World Cup Fantasy Weekly Update 4
Hello everyone and welcome to the quarterfinals! Finally, they gave me a day break and yet this is what the 2nd time I'm getting it done the day of the last match of the round. So, let's recap! (note that I wrote some of these in the last update which I'll indicate, but in case anybody missed the last one I'll leave them in)
Round of 16
- Paraguay 0-1 France
(pre-written) And this match was just kind of a disgusting brawl where Paraguay ended the game with somehow 0 yellow cards to France's 3. Which is approximately how many red cards Matias Galarza could have had. Anyway, Mbappe scored a pen and laughed in a number of Paraguayan faces when the full time whistle went as France shithoused a 1-0 win. It's a good thing Deschamps picked his 2 strongest on the bench to protect the dictator after the game.
- Canada 0-3 Morocco
(pre-written) Unfortunately possession does not equal goals as Jesse Marsch's squad could not convert their solid first half and instead conceded 3 in the second. Sometimes you just run into a player who goes off and field a squad that can't score, and today that player was Ounahi.
- Portugal 0-1 Spain
Really just a boring match where not a lot happened until an Arsenal player scored a goal. That's right ONE-NIL TO THE ARSENAL let's goooo. Anyway thank god Merino is the most clinical player on both his national and club team and broke the deadlock in the 91st minute, because I (and the millions of other people watching) did not deserve another 30 minutes of that. I'm really not sure why the higher-ups at the Portugal FA saw Roberto Martinez's Belgium team and went "yeah, that's what we need- 90' of 41 year old Ronaldo, somehow what should be the best midfield trio in the world performing like they've never kicked a ball before, and 5 completely useless substitutes."
- USA 1-4 Belgium
Yeah, that was about what I expected. Belgium looked like they had some actual desire to win for the first time in, what, 6 years? Yeah, I think Eden Hazard was on the team last time they played this well. Guess that's just what happen$ when off the field idiocracy puts the whole world on your side. Anyway, the US looked absolutely out of it and could have conceded even more. 3 mistakes directly leading to goals and basically no chances created at the other end.
- Brazil 1-2 Norway
(pre-written) Not only did Norway beat Brazil, but the 1 Brazil goal was a 100th minute Neymar(?) penalty after this absolute machine named Erling used 2 of his ~30 touches this match to score. And on the other end of the pitch, what a game by the current free agent goalkeeper Nyland, who had some absolutely ridiculous saves, including a penalty from Bruno G(?). Wait wait what I meant to say is Gabriel Martinelli to Newcastle… yeah that's it. Anyway, eyebrows raised in Ancelotti's direction this time as Brazil limped out of the cup with 34% possession.
- Mexico 2-3 England
I mean, this might have been the game of the tournament (so far) where Jude Bellingham balled out scoring 2, Jimenez continued not only his ridiculous conversion rate from the penalty spot but extended his scoring impressive record against Pickford, Kane scored yet another goal (and pen) this tournament, Quansah decided he wanted to test his luck at a suspended suspension and went studs up on a Mexico player, and Dan Burn came on to be tall and head the ball (it worked). Anyway, the drama and ensuing celebration resulted in some great moments including Harry Kane doing his best Kermit the frog impression, Jordan Henderson broke his wrist jumping over an advertising board, and John Stones injured his shoulder in the locker room- wait, what's that? he's okay? oh, he's dancing? he pretended to be hurt and now he's doing the windmill? someone call the celebration police this cannot be allowed.
- Argentina 3-2 Egypt
Another absolutely crazy game coming out of this world cup featured some deja vu, as yet another African nation threw away a 2-0 lead in heartbreaking fashion. And that collapse was a joint effort between Omar Marmoush and the Egypt manager for deciding to sub on Omar Marmoush. Probably not the play when up 2-1 and needing to not turn the ball over by passing it straight into the last defender on a counter. But hey, what's the worst that could happen? Surely, Fernandez won't score the winner on the following Argentine attack… surely.
- Switzerland 0-0 (4-3) Colombia
Someone fact check me here but I think this is the first 0-0 knockout round match of the tournament, even if it didn't feel like it. And really, it shouldn't have been considering the huge extra time miss from Campaz. Anyway, the penalties weren't anything special, just the usual "don't let a center back take a penalty" as Akanji missed one in his 3rd tournament in a row. Good thing for Switzerland it didn't matter since Colombia also chose a center back to take a penalty + Kobel managed to save one.
So, we just have 8 teams left!
- France vs Morocco
- Spain vs Belgium
- Norway vs England
- Argentina vs Switzerland
World Cup Fantasy
| Position | Manager | Points | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (+1) | Chris | 462 | 107 | 97 | 67 | 109 | 82 |
| 2 (-1) | Luke | 452 | 106 | 70 | 104 | 124 | 48 |
| 3 (-) | Darryan | 426 | 85 | 101 | 81 | 86 | 73 |
| 4 (+1) | Jesse | 405 | 67 | 101 | 71 | 83 | 83 |
| 5 (+1) | Matthew | 401 | 85 | 76 | 72 | 78 | 90 |
| 6 (-2) | Zach | 393 | 90 | 102 | 50 | 84 | 67 |
| 7 (-) | John | 349 | 81 | 64 | 68 | 68 | 68 |
| 8 (-) | Coop | 341 | 78 | 66 | 67 | 67 | 63 |
| 9 (-) | Mack | 321 | 91 | 67 | 52 | 62 | 49 |
| 10 (-) | Kevin | 314 | 66 | 75 | 43 | 62 | 68 |
| 11 (-) | Scott | 254 | 44 | 46 | 34 | 74 | 56 |
Wow it looks like the Ghanaian witch doctor decided to set his sights on Luke this week as his league-low 48 points gives Chris a 10 point lead at the top! And now he has a similarly untenable 26 point lead over Darryan in 3rd. He does see Jesse and I catch up some, as he keeps 3rd by 21 points over Jesse, while I'm just 4 further back after my high score of 90 this week. Zach's rough round of 16 saw him drop 8 points behind me, still 44 over John. Coop sits only 8 points behind him, extending the gap above Mack to 20. Meanwhile, Kevin put up a solid score this week to move to a touchdown and extra point's worth of points behind Mack.