Mira-Mikel Merino Strikes Again

59/52nds of the World Cup

 

 

Spain's last victory in the Round of 16 came at World Cup 2010 when they defeated Paraguay 1-0 on the road to their World Championship. They would have to break their current streak against a Belgian team that was looking better and better as this tournament went on. Belgium's problem would be figuring out how to score on Spain. La Furia Roja haven't given up a goal in 484 minutes of play at the World Cup, and have only seen 6 shots on target combined through their first 5 matches. Belgium's quest to reach beyond the Quarterfinals for the first time 2018 would start in peril. After 30 minutes of back and forth action, Fabian Ruiz would put Spain ahead 1-0. It seemed as though the Spanish attack was coming back to life in this tournament. Charles de Ketelaere would tie the match just 11 minutes later and rejuvenate a Belgian side that were trying to prove they belonged. As the match wore on, each side would see substitutions that would impact the match. Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois would go down in an injury. He would be subbed off for Senne Lammens who was making only his 3rd appearance for the national team. On the flip side, Spain had an ace up their sleeves. In their Round of 16 match-up the Spanish found themselves struggling to score against Portugal. In the 88th minute they subbed on Mikel Merino who would score the game winning goal in the 1st minute of 2nd half stoppage time. Needing a victory late in this Quarterfinal match-up, the call was made to swap Dani Olmo for Mikel Merino in the 86th minute. Just two minutes later, he would score to give Spain the 2-1. They would never look back. Belgium are once again eliminated without a trophy to show for their efforts. The last of their golden generation have aged and most likely played in their final World Cup matches. Spain rolls on in search of their 2nd title. They face France in the Semifinals on Tuesday, July 14.

 

 

 

Four players predicted that Spain and Belgium would face off in the 2nd Semifinal. All would pick Spain to win. Only one of these players would predict for the match to finish 2-1 in Spain's favor to gain all 5 Oracle Points. With 105 points on the day, and jumping from 3rd to 2nd, today's Player of the Day is Historicus!

The final two Semifinal matches will conclude tomorrow. First up Norway hope to continue their Cinderella run by defeating England at 5:00 pm in Miami, Florida. The winner of that match will face the better of the two sides between Argentina and Switzerland who will kick off at 9:00 pm from Kansas City, Missouri. Only 6 matches remain to determine the Winner. May those of you whose Champions are still playing find favor on the fields.

 

 

 

Morocco have a Case of French Deja Vu

97/104ths of the World Cup

 

 

Morocco was the surprise of World Cup 2022. Two victories and a draw against Croatia, Belgium, and Canada had them top Group F. They defeated Spain on penalties in the Round of 16, defeated Portugal in the Quarterfinals, and ran into France in the Semifinals. It took all of 5 minutes for France to score and grab a lead they would never relinquish. The 0-2 loss on December 14th, 2022 was the end of the road for Morocco's World Cup hopes. They would lose 1-2 to Croatia in the Third Place Playoff. Three and a half years later, Morocco found themselves in the Round of 16 once again facing the 2-time World Champions. The rematch would start in a better favor for Morocco as they would make it into halftime with a scoreless draw. This came about even after France were awarded a penalty kick, but not without some controversy. Morocco's defender Noussair Mazraoui would take down Kylian Mbappe in the box as the forward skillfully dribbled past him. VAR would step in to confirm the penalty, which lasted 3 minutes and 10 seconds. The delay impacted Mbappe who would shoot low to the right corner of goal, but Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou would stop the shot. Kylian would complain to the referee several times about the delay in his allowance to take the penalty. A fired up France came out in the second half looking to put the match to bed. Goals by Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele in the 60th and 66th minutes put the match out of reach for Morocco. The reigning African Champions head home to reload for the next round of Continental and World Championships. France march on for their quest to reach their 3rd straight World Cup Championship match. They await the winner of Spain and Belgium in the Semifinals.

  

 

 

Today's top performance was the only selection of France and Morocco to face off in the first Quarterfinal, and selection of France as the Victors. With 100 points on the day, and increasing his lead from 49 points to 67, give it up for the madman, MalumSigma. He is the second player to be top performer for 3 days in a row. However, he is doing it at the end of competition where it may matter most. Can anyone stop him? Tune in tomorrow.

Tomorrow Quarterfinal number 2 will be played at 3:00 pm from Los Angeles, California. Musicus and Praeceptor saw their World Cup Champions advance today in France's victory. Artifex has been let down by her pick for Champions in Sweden. It was a good effort, but the top spot seems impossible to reach now. Fortuitous has life with Norway still in the mix. MalumSigma continues to ride Argentina to his first Championship aspirations. Historicus and Scriptor both see their Championship picks in Spain battle in a do-or-die contest against a positive looking Belgian team. Will these two grow braver in their chances for victory, or will two more hopefuls come crashing down. Only time will tell.

 

 

 

Switzerland Vargas the Way to Beat Colombia's Goalkeeper

12/13ths of the World Cup

 

 

 

Switzerland have been eliminated in 4 of the last 5 World Cups, and the last 3  in a row, in the Round of 16. Their last playoff victory came in 1938 when the beat Nazi Germany 4-2 in a replay after drawing the first match 1-1. Their path to national history took them through the waiting arms of Colombia. The South Americans were hoping to reach the Quarterfinals for the 2nd time in their history, having achieved that benchmark in 2014. The Swiss had given up 3 goals in 4 matches, while Colombia had only given up 1 in 4 matches. This was always going to be a defensive battle. Unfortunately, for fans the match lacked goals after the 90 minutes of regulation, and 30 minutes of extra time. Their fortunes would be determined by a penalty kick shootout. Colombia would start. 

Juan Fernando Quintero would step up first for Colombia. His shot would go just left of center and in, as Gregor Kobel would dive towards the right of goal. Granit Xhaka would go first for Switzerland. He would fire to the left of goal, and though Camilo Vargas would dive in the right direction and get a hand on the ball, the shot was too strong to keep out. Both teams are tied at 1.

Davinson Sanchez would take the next spot kick for Colombia. He would fire top center of goal, and though Gregor Kobel dove to his right and out of the way, the ball would bounce of the inside of the crossbar, deflect down and stay out of goal. Zeki Amdouni would step up for Switzerland with a chance to take the lead. His shot would find the bottom right corner of the net as Camilo Vargas dove the opposite direction. 2-1 to Switzerland. 

Round 3 would begin with Jaminton Campaz. He would fire low and to the right, and beat Gregor Kobel who dove correctly, but just over the ball. Manuel Akanji would try next for Switzerland, with the hope of keeping the pressure on Colombia. His shot would go high and center but well over the crossbar to tie the shootout at 2 goals apiece. 

Cucho Hernandez would try to put Colombia up for the first time in the shootout. He would fire low and to the left, but Gregor Kobel would dive across the grass and block the shot with his hand. Cedric Itten would step up for Switzerland to try and put them back ahead. Cedric would fire down the center of goal as Camilo Vargas would dive to his right. Switzerland leads 3-2.

Luis Diaz would take the 5th penalty kick for Colombia needing to score to keep them alive. He would fire low and to the left while looking Gregor Kobel to the opposite corner. The keeper would fumble to his wrong side as Colombia's last hope would come to Camilo Vargas making a save. Ruben Vargas would step up and place the ball low and to the left as Camilo would dive the wrong way. Colombia will go home wishing they could have this match back as they surely could have won. Switzerland advance to the Quarterfinals to face Argentina.

 

 

 

Two players matched their picks today. Both selected Argentina to score 3 goals and advance to the Quarterfinals. They failed to pick Egypt as their opponents. They also selected Switzerland to battle Colombia, and failed to guess the scoreline or that Switzerland would advance. With 67 points apiece, MalumSigma and Scriptor made tiny waves in the tournament. Though Scriptor would move up from 3rd place to 2nd, it is MalumSigma who has extended his lead to 49 points. He also dominated the Round of 16 by picking 6 out of 8 winners heading into the Quarterfinals. Congratulations MalumSigma!

After 27 straight days of football, the World Cup finally takes a break. There will be no matches played tomorrow, as the Quarterfinals will kick off with France and Morocco at 4:00 pm from Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday. It is a rematch of the 2nd Semifinal from World Cup 2022 that saw France win 2-0, and Morocco fall to 4th place with 2 straight losses to end their run. Can Morocco avenge their defeat? You all better hope not.  No one picked Morocco to go into the Semifinals, and 5 competitors picked France to make it into the next round. 

A scoring update for the next round. Correct match-ups are now worth 15 points, and selecting the right winner in this scenario garners another 10 points. Each Semifinalist you correctly pick regardless of where you have them in the bracket is worth 75 points. 

The Grand Salmon Alpaca is off now to get some much needed rest. Until Thursday my Crias. Spend your off day with friends and family. You're hearts very well could be broken by the week's end. 

 

 

How to Win when you're Playing Messi

95/104ths of the World Cup

 

 

Argentina continue their quest for a 4th World Championship, and 2nd in a row, by facing off with Egypt in the Round of 16. Egypt finally won their first World Cup match by defeating New Zealand 3-1 in the Gorup Stage. They made it to the Round of 16 by defeating Australia in a penalty shootout. Could those tired legs compete with the powerhouse of Argentina? Yasser, as in Yasser Ibrahim would put Egypt ahead 1-0 in the 15th minute. A stunned Argentina would labor their way to halftime maintaining a 1 goal deficit. In the 2nd half, Egypt celebrated taking a 2-0 lead in the 58th minute via Mostafa Zico on a breakaway. Controversially, VAR stepped in and deemed the goal should not count. Marawan Attia was deemed to have fouled Lisandro Martinez as he stole the ball from the Argentinian defender. That goal would not count, but Mostafa Zico and Egypt would get a 2nd goal in the 67th minute that would count. Something else you can count on is Argentina's ability to get back into a match. Cristian Romero would give Argentina life with a goal in the 79th minute to trail Egypt 1-2. Then, the hero Lionel Messi would tie the match at 2 in the 83rd minute. At this point, Hotlanta became hotter as Argentina's fans fired up with cheers. As the match seemed to be headed to extra time, Argentina would strike a 3rd time in the 2nd minute of stoppage time as Enzo Fernandez would give Argentina the victory. Egypt heads home disappointed, feeling that shenanigans were afoot in their elimination. We can argue whether the foul by Marawan Attia that was missed by the referee deep in Argentina's defensive end should have been called out by VAR and disallowed. We cannot argue that Argentina marches on to face the winner of Switzerland and Colombia.

 

 

Somebody Check on the Ketelaere because Belgium are Steaming

 47/52nds of the World Cup

 

 

The last remaining co-hosts of World Cup 2026 are the United States. They have sputtered out the Round of 16 in 3 of the last 4 World Cups, and never qualified for a 4th. This time around, reaching the Round of 16 meant getting through the Round of 32 where they won a playoff match at the World Cup for the first time since 2002. The hurdle in their path was Belgium. The Red Devils are looking for a return to their form of the 2018 World Cup where they were edged out by eventual Champions France in the semi-finals. Of particular note was the suspension of the suspension of Folarin Balogun. The questionable overturning of his Red Card will be discussed for years to come. What stood to be determined was if his presence would have an impact on this match. Charles de Ketelaere started quickly to make sure that didn't happen. His 9th minute goal gave Belgium the lead and placed momentum firmly in Belgium's hands. A second Malik Tillman free kick goal in the tournament seemed to give the Co-hosts life as the match was tied at 1 in the 31st minute. Belgium quickly extinguished any US momentum as Charles de Ketelaere would score a second goal in the 33rd minute. The second half furthered the gap as Hans Vanaken would make it 3-1 in the 57th minute. Romelu Lukaku would put the cherry on top of the sundae as he scored a 4th goal in the 3rd minute of 2nd half stoppage time. Christian Pulisic was a non-factor in the match, coming off in the 59th minute with an apparent injury. As for Folarin Balogun, he would be subbed out in the 2nd minute of 2nd half stoppage time without any offensive production. The United States can hold their heads up high as they made it as far in this tournament as the other co-hosts Canada and Mexico. Belgium move on to their first real test in Spain in the Quarterfinals.

 

 

Two players picked Portugal and Spain to lock horns. One player selected the United States and Belgium to vie for a spot in the Quarterfinals.  The player of the day opted for Spain to beat Portugal after correctly pairing the two in the Round of 16, and selected Belgium to win in their match, though against Norway and not the United States. Snatching back 1st place after one day in 2nd, congratulations to MalumSigma!

Tomorrow the final 2 Round of 16 matches to determine the last of the Quarterfinals will be played. At 12 noon, Argentina will meet Egypt as they continue to defend their title. That match will be played in Atlanta, Georgia. At 4:00 pm Vancouver, Canada will host Switzerland and Colombia. It may feel like your brackets are coming undone. As long as your predicted Champion remains, and some of the other top 4 teams, you always have a shot. 

 

 

Spain have a Merino Time at Portugal's Expense

93/104ths of the World Cup

 

 

Spain and Portugal are more than just neighbors. When it comes to football, they are rivals. The Iberian Derby at World Cup 2026 is the 43rd meeting between the two, the first occurring in 1921. Portugal have only reached the Quarterfinals once since finishing 4th in 2006. Spain have only reached as far as the Round of 16 since winning the Championship in 2010. Only one of these rivals could move on, and neither side was willing to give in easily. It was a back and forth contest of frustration as both sides struggled to put a shot on goal that the opposing goalkeeper couldn't save. Until the 1st minute of 2nd half stoppage time. Mikel Merino found the shot that would put Spain up 1-0 for good. Portugal are once again out of the World Cup without a trophy. Their living legend Cristiano Ronaldo had several shots on goal, but couldn't make his presence matter. He has played his last World Cup match. Best of luck to him in the future. Spain move on to the Quarterfinals where they will face the winner of the United States and Belgium.