Spain 3 Tunisia 1. Ultimately predictable, but it looked in doubt to begin with. Spain overcame the 1–nil deficit with three straight goals. Good try Tunisia, but it’s curtains for you this World Cup.
Switzerland 2 Togo 0. Pretty much as expected. A win or draw against Korea and the Swiss are through to the next round. Switzerland advances with a win or a draw against South Korea.
Now it gets interesting. Bizarre in fact.
Assuming Korea and Switzerland draw, if France wins by 2 goals or more against Togo, France and Switzerland advance out of group G. But if the goal differential is less than 2 in the France – Togo game (and remember Korea and Switzerland have to draw) there are many scenarios. But I will let you work through the possibilities because it is Byzantine – and my head hurts.
Here are the official World Cup 2006 Preliminary Round tie-breakers, in order:
- Goal differential – Goals scored minus goals allowed
- Total goals scored – self explanatory
- Head to head result (what’s important here is France tied Switzerland and France tied Korea, this tie-breaker doesn’t apply)
- Drawing of straws
Bizarre as it may seem, I’m pretty sure that the results of June 23 could mean France’s World Cup future could be determined by dead grass. We can only hope.
Trust me, it is possible – we’ve done the math. Here’s a hint – assume Korea and Switzerland are 0–0. What would the score of the France game have to be to get a FIFA official to rip apart a broom? – Show your work, bonus points for neatness!
