World Cup Quarterfinals

Here we are - almost a month of soccer, and we have reached the quarterfinals. There are no big surprises:

France v Morocco

Spain v Belgium

Argentina v Switzerland

Norway v England

Okay, that last one is a bit of a surprise, especially since Norway beat Brazil. But not a big surprise - Norway was widely pegged as one of the dark horses, what with Erling Haaland up there scoring a couple goals a game (7 in 4 games in this tourney), and Brazil was widely pegged as most likely to disappoint. Switzerland might be a surprise, though they are always a good tournament team, and had a pretty easy run in. I wish Columbia had beaten them - but they aren't bad. A week ago the thought of Belgium beating the US - was plausible, but not something I would expect, not the way those two teams were playing. 

Thank you Donald Trump! He's always trying to turn back time, and he seems to have succeeded - though only to 2018 and only to the Belgian (and maybe American) national team. He called up FIFA and asked them to review Balogan's red card - they did, suspending the suspension, and pissing off Belgium, UEFA, most of the world's fans and commentators - pissed off Belgium whipped our sorry asses. We slunk off meekly. 

I don't know if that will help the Belgians against Spain, but who knows. They were supposed to bet a pretty good team - they showed up for a couple games, and about 10 minutes against Senegal, and looked it - but the rest has been stodgy and dull. Still - if they stay focused, they might do something.

Can I pick the winners? I would like to see Morocco win, they are one of the most exciting teams in the tourney, but France is a tall order. France has now shown weaknesses. They even mostly held their tempers against the grotesque buffoonery of Paraguay, and for the French, not being baited might end up being the greatest feat of all. I do expect Spain to deal with Belgium. Then? well this has been a front runners cup for the most part - France vs Spain - should mean France, but Spain is the real deal, even if they are less showy about it.

On the other side - Argentina has no business losing to Switzerland, though they didn't have a lot of business going 120 minutes to beat Cape Verde or 93 or whatever it was to beat Egypt (with the ref's help - the Egyptian goal that was brought back looked to me like the worst call of the tournament.) Switzerland knows their way around a World Cup match. Meanwhile, England vs Norway has the makings of a heck of a game - England has shown grit and determination, winning in the face of severe adversity, but Norway has Erling Haaland! No one else has contained him. It sure would be fun. And whoever wins that - has more than a fighter's chance against Argentina, who have shown plenty of grit and determination as well - but against teams that were all grit and determination. What happens then they have to face Bellingham and Kane? or Haaland? 

Still - the most likely outcome is France and Argentina, the most boring imaginable match up - except the last time they met, they produced the most exhilarating World Cup game I have ever seen. Probably not an accident: put the best two teams on the field and you have a good chance of getting an all timer game. But man it would be fun to see Norway vs Morocco!

Anyway, there you are. It's been a cool tournament - it has mostly followed the form sheets, but there have been some fantastic stories and fantastic games. Cape Verde vs Argentina? Egypt and Argentina? England and Mexico? even Portugal and Croatia? Fantastic stuff. And mostly fair play - mostly very solid officiating, though VAR becomes a pain in the ass after all. All those microscopic offsides feel - wrong. And going back the whole length of the field to find a foul the ref missed to take a goal away - that pisses me off. The way Argentina finished that game, that call probably didn't matter that much - but it is still a shame.

Finally? the old timers - Messi has as brilliant as ever. Mo Salah, starting on the downslope, was still full of life. Lukaku has three goals. Modric looked like a corpse in their first game, but kept getting better. Granit Xhaka is still a force to be reckoned with. Ancient goalies like Vozinha were scintillating. On the other hand, where would Portugal be is Roberto Martinez used Ronaldo the way Belgium used Lukaku? bring him in late to soak the team or see games out, give him a start or two to see what he can do, if the matchups require? They did not use him that way - and home they go, quite meekly in the end.