I still don’t understand what led to the breakup of A.C. Jimbo and the Guardian Football Weekly (which launched, I believe, during Germany 2006). He and Barry Glendenning need to be together just like Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller.
So, Spain canned its manager right before the tournament because he plans to take another job. Is that common in soccer? Kind of seems like a bad move.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
The head of the Spanish federation was justifiably pissed that Real announced it 2 days before the World Cup, and gave him 5 minutes notice of both the deal and the announcement.
In other non-baseball news, which I figure I’ll slip in here, Phil’s US Open meltdown was pretty funny. It was a total dick move, which seems to make sense coming from Phil, who seems entitled enough to believe he can get away with it without losing a lot of fans (or money).
Hmm, maybe. The ref certainly let that get out of hand. Looked to me though that Neymar’s (real and feigned) agony has more to do with the existing injury than the Swiss play.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
Yes. There should absolutely have been a yellow given for persistent fouls. It doesn’t have to be one single foul that’s bad enough to issue the card, you can give one for 4-5 lesser fouls in a row.
ALSO yes he should stop flopping. They all should. and refs should issue cars for simulation (diving) a lot more often to curb that.
And I have to say: mikev is one of my favorite people on here
-slusser.
my mid-level intuition is that it was their game plan. don’t allow germany to form two lines in the box by drawing out their mid-field, and then run through the field toward goal.
wish argentina would learn from that.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
I’ve been enjoying the Dusha choice for the official 2018 World Cup font. The A in particular recalls Cyrillic and feels like a good fit with the red-dominated color scheme.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
some podcast about how the game plan was that since messi draws cover they would bypass him and have the outside players be more effective, and some other good analysis, say sampaoli created a disconnecting hole in the middle. that’s why nobody could play.
i wonder what would happen if dybala and messi started together.
I guess technically goal difference could come in if Iceland beat Croatia in the final game, but as long as Croatia take at least a point it’s irrelevant.
Of course beating Nigeria and still going out on goal difference would be the most frustrating outcome of all, so that’s surely what will happen.
There’s a decent chance Brazil and Germany meet straight out of the group stage, which makes winning group G a bit of a poison pill.
If England are able to get past Panama tomorrow, they will have qualified alongside Belgium before the two play each other. Martinez has already talked about resting his regulars, and I could see Southgate doing the same (especially after the heat they’ll be playing in tomorrow), so we could end up with two B-teams both trying not to win.
@ptbnl The funniest outcome would be if this scoreline holds and Belgium and England start taking cards on purpose in a 0-0 draw to lose the fair play tie-breaker.
EDIT: It was 5-0 when I posted this. It is now 6-0.
Per my comment above, this holds even with goals scored being in the ladder above fair play because, delightfully, both Belgium and England have scored 8.
Going into the final group games the tops of both B and G are currently separated by fair play, and in both cases the difference is a single yellow card. Of course G has the added twist of the two teams playing each other in the final round, so that a draw would necessarily mean fair play determining the outcome.
Group B will come down to the final games’ winning margins, and since both teams would surely rather play Russia than Uruguay there is a powerful incentive to score as many as possible … should make for fireworks!
So Portugal get Uruguay and likely the much tougher half of the draw because Ronaldo missed the penalty that would also have put him top of the Golden Boot list again … I guess that’ll have to do for today’s schadenfreude.
There will be between 1 and 4 non-Euro/SA escapees from the groups.
At least one of Japan and Senegal (and possibly both) will make it out of Group H.
Mexico comes out of (and wins) Group F with a draw against Sweden, but they could still lose a three-way tiebreaker with Sweden and Germany if they choke tomorrow.
South Korea also is still mathematically alive in Group F. If they shock the world to advance, it will be with Mexico, who must beat Sweden while SK beats Germany by multiple goals.
So yeah, distinctly possible that 7 of remaining 8 (and 15 of 16 overall) are Euro/SA. I’d bet on it being 6 of 8/14 of 16.
I think it is only supposed to overturn “game changing” decisions, which includes reds but not yellows. It was pretty weird the other day, though, when they went to video to see if C. Ronaldo should get a red, and they ended up giving him a yellow.
Korea got the result it needed, but didn’t get the help it needed from Mexico. Meanwhile, Mexico ended up relying on help from Korea and got it. No justice in the world.
I’m having flashbacks to 2002, when the USA vomited on itself in the last game against eliminated Poland, but South Korea saved them by beating Portugal.
huh. turns out i do have something to root for in this game.
LET’S GO PITANA!!
He got the final!
yeah, just saw that. hope it’s uncontroversial.
elizondo has been doing the good call / bad call commentary on telemundo btw.
that shot of salman, infantino and putin sitting together… barf.
there were like 3 minutes before the goal when SA looked like they could ticki-tacka.
get up, ruskie! pitana’s seen MUCH better flops.
Obligatory FIXED.
Thanks, and go As.
booked! for complaining.
k, off to work and start an expensive month of data.
Dzagoev (who went off with the tournament-ending hamstring knack) also missed Euro 2016 and Confederations 2017 with injury … true Athletic.
Is it just me or is Z key not working today?
Thanks, and go As.
Just you.
(or at least, not me)
Odd.
Thanks, and go As.
There is at least one FKer, for whom the Z key appears to have worked at least once.
songs in the key of Z!
As much as I hate the idea I guess I will need to download one of the Fox apps in order to stream these matches while pretending to work.
telemundodeportes
Thanks, and go As.
is all the us stuff tape delayed?
En Vivo y en color!
One of the advantages of non-qualification.
excelente!
“tearing into the saudi half like it was ukraine sovereign territory.”
they’re doing a podcast every day there’s a game: https://www.thetotallyfootballshow.com/
I still don’t understand what led to the breakup of A.C. Jimbo and the Guardian Football Weekly (which launched, I believe, during Germany 2006). He and Barry Glendenning need to be together just like Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller.
money? sweet, sweet podcast bubble money?
It used to be about the podcasting, mannnnnnn
So, Spain canned its manager right before the tournament because he plans to take another job. Is that common in soccer? Kind of seems like a bad move.
No that’s insane.
The head of the Spanish federation was justifiably pissed that Real announced it 2 days before the World Cup, and gave him 5 minutes notice of both the deal and the announcement.
Being self-centered dicks is kind of the Real brand, no?
maybe they’ll both win? maybe i’m still in dream logic.
I like how suarez had the presence of mind to grab dick and balls as he was writhing in pain
he really multitasks.
So whose boots did the Iranians end up wearing?
i see some adidases.
how people here still don’t get it:
my afternoon meeting just got rescheduled. for 10:30.
The best is when someone, maybe even the person who scheduled the meeting, checks the score on his phone and announces it to everyone.
it got re-rescheduled to 10!
Does Iran ever score? Do they know that you are supposed to try to score? Do they know what scoring is?
That doesn’t count.
i kept wishing for a double loss on that game.
I don’t see how all those guys ate so much time during daylight hours
Heh. That got me.
Neither does that.
No matter what network has the World Cup, there is no avoiding the awkward inanity of Alexi Lalas.
Ian Wright standing at the video board with Lalas looking like “does this idiot ever close his mouth.”
I can’t stand that dumbass.
Thanks, and go As.
Both teams wearing red in the tunnel. Que vergonho.
A little Nacho chip of the legs there.
i had to do something. did they review it? looked reviewable.
I didn’t realize they could review penalty calls now. I don’t think they did there.
wait. cluster.
I hate Diego Costa.
that was amazing.
I don’t know what a foul is.
that has got to suck
ok, now that the legit goals outnumber the other ones, i’m good.
Go ahead and give Nacho the goal of the tournament. Holy FK.
Thanks, and go As.
i knew you’d like that one.
The guy working the desk at the Children’s hospital orthopedic office is wearing a Luis Suarez jersey, kind of a mixed message.
the danish dudes are real complainers
Penalty awarded on review!
Carajo
that didn’t go as planned
I kinda feel sorry for the ref though
that is three blown scoring chances for peru
#England.
ouch
Hernan Crespo is a graduate of the Jon Gruden “THIS GUY” school of broadcasting.
In other non-baseball news, which I figure I’ll slip in here, Phil’s US Open meltdown was pretty funny. It was a total dick move, which seems to make sense coming from Phil, who seems entitled enough to believe he can get away with it without losing a lot of fans (or money).
Going into Sunday I’m rooting for Tony Finau. A guy who plays the Masters on a dislocated ankle is alright in my book.
Exciting conclusion shaping up after the long haired brit Tommy Fleetwood carded a 63 to lead in the clubhouse at -2.
i didn’t get one result i wanted today.
You got Maradona smoking a cigar in the stadium.
the referee has money on mexico
So you’re saying Mexico will build a wall and he’ll make Germany pay for it?
it looks like mexico has money on germany. to gather the capital I suppose
Mexico does seem to be extra deliberate in the box, passing up some good shots in pursuit of a better one. The goal was like that.
that is not what she said
i liked him. had one mistake later on, but up to that point and especially when pushing away the german, i liked him.
Germany could use Sane in the 2nd half.
Oh…
Thanks, and go As.
german’s can’t pass?
Sweet strike.
new tactic: Beat Neymar to a pulp.
Thanks, and go As.
Hmm, maybe. The ref certainly let that get out of hand. Looked to me though that Neymar’s (real and feigned) agony has more to do with the existing injury than the Swiss play.
So this is a question from legitimate curiosity.
Given that the Swiss were 100% intentionally pulling on him, should there have been more yellows?
Also, if he is one of the world’s best players, could he maybe stop falling down without contact?
Yes. There should absolutely have been a yellow given for persistent fouls. It doesn’t have to be one single foul that’s bad enough to issue the card, you can give one for 4-5 lesser fouls in a row.
ALSO yes he should stop flopping. They all should. and refs should issue cars for simulation (diving) a lot more often to curb that.
Thanks, and go As.
[dives]
i’ll take a mid-80s 300CD.
[Does four barrel rolls while gripping my shin after having my shirt mildly pulled]
Ric Okasek for me.
So I would just be stuck with that Disney movie…No thank you, I will remain standing.
Thanks. He seems to amplify both issues. Makes Brazil frustrating to watch, so hopefully the next ref is better on both fronts.
his hair deserves a yellow card
there’s so much beavis and/or butthead in this cup.
that mexico game sure was fun.
I would love to see Mexico go deep into the tourament. Those counters, against such a good team, excited even this jaded anti-soccer guy
my mid-level intuition is that it was their game plan. don’t allow germany to form two lines in the box by drawing out their mid-field, and then run through the field toward goal.
wish argentina would learn from that.
I’m happy for Panama finally getting to a World Cup but they stink.
Belgium is a tough opener.
Thanks, and go As.
They are damn good.
I suppose the printer didn’t have comic sans for the tunisian names on the back so they went with the second worst?
The colors are confusing me. I keep getting the teams mixed up.
i’ve been pretty underwhelmed by the fonts in general.
hate hate hate the adidas one.
I’ve been enjoying the Dusha choice for the official 2018 World Cup font. The A in particular recalls Cyrillic and feels like a good fit with the red-dominated color scheme.
yeah, that one’s nice.
Leave Harry Kane unmarked on the back post. Interesting strategy.
Thanks, and go As.
AND don’t hug him while he’s there.
Well, in fairness to them the “leaving English players completely open inches from goal” strategy worked pretty flawlessly the entire first half.
It’s been an effective strategy since 1966.
Also, when did Bed get access to your account?
I guess he wanted to let you stop being called “Tex”
nice! total sneaker.
come on man. don’t argue against all that tech. it was all the way in.
Were they arguing about that or the award of the soft free kick?
10 were arguing the kick.
but i think the goalie convinced himself there was no goal even though he had the best view of it.
I slept through the red card. Legitimate?
Deliberate handball to prevent a goal, so yes.
I was actually happy to see the laws being applied even in the 3rd minute. Letting players off “because it’s so early in the game” is bullshit.
yeah, tough luck but good call.
Own goal of the tournament right there.
own goals are almost always golazos.
sunuva.
i’m getting angry.
thought russia was supposed to be terrible??
also, some asshole’s wearing a chief headset.
8 goals in 1 2/3 games.
i can’t wait to read the tell-all about how exactly they cheated.
they probably found the nazi bell, huh?
The VAR has been pretty good so far. And a lot faster than MLB.
the lowrie video review was way too long
I’ve only seen 10 minutes today. The russians seem…angry
no.
*i’m* angry.
You wouldn’t like it when I get angry.
Good to see morroco with the christmas kits in june
anybody got a phone audio-only channel for games?
i’m eating up so much gigs with telemundo and that’s just during commute.
seems tunein does ok.
holy crap. imagine iran scoring there. and the size of the bus they’d park after.
i guess the only way to score against iran is with a messy goal.
AV vs elcroata throwdown! Keeping my phone subtly streaming will be a challenge but it’s a big game and I’m a big gamer.
I hope Messi scores 4 and tells Ronaldo to fuck off on camera.
(Sorry Elcroata)
Thanks, and go As.
it’s cool. he roots for germany.
I would have been fine with that (in a 5:4 Croatia victory)
Croatia has a guy with the name “Vida” on his back. I bet he’s lit.
This is very niggly – I hope the ref can keep it under control.
How did he miss that!?
And how did he miss that!?
Everyone’s got Englanditis.
Whole lot of time spent watching guys writhe on ground in pain that half
reply fail.
“that World Cup”
Nice finish by a player who arguably shouldn’t have been on the field, but WTF.
Wow. Epic goalkeeper fail.
it’s his signature mistake. just never did it so perfectly before.
OMG.
Thanks, and go As.
come on pavon, be my boca hero.
Flying home last night I experienced the late-night daily round-up show … unbelievably bad, even with expectations lowered to Fox levels.
remember when argentina could pass?
yeah, that was great.
the beatdown is now complete.
maybe next time messi will play?
I mean, nobody else did. He’s already dragged them to a final by himself.
Sampaoli shouldn’t even coach the Nigeria match. He’s an idiot.
Thanks, and go As.
this
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2018/06/22/dont-blame-lionel-messi-for-argentinas-struggles-blame-the-coach/?utm_term=.87df3c10d29c
some podcast about how the game plan was that since messi draws cover they would bypass him and have the outside players be more effective, and some other good analysis, say sampaoli created a disconnecting hole in the middle. that’s why nobody could play.
i wonder what would happen if dybala and messi started together.
here’s my dying thought, (not caballero – sorry bruh) – 4 (masche back) -3 (pavon right) – 3 (dimaria dybala messi)
Wow. Stunning outcome.
Holy crap.
LMB!
LMB x2!!
i missed that one. heard the first one and went to work satisfied that all was as it should be.
You want Nigeria by multiple goals AV?
I guess technically goal difference could come in if Iceland beat Croatia in the final game, but as long as Croatia take at least a point it’s irrelevant.
Of course beating Nigeria and still going out on goal difference would be the most frustrating outcome of all, so that’s surely what will happen.
totally irrelevant. since argentina isn’t going to win that third game either.
Croatia is through and will win the group unless Nigeria beats Argentina by a lot, so they haven’t got much to play for. I could see Iceland winning.
So Argentina have to beat Nigeria by at least a goal more than Iceland beat Croatia by.
What’s the tie-breaker after points, goal difference, and head-to-head? If it is based on dropping the bottom team, then they’ll need +2.
Usually it’s goals scored, even before head to head
i don’t know where it falls in the stack, but fair play counts. fewer cards accumulated.
found it.
points
goal diff
head to head
fair play: -1 for yellow, -3 red from 2 yellows, -4 straight red.
lastly, then a random draw.
Wait, my sources disagree with this. I understand this to be the order of operations when two teams are tied on points:
1. Goal difference
2. Goals scored
3. Head to head
4. Fair play
5. Lots
https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/tie-breakers-for-russia-2018-groups
who’re you gonna believe? the rule book or an argentine article looking for positive chances?
I’ve yet to see Iceland show any semblance of attacking. If they can’t park the bus, they’re lost.
Thanks, and go As.
mexico font is worse.
I am not buying this officiating
clearly the coolest part of this world cup is fox commentators cheerily saying “Back to red square”
I would not *not* enjoy Germany crashing out in two games.
Kroos.
Thanks, and go As.
As a non-partisan this year I’m rooting for the underdogs in every game and group.
My Uber driver in Salvador de Bahia, on the other hand, is worried Germany will go out before Brazil gets a chance at revenge.
too soon
LMG
oh. so that’s how it’s done.
My bad … every time I turn the radio on, the A’s commit an error or two.
There’s a decent chance Brazil and Germany meet straight out of the group stage, which makes winning group G a bit of a poison pill.
If England are able to get past Panama tomorrow, they will have qualified alongside Belgium before the two play each other. Martinez has already talked about resting his regulars, and I could see Southgate doing the same (especially after the heat they’ll be playing in tomorrow), so we could end up with two B-teams both trying not to win.
I want to root for Panama here, but their antics make it tough.
Yea, I rooted against Costa Rica because they are just dirty and waste time. It’s a CONCACAF thing.
Thanks, and go As.
Golaço
Stupulating that Belgium and England are excellent, Panama is nonetheless embarrassingly bad.
And the USA still couldn’t finish ahead of them.
Goal difference with Belgium now even. I doubt it will stay that way.
@ptbnl The funniest outcome would be if this scoreline holds and Belgium and England start taking cards on purpose in a 0-0 draw to lose the fair play tie-breaker.
EDIT: It was 5-0 when I posted this. It is now 6-0.
FURTHER EDIT: At 6-1, this is back on.
All the more reason to play the B-teams, so no-one important accumulates too many cards.
I’m imagining the entire team taking their shirts off in the 89th minute of a 0-0 draw.
Per my comment above, this holds even with goals scored being in the ladder above fair play because, delightfully, both Belgium and England have scored 8.
This is what the third goalkeeper is for.
Would these teams really rather play Colombia than Japan?
I know it’s hot and they’re 6-0 up, but England are getting very sloppy.
Now it’s down to fair play.
This is Simspons-like soccerball dross.
A yellow card plus a direct red is the big fair play point-winner, so after being booked for the shirts dropping their shorts should do the trick.
how come the honey shots of the english fans are all middle aged dudes in polo shirts?
No sweeter honey than middle-aged English dudes.
hmm, checks out
This Senegal – Japan match may not be the prettiest but it’s hella entertaining.
Fox loves religious displays yet always cuts away when the mooslims pray after a goal.
Fox loves CERTAIN religious displays.
Thanks, and go As.
Salah!
Old ass GK!
Thanks, and go As.
russia is taking a dive, yeah?
maybe they finally ran into a
wallcompetent team.Egypt was as good at protecting the ball as a 9 year old rec team
Going into the final group games the tops of both B and G are currently separated by fair play, and in both cases the difference is a single yellow card. Of course G has the added twist of the two teams playing each other in the final round, so that a draw would necessarily mean fair play determining the outcome.
Group B will come down to the final games’ winning margins, and since both teams would surely rather play Russia than Uruguay there is a powerful incentive to score as many as possible … should make for fireworks!
It’s actually really annoying that you can’t watch both games at once.
Thanks, and go As.
One on TV, one on the laptop?
phone and laptop here.
No Redzone?
Portugal have picked up another yellow, if it goes to fair play.
looking moot.
Indeed – late goals for Morocco and Iran to put Spain out is all we can hope for.
pardon?
well that backfired.
Got it half-right, and I would also have settled for a late Iranian winner (which almost happened)
greg papa doesn’t deserve a job
Never really has. His only shtick is to tell us where people went to college.
So Portugal get Uruguay and likely the much tougher half of the draw because Ronaldo missed the penalty that would also have put him top of the Golden Boot list again … I guess that’ll have to do for today’s schadenfreude.
yeah, the ramos mistake coulda been more schady-freudy but it just didn’t pan out.
My god. Tim Cahill is still playing for Australia.
wait. am i seeing that right?
THIS, this RIGHT NOW, is when telemundo cuts off free transmission if you don’t have a cable subscription?
Did you find a feed?
yeah. same feed. i mean, it hasn’t cut out.
Wouldn’t have wanted you to miss Banega’s ball in to Messi.
i started fist pumping in a large open office.
An Iceland goal against Croatia Reserves would spice things up a bit :-)
wait. i can’t get it on my phone! did they wait till halftime to cut it off?
PANIC
Probably best that you missed that bit …
FK.
At least Iceland are losing.
That’s excellent news…for Nigeria.
i just now found out it was a penalty.
my god SUB IN DYBALA
Thanks, and go As.
^^^^^FFS THIS
:: 2006 : messi
Too real
classic higuain.
classic maradona.
Beautiful
HOLY FK.
Thanks, and go As.
d’ya like volleys?
I just learned it was Rojo who hit that. I’m pretty sure the Brazilian Ian (BrazilIan?) gave it to Meza.
WITH HIS WEAK FOOT.
Thanks, and go As.
That was great drama. I feel a little bad for Nigeria.
I told AV he’d make it through.
Never a doubt?
i didn’t have any, no.
glad i got proven wrong tho.
There’s a good chance that all four RO16 games in the top half of the draw will be Europe v South America:
Uruguay v Portugal
France v Argentina
Brazil v Germany
Belgium v Colombia
Tasty.
Woof. That is one nasty bracket. I could imagine every one of those teams winning the whole thing.
Looks like it’s distinctly possible that seven of the remaining eight qualifiers from Groups E-G could also be European or South American.
My college basketball approach would be to handicap the overall “conferences” of those matchups and pick accordingly. A strength of schedule of sorts.
There will be between 1 and 4 non-Euro/SA escapees from the groups.
At least one of Japan and Senegal (and possibly both) will make it out of Group H.
Mexico comes out of (and wins) Group F with a draw against Sweden, but they could still lose a three-way tiebreaker with Sweden and Germany if they choke tomorrow.
South Korea also is still mathematically alive in Group F. If they shock the world to advance, it will be with Mexico, who must beat Sweden while SK beats Germany by multiple goals.
So yeah, distinctly possible that 7 of remaining 8 (and 15 of 16 overall) are Euro/SA. I’d bet on it being 6 of 8/14 of 16.
FWIW my guess at completing the bottom half was
Spain v Russia
Croatia v Denmark
Mexico v Switzerland
Japan v England
Man alive. England could absolutely make the Grand Final if they dump that game to Belgium.
I’m going for the semifinals being
Portugal v Germany
Croatia v Mexico
I really like watching Mexico.
(lose)
Thanks, and go As.
On final count, 14 of the 16 knockout teams are Euro/SA, with Mexico and Japan both sneaking in ignominiously.
Germany-Korea is energetic so far. Games where both teams have to win in regulation are the best games.
All still to play for in these second halves. Status quo has Mexico winning the group and Germany edging out Sweden on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Sweden leads! This might get very, very interesting.
If things stay as they are, who is going to put England out on penalties in the quarter finals?
England.
Thanks, and go As.
God dammit
England
:D
Thanks, and go As.
2-0 and now Mexico is relying on South Korea to hold the door.
3-0. Mexico is going for a 2014 A’s level back-in to the playoffs.
can a yellow be retracted on VAR?
I think it is only supposed to overturn “game changing” decisions, which includes reds but not yellows. It was pretty weird the other day, though, when they went to video to see if C. Ronaldo should get a red, and they ended up giving him a yellow.
Can Germany really do it twice?
I assume so. But that miss by Hummels may have been the chance.
You just knew Kroos was going to have a hand in another last-minute goal.
Anybody but Ronaldo and that’s a red card.
IF that’s called a foul, then it’s an elbow to the face and it’s a straight red.
Thanks, and go As.
Yeah, that’s either a red or a nothing. A yellow made no sense.
A red to Rolando for the intent and a yellow a to the Iranian player for simulation.
It cannot.
1. Goals
2. Straight Red Card
3. Penalty
4. Mistaken Identity
Thanks, and go As.
Mexico is making a habit of relying on the kindness of strangers.
Germany bottom of their group!
Korea got the result it needed, but didn’t get the help it needed from Mexico. Meanwhile, Mexico ended up relying on help from Korea and got it. No justice in the world.
I’m having flashbacks to 2002, when the USA vomited on itself in the last game against eliminated Poland, but South Korea saved them by beating Portugal.
Oh, the drama!
:O
s’all i got.
took a while for my take to hot up.
winning the WC?
total rally killer.
neymar wants his goal so bad.
and that goalie’s headband wants to go back to being a prop in flashdance. what a feeling!
Japan through on fair play?
Yup – though the entire team should have been booked for 90 minutes of time-wasting in today’s game.
sad to see senegal go.
Two cards already for Belgium.
And Fellaini waiting in the wings.
Do all group-stage cards carry forward? Or is the slate wiped clean apart from missing a match for 2 yellows in the 3 games?
i believe they only get wiped once, after quarters.
(?)
Redundant now anyway.