Round of 16
France 1-0 Paraguay
Paraguay played good defense, sludged the game up and hung as best as they could, but France got their PK (meh, felt harmless live but on replay there was contact, so I understand the call) and that was all it took. The danger of bunkering is the penalty and Paraguay wasn't able to avoid it. France played their least inspiring game of the tourney so far but they did what they needed to do and got the W.
Morocco 3-0 Canada
Canada kinda dominated the attack for about 20 minutes, then Morocco got going and Canada never really got back into the game. Canada is not particularly good at soccer (sorry, its just true) and making the round of 16 is a great result for them. They played hard, had some moments and built up something like a resume going forward. But Morocco was the better team, deeper and more talented, and once the scoring came, they were by far the better team.
Norway 2-1 Brazil
Kinda weird game: I thought Norway's offense was the most boring I've seen in years, dudes just standing around--this is what people who hate soccer think that soccer is! But they were able to connect to Haaland in the box (*) for a classic Haaland goal and then added another blistering rip from Haaland after that (**) to rub it in. Throw in that Brazil's defense was not aggressive and their ball control never appeared, that their one goal was a late PK that was a bit of a fluke and its another disappointing Brazil performance. Look, Brazil still has--and always has!--the most on-ball talent, but they don't play as a team, they don't have any cohesiveness and we are past the point where just being casually talented translates to easy W's. Imagine an orchestra with 15 really great violinists and no conductor: talent alone doesn't equal fidelity to the composition. Norway plays weird but they keep getting it done because Haaland is just that good.
England 3-2 Mexico
England's first goal was a good finish off a lovely pass from a build up that perfectly stretched the defense to its limit; the keeper was cooked, nobody did anything wrong, the attack was letter perfect. But then the Mexicans clearly broke down because England was able to come right back down and add another--that was the defense collapsing, presumably from arguing with each other. The first goal was unfortunate but the second goal was unforgivable and a killer for Mexico. Honestly other than those few minutes Mexico was at least equal to England and probably better. But....that's all it took to knock them out. Also, for all the talk of the heat and the altitude, it was the Mexicans that looked gassed by the end of the match. England got their lead and weathered the storm and they're moving on.
Spain 1-0 Portugal
On the one hand: crushingly dull game; on the other hand: classic Spain. Spain maintained possession but never looked dangerous around the goal, until that one moment when Portugal took their eye off the ball (probably preparing for overtime) and that was that. Spain at their peak in the Iniesta years possessed and possessed and possessed and were good enough goal scorers to make the possession stand up; now they've still got the possession offense but there's even less goal scoring than the great years, so Spain is good enough to hang with most anyone, but I don't have nearly the faith that they can/will win games. Portugal is finally ready to move on to the next chapter of their development and it is probably for the best.
Belgium 4-1 USA
Well....that sucked. US looked tentative, the passes were soft, there was no aggression on defense, no plan on offense, and just in general nobody showed up (Berhalter off the bench at least played with some energy). Some of the commentary post-game suggested that Belgium was more talented or had a better plan, but I didn't really think so. Belgium's up-the-middle defense was quite good, kept USA from moving forward at all. Other than that, nah, dude USA just sucked. First goal was bad defense, second goal was weakness on the wing, third goal was straight up giveaway by the keeper (wtf was he doing?), fourth goal was bad giveaway in the back (wtf was he doing?). Don't want to diss Belgium, they did what they needed to do and were clearly in control throughout and are moving on. But, nah, dude, USA sucked. Embarrassing performance and I saw that it was the highest rated non-NFL sports event in decades, so....everyone got to see USA play their worst game in years. Not good, USA, you had everything working in your favor and you didn't show up. As for Belgium, again, hats off but I'm still not sold on this squad.
Argentina 3-2 Egypt
Boo! I'd love to hail Argentina's superior athleticism on their comeback but, frankly, they mostly sucked for 80 minutes and then got lucky down the stretch. I was so much more excited about Egypt advancing than I was about an Argentina comeback that even when the comeback came, I was bummed by the result. As for Argentina, Messi is still balling (though he missed another PK) but I still don't see it with the rest of the team.
Switzerland 0-0 (PKs) Colombia
Evenly matched, back and forth, but neither side took any control at all, so a rather dull game. Hard to say which team was better, Colombia might've had some more spicy individual talent but Switzerland had a clearer team concept and they struggled their way through. I dunno, I guess that sorta works.
Quarterfinals
France - Morocco
France feels like the best team, the deepest team, but so far they've played rather casually and it has worked. Not sure that is gonna work any more, they're gonna need to step up. Morocco is one of those rugged sides that doesn't look dangerous but they work hard, they don't slough off, they're gonna be a pain in the ass for 90 (or 120) minutes. I think this will be an exciting match and I think it goes to PKs, which probably benefits the French. I'll take France.
Spain - Belgium
This best Belgium has played so far was against USA, where they successfully kept the Americans from holding possession or pushing forward particularly up the middle. Spain ain't gonna be bothered by that. So Belgium's momentum won't last long. But, can Spain score goals? Yeah, this match could go late, but I don't think it gets to PKs: if Spain doesn't figure out how to finish, then Belgium probably will. I'll take Spain.
Norway - England
Both teams are playing really well right now, this'll be a classic. Norway plays a dull brand of offense but if they can find Haaland in the middle often enough, they can get the goals they need, and then sag the defense. England has big play possibility, they can meander for a while then break a big play. This is good match, this is gonna be a fun one. If this gets to PKs, then it could be one of the all-timers. I think the English have a wider palette of offensive options. I'll go with England.
Argentina - Switzerland
Two teams that have bored me for completely opposite reasons: I'm just tired of watching the Argentines get lucky and I'm tired of watching the Swiss just hang around. Framing these teams in this context suggests that this will go late, doesn't it? I can definitely over time here, maybe PKs, as well, which would favor Argentina, right? I'll take Argentina.
(*) The first goal reminded me of Anthony Davis back in his Kentucky days: throw the ball toward the basket and this kid'll just dunk it.
(**) The second goal was classic Nolan Ryan heat: here's a fast ball right down the middle, good luck.
(***) Last night as I went to bed, I felt a bit of a headache, bit of upset in the stomach, like a cold coming on. Woke up this morning feeling just fine and outside of the weird headache before bed, I couldn't think of anything else out of the ordinary that happened the day before. Dude...did I have physical withdrawal from not watching soccer yesterday? Been a great Cup, but I'd hate to think its affecting my well-being.
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