Sunday, 28 June 2026

World Cup 2026 (Part 4) Last 32

A first ever Last 32 round in the World Cup
Matches start Sunday 28th June and finish Saturday 4th July.

African teams getting 9 of the 10 into the next round, Cape Verde the shock but 3 draws enough.

Europe getting 13 of 16 through, Turkey unlucky despite beating hosts USA.
Scotland unlucky to have been drawn in a group with the 6th and 7th ranked teams in the world, so no embarrassment this time. Czechs only managing a draw in their group, a worrying serious looking injury to Soucek is a concern from a West Ham point of view.

Only one South American team going out Uruguay, with Bielsa probably into retirement after that.

So far Asian teams struggled with 7 of 9 out already, Australia who aren't asian plus Japan the only ones through. Unluckiest was Iran (which the hosts will be pleased about), despite all the aggro of having to be flown in and out of the US on the day of the match they ended up unbeaten.
Only a toe nail offside decision in their last game denying them a win, then the crazy injury time draw between Algeria and Austria where both teams were playing keep ball for the agreed draw for 20 minutes before Mahrez scored in the 4th minute of 5 added. Extra time added to allow Austria an equaliser keeping all happy.

Host nations all had pretty easy groups, only Canada had a top 20 rated team (19th ranked Switzerand) who they lost to. America had one hard game against underperforming Turkey which they lost.
Mexico looking good on home soil, if they beat Ecuador in the next round they could play England in Mexico city.

England who have looked impressive for 45 minutes of their 3 games doing enough, Bellingham stepping up to live up to his hype. Kane taking the chances in 2 of the 3 games.
Best players have been Anderson, Bellingham, Rice and Kane. Rashford OK but a bit predictable, Saka not fit and most others looking tired. Hopefully things wil improve.
Next up is Dr Congo, with the fullback duo of Wan-Bissaka and Arthur Masuaku.

Last 32 matches - Going to only count 90 minute scores for predictions.

Current Scores after 72 games
Me 53, Chris Sutton 58, BBC-AI 57

South Africa v Canada
Brazil v Japan
Germany v Paraguay
Netherlands v Morocco
Ivory Coast v Norway
France v Sweden
Mexico v Ecuador
England v DR Congo
Belgium v Senegal
United States v Bosnia Herzegovina
Spain v Austria
Portugal v Croatia
Switzerland v Algeria
Australia v Egypt
Argentina v Cape Verde
Colombia v Ghana

No comments:

Post a Comment