Germany and the Netherlands were knocked out of the World Cup yesterday after losing penalty shootouts to Paraguay and Morocco in the last 32. The results turned a routine knockout round into a double upset, with two of the tournament’s better-known teams sent home the same day.
That is why World Cup Results Yesterday is drawing so much attention now: the round of 32 has already produced two major exits, and there are still more matches to come. France were scheduled to take on Sweden after Ivory Coast played Norway, so the bracket was still moving even as the shock results settled in.
The losses were decided from the spot, where a team that cannot find an edge in open play can still survive if it holds its nerve. Germany were eliminated after their shootout with Paraguay, and the Netherlands went out after theirs against Morocco. The setup matters because these are not marginal defeats; they are the kind that end a tournament in a few kicks and leave no room for recovery.
There is also another problem hanging over the event. England’s game with DR Congo in Atlanta on Wednesday was expected to feel hot and humid even inside an air-conditioned stadium, and Friday’s matches in Miami and Kansas City could be especially uncomfortable because the humidity may make them feel as hot as 40C. Some matches may come close to the threshold Fifpro considers too unsafe to play, with feels-like temperatures reaching 45C in parts of the United States this week and, in some places, even 46C.
The National Weather Service said dangerous heat is building across the US and Canada, with temperature records possibly broken in some eastern states by the end of the week. It also warned that temperatures above 32C are widely expected across much of central and eastern US states and through much of Canada, while overnight lows may not fall below 20C, a level meteorologists call a tropical night.
For now, the story is simple: Germany and the Netherlands are out, and the World Cup has already shown how quickly a knockout round can turn on one shootout. The harder question is whether the tournament’s next matches can be played safely if the heat keeps rising.
