BRAZIL - IS THERE NO JUSTICE?

The short answer is "no."


One trouble with a points system is that it doesn't really reflect the essence of football, which is, in a Brazil nut-shell: "try to score more goals than you let in." So I've helpfully adjusted the table presented in the last blog to show rankings based on "goal difference." I have marked the teams staying in the tournament with an asterisk (*).
TEAMS ORDERED BY GOAL DIFFERENCE
                   F A diff.                  F A diff.
*   Netherlands   10 3   7     Ecuador        3 3   0*   Colombia       9 2   7     Croatia        6 6   0*   France         8 2   6     Bosnia Herz    4 4   0*   Germany        7 2   5     Russia         2 3  -1*   Brazil         7 2   5     Italy          2 3  -1*   Belgium        4 1   3     Ivory Coast    4 5  -1*   Argentina      6 3   3     England        2 4  -2*   Mexico         4 1   3   * Greece         2 4  -2*   Costa Rica     4 1   3     Iran           1 4  -3*   Chile          5 3   2     South Korea    3 6  -3*   Switzerland    7 6   1     Spain          4 7  -3*   Algeria        6 5   1     Portugal       4 7  -3    Ghana          4 6   1     Japan          2 6  -4*   Uruguay        4 4   0     Australia      3 9  -6*   USA            4 4   0     Honduras       1 8  -7*   Nigeria        3 3   0     Cameroon       1 9  -8
As you can see, there are two strange anomalies, one far stranger than the other. The Ghanaians fail to progress, despite managing a positive goal difference. Heartbreak, indeed, for them. But look at Greece! They did precisely what dismal England did, letting in four goals while scoring only two of their own -- @and yet they went through.
Oh, Referee! You cannot be serious!
It's all down to the win-draw-lose points system. Greece did one of each and so got four points out of it. England lost two and drew one -- so only one point, I'm afraid. It was goal @distribution the Greeks won at. Grrrr.

I just hope, when this tiresome farce is all over, that the Germans see fit to double Greek income tax. That'll teach 'em.