Additional thoughts on today's action: -Bobda makes a good point, we could have a true Cinderella in the World Cup final. -This bracket sets up well for England to make their longest run in history. They'll probably lose to Colombia but it's set up for it. -No one punches up in weight class like Uruguay. Only Iceland is smaller and Uruguay regularly competes against the World's best. The official in the match today was terrible, but it was still a good showing for Uruguay. -Tomorrow's match of Brazil vs Mexico sets up big things for the winner. Brazil has fallen for years now into playing an all-offensive style with poor defense. That haven't really shown that this year and the player tracking shows that the best offensive players ala Neymar, have been regularly coming back to help the defense. They will have to do this to counter Mexico's style who lives to counter attack. Mexico lost to Sweden because Sweden simply out waited them. They drop 8 in the box and draw you up into playing offense, then beat you on the counter. It's a similar style to what Mexico does with a greater commitment to defense. -If Belgium loses to Japan, that would be the most Belgium thing ever. -France looks really good. -Argentina has 3 of the greatest players in the world and not a lot after that, and it showed, especially defensively throughout this tournament. It caught up to them today. They should have dropped 8 into the box. Messi, Dimaria and Aguero beat the opposition in counter. Oh well, they're gone now. -I see Brazil held a funeral for Germany's world cup hopes. It still isn't enough for me to root for Mexico and honestly, it's both funny and deserved. -Croatia vs Denmark looks like a game that poises the winner for a nice run. Spain is good enough to win it all, but as Bob mentioned, they have some serious holes.
Russia just busted the bracket beating Spain on penalty kicks. During regulation and extra time, Russia did not put a shot on goal other than a penalty kick goal while Spain had 10 shots on goal. Every remaining team in Spain's bracket must now feel they have a real shot of making it to the finals. I wonder what English fans are feeling.They are the ultimate fatalists but, wow, the road to the finals is wide open for them.
Bobda, You all but called it. Spain was suspect and got bit. Croatia got by a very good Danish team today, I like Croatia on this side of the bracket now, but you are right about England... God, they must be shitting themselves at the thought.
The Danes really wore down Croatia. I was despondent after Modric was stopped on the penalty kick as Croatia has a history of psychic fragility when harsh adversity hits but they pulled it out...barely. Denmark played a tough, smart game and lost a hearbreaker. Saturday will be a test. Russia will be even more physical than the Danes and they will have a rabid home crowd behind them. But, do not think Russia has Denmark's speed or tactical skills so hopefully the Croatian offense will not dry up and wither away as it did today. It is basically try to survive and fight another day from here on out for Croatia.
Who could have thought that the most exciting half of football would be brought to us by Japan and Belgium??? WOW, what an effort. Mexico is gone. Brazil is on. The game was terrible. Onto tomorrow!
Japanese players cleaned up their locker room and left it spotless while in the stands their fans were helping clean up the stadium. Wow...don't think I've ever heard of anything like that. Good for them.
Japan is a class act. 2 good matches today featured by the PK Shootout between England and Colombia. The English inch closer to shitting themselves.
Japan class act he says!!!! <t>….guess Cory never listened while his grand pa told him WW 2 stories!!</t>
one granddad hated Germans (which is really funny because his family was German) and the other granddad hated everyone. I just make my own path.
Say bye bye to Brazil. Children around the world who imitate Neymar's style of play are heartbroken. https://mobile.twitter.com/paddymcguinness/status/1014530322204184576
With Cavani sidelined by an injury, there was just no real offensive resolution for Uruguay and they were beaten by a very good French team. The Belgium Brazil game was a great one. The bottom line is that Belgium made the best of their chances and Brazil missed theirs (or had them incredibly saved). When Brazil scored to make that 2-1, you could see Belgium begin to pucker. Eventually an injury timeout allowed them to go get some water and get organized to play the last few minutes with more composure. The most infuriating thing about watching Brazil play is, when you see they have their backs against the walls and they turn it on, there's just no stopping them. You have to ask yourself, "Why the hell didn't you turn it on at kickoff?!" Still, the goalkeeper for Belgium saved their bacon a few times down the stretch while his teammates puckered. Then Brazil had 3 wide open looks at the goal and just shanked them. That was really the difference in the match, Brazil shanked and Belgium laced their shots that they got. Tomorrow is a big day for England and Croatia. A Sweden-Russia semi-final would be surreal. And don't worry Doc, you won't have to suffer with soccer for much longer. However, I will have to suffer through Big12 football when it's over..
So if it's Croatia v Belgium in the final....would that be sort of like a Padres v Orioles WS this year? Or Vanderbilt v Navy for the College Football Championship? :?
Navy? No way. You can win your way into the World Cup but in College Football only the chosen few get invited.
Sid, LOL!! Terry, As Gipper pointed out, you have to win the World Cup, not get appointed by a committee. If this were done like college football, the US would have a bye into the quarterfinals every 4 years. All, So the 3 Lions did not miss their opportunity, and they did it convincingly. Sweden is the team that kept Holland and Italy out of the World Cup, they weren't some tiny dancer who just managed to sneak into the show. The Croatia game against Russia gave me concern for Bobda. Russia played the game that they wanted, and Croatia couldn't crack the code. This team, penalties were not the friend of our new found Comrades in Russia.