u/FitchDMB

Interesting trend developing with the England players… going overseas.

It would appear that his American Dream of an endless summer may need life support.

England and Wales friendship ended with Mudasir. UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC too.

Or England did four years ago, because literally the same thing just happened…

1 foul (or not)
2. length of the pitch move
3. goal (or not)

Oh, right… Messi is playing. I forgot.

That can get to France’s bench…

This is the kind of performance and belief that you need to oust Les Bleus.

Provided they get there.

Officially

Obviously results will change this, but as it stands right now… this is the actual potential route for England if they win the Group…

R32 - Portugal
R16 - Mexico at the Azteca
QF - France/Brazil in the Swamp
SF - Argentina
F - Spain/Germany/Netherlands

That would exorcise every demon England has in one single title run.

Play low pressure. And defend like they are trying to seize your island.

Obviously there’s still a boatload to play out, but as a result of the Sweden thrashing… our path is already shaping up.

So full disclosure, I’m just keeping the results of the teams that haven’t played as each group goes highest ranked wins group, second ranked is second, etc. Third place teams with zero results fall the same way (highest rank wins out). Teams that tied will be involved in the first round of third place teams. Those that have lost are out.

EDIT: As it stands, half the first games have been played, and there are groups BCF that have third place points… and AED have zero. So based on that and the rankings, Japan, Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Algeria and Uzbekistan advance, with Panama, Czechia, Ecuador and Turkey eliminated as of right now.

There are already some interesting matchups and some things to start trending out.

Proceeding to the knockout tournament with current results in, this would be the Round of 32

Germany v Morocco
France v Japan

Korea v Switzerland
Sweden v Brazil

Colombia v Croatia
Spain v Austria

USA v Qatar
Belgium v Algeria

Norway v Portugal
Canada v Egypt

Australia v Iran
Argentina c Uruguay

And then our little pocket of the tournament?

Scotland v Netherlands
Ivory Coast v Senegal

Mexico v Saudi Arabia
England v Uzbekistan

Looking interesting already. Sometimes it’s great to be the last group to play. Get to see the whole thing play out before your own eyes.

That Sweden result is seismic for that group. Massive goal differential for them, and it throws a huge wrench into everything. That is a big result that few expected. Even if they lose the next two games, you can almost already pen them in as one of the third place teams, which already shapes certain outcomes. Same with Germany. I’m not saying that will end up third in the group, but if they are, they are almost assured of going through at this point based on goal differential.