From what I gathered, Japan didn't make use of their advantage in the first half as Colombia had more possession and more scoring chances, so the 1-1 at halftime wasn't lucky on Colombia's part. However, it seems like Japan actually played like teams are supposed to when they have one man more, so they dominated large parts of the second half, got their second goal and made Colombia so tired in the process that the South Americans couldn't fight back anymore.

I was pleasantly surprised that this thread hadn't any crazy Polish people, but then I saw that Scisca showed up in time to praise Europe's most overrated team up to heavens. Of course, on the field we got the not unexpected typical shitshow by Poland who got neutralized by a very physically playing Senegal. The game had hardly any scoring opportunities on either side, so what ultimately decided the game were big mistakes and those were committed by Poland. The verdict for the Polish team is the same as it was two years ago: They are in dire need of a good striker, because the ones they have couldn't even hit a barn from five meters away.

Russia and Egypt were equal in the first half. The second half began with an unlucky own goal and was quickly followed by disastrous defending that led to another two goals for Russia. You can't play like that at a World Cup, you just can't. Being that deep in the hole, it came as no surprise that Egypt lost the game. Their official elimination from the tournament will have to wait until tomorrow; if Uruguay gets at least one point against Saudi Arabia, Egypt is out. Being in a situation that necessitates rooting for a Saudi win... you are done for, Egypt.

A disappointing day for three teams, a disappointing day for my predictions. All wrong again.

Predictions for Wednesday's games:

Portugal vs. Morocco 2-0
Uruguay vs. Saudi Arabia 4-0
Iran vs. Spain 0-3

I was pleasantly surprised that this thread hadn't any crazy Polish people, but then I saw that Scisca showed up in time to praise Europe's most overrated team up to heavens. Of course, on the field we got the not unexpected typical shitshow by Poland who got neutralized by a very physically playing Senegal. The game had hardly any scoring opportunities on either side, so what ultimately decided the game were big mistakes and those were committed by Poland. The verdict for the Polish team is the same as it was two years ago: They are in dire need of a good striker, because the ones they have couldn't even hit a barn from five meters away.

I am saying the thing about Poland's strikers because Scisca has overrated Poland so much in the past and the present. Not even Lewandowski can do much to lift Poland to above average status in a tournament. Regardless, I think he is overrated too. While it's true that he has scored a lot of goals for Bayern, it's also true that a significant amount of those goals in the past two seasons came from penalty kicks and situations where he had to put the ball into basically an empty goal because someone else had already done the real work. Bayern doesn't need to pay Lewandowski for such goals because any good striker would make such goals. I am quite sure that the bosses of Bayern have realized that, hence why Lewandowski got less playtime and things have been put into motion to get a replacement. It's par for the course for Bayern to replace a striker when he looks like past his peak, and Bayern tends to act before a striker is becoming a burden due to waning efficiency.

4 of the 10 penalties so far have been called after video review and all of them have been correct. Video reviews have generally been good, the game Tunisia vs. England being the sole exception. However, one can question the imposed limitations on the video review. Today in the match Poland vs. Senegal there was a possible penalty review that made it clear that it was a dive, but no yellow card has been given because yellow cards are not subject to video review.