portugal beating Ghana.
ESPN rating of a 9.1 yesterday was higher than 4 of the 6 World Series games last year and higher than the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
I think if one thing is certain in this World Cup, it’s that you can never be sure of anything.
Cool chart. That light brown area is the danger zone for the USA.
We’ll have to be real careful. I read someone this morning talking about how we should remember we could have drawn Panama and eliminated Mexico. But our own survival wasn’t on the line in that game.
It is just hard to believe that we would have played so well to not advance. But Ghana has played very well too.
There are so many results that can go various ways that though it feels safe, it’s not a certainty.
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