Yesterday FIFA recovered a little bit from its day 2 and guessed at least one of the games right, the result of the Japan-Ivory Coast match, although things looked dodgy for a while. This has been a World Cup of surprises, so even though the fixtures for today’s game should be easy to guess. However, there have been surprises almost every day in this World Cup, so we have to play the matches before anything can be decided.

I'm sorry this was one of the matchesFIFA guessed right guys.

I’m sorry this was one of the matchesFIFA guessed right guys.

Let’s see how FIFA did:

Switzerland VS Ecuador

FIFA Result

Switzerland 0- Ecuador 2

Switzerland

Ecuador
Saritama (8′)
Noboa (85′)

A dominant performance by Ecuador. With great interplay between Valencia and Saritama, they kept the Swiss defense on their back foot the entire game. They could have scored more, but the FIFA AI tends to have strikers hold on to the ball too long when they are in a goal situation, which usually gives defenders and the keeper time to get in position. Switzerland had a few shots at goal, mostly from set plays, but weren’t able to capitalize on any of their chances.

World Cup Game Results

Switzerland 2- Ecuador 1

Switzerland 2
Mehmedi (48′)
Seferovic (90+3′)

Ecuador 1
Valencia (22′)

In the surprise of the the day, Switzerland beat Ecuador with a very late goal. It was a strange match for Ecuador, which came out aggressively, but once faced with pressure from the European team, retreated to their own half and didn’t do much of anything at all for the rest of the game. Switzerland kept putting pressure on them to equalize, and eventually, very late in the game when the Ecuador defense felt that they were safe, score a winning goal.

France VS Honduras

FIFA Result

France 2- Honduras 1

France
Pogba (66′)
Varane (90′)

Honduras
Costly (P)(6′)

France conceded early off of a penalty. This means they spent the rest of the game trying to break through a Honduran defense that was more than happy to hang back and close all the spaces to prevent them to find a way in into the goal area. Their onslaught eventually broke the Hondurans and in the 66th minute they scored an equalizer. The game did not change much. Honduras was happy to take the point, but in a very dramatic injury time, France scored the winning goal.

World Cup Game Result

France 3- Honduras 0

France
Benzema (P)(45′)
Valladares (OG)(48′)
Benzema (72′)

Honduras was doing a good job defending against the French attack, but a silly foul at the closing of the match saw Palacios get sent off, and France score their first goal on the resulting penalty. In the second half, Honduras came out to try to tie, but with 10 men and a more open game, they gave France the space it needed. An own goal early in the second half was all that was needed. Benzema closed the match with the third goal on the 72nd minute.

Argentina VS Bosnia-Herzegovina

FIFA Result

Argentina 1- Bosnia-Herzegovina 0

Argentina 1
Messi (82′)

Bosnia-Herzegovina 0

In the first tackle of the match, Higuain was injured. The AI then made some weird choices. It brought Lavezzi in and place him in the center, and put Lionel Messi, who usually plays in the right or in the center, as the left winger. The Argentine attack was imprecise, but they controlled the game and possession During the 90 minutes. Eventually Messi scored off of a pass. Hopefully the real game will be more interesting.

World Cup Game Result

Argentina 2-Bosnia Herzegovina 1

Argentina 2
Kolasinac (OG)(2)
Messi (65′)

Bosnia-Herzegovina 1
Ibisevic (85′)

Just as the game started, Bosnia scored an own goal off of a free kick that put all their plans in disarray. Despite this, they faced a nervous and impresise Argentina that lacked depth and attack, and whose sole strategy seemed to be to “give it to Messi”. The second half, thanks to some changes by sabella, was much more positive for Argentina, but they could only really score off a flash of genius by Messi. The controlled most of the game, but relaxed by the end, allowing a goal by Bosnia on a dumb mistake by the keeper.

Conclusion

This has been an uncharacteristically high scoring World Cup. The average score per match is 3.5, while the last to world cups have averages about 2.5 goals per match. This may change when we get to the knock out stages, where a goal against can cost you your team’s elimination. Still, FIFA does tend to err on the side of lower scores. The average for FIFA is only 1.7 goals per game. We’ll see if this changes as we get further into the tournament.

Day 4

 

Tomorrow we have the American Revenge. Also:

Germany VS Portugal
Iran VS Nigeria
Ghana VS United States