A day without football

Argentina - Austria 2-0

France - Iraq 3-0

Norway - Senegal 3-2

Jordan - Algeria 1-2

Yesterday was almost a non-World Cup day. Life took over and, as much as I wanted to see the games, I couldn't quite make it work. 

Caught the last bit of Argentina - Austria, in time to see Messi's second goal. I was hoping it would be a more interesting game, but 2-0 tells a story of Argentinian domination and Austria showing their limits. The big story is, of course, Messi's brace which takes him to 5 for the tournament and 18 in all WC tournaments, beating Klose's record by 2, and there'll be a few more to come, for sure.

Reading some of the United groups only confirms that the way things are going, the Messi v Ronaldo debate will be over with this tournament. I'm still hopeful Portugal can win it, but the setup of the teams, and the roles Messi and Ronaldo play in their respective teams kind of makes that redundant.

I did watch the first half of France - Iraq, another Mbappe bomb, Kylian is goign strong and probably wants to avenge the final he lost unfairly 4 years ago. And to be honest, if it's not Portugal, I'd rather it be France. So far, Argentina, France and Germany stood out, but still too early to call the winner.

At the half time of the France game, it was all systems fail for me. As well as for Lincoln Fields in Philadelphia, I hear second half was postponed by more than an hour. I was in dreamland by then, and I have to confess, it's pretty good getting a good night's sleep.

That's not to say I don't regret not watching Norway - Senegal, it was bound to be a good game, and it sound like it was, 5 goals and small margins. Senegal were really unlucky and in any other group they'd have more than 0 points after two games. They can still qualify with a high scoring win against Iraq which will make me sorry about Iraq, but it is all for the cause of the underdogs.

And Jordan - Algeria... yeah, I would've struggled with it at the best of times. As it was, there was only the faintest glimmer of hope that I can watch it but no, didn't happen. Probably the least glamorous fixture at this World Cup, however Algeria can really pull one out of the hat if they beat Austria. Comforting to know that even the draw qualifies them. And Austria... is really possible. I'll watch that with interest, because Argentina - Jordan is gonna be a butchering.