Compared to Match Day 1, this past Saturday could not have been more opposite. For starters, there was no rain or hail. And while it was windy and chilly, it turned out to be an overall successful day for the Select World Cup.
The first match started at 2:30pm on field 15 at Heritage Park. It featured the USA and Germany in their first matches of the tournament. Germany ended up taking 3 points at the end of the day by besting the USA 5-3. Joel Ulrich netted a hat trick and is in 2nd place for the Crystal Boot Award.
The second match started a half hour later on field 8 and pitted two of the highly favored teams in the tournament. Brazil was coming off of their forfeit win over Gambia while Algeria was riding high from their absolute demolition of the Three Lions. This match did not disappoint and momentum swung both ways throughout the game. In the end, both settled for a 1 point draw.
The 4th match of the day was the rescheduled game from Match Day 1. After being rained (or hailed) out a week ago, India and Haiti were finally able to kickoff. This was an exciting game from start to finish. India went up 2-0 at the half. At the beginning of the second half the Haitians equalized, scoring 2. At the end it was India who came away with 3 points as they won 5-2. Top scorer was Kapish Batura who scored twice.
Our third game was the big disappointment. Gambia was eager to vindicate themselves in this tournament and showed ready to play. Unfortunately only 7 from the Mexican team arrived and they had to take the forfeit loss. Unless something changes substantially in a week, Mexico will sadly be out of the tournament as they were early on favorites to go far.
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