If our country had been facing Australia in cricket or men’s rugby, I’d have been bracing for a beatdown. However, since we were playing them in the sport that both they and we call soccer, our guys came away with an easy 2-0 win. That clinched USA’s spot in the knockout rounds with one game still to go, and a few hours later, Paraguay’s 1-0 win over Türkiye ensured that USA will finish top of the group and that this week’s final group-stage match against the Turks will mean nothing for either team. I’m here for the lack of drama and for answering your questions about the second round of matches at the World Cup.
What other significance does the win over Australia have?
Our press is making much of defender Alex Freeman scoring a goal on the same ground where his father, Antonio Freeman, caught a touchdown pass for the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI. However, the international community noticed that Christian Pulisic was injured. Since he’s the American player whom most foreigners know about, Team USA winning so easily without him shows that the squad is more than just the AC Milan playmaker.
Is that all?
I noticed the “0” on Australia’s side of the scoreline. This is only the third clean sheet that USA have kept at the World Cup since 2010, and it’s particularly encouraging, since it testifies to the U.S. players’ ability to keep their focus and defensive intensity after taking an early lead. Beating inferior sides while allowing them to score consolation goals is generally not a recipe for a deep run at the World Cup, so let’s see Coach Mauricio Pochettino and his players keep things tight.
What was odd about USA’s win?
We reaped another own goal. Australia’s Cameron Burgess turned Folarin Balogun’s cross into his own net for USA’s opener, making our guys the first team in World Cup history to see the opposition score on themselves in two straight games. Own Goals has now scored five for the Stars and Stripes at World Cups, which ties Landon Donovan for the all-time lead. (The only country that Own Goals has scored more for is France.) I’d write a fight song celebrating it here, but Own Goals can turn on you in a heartbeat, so I’ll just quietly appreciate Own Goals’ performance in a USA jersey.
What happened with the Turks?
I had them rated as the most talented squad in Group D, and I still have them rated that way, but they are now a dead team walking, while Cape Verde, Curaçao, and Qatar are all still alive. (Let that sink in.) Contra other pundits’ predictions that Türkiye’s defense would be their Achilles heel, it was their offense that failed to break down two opponents who sat deep and bunkered in. That’s inexcusable, especially considering the fact that they spent the entire second half against Paraguay playing one man up after Miguel Almirón’s red card ejection. The international broadcast showed one Turkish fan giving his team the finger as they walked off the pitch, and you could see his point of view. Türkiye captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu has now received a harsh and very public lesson in keeping his big mouth shut.
Why do you get a red card for covering your mouth?
This rule change was effected after a Champions League match this past spring, when Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni put his hand over his mouth to shout racial slurs at Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior, whom you likely know is Black. Ordinarily, that offense is punished immediately in the modern day, but Prestianni’s suspension took longer to be handed down because video replays couldn’t show his lips moving. (Also, Prestianni denied making racist remarks and said instead that he was making homophobic ones. The Argentinian player said the latter was perfectly normal, which it might be in Argentina.) Anyway, Almirón concealed his lips against Türkiye and duly got sent off, and now Paraguay will have to face Australia without their playmaker.
I’m still traumatized by Ismaël Koné’s broken leg against Qatar. Has a worse injury ever happened at the World Cup?
Oh, yes. At World Cup 1982, West Germany goalkeeper Harald Schumacher tried to decapitate France defender Patrick Battiston, knocking out several teeth and leaving him temporarily in a coma. Incredibly, the referee called Battiston for the foul, and Schumacher went completely unpunished. (For that reason and many others, everybody hated the Germans that year.) Not escaping punishment was Brazil winger Leonardo at World Cup 1994, when he elbowed USA’s Tab Ramos and fractured his skull. Ramos was America’s best attacker at the time, and he was never the same after that. The Brazilians didn’t even wait for a suspension, sending Leonardo back home immediately, and they proceeded to win the World Cup without him. As for Assim Madibo, the Qatari player who snapped the Canadian midfielder’s tibia and fibula, his immediate reaction showed that he wasn’t trying to injure the player, but I doubt we’ll see him again at this World Cup.
What is xG?
It stands for “expected goals,” and it’s an advanced statistic that can be measured for a team or an individual player. The formula for computing xG takes in many variables and is more complicated than I care to explain. I bring it up because Tunisia managed an xG of 0.05 during their 4-0 loss to Japan. I didn’t know a rating of five one-hundredths of a goal was possible, unless a team spent the entire match standing still with the ball. Granted, the Carthage Eagles were in the position of adjusting to a brand-new coach in the middle of the World Cup, but that’s putrid.
Speaking of putrid, what about Ecuador?
After Cape Verde’s historic draw, Curaçao said, “Hold my blue curaçao.” The Dutch possession in the Caribbean is the smallest nation ever to compete at the World Cup, and they managed a scoreless draw against Ecuador. Imagine if the city of Denton had a team in the World Cup that pulled off a similar result, and you’ll understand how big this is. Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room tied the record for saves in a World Cup match set by USA’s Tim Howard against Belgium in 2014 (15). Take nothing away from Room, but the Ecuadorians’ poor finishing doomed them. I had the South Americans down as a possible dark horse, but between their lack of goals and their final game against Germany, La Tricolor may be out of this World Cup soon.
And what about Cape Verde?
The Blue Sharks continued their amazing run with a draw against Uruguay. At this point, who would bet against them beating Saudi Arabia or advancing out of the group? If they can do this, why can’t our team put together a run to the semis? (Japan’s probably thinking the same thing, too.)
How will Pochettino approach the dead rubber game against Türkiye?
Pulisic will almost certainly be given additional time to rehab his mysterious calf injury. Beyond that, it bears watching to see if Poch benches all, some, or none of his other regular starters. Resting the ones who have picked up yellow cards is an option, too, because a second yellow in the last group-stage match will draw a suspension in the following game and yellow cards will be wiped clean after the end of the group stage. Players currently on a yellow are: Balogun, Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, and Antonee Robinson.
Will the Turks even bother showing up?
You never know how a team will react to an early elimination. Some teams in the past have indeed thrown in the towel, but others have thrown everything they had at their remaining opponent to salvage some pride. In World Cup 2002, Poland crashed out after two losses but roared back to beat USA in the last group-stage game, a result that could have eliminated the Americans. We’ll see what the Turks do.
