BISERGS Leaderboard Tightens up as Group Stage Completes

Ronaldo finally scored a World Cup goal, but his
Portuguese team couldn't do enough to oust team USA. 

Doug completed a stunning 16.25 round yesterday that saw him rise all the way to third place in the BISERGS.  Rodrigo maintained the first position with 36.75 points, but he is being pressed by Greg who is only 1.5 points behind.  Greg's brothers Rick and Doug are both very close behind with 34 points overall.  Annika and Rachel managed to get four team through to the next round and everyone else in the top 10, except Sharleen have three teams remaining.  Gray, Ivan and Matt are the other members of the current top 10.  Defending BISERGS winner Carol B is in 11 place and could still repeat as champion.  Allison looks to bounce back from a very difficult round three that saw her slip from 2nd place down to 12th.  Sadly, the BISERGS is over for Katelynn and Hudson since they have had all four teams eliminated, but there is still plenty of excitement left in the World Cup for them to enjoy.

The USA advanced even though they were beaten by Germany 1-0.  Portugal beat Ghana in the other group game, but not by enough goals to take away the American's superior goal differential.  The result means the USA will play Belgium in the next round (at the exact time we will be checking into the airport, so I'll probably miss the match.)  The Germans won the group and will play Algeria who finished 2nd to Belgium in group H. Algeria sealed the final spot with a 1-1 draw against Russia.  The Russians jumped out to an early lead, but the Algerians made the most of a corner kick in the second half to equalize and kept the Russians out the rest of the way.  Belgium looked underwhelming in a 1-0 win over South Korea.  The Americans should like their chances against the Belgians who are full of super stars, but haven't gelled as a team at all.

Do or Die Time in the Group of Death

The USA let down their guard at the worst possible time against Portugal and now hopes to avoid paying the ultimate price.  If that game had ended 10 seconds earlier, the US would have 6 points and be guaranteed of a place in the next round.  Now, they have everything to play for against the tournament's best non South American team.  If the US can win or tie, they go through.  If Portugal and Ghana tie, the US goes through no matter how they play against Germany.  But if the US loses and the results go wrong for them in the Portugal vs Ghana match, the US will be on the outside looking in.  After being eliminated by Ghana in the last two World Cups, there is a very real possibility that Ghana will send America home again, even though the Stars and Stripes won the head to head matchup in the opener.  If Ghana wins and the US loses and either match finishes with a 2 goal or greater difference (eg Ghana 3 - Portugal 1 or Germany 2 - US 0) the US would be out.  This was labeled the group of death before the tournament began and it is living up to that name.  Germany, who is leading the group, could still go home, if the US beats them and Ghana routes Portugal.  That is my favorite scenario and would mean the US and Ghana would advance, but don't count on that.

In the last group to play, Belgium has already advanced, and Algeria has the inside track at joining them.  South Korea and Russia still both have a chance to advance also, so there should be some decent attacking in every game.

In the BISERGS battle to get all 4 teams into the next round Krista appears to have the best chance, but Annika and Rachel also have an inside track towards a four for four first round.  For Rick and Dawn to celebrate would almost certainly require heartbreak for the US.  The relevant matches are Germany (Krista) vs USA (Annika), Portugal (Rick and Dawn) vs Ghana and Algeria (Rachel) vs Russia.

Messi Stikes Twice

Messi puts a free kick over the wall and into the net for his
second goal of the day.

Ecuador, Honduras and Iran were all dumped from the World Cup today as Switzerland, Argentina and Bosnia & Herzegovina won their matches and France coasted through to a 0 - 0 draw against Ecuador.  Ecuador needed a win and became the only South American team to not make it out of the group stage of the competition.  Nigeria became the first African team to advance to the next round, even though they lost to Argentina .  Bosnia looked impressive as they ended Iran's unlikely dream and would have advanced themselves except for a bad offsides call that cost them a goal and a point in their previous game.  Switzerland recovered from their humiliating loss to France last week by blasting Honduras 3-0.

The most exciting game of the day was Argentina vs. Nigeria which finished 3-2 with two goals for Messi which were matched by a brace from Nigeria's Ahmed Musa.  Two goals had already been scored after 4 minutes and the game kept up the end to end pace for most of the 90 minutes.  The results set up two more round of 16 matchups where Nigeria will take on France and Argentina will battle Switzerland.

The results catapulted Rachel into 3rd place with all four of her teams still in the competition.  Doug rose from 25th all the way to 5th with a BISERGS record 12.75 point day.  He had all three of today's winning teams (Bosnia, Argentina and Switzerland) and still has Belgium to play this round.  Rachel, Rick, Annika, Krista and Dawn all have four teams remaining with only four matches left in the group stage. 

Argentina and France Look to Complete 100% Group Stage

France have dominated their group with an impressive 8 goals in two matches, while Argentina have struggled in their two wins.  Even so, it is only Argentina who have already secured their spot in the second round, but they need at least a draw to avoid finishing second in their group.  Nigeria would book their own spot in the second round with a draw, but could still advance with a loss as long as Iran don't beat Bosnia by enough to make up the goal difference.  Argentina should be seeking more than just a draw as they need to shift into high gear before the round of 16 begins if they want to reach their lofty goals for the summer.  In Group E, France have little to fear and will only fail to qualify if they lose badly to Ecuador and Switzerland crushes Honduras.  Honduras is yet to win a game, but they could make it through if they can beat the demoralized Swiss by 3 goals and France beat Ecuador by 2 goals.  Some of the scenarios are very unlikely, but the good news for BISERGSers is that seven out of eight teams have something to play for today and won't only be going for wins, but in many cases, lots of goals (unlike England and Costa Rica yesterday).

Uruguay Redefines Winning Ugly

Diego Godin scores the goal, but appears to be run away from Luis Suarez
(number 9) rather than celebrate with him for fear of being bitten.

The day's biggest game was a very ugly affair.  In a game that featured Mario Balotelli and Luis Suarez it could have been a clasic.  Both players are capable of magic and both have a history of losing it on the field.  This match featured Mario getting a yellow card for an amazing ninja kick to the back of an Uruguayan defender's head and Luis Suarez getting away with biting an Italian late in the game.  Italy only needed a draw to advance and they were playing for the 0-0 result.  The Italians had a player sent off for a red card which looked mild relative to the rest of the action.  In the end, the Uruguayos scored on a corner kick but deserve to be the most hated team to continue in this years World Cup (and the 2010 World Cup, too).

Balotelli's violence was much more athletic and actually
involved him trying to win the ball.

Greece advanced ahead of the star studded Ivory Coast team thanks to a late penalty.  The Greeks actually played some attacking soccer and nearly scored many other times while doing the defensive work needed to stop the great Ivorian goal scorers.  Colombia continued with style in a 4-1 win over Japan who had to press for a victory to have any hope of advancing and left themselves vulnerable to the exciting South Americans.  In the meaningless match between Costa Rica and England both teams played like it was meaningless.  0-0 was the final score, England leave on a whimper and Costa Rica top the group.

The results set up a battle of South American rivals, Colombia and Uruguay in the next round.  Colombia is the tournament darling so far with plenty of attacking flair and a well choreographed goal celebration that you can't help but love.  They take on the villains, Uruguay, who will probably be toothless without Suarez as they were without him in their opening loss to Costa Rica.  The other knock-out match will be between Greece and Costa Rica in a matchup that will guarantee that an underdog advances to the final eight.

For the BISERGS, I'm very happy to report that Emilie was the big winner on the day.  Greece and Uruguay earned her 7 points which doubles her score for the entire BISERGs so far.  Ivan moved to within 1.5 points of Rodrigo thanks to Colombia and fellow Colombia owners Matt S. and Rick made significant advances, too.  Annika has risen to her highest place yet (4th) and with her highflying French side set to play tonight, she could soon top the table.  Nine BISERGSers still have the potential of seeing all four teams advance.  Rachel, Dawn, Emmett, Nate, Krista and Evan aren't in the top 10 today, but with the possibility of four teams advancing, they could be serious contenders before it is over.

Five Teams Going for Two Spots in Groups C and D

Group D gets the action started with two simultaneous matches today.  The world's eyes will be watching Uruguay play Italy in a match that will send one team home and the other one on to the next round.  England will try to duplicate Spain's final match result and going home with some pride after a pair of losses eliminated them early.  Costa Rica is the surprise team of the World Cup so far and would love to enter the next round on a high send England home winless.  Columbia has already qualified and is almost certainly going through in first place, but Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan are all still battling for the final spot.  Ivory Coast is in the driver's seat, but must win to guarantee passage out of the group.

For BISERGSers trying to catch Rodrigo, an England victory may be a welcome site.  A 3-0 victory for England would even push his wife Carol, the defending BISERGS champion into first place.  Ivan Glenney looks to jump into the top spot with his Colombia and Italy teams in action.  Emilie and Derek own both Italy and Uruguay, so they are sure to see one team advance and one team go home as a result of today's matches.  They hope to avoid a 0-0 draw that would do nothing to help their disappointing 2014 BISERGS.  Derek may be pulling for the South Americans since he shares Uruguay with his wife (Rachel) and brother (Evan).

Mexico is Through and Carol Makes Her Move

Mexico's coach, Miguel Herrera is overcome with joy.

Mexico and Croatia had been involved in a tense match for 70 minutes when Mexico suddenly struck for two goal in just three minutes.  They ended up 3-1 winners and everyone had to love watching the joyous reactions of their coach Miguel Herrera.  Just a few months ago, Mexico were about to miss playing in the World Cup all

together, but now they are through to the second round and look like they can go even further.  They will match up against Holland in the next phase, since Holland used two late goals to overcome Chile 2-0 and clinch the top spot in group B.  That means Chile has to face Brazil who crushed Cameroon 4-1, sending Cameroon home as the worst team in this years world cup with 0 wins, one awful red card and nine goals allowed.  Brazil had moments where they turned on the samba style that their country has been craving and could be hitting their stride at just the right time.  A further indication that the stars may be alining in Brazil's favor is that Neymar scored the 100th goal of this World Cup in what the 100th World Cup game in Brazil's history.  Spain got a bit of redemption with a 3-0 win over Australia, but it was little consolation after their first two losses.

The Spain result was good news for those who picked Spain in the BISERGS as they finally produced some points.  Spain's victory coupled with Hollands win shot Carol Barrera from 15th place to 4th with an 8.5 point day.  If her remaining teams the Netherlands and France meet in the finals, she could still win the BISERGS in spite of the huge Spain and England let down.  Croatia's owners had hoped to see their team make it to the next round, but were left disappointed.