World Cup Tie Breakers

Alright, so Portugal pushed the United States into a tie in our match at the World Cup. I’ve seen some horrible reporting on what this means this morning, where clearly the journalists could not be bothered to read the regulations of the World Cup, specifically pages 25 & 26 where the tie breaking rules are explained.

In the league format, the ranking in each group is determined as follows:

a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;

b) goal difference in all group matches;

c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings shall be determined as follows:

d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;

f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;

g) the goals scored away from home count double between the teams concerned (if the tie is only between two teams).

I’m specifically looking at you NBC sports who indicated that we could be forced to draw lots in certain scenarios. Every time their article says that, please note that it would be a g) scenario, which is not great for us, because we were the Home team against Portugal, as such their 2 points would suddenly count for 4 points against us.

Please, read the rules people. Fortunately, for us, all of that only matters is the United States loses their match. A Win or a Tie ensures our advancement.

If you’re a Portugal or Ghana fan, then a United States v. Germany tie is your worst case scenario. Any other result leaves some hope alive, though you strongly prefer a United States loss because of Germany’s huge goal differential lead. Either that, or you want the United States to win by 4 or more goals against Germany.

Thursday is going to be awesome. #IBelieveThatWeWillWin