(I think it is, more jeopardy in this one, a draw suits both teams in the other one)
(I think it is, more jeopardy in this one, a draw suits both teams in the other one)
What a run! And then he* hits it straight at the ‘keeper
*he being some Ukrainian
Corner for Belgium. Which is probably enough to close the game out
FT Ukraine 0 Tintin 0
All four finishing on four points.
Feel sorry for Ukraine really.
I never liked this finishing in third place and potentially progressing nonsense in tournament football (it’s a replica of the model the World Cup adopted between 1986 and 1994)
When the World Cup originally expanded from 16 to 24 teams, it was piloted with two group stages…one group stage with four teams in per group, and one with three teams in per group.
In the second round group stage it meant that teams couldn’t play for draws or penalties…England went out after winning all their games in the group stage but not being able to beat West Germany or Spain.
Italy the eventual winners had to beat Brazil in their group because although they’d won against Argentina, Brazil had a superior goal difference.
Now taking away the fact that the 1982 World Cup took place just over a year before I was born, you watch it back now and it’s stood the test of time as being one of the greatest World Cup tournaments of all time, and I think the format massively contributed to this.
Of course the main problem is that a European tournament doesn’t need 24 teams to begin with, 16 is sufficient. Just as 32 is sufficient for the World Cup…and expanding it to 48 will just increase the amount of utterly pointless games against totally incapable teams
Georgia 1-0 up against Turkey
Tough on Ukraine going out with 4 points.