Sweden V England
Synopsis in red
Beers: Round of 8 Beer World Cup:
Similar in the football, England were also strong on the beer front, coming second to Belgium in group, Beer Group G, with London Pride doing the business for them, they then went out to beat Poland in the last 16. On the other side, Sweden didn’t get out of their Beer Group F, so Germany represent them here, Germany beating Serbia in rd 2.
Germany V England
Germany (Zombräu,Brauer & Co., and Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose) might be out of the football World Cup, but they are still very much alive in my Beer World Cup, powering to victory in Beer group F, no problems there, while in the last 16 they beat Serbia (Kabinet). England (London Pride), on the other hand, just lost out in their epic tussle with Belgium, both in the football and in my Beer World Cup. But they are still very much alive in this competition, coming second in Beer Group G. and beating Poland (Tyskie) in the last 16.
Zombräu Brauer & Co., Funky trout n Pretty sperm whale!
Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose London Pride
Read who qualified for my Beer World Cup last 8 here
Bit of a tussle between Germany and England here in my beer world cup, two old foes, in pretty much everything you can think about….football, beer, war…..
First match up was between Zombräu’s Motor Oil, a nice “stout” German style, with the cocoa felling really nice on the tongue, up against England’s old reliable London Pride, the solid pale ale from old London town. Heh both cracking beers, both different styles and I thoroughly enjoyed both and for this reason I give it as a draw early doors.
Next up was Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose, that strange German beer brewed with spices and coriander, again against LP. I have to say I am really liking these Gose’s beers, really liking them. Its all a strange style for me, but they are so easy to drink and have the “wow” factor that I have to give this one to Germany.
Last pair up was between LP and Zombräu’s Richfest Bier, a pretty strong tasting Heller Bock that looked amazing and tastes so strong, but you know the London Pride was coming into it. With its lovely amber reddish colour, biscuity aroma and flavour and better drinkabilty factor, England get a goal here! So that gave us a draw in the pair off, and taking everything into consideration I have to give it to the Germans, for more originality and more braver styles. Germany go to the last four of my Beer World Cup. Sorry England!
PreGame:
England made heavy work in their game v Colombia. Leading for a long time, they let it nearly slip by letting the South Americans equalise in injury time, and then just about got over the line in penalties.
As James Rodríguez wasn’t playing it was always going to be tough for Colombia, and they pretty much ceded the whole pitch to England for most of the game, defending in numbers with only one man up front, Falcao. They rarely threatened England at all. And then they got very cynical, constantly fouling and doing niggly kicks, surrounding the ref when they didn’t get a decision, the usual diving. They were a bloody disgrace really. Barrios should have got sent off for his headbutt, while the penalty was spot on from the man in black, its not like he warned them a few times, tsk!
Kane, Mr. Pressure, with ease, no problem, put the spot kick away, back of the net. Under all the whinging of the Colombians, he kept his calm to put England into the lead. And they deserved it, they played some good pressurizing football and were trying to play honestly.
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.
Then just when you think England should close the game out, Colombia’s Uribe takes a crazy long range effort that was dipping fast that Pickford in the English goal’s superbly pushed over the bar. Fantastic save, I thought it was in! But from the resulting corner, an unmarked Mina scored with a free header. One a piece. Crazy for England to let Colombia back in.
Extra time came and went without incident, and then we were onto penalties. I said to my mate before they were taken that Henderson would miss. I was right. How so? Cause that is always the way when footballers do fuck all on the pitch in 90, what makes them think they have the ability then to take a penalty, clown. I thought, oh no, it is going to be the same old story for England here, but then Uribe hit the bar with his penalty, and Bacca’s was saved by Pickford. All eyes were then on Eric Dier with the deciding penalty, and he put it away very coolly, excellent. England have finally got that monkey off their back!
Sweden v Switzerland: Two shit teams playing dull football for 90 minutes, and that ladies and gentlemen is why club football ALWAYS shits on the international game. Sweden did absolutely everything but score, Ekdal thought he was playing fucking rugby as he took about 3 fucking conversions way over the bar (No wonder Hamburg got relegated!), while Berg wasn’t much better, still waiting on that international goal…..
Sweden were simply woeful going forward, they get the perfect positions 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.
The Swiss were not much better, also finding it hard to get a shot on target, Dzemaili blasting over when well placed. The only player with even an inch of footballing skill and ability was Shaqiri, and even he was a bit off today.
No, two poor teams today, rubbish football on show and the quicker Sweden are gone the better. England should beat them no problems!
England are amongst the top 4 in the world, apparently! LOL. Well they did beat a pish poor Swedish team, but there you go. And people are shocked with that?
I’d like to know why Southgate keeps picking Sterling? Do does team bonding session go a little too far?
Game started off slow enough, Alli could have passed a better ball for Kane to score, but that was about it for nearly half an hour. Then Maguire scored! A lovely headed goal, pure determination, to put England in front.
Sterling had not one but two one v one chances to score and mucked both of them up, he really is a fucking piece of trash. Was very nauseating to hear the arseholes in the Beeb going on about how much he brings to the game, fuck off, say it as you see it, dicks.
Second half, England were pretty much in the driving seat. For sure Sweden had a few chances, Berg, the forward with no goals to his name, had a shot well saved by Pickford, and Berg then saw a good strike brilliantly saved by England number one, again. Pickford having the game of his life today, showing why he is the top goalkeeper in the England team, and bossing it to the back four all day. Great.
After England scored the second, an easy free header from Alli, they pretty much controlled the whole game after that. Was easy for them in the second half showing it is amazing what a little bit of confidence can do to a team.
England now go on to the semis, and well done to them. but a few of their star players are covering for a lot of fucking useless passengers on the team…..Sterling, Henderson, Alli, Delph……can it be enough to life a trophy? I dont think so, but lets see, when you have a player as strong in defence as Maguire, who also pops up for the odd goal, you always have a chance.
Music to get you in the mood
V The Beatles – Don’t Let Me Down (England)
Spain scored early when Ignashevich put it into his own net under pressure from Ramos at the far post, from a great cross, after only 12 minutes. Danger already for Russia. 
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. 
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 him 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!
A lively start from Russia, with the crowd roaring from the stands, but after a while it slowed down a bit and was beginning to look a tight affair with neither team threatening too much at the start, particularly difficult for Dzyuba out on his own in the Russian front line, albeit he was brilliant as the lone target man.
Game eventually went for a draw full time, and to be fair to the Russian manager he put on a few fairly attacking substitutions in the hop of getting the win, while the Zlatko Dalić, EVENTUALLY, pushed Modric more forward in the hope they might snatch a winner.
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.
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.
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. 
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. 
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.
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.
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.