it's coming to someone's home.
July 4, 2018 11:47 PM   Subscribe

The World Cup Round of 16 is over, and winning teams have moved on into the Quarter-Finals. 2018 World Cup Predictions

Uruguay 2 - Portugal 1: 90 in 90: Uruguay vs. Portugal. Little Uruguay punches above weight - yet again. Edinson Cavani sends Uruguay to World Cup last eight as Portugal bow out. Edinson Cavani Uses His Head, and Foot, as Uruguay Ousts Portugal.

France 4 - Argentina 3:90 in 90: France v Argentina. Kylian Mbappe destroys Argentina to send Lionel Messi and co home in World Cup thriller. Kylian Mbappe announced himself on football's biggest stage with two fine goals that gave France victory in a classic World Cup encounter with Argentina, and a place in the quarter-finals. Kylian Mbappé doubles up in France’s rollercoaster victory over Argentina

Brazil 2 - Mexico 0: 90 in 90: Brazil v. Mexico. Mexico can't match the quality and depth of Brazil or World Cup's elite. Brazil and Neymar prevail in last-16 as Mexico once again fall short. Brazil vs. Mexico final score, recap: Neymar scores, Brazil knocks El Tri out of World Cup.


Belgium 3 - Japan 2:90 in 90: Belgium v Japan. Belgium fight back at the death in five-goal thriller to smash and grab victory from classy Japan. Belgium Shocks Japan With Stunning Rally. Japan players clean up dressing room, leave thank you note after crushing loss to Belgium.

Russia 1(4) - Spain 1(3), PK: 90 in 90: Spain v Russia. Igor Akinfeev saved two penalties in a shootout as the hosts knocked out Spain and booked their place in the quarter-finals. That Roar You Heard Was From Russia. Its Team Sent Spain Packing. Russia shock Spain, knock off giants in penalty shootout

Croatia 1(3) - Denmark 1(2), PK: 90 in 90: Croatia v Denmark. Croatia see off Denmark in penalty shootout drama. Croatia through to World Cup quarter-finals after dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Denmark . Croatia send Denmark out of World Cup after Subasic heroics in shootout

Sweden 1 - Switzerland 0: 90 in 90: Sweden v Switzerland. Emil Forsberg scored the only goal of the game in St Petersburg as Sweden booked a quarter-final spot against England or Colombia. Sweden, with no stars and little flash, grinds into World Cup quarterfinals. Highlights: Sweden 1-0 Switzerland

England 1(4) - Colombia 1(3): 90 in 90: England v Colombia. England knock Colombia out of World Cup in last-16 penalty shootout. England Shakes Its Shootout Curse and Saves Its World Cup. England vs. Colombia final score, recap: Three Lions squeaks past James Rodriguez-less squad in penalties.

Uruguay will face France on Friday in the first match. Uruguay's Edinson Cavani likely out of World Cup quarterfinal vs. France - sources
Brazil will face Belgium on Friday in the second match. Belgium's World Cup clash with Brazil 'defining' for golden generation
building up to Uruguay v France and Brazil v Belgium

Russia will face Croatia on Saturday in the first match. Russia will play 'beyond their abilities' against Croatia - Danijel Subasic
Sweden will face England on Saturday in the second match. 'England's best chance to reach semi-finals since 1990'. Why Sweden won't be scared of England at the World Cup

We have live watches in FanFare.
posted by the man of twists and turns (60 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Russia will play 'beyond their abilities' against Croatia - Danijel Subasic

How do Russia keep running so hard for the entire match? It's their impressive rest and nutrition plan.
posted by jaduncan at 12:17 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]


Sweden v England is actually the first game on Saturday.
posted by biffa at 12:46 AM on July 5, 2018


Eldest wandered in after the England match.

"It's coming home," he said knowingly.

"It's not coming home."

"It's coming home."

"Definitely not coming home. Don't walk round here with that hope. You're too young to have suffered."
posted by humuhumu at 1:09 AM on July 5, 2018 [26 favorites]


Every single team that I have rooted for this World Cup has been eliminated. So the question remains, who wants to pay me to not root for their team?
posted by MNMCSOJGPFTAATMOTTSOITATTMSFMVOOW at 1:16 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]


Many active participants eschew rooting for the duration.
posted by hawthorne at 1:20 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]


I've been backing Belgium, but sad to see Japan go out like that. I'm also getting caught up in the England hype machine in spite of myself (most people watching in a pub here will support England), and in spite of the fact that England haven't really given a good performance yet. But in this bonkers World Cup, who knows? The only game I'm comfortable picking is Croatia to beat Russia - but then I had Egypt qualifying ahead of Russia, and Spain beating them in the round of 16.

I am pleased that organised, well-drilled teams are performing better than teams made up of $Star Player + 10.

Wish I could join you in FanFare but the games are all in the middle of the night for me...
posted by Pink Frost at 1:30 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


I'm really struggling with Uruguay. I loved them with Forlan, but he's gone and Suarez is still there. He bites people, it's hard to cheer for that. France are fun to watch, but I can't say I'm really looking forward to most of these matches. They have penalty shootout written all over them, and it's the absolute worst way to determine the outcome of a match. Penalty shots in general are awful. A foul in the box should be a yellow card and a corner kick. A deliberate hand ball preventing a goal should be a red card and a corner kick.
posted by Brocktoon at 1:32 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Many active participants eschew rooting for the duration.

It never seemed to do Ronaldo any harm (Brazilian nightclub Ronaldo, not Portuguese Ronaldo).
posted by Pink Frost at 1:37 AM on July 5, 2018


Hope people are keeping up with David Squires’ excellent soccer cartoons.
posted by Segundus at 1:52 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


A Scotsman, Welshman, and Irishman walk into a bar....

There's usually an Englishman but he's still at the World Cup..




The English Football team visited an orphanage in Russia yesterday. "It's heartbreaking to see their little faces with no hope..." said Vladimir, aged 6.
posted by DreamerFi at 1:59 AM on July 5, 2018 [32 favorites]


A foul in the box should be a yellow card and a corner kick. A deliberate hand ball preventing a goal should be a red card and a corner kick.

Not enough of a deterrent, I’m afraid. Tactical fouls are endemic as it is - it’s been a problem as never before in this tournament if you ask me. Any professional player these days will risk a yellow card to stop a likely goal.
posted by Segundus at 2:03 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


You're too young to have suffered.

Soccer is suffering, though. A long, dedicated, painful journey across an arid desert. Once every few years we may find a small oasis, it's not guaranteed. Maybe once in a lifetime we stumble into Las Vegas. But in the end the trek goes on. We dream of the water, but football is the sand.
posted by Segundus at 2:12 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


A deliberate hand ball preventing a goal should be a red card and a corner kick.

Eh? It's usually a red card and a penalty. That's what happened when Suarez denied Ghana eight years ago.
posted by daveje at 2:37 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


"It's coming home."

I'm not a fan but I have to say that England's win on Tuesday did get me in the feels. I didn't even know the result til the next day - I was at a work do in which some people were following on a screen in the corner and I drifted over around the 80th minute, but as soon as Colombia scored I was off. I knew it would go to penalties and didn't want to be around as the inevitable woe and recrimination and descent into malevolent boozing swept the otherwise sunny streets of West London.

So it was a total surprise when I randomly caught a news item on Weds and saw they'd gone through. I suddenly found myself glued to reaction videos. I even shed a tear! Not because of the winning but because of the glorious full-circling of Gareth Southgate and that Euro 96 miss. Suddenly the nineties rushed back in maelstrom of sunshine and bowlcuts and britpop - and that damned penalty! It felt very poignant, and all the ' you want to write your own story' business from Mr Southgate is poised and dignified, and a welcome counter to the elements of toxic Brexit-fuelled nationalism that world-cup fever sometimes feels dangerously close to igniting.
posted by freya_lamb at 2:58 AM on July 5, 2018 [8 favorites]


I really really hope England don't win it. The political situation here is awful enough without fueling the worst kind of English nationalism.
posted by Dysk at 3:03 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


Two completely different English nationalism takes in three comments! Speaking as someone who just joined the SNP and harbours no love of Brexit or the Tories, like freya_lamb I was surprisingly affected by the win. Maybe it's because the stories I'm reading are more about redemption and joy than drunken violent louts, but there it is.
posted by adrianhon at 3:20 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


Don’t let the bad people own patriotism. That mistake has been made too often, and the consequences are very much with us. Liberals need to be out there offering a competing narrative of how it’s OK to love England (the ‘real’ England and its outward-looking traditions).
posted by Segundus at 3:32 AM on July 5, 2018 [12 favorites]


without fueling the worst kind of English nationalism

Totally agree that this is definitely a fear, but comedian Nish Kumar shared a heartwarming story which shows that good people wear England shirts as well (which of course objectively we know is the vast majority, but subjectively it can feel otherwise).
posted by jontyjago at 3:33 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm of two minds when it comes to Sverige vs England.
Really love Sweden, but would also really like to see Channing Tatum's full monty... ;)

(Oh and on the other side of the bracket... Go Belgium!)
posted by bigendian at 3:34 AM on July 5, 2018


I have to deal with the bad people and their 'patriotism' whenever I venture outside in the day of an England match. We all have to deal with the constantly, in the form of Brexit. If there is a time for reclaiming nationalism (and I disagree that there is) it is certainly not now. Now is the time for combating it.
posted by Dysk at 3:35 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


(Like, good people wearing England shirts doesn't stop the football from riling up the awful. It doesn't offset it. We still have to deal with all the awful, regardless of whether decent England supporters exist or not - which of course they do.)
posted by Dysk at 3:37 AM on July 5, 2018


Seems like there is less diving though? Neymar excepted of course.
posted by shothotbot at 4:21 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


> I really really hope England don't win it.

As much as I’ve been enjoying this WC, the depressing reality is that Putin is already the winner.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:38 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


Well at least Allardyce isn't the winner.
posted by biffa at 4:56 AM on July 5, 2018


There'd be a more celebratory atmosphere, a bit more togetherness. There'd be a bus parade around London and a firework display, TV shows about the multicultural, multi-regional England team who came together to win us the trophy, the focus would be on the footballing achievement as it should be.

That's optimistic. The old chant of "two world wars and one world cup" would be updated a little, and likely be out in force. It'd strengthen the sense that England are the best in the world and can go out alone, making the whole Brexit mess worse. Like z I'm sure the Guardian would react like you predict. I'm also sure that much of the rest of the country wouldn't.
posted by Dysk at 5:05 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


I thought this was a nice, simple explainer on the England shoot out tactics.
posted by threetwentytwo at 5:14 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


London Pride is at the same time as the game. London is going to bonkers wild on Saturday evening. I'll be out in that mix lol.
posted by nikaspark at 5:26 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


when lagered-up English lads want something to take it all out on

If they’re like drunk privileged young men here, they riot even worse when they win, so...

How can anyone not root for France to win it on actual Bastille Day? (The final is the 14th, right?)
posted by schadenfrau at 5:45 AM on July 5, 2018


I think the final is on the 15th.

I have a weird, weird feeling there will be a Russia-England semi.
posted by nubs at 5:57 AM on July 5, 2018


I have a weird, weird feeling there will be a Russia-England semi.

Oh...no.

Honestly I was so happy the US didn’t qualify. “Finally, the world gets a break from our bullshit,” I thought.

And then it turns out it wasn’t just our bullshit, but a long, interconnected seam of international bullshit, and now, well. Here we are.

Go Croatia!
posted by schadenfrau at 6:15 AM on July 5, 2018


London Pride is at the same time as the game. London is going to bonkers wild on Saturday evening. I'll be out in that mix lol.

It took me a brief while to realise you meant London Pride as in 🌈 rather than London Pride as in the kind of beer that Jeremy Clarkson drinks. That should be a good combination, yes.
posted by ambrosen at 6:56 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm rooting for Belgium, that Belgium-Japan match was amazing! Only 1 yellow card ! A player refusing to go down to get a penalty!!

I have to admit that the schadenfreude would be amazing if Belgium win the cup before the Netherlands :-)
posted by Pendragon at 6:58 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


> Go Croatia!

I don't like being the bringer of dead goats, but Croatia was pretty much as brutal as Serbia during the unpleasantness of the '90s (I realize many people are too young to remember it, but I was following it closely), and their fascist history has not faded into oblivion. Believe me, I understand the appeal of their football team in this context, and I'm not judging anyone who supports them, just explaining why I personally can't do it.
posted by languagehat at 6:59 AM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]


It took me a brief while to realise you meant London Pride as in 🌈 rather than London Pride as in the kind of beer that Jeremy Clarkson drinks.

That's why the rainbow one is officially called "Pride in London". I don't think I've ever heard anyone other than a press release actually call it that though. Must annoy Fuller's whenever the talk of racism at London Pride starts up.
posted by Dysk at 7:05 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]




I don't like being the bringer of dead goats

If we’re using crimes against humanity as our determining factor, I guess it will be...go Uruguay? Bitey Guy notwithstanding?
posted by schadenfrau at 8:03 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


...rather than London Pride as in the kind of beer that Jeremy Clarkson drinks.
That's why the rainbow one is officially called "Pride in London"...
...I've always assumed the beer name clash is why it's called Pride in London ...

Thank you all, this explains a whole hell of a lot of subtle stuff that was confusing me. (namely that googling for London Pride does not lead to much information at all in the way of Pride in London and why all the dumb swag I have reads Pride in London despite me thinking "That's seems a rather long way of putting it, does it not?")
posted by nikaspark at 8:05 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


england must lose for they made james rodriguez cry and that is Not Allowed
posted by poffin boffin at 8:15 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


Church of England warns wedding guests not to check mobile phones during World Cup match on Saturday
posted by shothotbot at 9:00 AM on July 5, 2018


Caught five minutes of the cup in a coworker's office. The acting, especially the portrayal of what I can only assume are supposed to be broken legs, is WWE level. Very entertaining.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:07 AM on July 5, 2018




Putin’s World Cup - "Much of what we’ll see this summer will look like every other World Cup—and that’s exactly what Russia’s president wants. But beneath the thrilling soccer and multicolored flags, corruption abounds."

Forget the football, Vladimir Putin is the real World Cup winner

Has Putin Fixed The World Cup?

Russia’s World Cup win was good for Putin. Russian dissidents loved it anyway.

Russia’s Goals Won’t End With the World Cup
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:30 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I mean, corruption lurks beneath the surface of *every* World Cup.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:01 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]


Has Putin Fixed The World Cup?

He's bowed to the inevitable.

posted by biffa at 12:07 PM on July 5, 2018


I mean, corruption lurks beneath the surface of *every* World Cup.

True, but sometimes worse than others - I mean notwithstanding the alleged bribes that got Germany the hosting rights in '06, Germany is a reasonably decent country. There were apparently shenanigans in France 98, around the draw, but again France is an OK country and there was some sense that their win brought different ethnic groups together. It was weird that the USA got to host in 94, but USA under Clinton was OK. Whereas Russia is all corrupt elections and violence against political opponents.
posted by Pink Frost at 12:20 PM on July 5, 2018


Clinton wouldn't have had much to do with 94, it was awarded on July 4th 1988 (a fishy date in itself), so under Reagan.
posted by biffa at 12:29 PM on July 5, 2018


Also if anyone feels like geeking out over stats, I can recommend Why England Lose (known as Soccernomics in the USA). We're at about stage 3 of 'how England lose tournaments', which is 'become convinced we'll win it', followed by 'lose in the QFs to a former military opponent' - so we're on course for that except I don't think England and Sweden have fought many wars? Stage 5 is 'find a scapegoat', but luckily Raheem has already been nominated so they don't have to look far.

(On preview, sure, I know the Cup was awarded well in advance, talking about the nature of the country at the time it was played, if that makes sense? Was definitely surprised at the time that the USA got it, to be sure).
posted by Pink Frost at 12:34 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


I think the UK and Sweden have only fought on paper. Sweden prefers to war with Denmark.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:49 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Sweden prefers to war with Denmark.

That's the kind of shared cultural heritage and history that makes Sweden my team now that Denmark are out. Kom så Sverige!
posted by Dysk at 12:56 PM on July 5, 2018


England has invaded all but 22 nations according to the telegraph so our historical record at football is bound to feature losses to prior military foes. Sweden is one of the 22.

Also, shithousery at the world cup.
posted by biffa at 1:09 PM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]


England has invaded all but 22 nations according to the telegraph so our historical record at football is bound to feature losses to prior military foes.
Vietnam, which has experienced repeated incursions by the British since the seventeenth century. The most recent – from 1945 to 1946 – saw the British fight a campaign for control of the country against communists, in a war that has been overshadowed by later conflicts involving first the French and then Americans.
Huh. So that makes 4 out of 5 members of the Security Council defeated by the Vietnamese in the 20th century.
posted by clawsoon at 3:39 PM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]


I consoled myself mightily by watching Twitter go after Neymar:
Which Neymar are you today?
Mexico Fans Do Their Best Neymar Imitation
posted by TwoStride at 3:40 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Boris Godunov gets tackled
posted by clawsoon at 3:56 PM on July 5, 2018


Have to root for the last African team in the mix: Allez les Bleus!!!
posted by Malingering Hector at 4:25 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]




So, wait is the FRA-URU livewatch gonna be here or here?
posted by progosk at 6:37 AM on July 6, 2018


Afro-Europe in the World Cup
posted by TwoStride


That was really good, thank you.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:40 AM on July 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


I think we'll just keep the quarter final livewatch in FanFare , make a new thread for the semis.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:41 AM on July 6, 2018






« Older Careful man, there's a beverage here.   |   We can dance, we can dance Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments