Brazil V Belgium
Synopsis in red
Beers: Round of 8 Beer World Cup:
Similar in the football, Belgium were also strong on the beer front, coming top in a relatively strong group, Beer Group G, with a duo of beers from Jessenhofke and Kamill. On the other side, Brazil didn’t get out of their Beer Group E, so Switzerland represent them here.
Switzerland V Belgium
Switzerland (Dr. Brauwolf, Celestial Brewery, Soo. Soors Beer) easily powered home in my Beer Group E, no problem at all, and in the last 16 they beat popular Mexican beer, Corona. While Belgium (Jessenhofke and Kamil) had a tough close encounter with England (London Pride) to come top of Beer Group G, but just got there in the end as group winners. They had a some what easier time dispatching of Colombia (Club Colombia) in the last 16.
Celestial Brewery Soo. Soors Beer Dr. Brauwolf
Was a big hard fought match up between Belgium and Switzerland in my beer world cup last eight encounter.
Started off drinking some water to mentally prepare for it! Eh?
Yeah that’s right, Dr. Brauwolf’s hopfenwasser, it is lovely fresh water with some hops and citrus notes. Kind of weird, but also kind of cool. Against Jessenhofke’s PMPRNI Tripel bier, which was loaded with lovely fruits and citrus, well there was only going to be one winner and that was the Belgian blonde.
So second match up was between Jessenhofke’s Maya, a 6% Belgian blonde, against Soo. Soors Session IPA. Although both were great beers, and I enjoyed the two, I will give this first goal to the Swiss beer, as it did exactly what it said on the tin! It was very sessionable and very easy to drink. Maya certainly had more bang for its buck, more kick, and looked fantastic, but the “magic” beer won out in this opener.
Last match up and the decider was betwee n Kamil’s Moktamee, a big 75cl bottle of pure rocket fuel, against Celestial Brewery’s L’elektron Libre, an American style amber beer. I really loved both beers. Moktamee had a lovely dark purple appearance with a nice head, a hoppy tasty effort but strong enough to give it a good kick, while L’elektron Libre had a very strong caramelized malt aroma and taste that I found very interesting. Id give it as a draw to be honest. So that means the tie end 2-2 a piece and with no penalty decider I have decided to put Switzerland through to the last 4 as the range of styles are that tad bit more unique than the usual Belgians that are quite common these days. But it was damn close and a pity that two big beer nations in my world cup met so early on in the draw.
Read who qualified for my Beer World Cup last 8 here
PreGame:
Easy for Brazil against Mexico, a stroll in the park against a Mexican team that shot their little load after about 10 minutes. Too easy for Brazil.
Good enough game to watch, Neymar dictating the play up front, and Willian bombing it down the wing all evening, with Paulinho bossing the midfield. Too easy for Brazil. But Javier Hernández your haircut is dead cool, heh? Clown.
Best player for Mexico, was Ochoa who had to keep making the saves, when his defence kept falling asleep. I counted about 10 half decent saves, where was his defence?
Brazil scored when Neymar set the goal up, lovely back heal to Willian who returned a lovely ball into the far corner for Neymar to score with an easy tap in. A very nicely worked goal.
Neymar got another one, another tap in, easy for Brazil today, like a training session. Mexico disappoint AGAIN. why do they even bother.
Japan did well early doors in their against Belgium, and they even had the temerity to go and score two goals, cheeky fuckers. Haraguchi got one in the 48th from a lovely counter attack , and just when we were getting our head round that goal, they only just went up and scored another one, lol. Inui got one in the 52 minute, I have to say I thought Courtois could have did better with both goals, I feel he was in a poor positional place for both goals.
No problems, nothing to worry about here, Belgium got one back, Vertonghen got a goal with a looping header that beat everybody. Still the Japanese goalkeeper should have had his eyes on it, clown. Once that went in, it was obvious that Belgium would get a second. And sure enough Fellaini got the equalizer with a simple header, two all. Game on.
A quick break instigated from Kevin de Bruyne, led to Chadli scoring to win the game for Belgium. I don’t honesty think it was ever in doubt. That’s the difference between top teams and the rest. Sorry Japan, you should have closed the game out with 30 minutes to go, but you jizzed in your pants, bye bye. While Belgium go up against Brazil today in what should be a very tasty game, and quite a tough enough one to call. Could even go all the way and we get another penalty shout out. Hard to call.
From the start the excitement was built up, the national anthem of Brazil belted out by the players and the crowd, great to see.
And that passion transferred to the pitch as Brazil started well, with Thiago Silva missing a sitter that hit his knee and went mad wide. Should have scored the opener.
Fernandinho then scored a bad own goal to give Belgium the lead somewhat against the run of play. A quick corner hit his arm and went in, was very unlucky for Brazil
Brazil came back strong with both Coutinho and Marcelo having shots well saved by Courtois in the Belgian goal.
But once again Belgium struck on the counter, with a superb goal by De Bruyne shooting to the corner from just outside the box, what a great goal from a very classy player. This was starting to look worrying for Brazil, 2 down inside half an hour. It was all from a qucik break from a Brazilian corner, Lukaku doing most of the running to by pass midfield and give it to Keven to work his magic.
In the second half it was all Brazil, attack after attack by the team in the famous yellow shirts. But Courtois was on the top of his game, and saved well from Coutinho and his lovely curler.
When Douglas Costa came on it made a huge difference in the game, the man was simply breathtaking, and we must wonder why we only got to see only about 30 minutes of him all world cup! He lifted the tempo even higher, and Brazil started to have some real good chances. Renato Augusto took one of those chances with a lovely headed goal to bring Brazil back into this game. Was a good goal with a great pass from Coutinho. But Augusto should have got the equaliser when he was set up again by Coutinho, but this time not hitting the target, tsk tsk. Coutinho himself was superbly set up by Neymar, and had the whole goals to shoot at but instead blasted it wide. Again a decent chance not taken. And then we had the fianl chance from Neymar with a lovely curling effort that was heading for the top corner, or so we thought, until Courtois pulled of the save of the tournament to tip it over the bar. Brilliant goalkeeping from a goalie in the best form of his life
By the end Belgium hung on, just about. I have to say i take my hat of to Martinez, their a manager, he has them well coached, and every players knows exactly what they have to do on the pitch, a really well drilled operation. Plus it looks like they are enjoying their football too, which always helps. As for Brazil, just not good enough really and Neymar will come away from this World Cup with some egg on his face, as he is mostly now remembered for his rolling and moaning all over the world. Embarrassing.
Music to get you in the mood
V 2 Many Dj’s – Satisfaction In Da Club (Belgium)
The signs were there from the start when Mascherano dragged Mbappé down, and with the resulting free, Griezmann hit the post. Not long later, Mbappé was again on the attack, running deep from his own defence, easily brushing aside the Argentinian midfield, to be taking down in the box for a penalty. That was far too easy for France! An excellent run, and Griezmann scores with little problem. 
France didn’t panic, they knew they had this Argentina team in their pocket, and sure enough order was restored soon. But perhaps from an unlikely source. I was very critical of Pavard all tournament, but to be fair to him, against Argentina he was pretty good on the wings, attacking much more, and his general play was more rounded. So it was with great surprise when I saw him banging one in like there was no tomorrow. A dream strike, a great goal, probably the best so far we have seen in this years tournament.
That kind of took the wind out of Argentina, they were gone. Space was opening up all over the middle of the pitch, and with Matuidi, Pogba, and Kanté bossing the centre of the pitch, it was no surprise to see Mbappé get a chance to score a goal his play so richly deserved. But the Argentinian goalie probably should have stopped it. Well four minutes he scored another one, a great well worked goal from defence to forward, what an easy way to cut Argentina open. Two nice goals for Mbappé, well done you have arrived in Russia 2018!
Started brightly for the Ronnie, his first effort, although straight at the goalie, was strong and hit with great intent. But then a few minutes later, a long ball from Cavani, and what a ball it was, to Suarez who controlled it perfectly and without even looking up hit it straight to the far post, where, of course, Cavani smashed it home. BRILLIANT! Two players on the same wavelength, in perfection. As Glenn Hoddle said on ITV, “that is the longest one two you will ever see!”
But it wasn’t just in attack. Godin, of course, the rock in defence, so, so hard to beat, while Cáceres, also at the back, performing well, up and down the pitch like a yo yo, while Laxalt in midfield also one that deserves some credit for the work he does within the team. All solid players who do what they have to do very well. The backbone to a great attack.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 40 minutes when a beautifully weighted free kick from Griezmann found the head of Varane, who scored with a lovely header to put France one up.
But Sweden kept up the pressure and continued to hit Mexico hard from free kicks and corners. Forsberg blasting in a good free kick that Ochoa in the Mexican net did well to push over for a corner. Berg with a clever overhead that just went the wrong side of the post. Forsberg, again, blasted over with a free shot on goals when he could have got it at least on target. It was all Sweden.
Must say that their defence is the best I have seen in this years World Cup, very tall and difficult to break down. In particular, Granqvist in the centre of the defence has caught my eye with some great performances in the 3 games so far. Take a bow Sweden, well done so far and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them get past Switzerland today. 
Sommer was unbeatable, making save after save, the man just could not be beaten in the first half, a world class performance.
Lichtsteiner, the prick, ended up getting a deserved yellow for a bad tackle which means he will miss the game today, a big loss to the team. What an idiot.
Sweden were simply woeful going forward, they get the perfect potions but couldn’t get it even near on target, was the worst I have even seen, comical at times. And the funny thing is the goal they scored took a mad deflection. If it hadn’t then it would have went straight to the goals, Forsberg celebrating like he won the fucking World Cup. I would too though if I wasn’t used to scoring, albeit via a defenders leg.
Colombia on the other hand, were lucky. I don’t know how they managed to win this game, as in the first half they were simply awful and then to make matters worse they lost Rodríguez who had to go off with an injury. Cuadrado was simply brutal, couldn’t even manage a simply pass all game, and spent most of the game falling to the ground. If they dont get James Rod back in time, and its asking a lot with such a short turnaround, then I can’t see them causing England too many problems. 
Rashford though, got through, from a great ball by Vardy, and really should have scored, putting it wide. That was the chance to equalise.
For me, Maguire was man of the match. every opportunity he had, he pushed forward with the ball, and was calm and collected at the back. A brilliant World Cup from him so far. 
Leaving out Inui was crazy, relying on the score of the other game was a big decision and a really foolish one at that. 
With news coming through that Colombia were beating Senegal, Japan knew they were through by virtue of having less yellow cards, and Poland were happy to get the three points, so the last ten minutes was played at a walking pace with both teams mutually deciding to stop playing football. A bit surreal but there you go.
Started off pretty slow. Januzaj though shaked it up, scoring with a cracker of a goal, a lovely long range effort that flew in. 
Sweden kept up the pressure and continued to hit Mexico hard from free kicks and corners. Forsberg blasting in a good free kick that Ochoa in the Mexican net did well to push over for a corner. Berg with a clever overhead that just went the wrong side of the post. Forsberg, again, blasted over with a free shot on goals when he could have got it at least on target. It was all Sweden.
But they did, as they got a good second goal. A great corner from Neymar, found the head of Thiago Silva who headed it to make it two nil to Brazil and game over. A lovely header to kill the game.
Decided to see the first half of the Spain V Morocco game. A game with a lot of tension. Pique going in with two footed challenges, Amrabat was having a thing with Ramos (my money on Amrabat), and box to box football. Brilliant.
But then Pique and Ramos again, fell asleep as Morocco took a quick throw in and Boutaïb was free in again, but, unfortunately for the Atlas Lions, this time De Gea well saved. 
Cheryshev immediately had a great chance to equalise, but he hit it straight at the goalkeeper when it would have been easier to score. Albeit Muslera in the Uruguayan goals made a great save. But not long after, Cheryshev did indeed get on the score sheet, the only problem was it was for the other team, sticking a leg out he deflected a wayward Uruguay shot into his own net for an own goal. Things got worse for Russia later as Smolnikov was sent off for a second yellow after a silly lunging tackle. Game over for Russia inside about half an hour. 
Of course having your best player on the bench for 65 minutes isn’t going to help. What the fuck was the clown Hierro doing there, totally disrespectful to the Russians. Spain needed Iniesta on the pitch early on, they needed someone to inject some pace into the game, and to pick those incisive passes. No he went for Asensio! Who? Exactly!
Penalties came, and Russia won, Akinfeev saving two to send Russia to the last eight. Who would have predicted that at the start of the tournament, not even Vladimir himself I Guess. 
Could feel the tension in the game, Iceland needed a win to get to the last 16, so they started the game with a lot of tempo, knowing they had a small chance what with Croatia making 8 changes to their first team, albeit they still had the magician Modric on the field. 
Only real highlights were when, stand in goalie, Mandanda saved well from an Eriksen effort, and Griezmann setting up Giroud to balloon 40 foot over the bar. And that was about it. Fucking boring.
And if you thought that was quick, the response from Croatia was shit fast, two minutes later they got the equaliser. Mandzukic with a nice goal to level the game early on. 
But there was still some drama to go before the ref blow it up. Modric played in Rebic perfectly who rounded Schmeichel and just had to tap it in for an easy goal, except Jorgensen clipped in before he did all that. A definite penalty, dont even know why Schmeichel was arguing about it. Ok we thought, surely game over now, but no this world cup keeps giving and giving, and Schmeichel saved Modric’s last minute spot kick to send the game into a penalty shootout. What drama!
Top bets on today’s game: France V Argentina 
Imagine my shock when I see that Mascherano was playing. I literally had just wrote on my notes WTF, when sure enough he made two errors. He headed out for a corner when no one was near him, then with the resulting corner he pulled down a Nigerian forward. Ok that was a bit harsh that decision, but what was he doing anyway. I would like to know what Jorge Sampaoli sees in him? He is useless, gives the ball away too cheaply and can’t defend. I also might add why the manager only introduced Aguero with about 12 minutes left in the clock, and started with the donkey Higuain, who cant shoot straight for shit. Tsk, tsk. 
I also notice no players went to congratulate Jorge Sampaoli as the goal went in. He looked like a lemming on his own, billy no mates. Says a lot.