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The same team the USMNT crushed 4-1 knocks Germany out of the contest. Ha! I hope we see more upsets.

Potentially, France and Germany will be meeting on July 4. That could be fun. Argentina and Brazil may have the easiest road to the quarterfinals; not easy of course, just winnable.

Well, at least from a financial perspective, the WC held in the US have been the most successful. But FIFA has also been prosecuted for corruption by the US, so they may be reluctant. Then again... US Attorney Dropped FIFA Bribery Case at Trump Official’s Behest Gotta love those swamp critters.

The new World Cup structure does allow for a lot more games, and some of them have been very enjoyable. However, now we have cases where teams with two losses (or no wins) can still go through. I'm expecting most of those to lose in the first stage of the elimination round, so not exactly an exciting prospect.

"Show me the ugliest car ever made"

In this case it's possible she wasn't in a good spot to catch it; that can happen to anyone. The problem was with the VAR team not calling her back for a review of a dangerous kick. At any rate, I've seen some pretty bad ref-ing in this competition, but her team was tolerable.

I disagree on both counts. Germany was playing at a lower intensity as they had nothing to gain, so they can turn it up a few notches as they advance. It wouldn't surprise me to see them make the quarter-finals as least. I've watched the ref. in a couple of matches now and she does a pretty decent job of managing the players (even though she's dwared by them). She also allows a level of physical play, as is appropriate for a contest of this nature, but her calls were on target.

Ecuador vs. German Now that was a worthy World Cup match. It was physical and full of action from end to end. There was some controversy with the first goal, but overall decently ref'd. England will have their hands full if they end up facing Ecuador.

There's been way too many of these high level professional players blasting the ball over the goal posts. I can understand Harry Kane doing it when he was catching the ball on a volley, but quite a few times the player has had plenty of time to line up a shot.

It turned into quite a day for the big name goal scorers.

Norway fans making a row in New York...

The Germany vs. Ivory Coast game was fun, but unusual. Like the players were almost scattered all over the field and it was a constant back and forth.

Yeah, Israel under B. Netanyahu is probably the one nation that doesn't want a US-Iran peace deal.

Hopefully a victory for science, sensible tax spending, and common sense: After Senate vote, Trump admin backs off plans to kill ocean monitoring

Funny, I'm still trying to get used to the word Czechia. Apparently that happened back in the last millenium, but I missed it. We're kind of insulated in the US.

I can only hope that Redacted has been politically exposed by this Iran fiasco, but I suspect that's overly optimistic. He spent a ton of money, killed thousands, damaged the global economy, and achieved... nothing. 🤨 But I'm sure he'll go on like he did before, because that scenario doesn't fit his inner reality. Still, the Pubs are starting to complain more; they probably want to move on past him at this point. Hopefully the fall elections won't be compromised by Redacted's meddling.

Hey look, the guy who has withdrawn the US from 66 international organizations, conventions, and treaties has just sign another treaty. I'm sure he really means it this time.

Daveigh Chase at 35. 🙁

I'm looking forward to England v. Croatia today; it's a potentially solid matchup. I guess we'll see. Congrats to the GOAT yesterday; man, Messi still (almost) plays like he's under 30. At least against Algeria.

Great, lets hook him up. He could power a small factory.

Yeah, France shifted out of fourth gear for the second half. There have been some scorching shots thus far.

I get the impression that the European teams are having difficulty with the heat. Teams from near equatorial regions seem to operate at a much higher pace thus far. France, for example, seems to be moving sluggishly and is having trouble with the team speed from Senegal.

Well certainly it works in the US where every team has its own immigrant support community, even Iran. But I'm not sure how well it will work out in terms of television audiences.

Japan vs. Netherlands was a fun game; Sweden vs. Tunisia not so much. Ecuador seemed to run out of steam at the end vs. Cote d'Ivory, and they paid the price. I don't see much to look forward to with Group G or H today. This World Cup has perhaps 16 teams too many; the contests would be more engaging if they cut down on the number of participants. But I suppose as long as fans keep flocking to the games, they'll keep expanding it. Superficially, the throw-in rules change seemed like a good one, but I suspect that players will now simply not head for the sideline until the team is deployed.

I'm happy to root for Canada, USA, Mexico, and England in this tournament. But most likely only England will last to the later rounds.