I believe he leads a Premier League and assists, correct me if I'm wrong there, Taylor, but just a fantastic passer. And if you leave him alone and start guarding everybody else and dare him to shoot, he's going to put it in the back of the net. And that's exactly what he did in 2014 against Brazil. When they dared him to shoot, he did. And he puts the game winner in the back of the net
They're led by four former Everton boss Roberto Martinez, and their last outing at the World Cup saw the team finish third in the campaign. I mentioned this is a very settled side. These guys have been playing together for years. They're such a settled side, in fact, that I think that is their obvious strength here. In this current squad, eleven players have been involved in more than 60% of Martinez's 76 games as manager. So these guys are very familiar with each other
And even if they manage to get out of this group, relying on one to three players can only do so much when you're playing against a team like, I don't know, that have a starting eleven that could any of those guys waltz into pretty much any team in the world on form. So Morocco, best of luck to you, but I think you're going to come forth in this group
phil spade
@Phil · 1:22
Looked good, had chances. And I kind of thought the same thing with Canada. And then Belgium, of course, kind of took control. And is the second half Belgium team the one that we can expect moving forward here, or the way they played in the first half? Are they susceptible? Are they susceptible to pressure? Are they just biding their time? How much should we be reading in to that first half of Canada Belgium?
phil spade
@Phil · 1:37
Well, it's been a wild morning in the World Cup so far, and Group F has been no exception here. And I posed the question after the first matches, is Belgium really not all that great, or is Canada just that good? And Taylor, you had mentioned that Canada was a team to watch and a huge sleeper team. And so far in the second match, we have our answers. Belgium loses to Morocco earlier this morning, Nilda two. That was just a shocking result
Phil the upsets continue. I mean, wow, I certainly did not have Belgium peg to lose to Morocco in the way that they did. But we had discussed it in the prematch discussion. This is a Belgium team. That's not quite what it used to be. They're all getting older. Their defense is certainly much older. And that was the one thing that we kind of spoke about as being a serious concern for them. And look, Morocco managed to pull it off
phil spade
@Phil · 1:26
They just have one game remaining against Canada, and if they've played anything that like they played today, they should beat Canada and they're going to be through. I mean, I don't think they have to do too much to see their way through. So hats off to Morocco here
phil spade
@Phil · 1:43
The final matches of Group F were about to kick off. And we have one match that's pretty inconsequential. Canada and Morocco. Canada already eliminated. Morocco almost assuredly to go through. They'd have to lose and lose by more than four goals to even have a shot at being eliminated. So it's almost a guarantee that Morocco is sailing through, which puts all the onus on Croatia and Belgium. This should be a pretty good match. I really cannot pick a winner of this match
Well fill. Group F has concluded. And boy, did this probably ruin a lot of people's brackets. I don't think many people had. Morocco topping the group at seven points. Just unbelievable. Two wins, one draw. Belgium and Canada be themselves out of the tournament. Croatia coming second in the group on five points. Belgium, they were so close. They were so close they needed to beat Croatia today
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
phil spade
@Phil · 1:33
But let's be honest here. This team was not going to go far in the tournament, and I hope that Belgian fans really understand that. I mean, this team we mentioned it after their first match that they really looked lackluster. They were not looking very good, and that came true in their next two matches as well. I don't think they've looked anywhere near the form that they were eight years ago