Tuesday August 01

[Dave]

Lorell, that is one very fine bee photo. Composition is rock solid as usual, the right parts are suitably sharp, values good, and colors are lovely.

Thanks for your kind words about my spider shot. Yes, it was my trusty old Nikon 18-300 mm lens.

I agree that the US team is not playing up to their #1 ranking. They look more like a #25 team. As it turns out, the #25 team is Colombia, which has a very good chance of being #1 in their group, having already beaten #2 Germany and #17 South Korea and finishing against #72 Morocco.

Here are my predictions for the remaining 3 games in Group play:
Group F: #8 Brazil plays #43 Jamaica and #5 France plays #52 Panama. Brazil and France should win, making France #1 in the group and Brazil #2.

Group G: #3 Sweden plays #28 Argentina and #16 Italy plays #54 South Africa. Both Sweden and Italy should win easily, leaving Sweden as #1 in that group and Italy #2. The knockout schedule calls for G1 (probably Sweden) to play USA and that's a problem: 1) Sweden is playing up to their ranking but USA is not; and 2) Sweden has shown the ability to suffocate the USA team's offense.

Group H:
#2 Germany ( which also is not playing up to their ranking) will play @17 South Korea and Colombia will play #72 Morocco. I expect Colombia to win easily and earn #1 and Germany should beat South Korea (maybe by a lot, maybe not). These results will leave Colombia as #1 in their group and Germany #2.