Round 2 Goes Out with a Bang

If you've been watching for the last two days, you've been treated to an amazing 27 goals.  Today it was England padding their goal total against hapless Panama in a 6 -1 victory.  Then Japan and Senegal traded goals in a 2 -2 thriller before Colombia shifted into high gear and ran away from Poland in the last game of the second round.

England and Belgium have both advanced from a very uncompetitive Group G and their next game against each other will determine who gets to be the first seed and who gets to be second.  Like Belgium yesterday, England decide it was a good move to run up the score to grab that vital tiebreaker advantage against their group rivals.  When they scored their sixth goal today England moved ahead of Belgium by the slimmest of margins according to FIFA tiebreakers.  So if their match against Belgium ends in a tie, they will get the first seed.  Panama were unable to do anything to stop the English onslaught and were sent packing in the most humiliating way we've seen this year.  If you think Panama are truly awful, and they are, remember that they finished two places ahead of America in World Cup qualifying.  Not going to Russia this summer probably saved the US an international embarrassment.

Colombia play with joy and also bring joy to
anyone who watches.

In the late game, Colombia and Poland both faced an uphill battle to qualify for the next round after disappointing results in their openers.  It was Colombia that came to play and electrified the world's biggest sporting stage just like they did in Brazil four years ago.  Even though Bogota is 12,000 kilometers from the stadium where the match was played and Poland is practically a neighbor, it was like a home crowd for Colombia.  With the yellow shirts in the crowd and the chants and songs in support of Colombia, you would be forgiven for thinking the game was being played in South America. Since Colombia lost to Japan in the first game, they still have to win against Senegal in their next outing to make the knockout phase.  Based on what we saw today, I wouldn't bet against them.  Poland, for the record, has been eliminated.

Japan and Senegal started the day on top of Group H with three points each and after playing 90 minutes of even football, they ended the day tied and in first place with four points each.  Their back and forth encounter saw Senegal go into the lead twice only to see Japan equalize both times.

Round Two Wrap-up

At this moment every BISERGSer has had 8 games, so the current scores are a true indication of everyone's success so far.  Kelley is the leader with an incredibly well balanced performance.  Her opening round score of 11.5 was improved on with a 12.5 in the second round giving her a full 1 point lead over second place Gray.  Kelley has Belgium and Croatia qualified for the knockout stage and Portugal hopes to add to her good fortune tomorrow against Iran.  Even her worst team Iceland hasn't been eliminated and could make a phenomenal four teams for her into the next round.  Gray is in second but only has Belgium qualified.  He was one of the victims of Germany's amazing comeback victory as his Swedes would have made it through but now must beat Mexico to advance.  Gray has Portugal and Denmark on the brink of qualification, so he has a real shot of getting four teams through.  Rick is a quarter point behind his son in third place but can boast two teams in the next round and he has a chance of getting four through.  The biggest mover of the second round was fourth place Josh, who scored a remarkable 13.25 points in this round.  Josh's fearsome combo of Brazil and Mexico kicked into gear as expected, but his great foresight to pick Nigeria and Japan where most others passed on them is what really set him apart this round .  Lisa also had a great second round to finish in fifth place and ensure that the Snyder side of the family won't go unnoticed in this year's BISERGS.  Rachel, Sharleen, Annika, Dawn and Ari round out the top 10.  Josh's great round was based on three wins and a draw.  If anyone picks up four wins in the next round, they will be right back in the thick of things, even if they are way down the list at this point. (I'm really just trying to encourage myself)  Ten of the sixteen teams that will play in the knockout remain unknown, so their is still everything to play for in Russia and for us in the BISERGS.

Group F Explained

With the second round wrapped up, some teams that have 6 points have guaranteed their spot in the next round, while Mexico (6 points) could still be eliminated.  On the flip side, every team that has zero points is out all ready except for South Korea (0 points).  Why is Group F so different?  With the standings as they are below, the round three matches are Mexico vs Sweden and Germany vs South Korea.

Consider the following two scenarios.
Scenario 1) It is possible for Mexico to be eliminated because if they lose to Sweden and Germany beats South Korea then Mexico, Germany and Sweden will all be tied on six points.  The next tie breaker is goal difference, so it would depend on the scores of those games to see who the top two would be.  If Mexico lose to Sweden by more than one goal, they will likely be eliminated despite their great play so far this summer.

Did this goal mean more than any other so far this summer?

Scenario 2) South Korea could still qualify if they were to beat Germany and Mexico beat Sweden.  In that case Germany, Sweden and South Korea would all have three points and the team with the best goal difference would advance.  In the Mexico / South Korea match yesterday, the goal by Son in the 93rd minute seemed like a nice but meaningless consolation in a game that Korea was going to lose.  In reality, that goal could be South Korea's salvation or Mexico's demise if one of the two scenarios above play out.