Deutschland 2006 – 36 Minutes And Out
Watching the US v Czech Republic yesterday, I was thinking it must have been an incredible blow to the Americans to realize that their World Cup was likely over after just 36 minutes. At that point the Czechs went up 2-0, all but assuring that the US would not be able to advance out of their group, unless they find a way to shock Italy on Saturday.
The same feeling of distress must have been felt by the Poles and Ivorians as their losses almost certainly mean they will be going home after three matches. In 2002 only one team, Turkey was able to recover from a opening match loss to make it to the second round. And in 1998, no teams in the second round had lost their first games. You have to go back to 1994 to find more than one team advancing after losing their first match.
Of the teams that have lost their opening matches so far, the Ivory Coast would seem to be the most talented, but their group may be too difficult to recover from. One would have thought that Poland would have the best chance of recovering, but they will face a determined England on Thursday.
About the author Emmett Williams
Those stats are frightening for any country losing their opening game, I hadn’t realised it was such a large % of countries that failed to make it after an opening defeat although with only three group games a piece I suppose it’s understandable.
The US have such a tough group to begin with that it was always going to be an uphill struggle but even with a -3 goal difference it’s nigh on impossible to see them progressing.