relates to what we said:
For Belgium and England, the die was cast before their match ever began. With both teams guaranteed to go through and, even on every single FIFA tiebreaker, both sides knew the consequences of winning. A draw would see the winner of the group determined by either the Fair Play tiebreaker or, barring any gap there, a drawing of lots. The winner of the group would end up on the tough side of the bracket, likely facing a quarterfinal appearance against Brazil and a semifinal against Argentina, France, or Portugal.
The loser, on the other hand, might not encounter anybody tougher than Spain on their side of the bracket, and even the Iberian side would have to wait until the semifinal. Both teams rightly saw the benefits in losing and turned over virtually their entire starting XIs. When England went down 1-0 to a goal by Adnan Januzaj, UK bookmakers improved their odds of winning the tournament from 8-1 to 6-1. England lost. So they won. I think.
RIP Bucky - 7/25/1943 - 1/19/2013
