I know the referees would do their best at the games; but the standard of officiating at the last two World Cups was turning it into a farce and even possibly irrelevant as people were tuning it out. This system may not be perfect but it's certainly a lot better than the way things were.  The World Cup has long been marred with questionable calls. I haven't seen much simulation or feigning injury in this World Cup as well.

The old system rewarded cheating, good riddance.

 Tunisia

Have been to the World Cup,  in '78, then, '98, '02, '06 and this year.

We just saw Germany, Argentina, Brazil all have big problems. Tunisia is certainly no team to take lightly, just like Southgate was saying. I don't feel good about this at all but maybe Arg, Brazil and Germany got a little of what England have had to go through for some time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisia_national_football_team

Tunisia and England friendlies, for whatever those are worth, suggest a tight matchup, Spain blistered Argentina 6-1 but defeated Tunisia only 1-0? Anyway, that sounds like a good score, I'll go with England 1 0 Tunisia.

https://us.soccerway.com/teams/tunisia/tunisia/2211/

https://us.soccerway.com/teams/england/england/774/

Tunisia's FIFA #21; England  #13.  I would not shrug Tunisia off.  Especially with a number of these games going in screwy directions like 2 of them today.

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2018/06/18/world/world-cup/tunisia/england/2166099/?ICID=HP_MS_01_03

https://uk.soccerway.com/teams/rankings/fifa/?ICID=TN_03_05_01

It sounds like a valid point, Neymar got fouled a lot, Brazil fouled James from Colombia last time....

1998 World Cup, England defeated Tunisia 2-0,  they had a friendly as a draw.

Brazil got favourable home cooking last time vs. Croatia,  Croatia really got gipped big-time.

Congrats Switzerland, really nice....

I don't see as much mickey mouse officiating this time.

Dumb foul by Zakkaria....

Just now, Husky said:

Are Switzerland really the 6th best team in the world?

 

And Argentina are the 5th!

Brazil might not even get the monkey off their back here, but they do have to plod on... it might come around.  Maybe it's time finally that the traditional powers fail and someone absolutely brand new runs the show. 

Spain's loss in 2010 was to Switzerland of all teams, I don't see the Swiss drawing or any better today..... they've got my respect. Maybe they can keep it close.  Still, Iceland and Mexico weren't predicted to do as well as they did.

Mexico's run-up to the World Cup per friendlies was basically no better than Germany's. Now, I'm feeling like you can hardly get a clue from the Friendlies. I did at least, pick a draw, zero points still.

https://uk.soccerway.com/matches/2018/06/17/world/world-cup/germany/mexico/2166092/

OTOH, Spain whipped Argentina 6-1 this year. That could have been an indicator though.

For situations like this,  it really shows me how much that Miroslav Klose helped them, Germany could still come back... but they certainly haven't had that player who makes the big play.

Ochoa, the goalkeeper has been fantastic, Germany losing and this is all the response here?

Other teams in this group are Sweden and South Korea, so it looks like Mexico should sail through if they hang on.

I'm glad the replay and VAR is used, Mexico definitely got jobbed by the refs in 2010 South Africa in favour of Argentina. 

Germany has had some dangerous attacks as well, at least, that's how I saw it. Exciting game.

They've been outrunning the Germans, Germany looks a bit stodgy at the moment....Mexico was knocking on the door quite a while, Layun kicked two free kicks over the top... I'm not sure if Germany is going to come back here.

MEXICO GOL!! Hoo Yah

In 1990, Colombia drew eventual WC champions, Germany, I think that could happen.

That Ochoa seems to be a good GK. Mexico certainly has the players.

Chicharito,

I think MXC has a chance, more likely, a chance at a draw. Germany are overwhelming favourites. Mexico has played well here. They always come up against the big boys.

5 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I've always liked Peru. I think it might be the shirt, it's unique. I was watching highlights of Peru v Scotland 1978 yesterday on the Internet. What a player Teofilo Cubillas was, he scored two fantastic goals in that game. The first one was an absolute rocket into the top corner, the second was a free kick using a technique I've never seen another player use.

Yes, I've been aware of Cubillas.  For awhile, I had videos of a number of random historic football games,  there was one from the '78 World Cup, now I think it was maybe Poland Tunisia and not one of the Peru games.

One could also say, this World Cup has been good for the countries of the Former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Serbia) and the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, I"m not sure if Iceland is officially Scandinavian, they lean that way).

Africa countries then, are 0-3. Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt.

Asia, Iran played and won.  The Saudis were embarassed.

CONCACAF, Costa Rica lost.

CONMEBOL, we have Argentina drawing, Peru losing.

I may be missing some, yes, the European teams all seem to be winning.

Iceland wins 1-1 versus Argentina... that joke has made the rounds.

Early 2000s, Valencia was very good too and vying for the Champions League and they won some La Liga titles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spanish_football_champions

As soon as Maradona got into La Liga back in the early '80s, it is famous that some player broke his leg. So, that made it sound rough.

There's no way, I'd underestimate the Spanish league, if it is weaker top to bottom, I doubt if it is that much weaker, just a little bit.

Sweden and England draw a lot even if one points out that England should be stronger. Sweden also won 3rd place in 1994, actually they were very good.  http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/usa1994/teams/team=43970/matches.html

Italy lost their opening match in 1994 to Ireland, Portugal has been decent as well.  So, to look back and say Ireland should have been a very winnable game, I don't know if that is so. Ireland was very good that year. They also drew Netherlands.. Ireland only crashed out to a loss to the host nation, Italy.

Over that same time period I do see Italy racked up 4 wins, so yes, that is more impressive.

http://eloratings.net/Italy

Senegal is in this tournament too.

Back to Nigeria, their manager: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gernot_Rohr

Gernot Rohr.

I hope the Super Eagles, Nigeria can turn this around. Again, I think Croatia, experienced,  it seems like they've been to every World Cup since David Sukor, since '98, really needed to get something. 3 points now, 4 usually gets a team through I think. Maybe not always.

A typical stodgy performance by Nigeria. A non-cohesive game plan. Seems common with them and unfortunately, they seemed to show their #48 FIFA ranking. Not too good really while Croatia is #20, Iceland,  #22, Argentina, #5.

In either 2010 or 2014, I'm pretty sure, Nigeria was in a group with Argentina as well.

Nigeria has played well in the African Cup of Nations, has done well in the Olympics, for whatever that's worth.... but this was a bit typical today of their World Cup appearances.

Won the African Cup of Nations at least 3 times, last in 2013:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_Cup_of_Nations

Man, it's always so hard on the African team, it hurts to see that.....

Croatia got a bad deal with Brazil in 2014 and there was something about their Portugal match in 2016, so, two straight tournaments, they've gotten bad deals... so, they are trying to redeem themselves...

58 minutes ago, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

I fancy Nigeria as the surprise team of this tournament. Iwobi to be the star man tonight. 

Croatia is often good in these tournaments, Nigeria has been my adopted African team for some time, but I don't see them doing it today. Sub-Saharan Africa still can't turn the corner on the big time. Good luck to them and they did fairly well in the last World Cup.

Nigeria got out of the group stage last time, in the same group as Argentina, Iran and Bosnia, in fact, Croatia didn't get out of their group and Croatia had that tough time in the 2016 Euro vs. Portugal, so I think Croatia really wants to get this win.

Schmeichel was in their for the Danes, goalkeeping counts for something, in those last 15 minutes or so, you almost knew Peru weren't going to score ... and I picked Peru,  2-1.... so I was for them and they messed that PK up.

I was watching the Copa America or some tournament a few years ago and those South American teams had problems with penalties in this shootout but that's no big deal, we know a lot of teams have that problem.

Well done Denmark, defence, goalkeeping and score.