Uruguay V France
Synopsis in red
Beers: Round of 8 Beer World Cup:
Unlike in the football, Uruguay didn’t do well in my beer world cup, not getting a beer from the country didn’t help, nothing getting out of the Group A, while Kronenbourg represented France, but in a tough Group C, didn’t make it out of their group too. So today I have Russia and Nigeria representing the first game in the last 8 of my Beer World Cup.
Russia V Nigeria
As Uruguay didn’t qualify for my Beer World Cup last 16 (I couldn’t source any beer from Uru), I made Russia winner (Knightberg) of Beer Group A, they went on to beat Spain (Estrella) in the last 16.
Nigeria (Guinness Special Export), who came second in my Beer Group D, knocked out Carlsberg of Denmark in their last 16 match up.
Read who qualified for my Beer World Cup last 8 here
The Guinness looked magnificent and smelt great, exactly how you would expect a Guinness to be. But the taste was a little too heavy today, especially as it was so hot and close. So the Clockwork Cherry beer I had from Knightberg was the perfect beer at the right time. I needed a nice easy drinking fruit beer, nice and smooth, and went down real well while enjoying the football. Russia edge it to go into the last 4 of my Beer World Cup!
PreGame:
France were simpy brilliant in their game V Argentina. Well done to France, but really it was well done to Kylian Mbappé. What a great performance, and he still only 19 years old, ffs!!!!!!!
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 nearly repeated the trick a few minutes later when Pogba expertly played in Mbappé who again was fouled, but this time just outside the box. Mbappé was a danger every time he got the ball, running Argentina ragged. France were doing the business, no messing around, straight out of the blocks!
Was difficult for Argentina, even more so that the manager decided not to play with any strikers!!!! But sure enough, just when you think they were buried and gone, Di María pops up with a brilliant long range strike to equalize. Where did that come from, out of nowhere!?
Then just after half time, they only gone and scored to take the lead!! Mercado, who was simply awful all game, managed to get a lucky foot on a poor Messi strike to deflect it into the net. A pox of a goal if ever I saw one!
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!
Argentina did manage to pull one back but really by that stage it was too late, and France now go into today’s game on a high. This was the performance they needed, and well done to all involved for giving us a game we wont forget in a long time. BRILLIANT!
Just to note, was really impressed with Kanté, a model pro, never bickers or argues with the ref, gets up when fouled, and always tries his hardest. What a great bulwark to have in the middle of the field for France.
ALLEZ LES BLUES!
Uruguay against Portugal was another great game in what is to become one of those days in football that you will remember long into time. Both Ronaldo and Messi, two of the best, gone in the same day, wow, what a day!
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!”
Suarez deserves a huge amount of credit for his performance today, he played brilliant, left and right, covered all the pitch, was creative always, and gave a 110%. Ok we might dock him a few marks for his playacting, but overall a great game from Luis.
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.
Portugal did have a period of time where they came into it, and during this time, Pepe, the old cunt, scored from a free header. It really was about the only time that the back four took their eye off the ball and they were punished badly for that rare momentary lapse.
But funnily enough, that lead only lasted 7 minutes, as Cavani scored a cracker of a goal, placing it beyond the keeper to cap off a great striking performance in the game.
Was very impressed with Uruguay in that game, they really are growing into a good team, a team that could get to the final. Will they beat France? Tough one, it really is. There defence is solid for sure, and they have the strike force to worry France, but France have more individuals that can turn a game. I dont know, let me get back to you on that one!!
Perhaps not the most entertaining of games, but France just did enough to get into the last four of the World Cup.
It started off very lively with both teams going hell for leather the first 20 minutes or so. It wasn’t a bad opening half as Uruguay with their defensive hard to break down style which is dangerous on the break up against a French team that likes to build slowly from the back, it was a real contrast of footballing styles.
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.
Uruguay responded quickly, and Stuani had a header expertly saved one handed by Lloris, who was full stretch to prevent the goal, brilliant. The follow up was booted over the bar by Godin, who might have used a cooler head to chip it into the empty net!
In the 60th minute Griezmann took a shot to nothing which somehow Muslera let slip through his fingers into the net. An embarrassing goal to let in, considering how well he has played at this years World Cup. That was pretty much the game over, as, without Cavani, Uruguay could not score two goals to get back into this game.
France did enough to get to the last four but they need to up their performance if they want to make further progression as once again they looked a bit flat today.
Music to get you in the mood
V Cassius, Pharell Williams – Go Up ft. Cat Power (France)
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. 
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 hard 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.
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.
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.
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. 
Uruguay finally showed us what they are all about when they easily dispatched of Russia in their last game. Before that, their first two games were pretty poor, so it was good to see a more attack minded approach.
Portugal, on the other hand, started off their world cup very brightly, but have kind of spurted and started in their last two games. They were pretty lucky against both Morocco, who had them on the ropes for long periods of their match, while against Iran they could have got knocked out proper!
Then we had one of the big incidents of the night. Ronaldo’s hand brushed Pouraliganji’s chest and the poor soul nearly had a heart attack. I never knew Ronnie had ninja like strength, amazing. I thought the referee did very well, considering the pressure from the crowd and the Iran bench. He gave a yellow and should have given one to Pouraliganji for playacting, bloody clown. There is a reason why Iran dont play rugby.
A tense game overall but I dont like this VAR, complicates things too much. Portugal were playing Russia one minute then Uruguay the next and in the end nearly went out altogether. They will have it tough against Uruguay for sure, and hopefully today Ronaldo will get his act together for this match.
Portugal brought on Manuel Fernandes, who actually thought he was Ronaldo at one stage, as he took two pot shots from distance that went high over the bar. Just what Portugal needed when they were chasing the game, and then Ricardo Quaresmaa should have got a free on the edge of the box but the ref didn’t see so. The bitch ranted but when you dive every time you get touched sometimes it goes against you, the boy who cried wolf.