There are no surprises in the final standings of Group E, but what surprises are the scores. Japan and France were expected to breeze through, and they did. Minnows New Caledonia and Honduras took turns to get whipped, but the results will leave one in splits. At the end of the day, the three teams that progressed face dangerous teams in the next round.
The French blew away all three of their opponents, starting with New Caledonia on day one. France pumped in seven goals past the helpless keeper, though the country from Oceania got one back. Amine Gouiri, who is now the tournament top scorer, began his World Cup with a brace in that game.
The game was France’s welcome gift to the World Cup debutants and New Caledonia, in return, gifted France two own goals.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Japan joined the party the same evening, thrashed Honduras by a 6-1 scoreline. Keito Nakamura scored this World Cup’s first hat-trick and Japanese star Takefusa Kubo got his first goal.
After an entertaining first set of games, the second set was eagerly awaited. The winners took on each other, as did the losers. This time, France got the better of Japan and it was that boy Amine Gouiri again. Gouiri’s brace took the French ahead, before Taisei Miyashiro scored a penalty. France held on to seal the 2-1 win.
Meanwhile, Honduras bounced back to trounce on poor New Caledonia, 5-0. Patrick Palacios, who scored his side’s solitary goal against Japan, got himself a couple more, while Carlos Mejia also scored two.
After conceding 12 goals in their first two games, the New Caledonians needed to save face in their third game. It didn’t help that the team was Japan, and the Asians even scored within seven minutes of kickoff through a Nakamura goal. But, complacency set in and New Caledonia eventually equalised seven minutes from time. They celebrated like they had won the World Cup.
But there was more. France gave Honduras another hiding, beating them 5-1. Alexis Flips scored two and Gouiri came off the bench to add to the misery in the 86th minute. He scores for fun.
As entertaining as the group was, all three teams that qualified have been given nightmarish draws for the round of 16. France topped the group and will face Spain. Japan finished second and will play England. Honduras, one of the best third-placed team will be up against England.
A total of 31 goals were scored over the six games in Group E. That is a little over five goals a game. Honduras, which conceded 11 goals in two games, qualified. As Sir Alex Ferguson so eloquently put it, and as I so often quote him, “Football, bloody hell!”
