Day 6 Review

Colombia v Japan

Prediction: 3-1 Colombia

Result: 2-1 Japan

A moment of madness saw Colombia go down to 10-men within 4 minutes of play for a deliberate handball to stop a Japanese shot. So because of this it his hard to judge Colombia's game which degraded into long-balls to Falcao, and Japan's game against 10-men.

Japan were poor in the first half and seemed as if they wanted to sit on their 1 goal advantage from the penalty which was canceled out after a Falcao dive for a freekick which was cheekily kicked underneath the wall by Quintero.



Japan were dominant in the 2nd half finally putting their extra man advantage to good use with good midfield possession but lacked quality to unlock Colombia's defence; scoring the winner from a corner.
Every game in this group will be hard fought with Poland and Senegal coming up so 3 points for Japan here is absolutely huge.
Also of note, they are the first Asian nation to beat a South American nation at a World Cup.

Poland v Senegal

Prediction: 2-1 Poland

Result: 2-1 Senegal

For a game that was very end-to-end in the first half it produced very little shots and no shots on target. The deadlock broken by an off-target shot that was deflected goal-wards. Both teams were quite poor upfront which is strange considering this was the Mane v Lewandowski showdown.

Senegal sat back in the 2nd half just defending their lead and Poland simply were not good enough to break them down. A poor passback from Poland gifted Senegal their 2nd and wrapped the game up. A headed goal from a free kick was good for Poland in order to make sure their goal difference didn't get out of hand.

With Senegal taking on Japan and Poland having to deal with Colombia you can't see Poland getting out of this group anymore. Especially with performances like that.

Round 1 wrap-up
Predicted correct score: 2/16
Iran 1-0 & Sweden 1-0

Predicted correct result: 10/16

Predicted wrong: 6/16

Russia v Egypt

Prediction: 2-0 Egypt

Result: 3-1 Russia

Mo Salah's return was touted as the big turn around Egypt would need. Sadly he was clearly not at full fitness, seeing him dodge challenges that he would normally bust through he did not trust his shoulder 100%. Egypt also played with 2 up front against Russia which worked against them. Last time out they played 5-4-1 basically and frustrated Uruguay without being 100% solid. Changing to a 4-4-2 opened up so many more holes in their defence Russia punished them hard.

Russia were lucky to get the breakthrough with a deflected shot which forced Egypt to attack the game even more than they were which left their defence in shambles. Russia were a lot more solid defensively and more stable in the midfield obviously buoyed from their last performance. Russia were deserved winners and now are 99% guaranteed to get out of the group.

It's sad to see Egypt wait 30 years to qualify for w World Cup and be knocked out by 2 straight losses. They will always think "what if Salah was fit", but I think they went away from their defensive style which almost got them a point against Uruguay which backfired. They did not fight for their right to play and Russia punished them.