Paraguay - France 0-1
I won't say much about these two games as I couldn;t watch any football on Saturday. The needs of the farm called for more urgency than those of my heart.
People surprised at the big Morocco win have not been paying attention lately. Canada have had an amazing tournament, but Morocco is an established powerhouse.
France needed a penalty to edge Paraguay, strong 1998 vibes. I will watch the highlights, but talking points seem to be how brutal the Paraguayan defending has been. To which I say... what other chance did they have?
It's funny that in this day and age you don't really need to watch a football game anymore. Livescore will show you the goal clips and the internet memes will tell you how it went. That is, of course, missing the point of watching a game of football, though it increasingly looks like we're heading towards a world where we're all missing the point of things, or - more likely - it's just me understanding less and less of the world we live in.
Alright, that went philosophical really fast, let's take a quick look at the magnificent day of football we've had yesterday.
Brazil - Norway 1-2
Even on paper this game looked tight, so Norway defeating Brazil is not that big of a surprise. What's surprising is the relaxed, confident, comfortable manner in which they've done it.
Brazil is flashy, but Norway has been the better team since the off. Even when they conceded the penalty, Nyland looked calm and secure. Not so Bruno Guimaraes, who did a piss poor job of it. And from here on, the flow was clear.
I was thinking at half time, I should be really supporting Brazil. They have Casemiro and Cunha, whereas Norway have Odegaard and Haaland. But there wasn't much to Brazil's game to draw me their way. Flashiness, but without substance. Norway, on the other hand, always looked comfortable in posesion, solid, composed and calm.
And the goals, poster shots, both of them! The first, training pitch header and I pity the fool who dares jump with Haaland. The guy doesn't even need to move, and it would still be a challenge to match him in height. And you can see in the replay, his body is almost twice as wide as the defender's.
The second looked simple, but there was so much power in that shot, and it went so close to the post, Alisson stood no chance. Big beast didn't even celebrated, this is how routine he thought his world stopping shot was.
Rare to see Ancelotti running out of ideas, but throwing Neymar in the game felt like it's only to shame him. And shame him it did, for even if he scored a questionable penalty deep in injury time when it didn't matter anyway, we've had plenty of time to see that not only has Neymar no fight in him, he doesn't even seem to care all that much. Which, between you and me, it's not even that new. Possibly the most overrated player in the history of the game has kicked his last on the international stage, and I'm hoping that a refreshed Brazil will become the footballing power it once was again.
Mexico - England 2-3
Boy, was this an adventure!
Bellingham hit two almost identical goals 2 minutes of each other, and yet no one was convinced it's enough to see England through. It's been enough. Mexico pulled one back quickly to go into half time only 1-2 down. But this is where it went wrong for them.
Even though they came out dominating the play in the second half too, and had England play with 10 men in the last 40 minutes, something of the energy from the first half was missing. And this was mental more than anything. Mexico have lost the game in their heads, not in their feet.
One penalty each in the second half made the scoring line look a bit bigger, and there was plenty drama, but none of it helpful to see Mexico through. Good team Mexico, but not good enough to take out the big boys in the manner Norway has dispatched Brazil.
Norway - England is gonna be a really interesting game to watch, and I'm beginning to look like the kid in Sixty Six, always betting against England, but I swear, I'm over my grudge once they got out of the group stage. I genuinely fancy Norway. Besides, England always loses in the quarters, no?
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