Round of 16
Netherlands 3-1 USA
Man, the 1st half that the Netherlands played was about the most perfect half of soccer you will ever see: they scored early, they scored late and in between they did virtually nothing and it kept the Americans running in circles. The lattice-work defense bottled up the middle and for some reason the Americans just could not shift it to the wings. The Dutch basically had two nice chances on counter attacks and they finished them both. Game over. The Americans hung around, scored a goal to make it close for a little bit, but the Dutch slammed the door soon after and that was that. The Americans have good talent, much more depth than I've ever seen in my lifetime and I'm pleased to report that the 2026 team looks well in place; that's nice, but in 2022 this was a top 16 team not a top 8 team and we all know it. As for the Netherlands, hey, man, they're better than I gave them credit for. They did so little in the group that I just kinda forgot to pay attention to them, but I was impressed with their size and speed all over the field, they're gonna be a tough out.
Argentina 2-1 Australia
Yeah, Argentina was just better, man. The Aussies put up a game effort but they were never in this game and while this is probably the best Australian team I've ever seen....yeah....that's not saying much. There's always one team that's too old and I thought Argentina might be that team (still got my eye on Portugal and Croatia, too), but so far they've used their veteran savvy to get by. I don't think that's gonna work against the Netherlands, but we'll see.
France 3-1 Poland
(I missed this game) Kinda seemed like the Netherlands-USA game: France was in control throughout, Poland added a late PK to make it look like a game, but I don't think it was. France is good, man, they're still in the sweet spot of their greatest generation and Mbappe is the MVP up to this point, I'd say (Messi has been pretty damn good, though).
England 3-0 Senegal
I thought this match had some upset potential, but Senegal just never could find the upper hand. Then when England scored and then scored quickly again, Senegal was deflated. This scoreline looks like all the other round of 16 matches, but I think Senegal is better than this and I'm not convinced England is as good as they've looked so far: they caught Iran in a bad moment, couldn't get over top USA, easily pushed aside little brother Wales and got the chances they needed against Senegal. Yeah, they've won so far but I don't see them as favorite going forward. I could be wrong.
Croatia 2-1 (PKs) Japan
Is Croatia the too-old team? Could be. But they didn't fall apart when Japan got the lead on them, Croatia stuck to their game, parried Japan for an extra 30 minutes and then handled their business in the PK round and that is impressive. I like Japan, they're smart, they play hard, they're like a really good Vanderbilt team: you know you've got more talent and that becomes your weakness because these guys will make the most of your lackadaisical mistakes. Japan is steadily improving and I wouldn't be surprised to see them as a regular fixture in the round of 16, but they've got a ways to go to reach the quarterfinals (just ask Mexico!). As for Croatia, well, I think they're getting by on guile and we'll see how long that lasts.
Brazil 4-1 South Korea
Yeah, Brazil took it easy on them in the 2nd half. Does the score look like a blowout? Man, Brazil took a nap for 45 minutes--that's how much of a blowout this game was. Does this suggest that South Korea sucks? Not at all. They are disciplined and well coached, they're good athletes and that goal they scored was fuckin' shweet! No, this is indicative of Brazil's resurrection. They've been kinda out of it for a while now, but they're gonna be tough to beat from here on out. South Korea did not suck in this game and Brazil smacked them around mercilessly before getting bored. Brazil is in it to win it this year.
Spain 0-1 (PKs) Morocco
Not a shock. Of the eight "lesser" teams in the round of 16, Morocco is arguably the best side, they were really good in group. Spain is solid, nice mix of youth and vets, but they're not back to the 2000s form and losing to Morocco might normally seem like an upset, I thought these two were evenly matched. Indeed, it was clear fairly early in the match that it was gonna take a PK or a fluke play for either team pull it out, this had overtime written all over it. In PKs, I was little surprised that Spain missed their first three shots, felt like they'd have the veteran savvy to pull it out, but they didn't. Hey, man, not an upset, Morocco is solid.
Portugal 6-1 Switzerland
Not surprised that Portugal laid the smackdown on Switzerland but I'm a little dubious of their overwhelming offense. They strike me as one of those teams that's too old to get it done but if they can keep this level of attack up, then they can definitely move on. Switzerland just couldn't hang; once they were forced into full attack mode, their defense got shredded on the counter, Portugal just plucked goals as if from a grapevine.
9-16
9) Spain (Netherlands, England, France, Argentina, Brazil and Portugal all got up by 2 goals and then smothered their opponents; Croatia was able to weather the storm and get to OT but Spain couldn't get the lead and couldn't find the equalizer. They're not at their 2000s peak but the influx of young talent might be tough to beat in 2026)
10) Japan (Good team, man, they flat out beat Germany, should've beaten Croatia--Japa could easily still be in play. Japan is steadily producing better and better athletes each year, they'll be around in 2026)
11) USA (Not bad, one of those squads that forever oscillates between underrated and overrated. A nice showing against England, but should've finished off Wales, should've handled Iran and they did get housed by the Netherlands (though I suspect Netherlands is really good). So...nice tourney, not a failure but I'd like to see more confidence and looking more dangerous at the next level. USA is the host team in 2026, is USA's time finally on the horizon?
12) South Korea (got housed by Brazil but otherwise competed well and South Korea for a while now have been passing the bus test: yeah, they look badasses getting off the bus. They're producing more athletes, they're on the up right and they'll be dominating Asia, along with Japan, for the foreseeable future. They'll be around in 2026)
13) Senegal (Senegal has a spicy offense, they produce solid athletes, just a matter of having a raft of young badasses at the same time. If they could've held off England's early offense, they might've taken that game (a mix of thinking Senegal is underrated and England is overrated))
14) Poland (They've got Lewandoski so they've definitely got for-real world class talent up front. But...there's not much beyond that. Otherwise they're just....Australia)
15) Australia (Yeah, if they had Lewandowski, I'd put them at #14. I think they're getting better and it is worth remembering that Australia is a deceptively small country, so the amount of talent produced is maybe about right)
16) Switzerland (I've been complaining about the "old" teams and frankly that's what Switzerland was. They had a coupla nice players but not nearly enough depth to even come close to Portugal (a team I'm not even that into))
Quarterfinals
Netherlands - Argentina
I'll take Netherlands, they're big and fast at every position. Argentina has the savvy but I think the Netherlands can pierce that defense, which might make the Argentine offense go haywire.
France - England
I'll take France, they're just better.
Croatia - Brazil
Brazil is rolling, man. They kinda haven't done anything since 2002 but this team meshes together in a way we haven't seen from Brazil since the 1990s. Throw in that Croatia is clearly one of the "old" teams and this could be a boat race.
Morocco - Portugal
I like Morocco, if they can keep Portugal out of the box, then it can be the Moroccan counter that gets out on the break. I don't like Portugal that much but their offense has been effective, if they keep it going, they can roll up on Morocco. We'll see.
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