It’s Matchday 4 and the tournament is really in full swing. 4 games a day now. The Summer of Soccer. Or for me personally, the Summer of Blogging. I am still enjoying it though so at least we have that. Here’s my look at what we saw on Matchday 4:

Germany 7-1 Curacao

I have to say, when Germany’s Felix Nmecha scored his team’s first goal in the 6th minute, my mind immediately went to: here comes the 4 or 5 nil that I’ve been expecting to see this tournament. It’s one of the dilemmas with having an expanded field. It’s so cool to see smaller nations get to play on this stage. But also, you have to anticipate seeing some really lopsided scores in the group stage. In the end, that’s what we ended up seeing here. Curacao were totally overmatched and Germany are a well-oiled and ruthless machine. The outcome was always likely to look like this.

What was unexpected however was Curacao having their moment in the 21st minute. Midfielder Livano Comenencia took his chance and wrote his name in history. Moments like that are what the World Cup is all about. Curacao are the smallest nation to ever be in a World Cup. And for a brief moment, they were going toe to toe with one of the giants of the game.

As for Germany, this game didn’t really say too much about their future prospects in this competition. They pretty much did what they were supposed to do. For them, it’s really going to be more about what they do in their next two games against Ivory Coast and Ecuador.

Netherlands 2-2 Japan

Coming into the day this was my most anticipated game out of the four.  The Netherlands are arguably the best nation to have never won a World Cup.  They’ve been to three finals and lost (twice in the 70s and again in 2010).  The Dutch have another very competitive team this year.  As for Japan, they’re just a team I love to watch. They’ve produced so many great attacking midfielders over the years.  Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa were among my favorites.  Presently it’s Takefusa Kubo. 

The match lived up to my expectations and then some.  Both teams had chances in the first half but the game really came to life when Virgil van Dijk headed home for the Dutch in the 50th minute.  Both sides traded punches with Japan scoring in the 57th and the Netherlands scoring in the 64th.  And just when it looked like all 3 points were going with the Dutch, the undersized Japanese scored from a corner in the 88th to earn themselves a point.  What a fantastic game.  Up until this point, this was the second best game of the tournament.  Have to give the first to the USMNT for obvious reasons.

Ivory Coast 1-0 Ecuador

This was a fascinating matchup for Group E. Coming into the tournament, Germany were the favorites to win the group with Curacao expected to finish last. Germany’s 7-1 win earlier of course did nothing to change that. So this game was really important for figuring out who might finish second. Though I do think either of these teams could give Germany a tough game.

I thought this was a fascinating watch and a very even contest. And I was ready to write that even before Ivory Coast got their winner. Ecuador looked very good defensively, as expected. They only conceded 5 goals in 18 games in qualifying. Ivory Coast looked solid defensively as well and they also had a great defensive record in qualifying. They didn’t concede a single goal across 10 games, though it wasn’t against the best competition. The difference in this one though was Ivory Coast’s attack. As it got to latter stages of the game, they looked the more likely team to get a winner. And in the 90th minute they got it. As a neutral, you always love to see a late winner. This was yet another awesome watch in what has been an amazing tournament so far.

Sweden 5-1 Tunisia

I have to be honest, this wasn’t a game I was really looking forward to staying up for. But then when the lineup came out, I saw that Sweden were playing both Gyokeres and Isak up top. Now that is something to get you to forgo some sleep. And man, I’m glad that I did. But not necessarily for the reason I thought. While Gyokeres and Isak looked great, it was 22 year-old Yasin Ayari that was the real star of the show. He scored two fabulous long range goals practically 90 minutes apart. Brilliant stuff.

As for Tunisia, well…they did not look good. Their goalkeeper Abdelmouhib Chamakh looked horrible. It was a bizarre decision to start him as I believe it was only his fourth cap. Meanwhile the more experienced Aymen Dahmen was on the bench. He played for Tunisia at the last World Cup. In addition to the poor goalkeeping, the defense looked out of sorts as well. Tunisia was always going to be up against it in a group with Sweden, the Netherlands and Japan. This match pretty much confirmed to me that they’re going to end up dead last. The only real question is if they’ll even be able to get a point. I’m leaning towards no.

Stray Thoughts

• How about the goals today. 19! And that’s with one of the four games being a 1-0. Prior to Matchday 4 we saw 19 goals across the first 8 games of the tournament. Just a remarkable output.
• Update: I still can’t stand the hydration breaks.
• I already talked about him but Sweden’s Yasin Ayari not celebrating his goals (at least his first one) stood out. He is half Tunisian through his father. I can’t imagine the emotions he must have felt stepping out for his first World Cup game against the nation of his father’s birth. Never mind scoring twice.
• On the subject of players, how good was Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande? He jumped off the screen during the game. His story is also insane. He was playing in the UPSL three years ago. And now he’s skyrocketed right the top and could move for $100 million this transfer window. Absolutely mind blowing

So that does it for Matchday 4. It ended up being a better day than I expected but really, the whole tournament has been incredible so far. For Matchday 5, we get to see another two strong European sides in Spain and Belgium. I for one, can’t wait to do this all again. Until next time!