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World Cup 2018 gave us a Father’s Day to remember. Serbia scored a scorching free kick from Aleksandar Kolarov and held on to beat a toothless Costa Rica 1-0 before the fireworks really began. Mexico came out strong against Germany and got a first half goal from Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and held on to win the match 1-0 despite squandering numerous 3 on 1 counter opportunities to really seal the game. As Mexico finished off Germany all eyes turned to tournament favorites Brazil, they came out strong against a chronically underrated Switzerland team and took a 1-0 lead on a stunning curling blast from Philippe Coutinho. Then Brazil seemingly rested a bit, Switzerland got an equalizer right after the half and it ended 1-1. This is the first World Cup in history where Brazil, Germany and Argentina all failed to win their opening game.
Sweden vs. Korea Republic
Time: 5:00 AM
Location: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod
TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: Glenn Davis and Cobi Jones (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
With Mexico’s stunning upset of Germany yesterday, fellow Group F participants Sweden and South Korea realize that they are now going to face a determined and motivated German team in their next games. Making this game a virtual must win for both teams. If you assume Germany wins its remaining two games, then a loss here eliminates the loser. A draw gives them options, but it gets tricky with what looks to be a strong Mexico team also looming.
Will the Sounders Gustav Svensson feature for Sweden? He is normally a late game defensive substitute but does provide backup for Sweden across most of the backline and central midfield.
Belgium vs. Panama
Time: 8:00 AM
Location: Fisht Stadium, Sochi
TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: Mark Followill and Warren Barton (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
The Seattle Sounders Roman Torres captains Panama in their first ever World Cup match. It was Torres’ goal in the 88th minute against Costa Rica in the final qualifying match that put Panama into the World Cup and knocked the United States out. I don’t want to say that Panama are just happy to have qualified for their first World Cup, but they do face a daunting task with Belgium and England their first two matches and no matter what happens in Russia this round of players will always be known as the first to go to the World Cup.
Belgium has been talked about as a dark horse favorite to win the World Cup. Coming into the tournament there was a clear betting tier of six teams that were likely to lift the cup. And the first five of those took a tumble or struggled in their opener. Germany lost, France looking unconvincing in their win, Spain, Argentina and Brazil all drew while the last from this gang of six to open play are Belgium. Their spirits have to be high. This might be the best chance for Belgium’s own ‘golden generation’ led by Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne, Moussa Dembele, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois to make a deep run in what is looking like a wide open tournament.
Tunisia vs. England
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Volgograd Arena, Volgograd
TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: Derek Rae and Aly Wagner (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
This is not your father’s England team. And that’s a good thing, gone are the days of trying to shoehorn in all the big English names of the Premier League’s top clubs and hoping it works itself out. They last won a World Cup match in 2010 over Slovenia and no one from that roster made the 23 man team for Russia this year. In fact only five players from Brazil 2014 made the plane to Russia. England comes into the tournament with the second youngest squad average age at 26 years old (only behind Nigeria’s 25.9 years old).
Tunisia are definitely the forgotten team from Group G heading into the opener. But they played a rigorous schedule in warm up friendlies notching a 2-2 draw with Portugal, followed by a 2-2 draw with Turkey followed by a 1-0 loss to Spain that was tied until the closing minutes. If anyone outside of Belgium and England is going to advance out of Group G, it is Tunisia. A draw in either of their first two games against England and Belgium would lead to a plausible scenario where Tunisia is playing an eliminated Panama squad needing a win and goal differential to advance. There seems to be a reason they played such high quality European competition as preparation.