Slow hamp up today, starting with Denmark v Australia.

Peru France could be fun. French so talented, but can they play as a team?

Argentina v Croatia is the most interesting of the mix. Light on his feet Messi against the physicality of the Croats. Should be good tv.

What a difference four years make....Messi is coming up short, compared to his dominant performance in the last World Cup....

is it my imagination, but does it seem that defenders all over the world are better than ever...

Messi quit after they got knocked out last time. I expect the same again. Lacks the mental toughness Ronaldo has.

The Croats made Argentina play the Croat game. Physical, punch for punch, kick for kick. Took them out of their game.

That is the wrong team to get into a straight up street fight with. Can't for the life of me why Otemendi didn't get a red card.

Still, think Lovren will do something immensely stupid to ruin it for them.

Ha Ha, Neymar.

The ref had huge balls to make the right call, admitting he was wrong.

(1 minute later, Neymar yellow card for being a crybaby).

Brazil earned it. What can you say?

its amazing what they have done when they can play and not worried about people going to ground soft. plus they crowd them and gang defend and strip balls. art

this is the second time i saw VAR on a PK question were it was basically diving. why are the offenders not being carded for that. he should have had his yellow earlier.

Crossed my mind. Upon further thought, he took so many nicks and hits, the non-dive call was probably a makeup, no call.

Wow....Germany pulling one out from deep in the fire.
Had that game remained a tie, I think Mexico and Sweden would simply have played one of those pretend matches that end up in a tie, thus allowing them to both advance.

But now, it's a whole new scenario. Assuming Germany beats South Korea, a fairly safe bet, the Mexico Sweden match is now win and your in, lose and go home.
Germany is in with a win over South Korea obviously.

OK.....disregard this stupid post......I'm full of chit.
Here's the official breakdown.....pretty dang complicated.

-Mexico will qualify with a win or a draw against Sweden.
-Mexico will qualify with a defeat to Sweden if Germany fail to beat South Korea.
-Mexico will even qualify if they lose to Sweden and Germany beat South Korea, providing Mexico's goal difference is still better than Germany's.
Germany will qualify with a win by two clear goals against South Korea.
Germany will qualify with a win against South Korea if Sweden do not beat Mexico.
Germany will qualify with a win against South Korea even if Sweden beat Mexico and Germany have a better goal difference than either Mexico or Sweden.
Germany will qualify with a draw against South Korea if Mexico beat Sweden.
Germany will qualify with a draw against South Korea if Sweden and Mexico also draw and Germany's goal difference is better than Sweden's (this would, in practice, mean the decision between Germany and Sweden would go to goals scored).
Germany will qualify with a defeat to South Korea if Sweden simultaneously lose to Mexico and Germany have a better goal difference than Sweden and South Korea.
Sweden will qualify with a win against Mexico, if Germany fail to beat South Korea.
Sweden will qualify with a win against Mexico if Germany beat South Korea providing Sweden's goal difference is better than either Mexico or Germany.
Sweden will qualify with a draw against Mexico if South Korea beat Germany.
Sweden will qualify with a draw against Mexico if Germany also draw with South Korea and Sweden have a better goal difference than Germany (this would, in practice, mean the decision between Germany and Sweden would go to goals scored).
Sweden will qualify with a defeat to Mexico if South Korea beat Germany and Sweden boast a better goal difference than Germany and South Korea.
South Korea will only qualify with a win against Germany combined with Sweden losing to Mexico and a better goal difference than Germany and Sweden.

Amazing finish.

Yeah, it's a rat's nest of possibilities.

Pressure on the English to win tomorrow.

England Belgium midweek should be a firecracker.

Susan Lucci award goes to......

Colombia recovered from its first game red card loss, and dominated Poland, who looked over-rated...

James Rodriguez's pass from midfield to Cuadrado, who ran onto the ball, raced into the area in front of two defenders and scored, was something to behold... the pass was perfectly paced and placed, delivered while avoiding a couple of Polish players defending him...

side note...Colombia has my vote for best looking female spectators...guess it's easy to look good smiling and cheering...

Portugal v Morocco

Cristiano Ronaldo went down theatrically under a tackle in box from Nordin Amrabat in the 85th minute. Ronaldo screamed for the penalty, even making the TV sign for a review. While there did seem to be at least some contact, Ronaldo threw himself to the ground well after this point and was definitely looking for the penalty.

There was not enough in it to consider a "clear and obvious error." We have also seen increasing instances of the TV sign being made by players and coaching staff and it could be time to make a point and book players, as was threatened by FIFA pre-tournament.

Ronaldo could not be booked for diving as this can only happen when a penalty award is overturned.

VAR RATING: 9/10 Correct decision, but time to get the yellow card out.


from espn, so maybe its true

http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/4/blog/post/3533707/var-at-the-world-cup-a-timeline-of-the-tournament 

Neither Spain nor Portugal look to be Finals material...France and Denmark "played" a dull game...maybe England could get to the last game...

Picked 7 out of 8 into the knockout stage.

Thanks, Egypt.

i think the germans not showing up may have provided some more issues for your predictions. what a well officiated game to leave no doubt as to why they didnt advance.

"Fair play" tie-breaker? with Japan tapping the ball around without trying to score... while losing 1-0 , but with a ticket punched if the result remained to the end????


This may be why a casual fan can get dis-satisfied and stop watching this game...I think they have to change this for the next WC...

picks for the final: Belgium vs (Colombia/England) ----> overall WC winner ... I started the WC by picking Colombia, as a sentimental pick, and would like to see them emerge as champs...but England appears to have the "something"


Africa doesn't have a team in the knock-outs, but Senegal deserves to be there;

and Mexico is the lone Concacaf team...the two weakest regions in FIFA and the US couldn't qualify...sad state of affairs for US Soccer, because it can't be said that we'd have done better than Panama or Costa Rica......

not looking forward to expansion to 48 teams

You bet.

Had the Germans winning it in a pool. But put money on Belgium to win it. 10-1.