World Cup 2018 First Round Drama: England

Lots of new developments with the World Cup over the last day and a half for groups G and F, with England’s route this morning of Panama, and Germany’s last minute upset of Sweden yesterday. This leaves a big question mark hanging over the heads of Mexico, who having won both of their games so far, were set to advance to the next round. But first let’s look at England:

enviro warrior. flickr

England & Group G
England’s 6-1 trouncing of Panama today has provided Tottenham striker Harry Kane with a hat trick, as well as the lead for this tournament’s Golden Boot. He now has 5 goals so far, edging out the 4 goals scored so far by both Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku of Belgium. Panama’s defeat in such a lopsided game reflects pretty negatively on the state of the US team, who finished two spots behind Panama in the CONCACAF (the governing football organization for North & Central America and the Caribbean) World Cup qualifiers last year. With their 6-1 defeat of Panama, England is at a dead heat with group G rivals Belgium, with not only both teams having 6 points at the end of first round play, but both squads have scored 8 goals and have been scored on twice. This means, that in case of a tie when they face each other this Thursday, they could run into a crazy series of tiebreakers:

Most points > group goal difference > group goals scored > # of points between concerned teams > goal difference between teams > goals scored between teams > fair play conduct points > drawing lots!!!

If Belgium and England tie, it could come down to the 7th step, Fair Play Conduct points where teams lose a certain number of points per player/ per game for yellow and red cards. Since the group G winner will now have to play against perennial powerhouses Brazil and Germany in the next round, many around the internet are speculating on whether the teams may purposefully draw fouls or cards in order to be placed in potentially easier 2nd round bracket.

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In case you forgot, a win earns a team 3 points, while a tie brings 1. In the first round if teams are tied at the end of 90 minutes, the draw stands. The next rounds, however, are knockout, so there has to be a winner. If the game is still drawn after an extra round of 30 minutes, the game comes down to a penalty kick shootout until a winner is decided.

Group G -
England 6 pts 2-1 vs Tunisia, 6-1 vs Panama
Belgium 6 pts 3-0 vs Panama, 5-2 vs Tunisia
Panama 0 pts
Tunisia 0 pts

You can catch the group leaders face off, as well as the runner-up match between Tunisia and Panama this Thursday, June 28th.

Stay tuned for Mexico and Group F drama! https://steemit.com/sports/@pinkspectre/world-cup-2018-first-round-drama-mexico-and-germany