In Group A at the World Cup, there is always one group that is a little bit more stacked and a little bit more deep than all the rest. We call this the Group of Death. And in 2022. This is Group E, consisting of Spade, Germany, Japan and Costa Rica
Now, if you look at the roster of a team like Spain, for example, I should say that a lot of these players are on the younger side of the equation as opposed to, I think, how things were in the past. But when you look at the roster and the teams that these players belong to, I'm just going to read some of them out to you
And you have to understand that the quality of the league there is not the quality of, let's say, your Premier League. Right? The level of intensity of the games will be lower. The skill level of a lot of the players they're up against will be lower. And that makes it a difficult test for a team like this performing against two of the biggest giants in world football in Germany and in spade
phil spade
@Phil · 2:03
Taylor that's great insight about Costa Rica that I really did not know, and it makes a lot of sense why they might have had success in 2014 just because they played that much together and they're just that much more of a cohesive team. Reminds me a lot of some of the smaller schools in college basketball that come March start upsetting some of the bigger schools with the big superstars that only stay for one year and then go to the NBA
phil spade
@Phil · 2:25
I think there were some question marks around Germany's defense. It clearly is a little bit lacking. They allowed the second goal, especially just singlehandedly angled straight, and it was a beautiful goal. I could not believe that it just kind of sneaked its way through, but not being the difference maker was just absolutely unbelievable. But secondly, their first goal, the goalie kind of punches its way out and straight into the foot of a Japanese striker. That just puts it home
Anyways, going forward in this group, I mean, look, it's going to be tough. I mean, we've mentioned that group of E is one of the groups that I think would be considered the group of death for this particular World Cup. And Spain is playing Costa Rica right now and are beating them three nil. Every single player in Spain's front three scored a goal. It's not even half time yet. Germany is going to have their hands full
phil spade
@Phil · 2:07
And I think that's why you have such a mismatch of time of possession, passes, shots on goals. There are some times in boxing where a counterpuncher is never in the fight, and the fight just kind of ends without them ever getting an opportunity to showcase anything. And that was not the case today, but I could see that in the future when Japan faces a team like Spain, who looked marvelous today. My goodness, they looked amazing
Phil. Man, this is a really interesting group. Now with the Germany lost today and Spain handily defeating Costa Rica, I mean, this is not looking good for Germany, I gotta say. I mean, with it's Spain's attacking prowess today and the German defense that I don't think is once what it was, this really could spell a recipe for disaster. I mean, they could have zero points from those two games
phil spade
@Phil · 2:14
Another day in the World Cup and yet another upset. This one another surprise. And you know, Taylor, just when we think that we have a clear vision of how these groups are going to sort themselves out, we have another upset and the entire apple cart just gets flipped on its lid. And, you know, this one I don't know that we we can say that we're too surprised here. And I'll get to why in a minute
I did think Japan were going to be able to seal the deal there today, but it looks like the footballing gods had something else in store for us. If Spain win today, that means that Germany will most likely be knocked out. And I can't say they don't deserve it. They were not good so far. So we'll have to see how they perform against Spain today. A Spain team, they're coming off of a 70 win
phil spade
@Phil · 3:00
Spain can be aggressive. However, they are very, very talented as well. So it just might be too much firepower for the Japanese. I'm suspecting they've just looked pretty good. And I can't imagine, even if Japan's style is a little bit off putting to Spain, I just don't see it being a problem. Likewise with Germany and Costa Rica. You know, Costa Rica is not a very populous nation
And you have a moment during the game today where you almost had the two giants of Spain and Germany out of the tournament. I mean, in the group stages, it is just remarkable stuff in Japan. What can we say about this team? Their manager seems to have found something that's worked playing a more defensive team from the get go and then set in the second half kind of unleashing your superstars. And it has provided results