Your bracket (all times PDT):
France/Argentina (Saturday 7 am)
Uruguay/Portugal (Saturday 11 am)
Brazil/Mexico (Monday 7 am)
Belgium/Japan (Monday 11 am)
Spain/Russia (Sunday 7 am)
Croatia/Denmark (Sunday 11 am)
Sweden/Switzerland (Tuesday 7 am)
Colombia/England (Tuesday 11 am)
The Guardian has some fun World Cup quizzes to pass the off day:
6/10
7/10
6
i suck.
6/10
4/10
6-4-3. My luck at guessing ran dry.
I’ve been enjoying watching the hot takes from Brazil. The Fox Sports channel here had a bunch of dudes arguing over whether Firmino should replace Gabriel Jesus for the knockouts, and when someone favorably compared Gabriel to Tostão, the rest of the panel lost its mind. The 1970 team is like the 1996 Bulls + the 1927 Yankees + the 1980s Edmonton Oilers down here.
Firmino and Douglas Costa should both be getting way more minutes.
Thanks, and go As.
Oooh baby. Game on.
di Maria you beautiful bastard
Thanks, and go As.
watching on my phone in bed without glasses, i could not figure out the sorcery that made that goal
This game is good.
toe jam.
Horns honking in the streets here after that third one.
welp. that should do it.
Who knew that you needed to defend?
they were, every available defender run straight to the ball, I am sure the other guys will just stop running forward
Certainly no need to mark that Mbappe fellow.
Honestly so much of this is on Sampaoli being a FKing moron
Thanks, and go As.
FKwiz: who is the one player younger than Mbappe to score twice in a world cup knock-out game?
mia hamm?
Same age as Mbappe in ’91, and didn’t score in the knock-out rounds.
nice.
nice.
The Cheryl Miller of soccer.
Rickey.
10 minutes ago that would have made for a great finish.
still pretty exciting
yeah, all that arguing makes for a great 2 last minutes.
Sorry AV
bah.
back at you. honestly thought it was going home.
@ptbnl Pele?
Of course.
ok, i’ll say it.
i’m guay curious.
Messi and Ronaldo going out on the same day would have a certain poetic justice to it.
And if both were at their best, France-Uruguay would be a great game.
yeah that sounds fun.
i really want to know how my just turned 10 year old knows all these guys.
they’ve been playing his whole life.
he is calling neymar spaghetti head
It’s a meme.
oh. that probably explains how he knows everyone too
that 2nd cavani was real pretty. angled just right for the live-feed camera.
Hope he’s not too badly hurt.
great game.
Uruguay was brilliant. Cavani is spectacular.
The 100-yard one-two with Suarez was sublime.
Even if he scored with his face.
In froggy plays soccer, we are taught that you can “Head it, chest it, knee it, or boot it, But don’t use your hands.” Do we need to write the author and include “face it”
Even if. Two minds in tune gets me every time.
nice to see manolo is still among the living.
the bombo died though? confiscated?
Spain is boring me.
that sort of patience, i just can’t muster.
Jumping with your hand in the air like that is just not a good idea.
Assuming they survive this one, I hope Spain gets crushed by Croatia. They are no fun.
Sergio Ramos’ haircut is really unpleasant.
why single out any part of the whole SR unpleasantness?
15 more minutes and we’re guaranteed a shot on goal.
can the referee start calling fouls so we don’t have to watch russia anymore?
Sports as a metaphor for life.
Meh.
actual fuck.
That last save was extraordinary.
Oh EC!
Oh EC!!
Oh EC!!!
I’m a bit surprised at quite how deep Croatia are playing.
I miss yesterday’s games.
How was that not denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity?
It was, but apparently they changed the punishment for that offense when it occurs inside the penalty area.
Now, inside the area, its PK + yellow as long as the defender is trying to play the ball and has a realistic chance of getting it (otherwise it’s red). Outside the area, it’s still FK + red, as I understand it.
In sum, just barely the right call I guess.
thank fucking god.
I’m not gonna say it’s fixed for Russia, but…
Thanks, and go As.
Are you saying out national team is cheating?
No not at all. I’m just saying it’s slightly odd that most of the questionable calls go their way (including replay) and the country who was banned from the olympics for doping has just happened to run more than any other team in the tournament.
Thanks, and go As.
I think calls going in favor of the host nation is pretty standard fare for the World Cup. South Korea, Argentina, England, et al.
Well yeah to a point.
I will just say it won’t surprise me in the least for a doping scandal to come out of this.
Thanks, and go As.
On my cruise I just met a Montenegran rooting for both Serbia and Croatia, which seems weird to me. Also meet apro-Russian Ukranian which just sad.
Times have changed, at least for normal-minded people. Lots of cross-border suport
Rafa Márquez is being asked to hold down the center of a three-man midfield in a World Cup knockout game against Brazil in 2018.
How is this possible.
Wanna know why I don’t want JCO anywhere near the USMNT???
Thanks, and go As.
Ditto Roberto Martinez?
Very much so!
Thanks, and go As.
Today had better be better than yesterday’s dross.
Mexico is certainly not afraid of Brazil. That was a pretty even half.
Tite’s halftime team talk seems to have been effective.
I mean, he has to play to his reputation, yeah?
Referee is going to lose control of this at 80+ minutes
I’m glad he didn’t give Brazil a call that Mexico fans would whine about for four years.
it went much more smoothly than I expected.
you were saying?
tidy 2 minutes of play for firmino
What the FK was up with Neymar’s hair today?
japan is fun to watch in the 10 minutes I’v seen
This just got interesting.
well then
I love the american commentator: Belgium shouldn’t change tactics right away, if its still level after five minutes, then maybe
2 minutes later
1-0 japan.
6 minutes later
2-0 japan
you should listen to sorín over in telemundo. he’s kinda good.
i do at home, but I am at work.
Also I don’t understand much at all
no spanish at work?
…are you bagging at albertson’s now?
hey-o!
ohhhh, not sorín. forlan.
now he can’t stop calling lukaku “the big man” which in context sounds racist.
whoa.
Scoring was easier than missing there.
If the answer is Fellaini, you’re asking the wrong question.
Martinez a genius
you were saying
Thanks, and go As.
It’s the process not the result.
art fleming gave the answers
but I couldn’t get the questions right-ight-ight
Terrible keeping.
My god
still lots of time
Big credit to Japan for going for it there instead of playing for penalties. But it bit them in the ass.
Holy smokes that was fun!
The top half of the draw just keeps getting meaner.
I wish both of these teams could go out and Japan come back in.
Most exciting moments: a horrendously botched volley in front of goal and a Swede nearly pulling a Swiss’s shorts off.
tfw you’re watching a soccer game and think, maybe i can go to work early and get a lot done.
oh god please don’t let them tie this at the last minute.
hm. not sure about that penalty.
Seriously? He rode him like a horse.
just didn’t seem intentional enough to not check var. kane was complicit on having the jockey on top of him in the first place. like, possible foul in offense first. and the ref didn’t var. so i’m not sure.
harry kane looks like that lawyer that comes around every once in a while and really fancies himself as handsome but he is just sorta there.
Colombia thinks they can intimidate this American whistle jockey.
i don’t like this ref.
There are going to be some conspiracy theories in Colombia about the “special relationship.”
between him and lucille one or him and lucille two?
YOU GET A YELLOW! AND YOU GET A YELLOW!! AND YOU GET A YELLOW!!AND YOU GET A YELLOW!!AND YOU GET A YELLOW!!AND YOU GET A YELLOW!!
I am not sure red was the right color for a July 3 game with an american referee
That was a disappointing effort.
james woulda jad it.
Walker is such a liability.
This is breathtaking stuff.
There’ll always be an England.
my phone’s ahead and i couldn’t contain it. i spoilered the entire office. sorry everyone.
ref’s a fucking joke.
3 of 8
All in the weak half of the draw (and Sweden/Switzerland would have completed the sweep but for a ridiculous deflection)
England. Penalties. Knock-out stage.
What could possibly go wrong.
I don’t believe it.
I guess the penalties jinx is in the Quarter Finals.
Didier Deschamps has reached levels of French-lookingness previously thought impossible by science.
Cavani missing this one really, really sucks.
did they say if available to sub?
Nothing I’ve heard. He did dress.
we’ll find out after tha half.
Ugh
I find myself, incoherently, rooting for Uruguay even though France-Brazil is the match I’ve been hoping for all year.
fuck.
early yet, but still.
fuck.
Indeed.
Seems like Brazil has had good chances though. Unlucky not to be on the board. I can’t see Belgium holding a 1-0.
(i’ll look for the simeone thing later.)
not finding anything in spanish. the storyline from that side of the game was that pasarella had put in 9 scrubs underestimating the US. and that argentina hasn’t won a major since.
english hits are all about look what the US did against argentina! and spanish hits are all about look what argentina did to argentina.
but also, seems wynalda has been dining on that story forever to populate the search. even using spanish terms, you get 3 or 4 pages with lots of hits from wynalda’s perspective and no quotes from simeone.
I’m going with Wynalda is full of shit and Simeone doesn’t care enough to correct him.
fuuuuck
That Coutinho pass
Header had to be perfect to beat the monster Courtois.
That Coutinho shot
LET’S NOT WAIT TILL THE ACTUAL LAST MINUTE, OK??
That was frustrating
boooooo.
now on to root for my friends’ teams. go cro-land!
Feels like those were the semis, Belgium-France is the final, and then there’s some kind of exhibition game against the junior circuit.
Damn the circadian rhythms, full speed ahead.
soccer kitten has been up since 4 trying to get me to turn the game on.
how did sweden even get here?
Sweet second goal for England, such a deft touch for the assist.
pickford really takes it personally whenever there’s a shot on goal.
Still time to FK this up.
it’s better to win and live to FK it up another day.
wat.
well ok then!
How in the world did that not go in??
oligarchs and other russian magnets.
Uh oh
Come on elcroatas. Enough of this.
Extra time here can only be good for England
The Croatian #1’s hamstring being crocked also helps.
croatia is looking under-doped.
but properly ponytailed!
FK yes
FK. just FK.
A Brazilian too
“On 13 July 2016, he received Russian citizenship via Presidential decree from Vladimir Putin.”
Even Vlad couldn’t turn him into a competent penalty taker.
lol
The Russian BoMel is intense.
Goal scorers tearing their shirts off when they know to an absolute certainty that they will be carded for it is endlessly amusing.
That was coming.
Mandzukic was completely static as the free kick came in.
That was a pathetic penalty.
Yay. I hope some of these guys have legs left for Wednesday.
justice.
Yay Croatia! Vida was lit!
FKwiz … in which world cup was the shortest round-trip between the capital cities of the semi-finalist nations shorter than 2018’s 2210 mile London-Paris-Zagreb-Brussels-London?
was fascism as much on the rise as today? i can’t get spoiler tag to work. and then they used the miles to go to montreux.
That’s the one.
Also the narrowest range of longitudes in any set of semi-finalist capitals.
personal story with some expositions of being black while belgian.
h/t
I just came back to Germany from Croatia where I watched the last group match and the knockout rounds in a tiny village on an island. I know the quality of Croatia’s matches was not great but the excitement was crazy. Especially the last game which coincided with the long planned village-fishermen-party. We stretched a bed sheet over two oars and leaned that on the wall of the last house in the harbor, which is also the restaurant. Not a restaurant, mind you, we’re small. Than hooked a laptop, amplifier, sound boxes and a projector and off it went. There was a 5-meter long grill with fish and squid on it, barrels full of ice and beer and all the locals plus quite a few tourists. In the first half it wasn’t quite dark enough to really see the image sharply, but then it was great. Complicating the things, the tourists in the restaurant were watching on a normal TV and our signal was lagging 38 seconds, so we were paying at least as much attention to groaning and cheering inside as to the game itself. In the second extra time, just after Vida scored, the power went out in the restaurant, so everybody came running outside. Then our power went out, meaning the only way to see the game was on the laptop, with some 70-80 people huddling around it. That’s where we saw a two-all-equalizer. Then the power came back for the penalties and nobody wanted to watch with a lag anymore, so we all crammed ourselves in the restaurant. After the win we must have lit some 200 flares and as the customary car convoy was not possible (there are no streets in the village) we were doing some of that on the boats. My voice ist still gone.
I remember being on Folegandros during Euro 2004 and everything stopping so people could gather in the village square to watch the games.
This sounds awesome
That’s terrific!
An epic night that will live forever, or as elcroata calls it, a Saturday.
Also, thanks to all of you who have sent postcards to the village store. Zeljka was very thankful, and as nobody who sent them was there I had to represent and drink a Travarica for each one.
I’m guessing a lot of you FKers are observing radio silence to watch on DVR last after work. A lot of cautious probing in first half
One of these defensive headers in the box is going to be an own goal if France aren’t careful
belgium not defending headers in the box otoh…
ptbnl’s anti-Fellaini agenda is finally vindicated.
Mbappe is a preposterous talent.
Good game, liked Belgians better, but el fútbol es así…
How that tackle on Hazard at the box edge was not a free kick is still beyond me, though
Yeah, ref had been calling fouls for similar actions all game long.
messi jr + ronaldo?
i think juve’s going triple crown next year.
Argh! Mandatory work meeting from 1100 to 1220! I should’ve called in sick.
There’s still time!
Oh my!
flood lights have taken full effect!
Sime {long pause} Vrsaljko
This will not end well
just wait
that’s what you get for trying to out-pessimism the english.
…for England. That’s what I meant from the beginning, of course.
Wow, that was a remarkable goal to equalize.
I still can’t decide who I’m rooting for.
Holy Fuck!!!!!!!!
out of subs with an injury seems like a bad plan
Sincere condolences and hearty congratulations to my respective FK partisan friends. Now go beat France!
Thank you!
That was a quality brexit.
Congrats ec.
Thanks!
At up to +200 I could see the value betting Croatia to win on Sunday. France’s defense-first approach could keep it close enough, then…
This sounds like the soccer equivalent of Cal playing in the Rose Bowl. Go Croatia!
The semis and Trump together in the same week is a lot for England to bear.
Fortunately I’m off to Scotland, where they offset each other.
you could swivel your head back and forth between them and pretend you’re sitting courtside at wimbledon.
Wimbledon is a funny one … Murray is Scottish when he loses and British when he wins.
I wish we were going to watch our teams go at it on Sunday instead of tomorrow.
Are you Belgian?
Lived in Brussels from the age of 2 to 7.
Glad you got the last laugh.
Cool, didn’t know that
Other than some visits to see my grandparents, my early childhood memories are all from Belgium or traveling around Europe. I wish I could have done that with my kids.
Scotland, where instead of the blimp, they sing the version of this gem, adapted to “Donald, you’re a loser”
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I’d say we beat Trump inauguration crowd
come on guys. give me a chance to have my coffee?
Despite finishing 4th, in the end all that took was beating Panama, Tunisia and Sweden – hardly the stuff of legend.
Not losing to Colombia, too. And winning a penalty shootout, which, all things considered, just might have been the stuff of the legend.
Yeah – they finally acknowledged that it was something worth practicing.
now, on to practice scoring from open play.
What was it, three goals in seven games?
Let’s not go crazy!
well, that was quick
Another non-baseball item I’ll place here: did any of you watch the Wimbledon men’s semis? I set to record the two matches and added an hour and a half extra for 7.5 hrs total, and that was barely enough to capture just the first match. Anderson & Isner were dead men walking by the end but still making great shots. They essentially played 9+ sets of intense tennis. I think each player had over 250 serves. Unbelievable.
I watched the other one, the “short” one.
Looks like the winner of that one has a little more left in the tank today.
sampaoioli out.
he took a $2-million ransom to go. the firing clause was for 8.6 i guess. but still, all he deserved to leave with was his tail between his legs.
simeone and pochettino are highly—with gallardo fairly—unlikely. they’re looking at gareca.
Rumor has it Colombia want him.
US were rumored. I would be unhappy.
Thanks, and go As.
Man you gotta love Spanish sports journalist. Incoherent, but fun! I also love how Subasic turns desperately to Mandzukic with “What did he say?”
https://youtube.com/watch?v=RsBvICeFjFc%3Frel%3D0%26start%3D175%26end%3D196” frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; encrypted-media” allowfullscreen>
When I post this, it works, but after refresh it doesn’t. It is at 2:55
it works
So, one or two early rising FKers around this AM?
i mean, when church only comes every 4 years, i’m there with my sunday best on.
pretty much.
There we go! What a strike!
there are a few
that is a really soft foul on the turf
really hate to see that
as long as only croatian players score, it should be fine.
you have to feel good about a 2 goal lead, then, yeah?
And now that the men’s final is over I can be full time on this.
they have to watch this in real speed, yeah?
Boo!
I blame Putin for that VAR outcome.
Pitana can go fuck himself. And double fuck you for the diver Griezman
wait. can *i* fuck him? he’s kinda handsome and i love him more than ever.
Why do you love him more than ever?
there is no why in love.
Ummmmm, okay than.
oh, i wasn’t trying to blow you off. just meant that there’s no accounting for perception. and i realize we perceived that game differently.
lots of o’keeffe fans?
That’s not Croatia, that’s Basque country
Too bad Lloris’ boneheaded play doesn’t look like it’s going to hurt them more.
Croatia played better than the result, hard to win playing uphill.
France is a better team. While this game – despite the lopsided result – was close and could have been closer, they are deserving champion, especially looking at the totality of their run in the knock-out stage. Croatia getting second, well FK yeah, great result. And very happy for Modric getting recognized.
From what little I saw of it, France would have annihilated England.
i can’t find it on twitter now, but someone said that you have to respect how much france prepared for this moment. Ransacking africa in the 19th century really paid off.
Belgium too.
Somehow England managed the ransacking without getting a world-beating soccer team out of it.
didn’t work for cricket either.
x ray spex are pretty cool though
yeah, that’s been problematic. rooting for multiculturalist teams while acknowledging it’s the direct result of colonialism.