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Trollheart · 12-03-2022, 10:14 AM

Trollheart’s 2022 World Cup Roundup: Week Two

The second and final week of the group stages saw things kick into higher gear. Disappointments, triumphs, surprises, giant-killings; the easy stride into the next round of those who were expected to progress, the often surprising qualification of those who had not, and the uncertainty as poor initial performances told against teams, and goal difference began to look critical. Those who had stamped their authority on the tournament from the first continued to move forward, while those who had fallen behind had to quite literally up their game. This was the last chance, and failure here meant a short and subdued trip to the airport and a long and morose plane trip home. Over this week, titans would fall, Davids would topple Goliaths, and two teams would wait anxiously till the very last whistle to see if their slim hopes of progressing were to be realised.

But before we get to my roundup of the second week of group matches, there are some results from the first week, that spilled into the second, that we need to take care of, as they gave us potentially huge results.

Japan met Costa Rica on Sunday, and to everyone’s surprise - especially the Japanese, who were riding high on an unexpected victory themselves over Germany in the first match - the Costa Ricans beat them, while two megastars of the competition went head to head, Spain and Germany drawing 1-1, a better result for Spain, with their seven-goal demolition of Costa Rica, while Germany were struggling to make up the deficit after having suffered a somewhat ignoble defeat at the hands of Japan. Of course, nobody would have counted the Germans out at this stage, but they were going to have to make up some ground if they wanted to avoid a humiliating group exit. Belgium were doing badly, having failed to realise the potential of their squad and again came up empty against Morocco, being beaten 2-0, while Croatia breezed past the fledgling Canada, thumping them 4-1 and putting them well on course for the next stages.

Monday saw Cameroon and Serbia play out a gritty thrilling 3-3 draw, good for the goal difference, if it should play a part, but nil points for either team in terms of moving ahead, one point each. Both teams were in dire need of points, Serbia in need after their 2-0 kicking by Brazil and desperate to qualify, Cameroon also smarting from a 1-0 defeat by the Swiss. Brazil put Switzerland to the sword, while Ghana pulled off an unlikely victory against Korea, leaving them with just the one point after their scoreless draw with Uruguay. Their opponent in that game didn’t do well either, failing to score against Portugal, who took them for 2-0 and raced to the top of the group and qualification.

And so we moved into Tuesday, Day 10 of the competition and the final round of matches in the group stages. As always, things got going with Group A, where Ecuador found themselves the second team to go out as Senegal took them 2-1 and assured their own qualification to the next stage. Qatar were of course the first time to go, and the first ever holders of the tournament, but Netherlands did not allow them to go gently into the quiet night, blasting two goals past them on their way, which certainly lifted them into the qualification places. In Group B the USA beat Iran by a single goal and sent them out of the competition, while in the home countries clash it was the lion who savaged the dragon, England kicking Wales 3-0 and assuring their own qualification at the top of their group while also sending Wales back to the valleys.

Wednesday saw another giant take their place as Argentina went up against Poland in Group C, a 2-0 victory for the South Americans and a place in the round of sixteen for them, while Poland, despite losing, still qualified in second place on superior goal difference to Mexico, who went out at their expense. So despite a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia, both teams were eliminated, while there was a shock in the Australia v Denmark match as the Danes, unable to score, went down to a single goal from the Aussies, who went through and Denmark were ringing for taxis to the airport. As expected, France went through at the top of their group, but not before they had their tails singed by Tunisia, who departed with a warning shot perhaps for next tournament, beating the French 1-0.

Thursday was a major shock. Costa Rica did not beat Germany - in fact, the Germans thrashed them 4-2, though it was a close-run thing and they did look like they were going out till near the end, when they started playing. The shock was that, even after their last-ditch and totally traditionally German heroics, having seemed to have turned it around, Germany were still eliminated due to similar heroics by Japan in their game against Spain. The Spanish were of course already through with minimal effort, but Japan were fighting for their lives, and won a deserved victory. That meant they moved above Germany in the group and the German were “was ist los?” as they found themselves on the bus heading for Qatar International Airport, or No Gays International, or whatever the hell it’s called.

In Group F, then, Croatia played out a scoreless draw against Belgium, but it was enough to send the Belgians, who had disappointed and not scored once, back home, while Canada went down 2-1 to Morocco, and out of the tournament. This left the final eight teams to play in the last two groups, and this played out on Friday.

Group G saw Cameroon able to dream of making it through, as they beat the mighty Brazil by a goal to nil, but sadly their hopes were comprehensively crushed by the teams in the other crucial match, as Serbia and Switzerland played a game of “my goal, your goal” until finally the Swiss knocked out Serbia, going through and in the process also ending Cameroon’s hopes and sending them home. Talk about ecstasy to agony! In the final group game, then, Group H saw Korea pull an unexpected rabbit out of the hat and beat Portugal, but like Cameroon, qualification for them depended on the result of the other match. In the end, Uruguay won but could not get the precious third goal they needed to assure their progress, so both went home and Korea go through.

12-03-2022, 10:14 AM	#43 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Trollheart’s 2022 World Cup Roundup: Week Two The second and final week of the group stages saw things kick into higher gear. Disappointments, triumphs, surprises, giant-killings; the easy stride into the next round of those who were expected to progress, the often surprising qualification of those who had not, and the uncertainty as poor initial performances told against teams, and goal difference began to look critical. Those who had stamped their authority on the tournament from the first continued to move forward, while those who had fallen behind had to quite literally up their game. This was the last chance, and failure here meant a short and subdued trip to the airport and a long and morose plane trip home. Over this week, titans would fall, Davids would topple Goliaths, and two teams would wait anxiously till the very last whistle to see if their slim hopes of progressing were to be realised. But before we get to my roundup of the second week of group matches, there are some results from the first week, that spilled into the second, that we need to take care of, as they gave us potentially huge results. Japan met Costa Rica on Sunday, and to everyone’s surprise - especially the Japanese, who were riding high on an unexpected victory themselves over Germany in the first match - the Costa Ricans beat them, while two megastars of the competition went head to head, Spain and Germany drawing 1-1, a better result for Spain, with their seven-goal demolition of Costa Rica, while Germany were struggling to make up the deficit after having suffered a somewhat ignoble defeat at the hands of Japan. Of course, nobody would have counted the Germans out at this stage, but they were going to have to make up some ground if they wanted to avoid a humiliating group exit. Belgium were doing badly, having failed to realise the potential of their squad and again came up empty against Morocco, being beaten 2-0, while Croatia breezed past the fledgling Canada, thumping them 4-1 and putting them well on course for the next stages. Monday saw Cameroon and Serbia play out a gritty thrilling 3-3 draw, good for the goal difference, if it should play a part, but nil points for either team in terms of moving ahead, one point each. Both teams were in dire need of points, Serbia in need after their 2-0 kicking by Brazil and desperate to qualify, Cameroon also smarting from a 1-0 defeat by the Swiss. Brazil put Switzerland to the sword, while Ghana pulled off an unlikely victory against Korea, leaving them with just the one point after their scoreless draw with Uruguay. Their opponent in that game didn’t do well either, failing to score against Portugal, who took them for 2-0 and raced to the top of the group and qualification. And so we moved into Tuesday, Day 10 of the competition and the final round of matches in the group stages. As always, things got going with Group A, where Ecuador found themselves the second team to go out as Senegal took them 2-1 and assured their own qualification to the next stage. Qatar were of course the first time to go, and the first ever holders of the tournament, but Netherlands did not allow them to go gently into the quiet night, blasting two goals past them on their way, which certainly lifted them into the qualification places. In Group B the USA beat Iran by a single goal and sent them out of the competition, while in the home countries clash it was the lion who savaged the dragon, England kicking Wales 3-0 and assuring their own qualification at the top of their group while also sending Wales back to the valleys. Wednesday saw another giant take their place as Argentina went up against Poland in Group C, a 2-0 victory for the South Americans and a place in the round of sixteen for them, while Poland, despite losing, still qualified in second place on superior goal difference to Mexico, who went out at their expense. So despite a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia, both teams were eliminated, while there was a shock in the Australia v Denmark match as the Danes, unable to score, went down to a single goal from the Aussies, who went through and Denmark were ringing for taxis to the airport. As expected, France went through at the top of their group, but not before they had their tails singed by Tunisia, who departed with a warning shot perhaps for next tournament, beating the French 1-0. Thursday was a major shock. Costa Rica did not beat Germany - in fact, the Germans thrashed them 4-2, though it was a close-run thing and they did look like they were going out till near the end, when they started playing. The shock was that, even after their last-ditch and totally traditionally German heroics, having seemed to have turned it around, Germany were still eliminated due to similar heroics by Japan in their game against Spain. The Spanish were of course already through with minimal effort, but Japan were fighting for their lives, and won a deserved victory. That meant they moved above Germany in the group and the German were “was ist los?” as they found themselves on the bus heading for Qatar International Airport, or No Gays International, or whatever the hell it’s called. In Group F, then, Croatia played out a scoreless draw against Belgium, but it was enough to send the Belgians, who had disappointed and not scored once, back home, while Canada went down 2-1 to Morocco, and out of the tournament. This left the final eight teams to play in the last two groups, and this played out on Friday. Group G saw Cameroon able to dream of making it through, as they beat the mighty Brazil by a goal to nil, but sadly their hopes were comprehensively crushed by the teams in the other crucial match, as Serbia and Switzerland played a game of “my goal, your goal” until finally the Swiss knocked out Serbia, going through and in the process also ending Cameroon’s hopes and sending them home. Talk about ecstasy to agony! In the final group game, then, Group H saw Korea pull an unexpected rabbit out of the hat and beat Portugal, but like Cameroon, qualification for them depended on the result of the other match. In the end, Uruguay won but could not get the precious third goal they needed to assure their progress, so both went home and Korea go through. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018