Persians and Slavs and Swedes - Oh My

And Mexicans.  And Japanese. [Update: And Senegalese.]

After the first set of group stage matches, Iran (1-0 winners over Morocco on a late own goal) tops Group B, Croatia (beat Nigeria) and Serbia (beat Costa Rica) lead Groups D and E respectively, while Mexico (upset Germany) and Sweden (narrow win over Korea) share first place in Group F.  And now Japan is tops in Group H after upsetting a short-handed Colombia. [Update; Senegal are tied for the Group H lead after their upset of Poland.]  Just as everybody predicted.

I can't say if it's because I've had more time to follow the tournament but it sure seems like a lively and compelling start to a World Cup Final.  Actually, things got crazy even before the first kick-off, as Spain sacked their manager Julen Lopetegui; he agreed to take the Real Madrid position after the World Cup but the Spanish federation was ticked about not being notified until the deal was done.  Alrighty then, I guess we'll see how much difference a manager can make.

You can get all the scores and stuff from any number of sources so once again, BFS will delve into the random but important things you might have missed.  But seriously, this has been some awesome football so far.


Rude Host

Add your own humorous caption

Russia showed no compunction in running up the score against Saudi Arabia in the tournament's opening match.  They took the lead at 12 minutes, had a two goal lead at half time and added two stoppage time goals to bring the final count to 5-0.  We were treated to numerous shots of Putin sitting with SA Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.  Pretty sure the picture at left is after Russia scored the first goal.  Turns out it spawned a cottage industry, explained here, of coming up with funny lines that the two world leaders might have been sharing.


The Goal Heard Round the World (Fake News)

Or at least by seismologists in Mexico.  Possibly the best match so far was Mexico's 1-0 upset of reigning champion Germany.  When Lozano scored the lone goal of the match in the 35th minute, initial reports claimed that seismologists in Mexico were able to detect a spike in activity.  Further research indicated that this was not the case.  But it made for such a great story, which you can read about here.  I can say that it is totally true that in 2014 when the US scored against Portugal, the reaction of the 10 or so people watching at 6911 was enough to knock the cable out for a few seconds.



Step Away from the Fainting Couch

Despite trepidation in some parts and outright hysteria in others, VAR has worked just about to perfection so far.  Delays are minimal and the end result is a correct call.  My recollection is that English referees were nowhere near as smooth with the VAR when it was used in FA Cup matches.  Perhaps this is why there are no English refs at the World Cup.

There really hasn't been too much to complain about from the officiating stand point.  My biggest issue so far has been the treatment of Neymar in Brazil's 1-1 draw with Switzerland.  I'm certainly not his biggest fan and sometimes he can make a meal of the slightest contact.  But he was fouled at least 10 times in that match.  In that situation, the referee has to warn the opposition that persistent fouling of a particular individual will result in a yellow.  I don't think he did that and the Swiss continued to hack away.


Chester Blues Honor Roll

Goal line technology reveals how close Pogba's goal was

So far no current Chester players have been spotted but we have seen some alums.  Mbark Boussoufa put in a good shift on the left side for Morocco in their tough 0-1 loss to Iran.  Gylfi Sigurdsson created all kinds of chances and Kari Arnason looked solid in central defense as Iceland drew 1-1 with Argentina.  And Paul Pogba scored one (barely) and set up one (his through ball to Griezmann resulted in a PK) for France in their 2-1 win over Australia.  Way to do honor to the Chester name guys.


Quote of Week

Laura and Mackenzie have been in Scotland since 6/8.  Monday they found their way to a pub to have dinner and watch England take on Tunisia, a match the English eventually took 2-1 on two Harry Kane goals.  Mackenzie comments:

It's really hard to root for Tunisia when you're in a British bar, but, like, colonialism...and attractive Arab men

 Yes, they need to get home soon to provide that kind of commentary on a regular basis.  Plus I can't do best hair selection on my own.


He's Allowed to Say That 

South Korean manager Shin Tae-yong had his players wear numbers different than what they wore in recent friendlies in an attempt to limit the usefulness of scouting reports.  His reasoning?

‘We switched them around because we didn’t want to show our opponents everything and to try and confuse them. They might know a few of our players but it is very difficult for Westerners to distinguish between Asians and that’s why we did that.’

You Gotta Get It In There to Get Three Points (One Point)

Peru Denmark was a lively affair with some great counterattacking.  That the Danes came away with a 1-0 win was in large part due to Christian Cueva missing a PK.  Missing is actually being kind.  You can see the "skied" PK here.  We are reminded of the wisdom of erstwhile coach Ted Lasso regarding the accuracy of PKs; fast forward to about 2:43 of this video to hear his thoughts on the subject.


Improve Your Vocabulary - Watch the World Cup

di·as·po·ra

dīˈaspərə/

noun

the dispersion of any people from their original homeland

Not once, but twice - on separate broadcasts - you might have heard the announcer use this term.  One time I'm sure it was in reference to many of the Tunisian players having been born in France.  I think the other time was in the Morocco-Iran contest but not sure.  My point is that I doubt you have ever heard that term used in a baseball, football, basketball or ice hockey telecast.  All this great action plus educational content as well.


We'll also note that BFS faves Belgium started slowly but eventually were too good for Panama in a 3-0 win.

We'll try to get back to you before the final group stage matches to highlight the important contests.

Hope you're having as much fun as we are.