WC 2022: The friendly

Croatia - Morocco 2-1

The third-place play-off has no real stakes. This is no more than a glorified friendly, a game that does not reward the victor, nor punish the defeated, and I don't remember any third place playoff for the past 32 years producing anything memorable. Bar perhaps Turkey's victory over South Korea in 2002, when most of the world felt the refereeing wrongdoings that have pushed South Korea into the semifinals were avenged.

Croatia - Morocco was no different, perhaps bar a very sweet look-upon by neutrals: these are both two very beautiful teams, the underdogs that no one expected to get this far when the tournament started and two teams that were both within touching distance of playing what would have been a much more interesting final.

It was a good game overall, marred by blatant refereeing mistakes. Look, we get it: these 'mistakes' sometimes have a purpose, I mentioned South Korea in 2002, and Argentina this year (or in 2014 for that matter) is no different. But come on Qatar! This game had no stake!

If it's a penalty, give them a penalty. Croatia should have benefitted from two obvious ones, which makes one question why the hell do we bother with VAR. Croatia won the game anyway, so these very poor decisions contribute to little else than to bury even further the reputation of Qatari football and of this World Cup which, we can all agree now, has not been one of the best. 

But, when all is said and done, many congratulations to both teams. Congratulations to Croatia which - no one can doubt it now - is a footballing superpower with an amazing track record, and the big trophies will probably be heading their way shortly. Congratulations to Morocco, their amazing passion and work rate, and their glorious fans. They have made history, they have pushed the boundaries of how high African teams can dream, and who knows? Maybe we will see an African team winning the World Cup soon.

Now on to the final, which is about to start, and in which I hope France will win comfortably. It will be tight, but I'm confident.

Ramenez la coupe a la maison...

WC 2022: Numbers dropping rapidly

QF:

Brazil - Croatia 0-0 (1-1 aet, 2-4 penalties)

Netherlands - Argentina 2-2 (3-4 penalties)

Morocco - Portugal 1-0

France - England 2-1

SF:

Argentina - Croatia 3-0

France - Morocco 2-0

I have been deeply disturbed in this World Cup by real life's strong attempts to disturb my football watching. Whereas I was hoping to actually be in Qatar and see some of the games live, I ended up struggling for time to watch games because of work, a horrible throwback to the World Cup I have the least amount of recollection of, Germany 2006, which I could only watch on a small screen with bad reception and no sound.

Having said all that, I actually did see the first two quarters. I watched Brazil - Croatia with Ena, who not only is Croatian but also seems to care about how the team is doing. And I didn't think they'd do very well against Brazil until it happened. I think Brazil got the game wrong tactically, not going all out to score and thus entering into Croatia's slow grinding down. I didn't quite get what it is about Croatia's team that makes it so dangerous until Ian Wright said they're boring. I don't think it's boredom as such, but a very ingenious way of maximizing their resources. With an aging attacking compartment but a lot of strength and stamina in defense, the Croats knew they can absorb everything thrown at them, and against a flourishing Brazil side it's seldom you can do more than absorb. Keep them at arm's length, don't let them create that moment of magic. It works well for about 2 hours until Neymar's cartoon goal. 

I don't particularly like Neymar and I think he's massively overrated, but that goal was a moment of brilliance. It looked like he's suddenly two people, like when Flash or some fast-moving superhero in movies starts sprinting. Simply unstoppable, no matter how good your defense. 

I thought that was it, but credit to Croatia for coming back from it. A bit clunky, a bit lucky, with a speculative shot from a distance 3 minutes from time, but it worked. And to penalties they went, where it almost feels like Croatia is cheating. Livakovic is without a doubt the best keeper of the tournament in my eyes, so even when he doesn't necessarily keep the penalties out, he inspires a belief in his team-mates that makes them a lot calmer when shooting.

Penalties are a lottery, but in some lotteries, you have a better chance than in others. This was Brazil's story in this World Cup and we can talk about merit all we like, in games like these the tiniest of margins make the world of a difference.

I watched Argentina - Netherlands too, and I was impressed with the Dutch resilience and ability to come back from 2-0 down. Just as impressed with how loud the whole pub exploded for Netherlands' second goal, 100 minutes in. One point where I meet the English football fans is in their hatred for Argentina. it's funny, the Falklands War, Maradona's hand of God, Simeone's cheated elimination of Beckham in 1998, each event could have been enough to make the two countries dislike each other, but all of them combined... it's hard to see a way back for that dislike.

The cards are stacked for Messi to win this World Cup, and unfortunately the Netherlands was a victim of that. Because otherwise, they were the better team.

I tried to not know the result of the other two quarter-finals, but that's close to impossible if you're out in the world or if you touch a device connected to the internet. All the more so when England is playing, and everyone everywhere has their TVs, laptops, and phones connected to the game. So I made peace with the fact I won't live the emotions in real-time, so I had to settle for 3-minutes highlights of Morocco - Portugal. Which told me very little except for the score and the fact that Bruno had the draw in his boot twice, but he was unlucky on both occasions. Especially when he hit the post.

I'm sad for Portugal, but happy for Morocco, and I kind of supported them against France. I'm very happy to finally see an African team in the semi-finals, but I would've much preferred it to be a sub-Saharean team. I said it before, I associate Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, or Ghana much more with African football's values and traditions rather than Morocco or Egypt, which represents the Middle East more than Africa. Besides, Morocco is this weird intersection of Africa, Europe, and the Arab World, with a finger in each of these but belonging fully to neither. But beyond my biased geo-political views, the Atlas Lions played an amazing tournament and deserve their bit of history.

I saw even less of France - England, little else than the memes about Harry Kane's penalty going above the bar. But that's ok. The English don't know how to enjoy football, or anything, really. They always go overboard. When the national team wins an important match, they'll be noisy and annoying, they'll create chaos on the streets, break windows, destroy bus stations, and make the city an unpleasant sight overall. When England loses, everyone goes home quietly, and the most unpleasant sight you can see is some tearful child who'll grow to know better. So well done, France! Ramenez la coupe a la maison...

The semifinals I did see, even though I had to suffer through the hour-long ITV build-up to the game, because the amazing new ITV player cannot fast forward, in exchange for bombarding the viewers with huge chunks of publicity and buffering worse than illegal streams. To have the World Cup broadcast in such awful conditions is actually outrageous and it's one of the stupid quirks of this country that the media regulator does not take any sort of position towards the public being basically abused by the whims of a private TV channel.

Anyway...

I will grant this: Argentina was the better team against Croatia, and deserving winners of the game. Even though the penalty from which Messi opened the scoring was very, very soft. Remember that thing about cards being stacked in his favor? On full display on that penalty. What was Livakovic supposed to do? Let the guy just pass him? There was no hit or intention of hitting. If anything, it was an attacking foul. But as we have seen, without a little help from his FIFA friends, Messi isn't even able to beat Saudi Arabia.

And we ordered Lebanese food to watch France - Morocco. Yeah, I know, other side of the Mediterranean, but we live in the West, ok? If they have weird curly hair, that's good enough. So yeah, I did support Morocco, and I felt for their very hearty fans, but unfortunately the players didn't as much. Yeah, of course, France is a great team and very hard to beat, but you know what makes it harder to beat them? Not shooting when you have a clear sight on goal! Not attacking the player in full force and holding back when he's through on goal! In some ways, the result of this game was not as important, Morocco will bask in the glory of this semifinal forever now, but how much more of a bigger story would it have been if they won the World Cup? Earth-shattering, dare I say, it would have shifted the geo-political situation of the Mediterranean basin. But they weren't ready, obviously.

Worrying that they were able to dominate France so thoroughly for some 20 minutes or so, but I still fancy Les Bleus to win it. Well, it would be horrible otherwise, wouldn't it?

Ramenez la coupe a la maison...

WC 2022: Football speaks Portugese

Spain - Morocco 0-0 (0-3 penalties)

Portugal - Switzerland 6-1

The two Champions League final defeats in 2009 and 2011 made me dislike anything remotely connected to Spain. My anger was actually directed at Barcelona so in retrospect I should've probably liked some bits coming out of Spain, but my knowledge of the country and its socio-political dynamics wasn't as refined a decade ago. In the intervening years, and after a few visits to Spain, including a trip to Camp Nou (to see United), my opinion of Spain has shifted considerably. I have come to like the country, its magnificent setting, its amazing infrastructure, its sunny shores and friendly people. Somehow, this warming up has never extended to the national football team, especially after the 2010 World Cup win, when they displayed the same annoying across-the-field play that Guardiola brought about at Barcelona.

So their loss against Morocco yesterday bemused me more than anything. While it is common understanding that the 2008-2012 generation is an exceptional one rather than a platform for dominating world football, Spain is still rightly seen as one of the teams best avoided in a football competition. Kudos to Morocco for not fearing the reputation and playing with the same confidence they displayed in the group stages. As a matter of fact, even on paper the teams seem pretty even.

So now, looking back at Spain's 4-game run, it looks like actually the 7-0 win against Costa Rica has been the odd one out. Even so, go through and everything is forgiven, at least until the next game. Plus, there is no team in the world for which a QF World Cup exit would be considered dishonorable. But by Jove, Spain, did you train for penalties in Japan or something?

Morocco, the only African team left in the competition, will not beat the curse of the quarter-finals, not after the football displayed by Portugal yesterday. They still deserve all the praise. Worthy winners of a group with Belgium and Croatia, and keeping the reputation of their country as an African footballing power.

But yeah, Portugal... I said Brazil's 4-1 win was free-flowing football, but Portugal's game yesterday was next level. Switzerland is not a bad team, yet they didn't know what hit them. First hattrick of the competition, 6-1 win, and they were actually wasteful with the opportunities. Very likely the best display of the competition so far and the best part of it is, they did it without Ronaldo.

If they maintain this form for 3 more games, the World Cup trophy will travel to Lisbon for the first time in history. That is a big if though, and the games are only getting tougher from now on.

I would love a Brazil - Portugal final, and I can kind of see it. It would be absolutely memorable. Let's just see if France or England have anything to say about it.

WC 2022: Está voltando para casa

Japan - Croatia 1 - 1 (1-3 penalties)

Brazil - South Korea 4 - 1

The jury is still out on whether this is a flex or not, but I am old enough to remember Romania playing Croatia in the World Cup finals, and Romania being the favorite. Sounds like a fantasy, doesn't it? And yet it was only... 24 years ago?!?

It's ok, I've made peace with the fact that Romania is a country with close to zero footballing achievements, save for maybe that miraculous 1986 European Champions Cup win. It is perhaps more interesting to see how and why a nation as small as Croatia, with less than 4 million people, has become such a powerhouse in world football. Or whether it will continue to be past this tournament where, unfortunately, I think they are heading for a quarter-final exit at the hands of Brazil.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I should probably say that Japan is arguably the most pleasant surprise of this World Cup. Winning a group with Spain and Germany while beating them both is a performance hard to match, especially so for a nation without a tradition of big wins in football. And even after that, I thought 'Oh, well, Croatia are favorites, they will take Japan out easily.' And while taking out Japan they did, it was anything but easy. Not only did Japan score first, but it was also a pretty well-balanced game throughout, with the Asians having spells of domination and being in control of the game.

In the end, it was their biggest strength that proved to be the decisive weakness as well: their selflessness, the hard graft without really minding the result. It's all good and swell, but sometimes you have to be clinical in front of goal, and this is where Japan has fallen short, missing a couple of sitters from positions where more experienced teams would have been a lot more brutal.

Croatia is not only strong and experienced, but they've also been in this situation before, being pressured in a high-pressure game, and it showed in abundance. Especially on penalties, where 3 of the 4 Japanese takers have simply crumbled under the pressure. Yes, Livakovic has saved 3 penalties, and I don't mean to take anything away from him, but they've all been very poor penalties. A trend in this World Cup, but also, don't expect to get it so wrong and be past a penalty shoot-out.

Still, Japan bows out honorably, and with the perspective of coming back stronger in 2026. 

A stark contrast with South Korea, who squeezed through to the knock-out stage by chance, upstaging two better teams. The difference in quality between them and Brazil was staggering, with a full-flowing Brazil being 4-0 at halftime. It will take a miracle to stop the Brazilians from winning it, the football they're playing is just scary. Not only are they unstoppable, but they also seem to do it naturally, with very little effort. Serbia put a solid defense and lethal counter-attacking in front of them, and Switzerland showed good discipline and quality players, yet it all came to naught. I'm afraid it will be more of the same with Croatia, which will bring something of the same quality as the game that Serbia did, only with better players.

So yeah, once I collect my winnings after Spain and Portugal come through today, I'll put some back on Brazil winning. The odds will be minuscule though.

WC 2022: Bless the rains down in Africa

Switzerland - Serbia 3-2

Brazil - Cameroon 0-1

Netherlands - USA 3-1

Argentina - Australia 2-1

France - Poland 3-1

England - Senegal 3-0

Well, Group G finished relatively uneventful at least in terms of the qualifying teams. Brazil wins the group despite a defeat against Cameroon, the first against an African nation. Inconsequential, and I haven't watched the game to know how the Selecaos approached it, but it gave us the memorable moment of Aboubakar's joy and elimination. Not the most worthy African team, but Cameroon always looks like the most lovable.

Switzerland - Serbia sealed what was expected, but wow, that first half was the most spectacular yet at this World Cup. The Serbs showed there's some life in their team, some of their attacks were extremely cutting and they scored two beautiful goals, but for some reason the generation of Dusan Tadic and Mitrovic bows out without making much of a blip in the otherwise great history of Serbian football. Is it politics that's kept the breaks on this generation of Serbian footballers? I don't know. I would like to know how the Serb supporters feel about an Albanian and a black guy scoring the first two goals against them.

Now, let's see how the last 16 compare to my predictions from the beginning of the tournament:

Group A: I was mostly bang on, though I didn't expect Ecuador to be as good as they have been. And Senegal have not been as good as I pumped them up to be and they're already out at the hands of England. Though, by God, they can dance!

Group B: Almost! Wales was piss-poor and nobody expected it. Good job USA, although Iran would have been more deserving to qualify.

Group C: Yeah, Mexico have not been quite there. They've done one of the three things I asked them to, so this group was a rather predictable Argentina & Poland.

Group D: It wasn't a clear case of France & Denmark, good job Aussie! I said before, Tunisia beating France was a favor, luckily a useless one.

Group E: See, I thought Spain will be the weakest of the two, but Germany has been a no-show. Well done Japan, the crazy bunch of this tournament, whatever happens. Will they pull one against Croatia too?

Group F: Right, my euro-centrism is showing. I didn't fancy Belgium past the first knock-out game, but even that was too big an ask for them. Well done Morocco for winning the group, and who knows? Spain is a difficult, but not impossible proposition.

Group G: Uh, I have been bang on here. Therefore, here's another prediction: Brazil to win it, with about 70 percent certainty. France might trouble them, unless England troubles France.

Group H: Umm, I was wrong about South Korea, but I think qualifying was unexpected even for them. Portugal are heading towards Switzerland, then Spain. The path is getting rocky.

The first four QF deciders have been extremely predictable. The Netherlands don't have a stellar team like they usually do, but they're highly practical and very organized. I see them as fully capable of taking out Argentina, especially that Argentina has been panting heavily to get here.

The Aussies bow out with their head high, and it's only naivete that stopped them from pulling level against Argentina with less than 10 minutes to go, on two occasions: the left back dribbling through half the Argentinian team first, and the Baccus kid missing a sitter from 10 yards. Ok, the Messi goal was a good one, and I think - much as I dislike him - this is the type of action he likes best and he is best at: coming from the right, finding a shot through the defenders and hitting a really hard, precise ball from about 15 yards out. It's the same kind of goal he scored against Nigeria in 2018 and yes, against United in the 2011 Champions League final. He is obsessed with that movement, that's why he wasted a very promising ball in the closing minutes of the game against Saudi Arabia.

Regardless, my money's on Netherlands.

France versus Poland was a tilted affair from the off, all that was left to find out was how it's gonna happen. Poland have brought the boredom factor to this World Cup. As a team, they have been spectacularly unexciting, though not entirely bad. They are swimming at the edge of mediocrity, with an aging Lewandowski that can still be dangerous, and a relatively well-balanced team who play well together and can be organized and awkward for the opponents, but doesn't quite have a spark to push them towards actually winning football games. Sure, Lewandowski is one of the biggest stars of the game, but for some reason, he isn't - or is no longer - the talent that can carry the team. Case in point, the penalty he needed two attempts to convert.

France, on the other hand, didn't quite shine, but they still won convincingly. Giroud is, by some weirdness of nature, France's top scorer, and this video is bang on. So is the urban tale that Mbappe only scores when the game has already been decided. Although both his goals were pretty cool. Now, can he do it on a hot dry evening in Qatar against England?

England who do look like a serious proposition. Easy dispatch of Senegal tonight, but now comes the real test. If they beat France, they'll probably make the final. Big if there though. Looked good so far, but that's not to say they can't crumble at any point. And they haven't met tough opposition yet.

Senegal going out sadly means there will be no African success story at this World Cup. Morocco is the only team left in the competition and even if they do beat Spain, personally I make a clear distinction between North Africa, which is closer in style and philosophy to the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa, where football is played with a smile and in front of a dancing audience. Thank you for the memories Senegal, Cameroon, and Ghana, sorry that this dance is over. But surely, see you in 2026 for more fun!

WC 2022: The Ghana wordplays have been exhausted

Portugal - South Korea 1-2

Uruguay - Ghana 2-0

I have yet to see the conclusion of Brazil's group, I'm watching Switzerland - Serbia as I write this, so I will assess how far off the mark I was in my predictions of the last 16 tomorrow.

I started watching Portugal - South Korea, but after Portugal scored within 5 minutes, I switched to Uruguay - Ghana, as that's the game that will decide the second team to qualify from the group, I thought. Well...

Uruguay - Ghana was an interesting game in itself, without even considering the stakes. Strong echoes of the 2010 quarter-final, made all the more so by the penalty for Ghana. Now, I don't know why Ayew - the only Ghanian player to have played in the 2010 game - shot such a piss-poor penalty. Was he manifesting the collective trauma of the nation, or was it just God pulling a funny? I mean, you're a professional footballer, at a World Cup, you should be able to shake off the pressure. Ayew wasn't.

Then VAR intervened with the offside that never was, but nothing changed but the public's opinion of the overall efficiency of the organizers of this World Cup. It was a clear penalty I thought, as were the two that Uruguay should have had, for the fouls on Darwin Nunez and Cavani in the second half. And normally it shouldn't matter, but now that Uruguay went out on goal difference, they are fully entitled to complain about being eliminated on refereeing mistakes. Of course, the Ghanaians might feel vindicated, in as much as they care at all.

How did South Korea beat Portugal? Normally I'd say it smells like FIFA corruption, which might well be, but I also wouldn't discount the Portuguese sloppiness. knowing they're already qualified. The Koreans brought back their own echoes of 2002 when they reached the semi-finals without deserving it in the least. Did they deserve it this time? I don't think so. Lost to Ghana, were lucky to draw Uruguay, and got three points against a clearly superior team that was playing without a stake. That second place always looked like it was gonna be between Ghana and Uruguay, and the direct game showed Uruguay to be the more deserving team. Turns out, their sub-par performance against South Korea came back to bite them in the ass. 

A sad exit for a number of Uruguayan players who are near the end of their careers, but I wouldn't worry. There's plenty of promising youngsters in their team, and not a lot of people are gonna cry over Suarez not winning the World Cup. But who knows, with a little bit of luck, Facundo Pellistri might.

WC 2022: Broken Axis

Belgium - Croatia 0-0

Morocco - Canada 2-1

Costa Rica - Germany 2-4

Japan - Spain 2-1

Turns out Fiago was right about Belgium going out in the group stages. Technically, it was tight and with a goal in the closing minutes against Croatia they could have qualified. While it was possible, it would have been hugely unfair. Belgium did not look for a moment like a team who's ready to win stuff, but rather like the Belgium of old, in the late 80s and early 90s when they had a lot of star players, but were not really a team.

I'm more disappointed with Croatia, who have put themselves in such a vulnerable position that a stray Belgian goal might've taken them out. I'm disappointed with them because they looked like Belgium's equals, and that's not gonna scare anyone. 

Well done Morocco for winning the group, for not getting scared of the opponent's name, and for building on the brilliant win against Belgium with a comfortable win against a naive and inexperienced Canada. Unfortunately for them, the weird results in Group E mean they will be facing Spain in the first knock-out game, in what will probably be a highly politically charged game.

Although, in all honesty, yeah, no one wants to face Spain, the game is by no means a clear-cut one. Morocco has the strength to beat Spain, and Spain - despite a 7-0 win, has not looked all that scary so far.

And Japan, oh, Japan. You know they're a weird country with their mix of traditional and hi-tech, the tradition of hardcore porn growing within a prude culture, their fetishization of Western culture, and the KFC dinner on Christmas Day. But beating Germany and Spain while losing to Costa Rica might top all of the aforementioned because no anthropologist can explain it.

For anyone who wonders how, there's a bunch of Spaniards ready to yell 'by cheating' but look, the ball was not fully out. We can moan about VAR as much as we want, goal-line technology is pretty precise. And even if the ball was out, seriously, you're Spain playing Japan. If you're gonna hang on for a draw and let a refereeing decision lose you the game, you sort of deserve what you get. I can't really believe Spain played to get second place and play Morocco rather than Croatia. That kind of thinking is small and unattractive and gets punished eventually. Besides, what if Costa Rica beat Germany? It's not like they didn't lead for a moment there.

As for Germany, there will be a lot of write-ups, mostly in German, about how and why they go out in the group stages. I'm just gonna say there is no such thing as 'too big to fail', and also, that I called it, didn't I?

Japan - Croatia is gonna be a tough one for the Asians, so my money is on Croatia. But it wouldn't be the first time they surprise me now, would it?

WC 2022: Just a number of flukes

Tunisia - Australia 0-1

France - Denmark 2-1

Poland - Saudi Arabia 2-0   

Argentina - Mexico 2-0

Belgium - Morocco 0-2

Croatia - Canada 4-1

Japan - Costa Rica 0-1

Spain - Germany 1-1

Cameroon - Serbia 3-3

Brazil - Switzerland 1-0

South Korea - Ghana 2-3

Portugal - Uruguay 2-0

Ecuador - Senegal 1-2

Netherlands - Qatar 2-0

Iran - USA 0-1

England - Wales 3-0

Australia - Denmark 1-0

Tunisia - France 1-0

Poland - Argentina 0-2

Saudi Arabia - Mexico 1-2

Tough weekend, with the regular gigs, a show opening, and a tech all day Monday. I ended up actually seeing quite a bit of football, writing about it has been a different matter. Let's try and catch up.

In group D, Australia has proved itself worthy of being in the World Cup. Ok, they were naive to lose to France from a winning position, but putting yourself in a winning position against France is an achievement in itself. They beat Tunisia, which Denmark wasn't able to, which put them in a position to qualify with a draw against Denmark. But then they beat Denmark. Not the most spectacular team, but taking full advantage of the strengths they do have: stamina, hard work, wearing opponents down. 

Denmark, on the other side, was disappointing. Ok, it can be forgiven that they couldn't beat Tunisia in the first game, even losing 2-1 to France is acceptable, but not showing up against Australia is pitiful. They are the more experience, the more talented and probably the better team, but that stands for nothing if you don't put your soul into the game. Well done Australia for proving me wrong. The funny thing is, Argentina is not even that scary.

Group C, well... so much for me supporting Mexico. In the end, I didn't see a single game of theirs. Probably for the best I didn't see the Argentina one, it would've annoyed the hell out of me. Unfortunately, the Saudis made their win against Argentina look like a fluke. It probably was a fluke. But seriously Saudi Arabia, you've won the most difficult game, hold off and defend for life for two draws in the other two games and you're through. Heroics are useless if you don't follow up, and they didn't.

I did watch both Belgium - Morocco and Croatia - Canada, and they were both spectacular games. OK, Belgium - Morocco didn't really get going until the end, but I thought Morocco fully deserved the win. They had what I thought was a perfectly valid goal canceled from Hakim Ziyech's free kick, and they were the team pressing to win towards the end, in front of a Belgian team whose FIFA ranking is well above their quality. 

Canada will probably go home with 0 points, but life has been harsh on them. Barely losing to Belgium and scoring after 1 minute against Croatia, all good stuff. I thought ill of Croatia after drawing Morocco, but Morocco seems to be a better team than I thought. Unlike Belgium, Croatia's aging team has come to the World Cup to play some football too. They're playing Belgium in a few hours, and I fancy them strongly. But I do like how open the group is before the last game.

Japan, oh Japan. I was watching the game against Costa Rica and I was thinking 'Don't fuck it up, don't fuck it up'. They fucked it up. I would be even tempted to expect more from Japan than Saudi Arabia. I am sympathetic towards Costa Rica mostly since Luis Conejo was wonderful in goal for them at the first World Cup I've ever seen, but it would've been nice for Japan to win. Again, follow-up is everything. Now it will probably be Spain and Germany to qualify. I fully wish Costa Rica to get something against Germany, but I had the exact same feeling in the opening game of the World Cup 2006. It finished 4-2 for Germany.

Because I spent all day in the theatre on Monday, I only saw Brazil - Switzerland, on the day when United players scored all of the goals for the group-winning teams. Only 1-0, and Casemiro's goal came quite late, but there's no denying in who was the better team. Brazil might've played without a keeper. Only problem is, they've been a bit too wasteful with chances in both games so far, and this might end up costing them against an organized team in the knock-out stages. Though to be fair, the only team I see being this organized and being able to keep up with the relentless pace of Brazil is France.

Both Cameroon - Serbia 3-3 and South Korea - Ghana 2-3 seem to have been really spectacular games, so I am sorry to have missed them. Hopefully, I'll get to see Ghana in the knock-out stages, because Uruguay unfortunately is a far cry from the team that almost made the final in 2010.

And since the last round of group games started, life has been tough for the underdogs. Netherlands ended up winning Group A easily, with two wins and a draw, but Ecuador! Perfectly executed game plan against Qatar, getting a draw against the Netherlands and pushing for a win, only to succumb to a rapid response goal from Senegal? It is a shame, as I think Ecuador has been the better team. They played great, except for the last 20 minutes.

Same goes for Iran. Ok, write off the heavy defeat against England, but great game against Wales, just go on and draw against the US. Nope, not if Pulisic has anything to say about it. Just like with Ecuador, I feel Iran is a better team than the US. I've liked American teams historically, but in this tournament, they seem to be over-reliant on Pulisic, and it's not in their makeup to be a star-man team. I don't see them standing a chance against an intensely practical Netherlands.

I'm not gonna comment much on England - Wales as I didn't see the game, yet I knew the score in real-time, thanks to the punters in the pub above our theatre. Sure, well done England. I've said they have a chance to go all the way, but the media might get in the way.

Tunisia beat France yesterday, which is only a mild surprise. The result looks a lot like a favor to a former colony, who would've qualified if Denmark drew Australia. This is why you can't have nice things, France. Not only did Australia qualify, but I also wouldn't put it past them to trouble Argentina a bit in the last 16.

Of course, I wanted Poland to win and eliminate Argentina, but ok, fine. At 2-0 for Argentina I mostly wanted Mexico to score one more and qualify, or for Argentina to score one more and qualify Mexico. But come on, chicos! You can't concede to Saudi Arabis when you need a high-scoring win. Poland goes through without impressing, as does Argentina.

By the way, that Messi penalty? Just a favor for the FIFA darling. What, keepers are no longer allowed to jump for the ball now? Good thing he missed, because he's incompetent. There is a God, and I hope he'll be Australian in the knock-out round.