World Cup Match Day 1
Taking a look at things after the first round of matches
The World Cup is underway! This is the first of what will likely be daily reviews of the action. I am still going to figure out how best to display this so the format might change a bit as we work through things.
The Matches
Qatar vs Ecuador
Ecuador jumped out early on Qatar and looked like the significantly better team. They then seemed to just shut things down and take the three points without risking too much looking for a third goal.
England vs Iran
A pretty dominant performance from England. They finished well but overall were never really threatened by Iran. By far the most impressive performance of the early matches.
England put people on notice after this performance that they are a team that could be ready to make some noise.
Senegal vs Netherlands
This was a very even match on the xG. The Netherlands had more of the ball but it was very much defensive possession as they didn’t do too much to progress the ball up the field with Senegal winning on field tilt. This ultimately came down to the Netherlands finishing their one big chance and then a goal-keeping error.
USA vs Wales
The US dominated the first half but really failed to make it count creating just 3 shots and the loan clear chance. Thankfully for their chances of advancing Tim Weah finished it beautifully. The change of Kieffer Moore to start the second half gave Wales an outlet to keep the ball in the US half of the field and started applying pressure finally getting the equalizer after a baffling challenge by Walker Zimmerman.
Overall today was a good reminder that International Soccer can be quite boring. The stakes and the passion are high, the attacking fluidity does not generally match.
Player of the day
It has to be Bukayo Saka.
Saka finished the day with 3 shots, 2 goals (0.2 xG), 3 progressive passes, 7 progressive carries and an England leading 0.3 goal probability added performance. Not bad for your debut on the biggest stage.
Knee Jerk Reactions
Some way too big reactions to the sample size of one.
The USA will probably regret how passive they became in the second half of their match looking to protect their one goal lead. They didn’t allow Wales to do anything in the first half (not that they were able to do much either) and then seemed to tilt too far towards sitting back in the second half. FiveThirtyEight still gives them a 45% chance of getting out of the group with this draw but it is now going to make the match against England on Friday a lot more important.
Qatar are bad. They could see a lot of goals scored against themselves when they go up against the Netherlands or Senegal.
Louis van Gaal matches have not gotten any less boring. He played some dull soccer when he coaches Manchester United, it hasn’t changed with the move to managing the Netherlands.
England are good and likable. Having fewer Tottenham players in key roles and more Bukayo Saka doing good things helps.
FIFA actually keeps track of Extra Time and adds back time that has been wasted. That is a pretty novel experience and one that people will need to get used to. I like it.