The first soccer-less day of the World Cup summer is over. I hope everyone managed to survive somehow. Now the excitement really starts. In the group stage there was some room for error, as only 4 out of the 16 teams that advanced won all three matches. From now on, if a team loses, they are out. South America has done incredibly well in this years World Cup. Five out of six South American sides advanced to the round of 16, but unfortunately four of them have ended up in the same quadrant of the knockout bracket. That means that Brazil, Chile, Columbia and Uruguay will be battling one another for a single place in the semi-finals at the expense of their regional rivals.
Hosts and tournament favorites Brazil start the action today against Chile, who had a big part in eliminating world #1 Spain from the World Cup. Chile would love to knockout another world power from the tournament. Everyone who used their first pick on Brazil hopes that doesn't happen, but if it does, it would just be another exciting twist in the World Cup and BISERGS. Columbia have been a very fun and high scoring team to watch and they go against the Suarez-less Uruguayans who advanced at the expense of Italy and England. Uruguay's coach's reaction to the Suarez suspension makes me like his team even less, but that won't prevent James, Rachel, Emilie and Derek from cheering for the bad boys.
In this round of the BISERGS, the points are the same as in the group stage. Teams earn their owners 3 points for a win, 1/2 point for a goal and they loose 1/4 point for goals allowed. The only difference is that games can't end in a draw. If a game is tied at the end of 90 minutes (plus added time), then a 30 minute overtime is played. After that if the score is still tied, the game is decided by penalty kicks. If that happens, for the BISERGS points, penalty kicks DO NOT count as goals scored or goals allowed. The losing team in a penalty shootout is awarded one point for a draw, even though they have lost the match and will not advance to the next round because they were equal for 120 minutes. In the quarterfinal round all scores (both positive and negative) are increased by 150%. The semifinal points are worth double the first round matches and the final earns triple points. The third place match is worth the same amount as the group stage matches. All of this information can be found on the rules page.
Second goal of Colombia a great collective team effort.
ReplyDeleteYes, Rodrigo and I were very sad when Mexico lost in the last few minutes. Mexico tried so hard. Had they gone to penalty kicks, it would have been an interesting duel between the two goal keepers. I have enjoyed watching Memo Ochoa for years. The only consolation was that Rodrigo, Sharleen and I wracked up a few points, but I think all three of us would have given up those points to see Mexico win. Of course, that would have knocked me out of the running for sure.
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