The Beer World Cup last 16 now gets under way. Click on pictures and links to get a general review and info on the beers we will be a drinking during the Football World Cup.
Denmark V Nigeria
Denmark, unlike in the football, came top of my Beer Group C, while Nigeria came second in my Beer Group D. So today it will be a match up between Carlsberg of Denmark against Guinness Special Export representing Nigeria.
Carlsberg Lager Guinness Special Export
Victory to Guinness Special Export and to Nigeria. As the goals were flying in, I was getting steadily buzzed with the Guinness, had the kick to accompany a great game, brilliant. Nigeria make the last eight of my Beer World Cup.
Russia V Spain
As Uruguay didn’t qualify for my Beer World Cup last 16 (I couldn’t source any beer from Uru), I made Russia winner of Beer Group A. On the other side, Spain (and not Portugal) came second in my Beer Group B. So today we have a match up between Knightberg of Russia against Estrella Galicia of Spain.
Close encounter. Knightberg and its Premium Lager was certainly very tasty and I enjoyed drinking it, but Estrella coming cold from the fridge was so, so good! But then it didn’t have as many tastes as Knightberg which was all tingly on the tongue. Hard to call that one, so gave it as a draw.
For the decider I had another Estrella, but this time up against an Oatmeal Stout. Now I love the lagers, but I love stouts more, a sure fire way to win the contest so. Russia edge it in a close encounter here, 2-1 to Russia who make the last eight of my Beer World Cup!
Portugal V Saudi Arabia
Portugal eased to the top of my Beer World Cup Group B, while unfortunately Group A had three non beer nations so I since I love kebabs, sure why not have SA as second best of a bad group for beer lovers.
Saudi Arabia!
Enjoyed my football special, Superbock, also really enjoyed my kebab, but beer always wins in these scenarios!
Croatia V Australia
Both teams qualifying from tough groups. Croatia came top in Beer Group D, up against heavy hitters from Iceland, Argentina and Nigeria. While Australia’s group, Group C, was also tough. They came second in a group that had France, Denmark and Peru all well represented in my beer World Cup.
Good evening of drinking, much better than the football that was an offer. But like the game, there was drama and the result was very close. I started with a Bura Brew which although it might not be the best looker was sure lovely to taste and had great big lovely mouthfuls that went down well. Only thing was that Fosters is so smooth to drink, that nectar juice is so good to have while looking at the footy on the box. Too close to separate, I need another few beers to make a decision on this match up.
Step forward Ožujsko, who did just enough to put Croatia into the last 8 of my Beer World Cup. It won on pure tastes and had that little bit more of a bite to it than the Fosters. 2-1 to Croatia. 
Switzerland V Mexico
Switzerland easily powered home in my Beer Group E, no problem at all. While Mexico really only had to beat Sweden to come second in Beer Group F
Celestial Brewery Soo. Soors Beer Dr. Brauwolf
What a contest, the big guns out today.
First up it was Corona up against Dr. Brauwolf and it’s Bohemian lager, really no contest, come on, a lager against a light beer you have when the sun is in the sky, no need for a lemon to decide this one, Brauwolf wins. One nil to the strong lager, roar!
Then we had Corona up against Soo. Happy a fruity effort from Switzerland. Close enough contest, but, much like Mexico, Corona just were not doing it for me today. Strength in taste and flavour, two nil to Switzerland!
Final battle was Corona against an IPA from Celestial brewery, Corona just playing for pride at this stage. Well Celestial was strong and full of taste, and is good enough on aroma alone to beat Corona. The fruity tasting IPA put Switzerland into the last 8 of my beer World Cup. Get in!!!
Three nil Switzerland! EASY! EASY! EASY!
Belgium V Colombia
Belgium had a tough close encounter with England to come top of Beer Group G, but just got there in the end as group winners. Colombia came close with Poland in their group, Beer Group H, but qualified in second place.
Wow, here we go, still reeling, still fucked from it. Jessenhofke TRPL of Belgium had a lovely fruity bier, that was at 8% ,perhaps a it too much to take on Club Colombia, which was off to a slow start, one nil to Belgium.
Was able for another beer, but when a Belgian BRWN was lining up, it was time to take break! The Black tasty beer was always going to beat Club Colombia lager, no contest!
2 nil to the Belgians:
Next up it was Kamil, and by that stage I was phished. Wasn’t from the Club Colombia, I tell you. Kamil a beer that was very appetizing and hit the spot, 3-0 whitewash to Belgium, and they head to the last 8 of my Beer World Cup.
Germany V Serbia
Germany 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 here. Serbia also had little problems in getting out of Beer Group E, albeit in second place to Switzerland.
Zombräu Brauer & Co., Funky trout n Pretty sperm whale!
Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose kabinet beer
Close enough game in my beer World Cup last 16 game. Brauer & Co., with a nice Radler which was exactly what I needed after the heavy drinking of the day before, something nice and light to get today’s drinking underway. Did the business but truth be told a radler will never be a match for a full bodied beer full of tasty hops such was Kabinet’s Mozart IPA, one nil to Serbia.
After that it was Zombräu with a very interesting and very tasty porter with whiskey aromas and flavours, a bit weird and too strange for my taste-buds I have to say, and for this reason I give it a draw against another Mozart from Kabinet.
Final match up to decide who goes through, was another salty gose Döllnitzer Ritterguts, and again Mozart from Kabinet. A close contest, I liked both beers, both had their own unique tastes, but will give the victory to Germany, as Gose is a new style that I am really getting into, while Mozart is an IPA (American Pale Ale!), regular enough and not bad, but there are tonnes of them around! 2-1 to Germany!
England V Poland
England 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. Poland also did well to come tops in Beer Group H.
London Pride Tyskie Gronie
Close match-up, but in essence, London Pride is a far superior beer, in terms of taste and flavours, and more enjoyable,sorry Tyskie.
causing all sorts of problems on both wings, Barrios working hard as a defensive midfielder, while James Rod was doing his thing in the centre of the park. It was all Colombia and Poland had nothing to stop them.
Good start to the game from Senegal, and sure enough it didn’t take long for them to take the lead. A lucky goal but Mané wont mind, capitalizing on a bad mistake by the Japanese goalie, Kawashima, who palmed the ball straight into the path of the Senegalese striker. What a gift for Senegal to take the lead.
Colombia on the other hand, were lucky. I dont 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 today, 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 in 5 days, then I cant see them causing Belgium or England too many problems. 
It was a big game for both teams, a win was needed, lose and you are out of the World Cup. The atmosphere was electric (mostly thanks to the Colombian fans) and the tension high. Poland started livelier but as the game went on there was really only one team in this game, Colombia!
But Japan came back with a lovely goal by Inui, who placed it lovely into the back of the net, great goal and a nice run and pass from by Nagatomoto set it all up. Senegal were sitting on their lead by this time and deserved to be punished. 
But once again, Senegal decided to site on their lead and once again they were punished for some diabolical defending and play. A goal keeping mistake from K N’Diaye, where he completely missed the ball not once but twice, let Honda tap in for the equaliser. 
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.
Belgium started with much more intensity, and I guess after looking at the England game, they knew that if they get at Tunisia from the get go they might crumble early. And so they did, very early in fact, after about 6 minutes, with Hazard getting and scoring a penalty. We didn’t have to wait long for the next one, ten minutes in fact, for Lukaku to score a nice goal that was well set up. 
Tunisia got one back, but they were never at the races today. Belgium looked good, particularly De Bruyne quietly going about his business behind the forwards, making most of the build up play and assisting in a few of the goals for today. Also for me, Vertonghen in central defence has had a good world cup so far, marshaling his back four very well, a good rock at the back. 
Stones got a free header from a corner, as the Panamanian defenders were more into WWF than concentrating on how to actual defend a set piece. Then shortly after, Lingard was brought down for a penalty which Kane easily dispatched off. Lingard, again, scored a cracking curler in the tip right corner for the third goal. This was getting too easy for England. 
Started off pretty slow. Januzaj though shaked it up, scoring with a cracker of a goal, a lovely long range effort that flew in. 
For Switzerland V Serbia it truly was a game of two halves, really. Mitrovic scored early doors, from an excellent cross by Tadic, who only a minute beforehand had whipped in a virtually similar cross into the box. This time they scored, and Mitrovic and Tadic were combining well all first half, with most play coming down the left side. At the other end of the pitch, their defence was again solid, the Swiss just couldn’t get pass them at all. 
It was amazing what a goal can do, for the Swiss it reinvigorated them while totally shocked the Serbs who looked like it drained them of all their energy. Shaqiri hit the post with a wonder strike, and you could sense that perhaps there was a win for this Swiss team. Well in the 90 minute that goal came, and Shaqiri was the man to take all the credit, on the break calming slotting it past the on running goal, you just knew he wasn’t going to miss from there. Brilliant, what a turnaround for the Swiss. 
Neymar was active, and he forced Navas off his line to save, early on. He also had another good chance to score but for the reaction save of Navas again. Neymar had the chances but looked a little off the pace just ever so slightly. Remember he still isn’t completely back to full fitness. But it wasn’t all Neymar, Coutinho had a cracking game, with all the good moves starting with him on the ball first. 
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.
It was amazing what a goal can do, for the Swiss it reinvigorated them while totally shocked the Serbs who looked like it drained them of all their energy. Shaqiri hit the post with a wonder strike, and you could sense that perhaps there was a win for this Swiss team. Well in the 90 minute that goal came, and Shaqiri was the man to take all the credit, on the break calming slotting it past the on running goal, you just knew he wasn’t going to miss from there. Brilliant, what a turnaround for the Swiss. 
Neymar was active, and he forced Navas off his line to save, early on. He also had another good chance to score but for the reaction save of Navas again. Neymar had the chances but looked a little off the pace just ever so slightly. Remember he still isn’t completely back to full fitness. But it wasn’t all Neymar, Coutinho had a cracking game, with all the good moves starting with him on the ball first. 
Colindres had a few chances, hitting the crossbar with a great shot, unlucky not to score, then twice in the box failing to square a ball he shoots and misses, twice he did that, greedy bastard. 
Lichtsteiner, the prick, ended up getting a deserved yellow for a bad tackle which means he will miss the next game, a big loss to the team. What an idiot.
For South Korea, in their last game V Mexico, crikey they could have had ten yellow cards for all the misplaced tackles they did,, rather than the measly 4 they got. They just didn’t have the players to do anything substantial in this World Cup, albeit Son Heung-Min played much better, was lively throughout, had a rake of chances, and managed to score a cracker of a goal. We wont mention the simple chance he had well before!
German started off fine, stretching Sweden down both flanks, but Sweden showed they could be dangerous early on when Neuer made himself big for Berg to hit it straight at him when through. That was the big scare that should have woken the Germans up.
Now surely Germany would ease to victory and get that second goal. Or so we thought, but the minutes started to tick away, and then Boateng got himself sent off for a silly reckless challenge. It was hard with 11, now it was going to be near impossible with only 10. 
Saw the second half of this game. Wow, what can I say? Germany playing like there was lead in their boots, shameful from a team with such quality, or at least apparent quality. Low should have freshened this team up, he had 4 years to do so, yet he played players that were/are living of their World Cup win of 2014. PFA young player of the year, Leroy Sane on his couch looking at this shite, most be laughing his hole off. 
Respect
Mexico got the penalty in the first half, a definite peno, don’t know what the Korean defender was doing flying in with his hands up. Nice penalty from Vela, about all he did in the game. 
R Márquez made an appearance and proceeded to have a brain freeze gifting the ball to Min, who should have done better. Corona came on and I was wondering what Porto got for their 10 million, as he barely made a forward run at all, tripping up over the ball at times. Anyway Korea pulled one back and Mexico held on, just about. 
But it didn’t, and in the 32nd minute Toivonen was through, and somehow chipped Neuer from nearly an impossible angle, one nil to Sweden, oh heck! Claesson, later then had a great chance to make it two nil, but he was let down by a terrible first touch, on a 2 v 1 break. Tut tut.
Gomez missed a point blank sitter, amazing really how he can call himself a striker, then Brandt hit the post with a long range effort, Robin Olsen the Swedish goalkeeper in between making a number of excellent saves. The Swedish back line were under all sorts of pressure. With only about 30 seconds of the allotted time left, Jimmy Durmaz, with the paedo like beard, gave a silly free kick away on the edge of the box. This was surely the last chance for the Germans, it was a tight enough angle but no bother for Kroos who, with a quick one two with Reus, smashed it over the wall into the net. Brilliant recovery from Germany, and they are still in this years World Cup. PHEW, my heart!
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 today. 
And then the fucking imbecile of a manager takes off Agüero to further make Messi’s life harder. Bringing on Higuaín (did he even touch the ball?) is neither here not there, take off a fucking midfielder ffs!!!! 
Nigeria can be very disjointed at times, and terrible to watch on occasion, but when they click boy do they click. Its really all about confidence. They also got some half decent players. Moses is such an awkward player, at times he can be an ass taking potshots from all angles, but other times like today he was opening up the space on the wing and doing so much running at the Icelandic defence, that he had a huge effect on the game. Then you got Musa, who did very little in the first half, but was extraordinary in the second. Two absolutely brilliant goals, one taken from a quick break, again on the counter, he flicked it up and banged in into the bag of the net, every schoolboys dream, brilliant. The other, running with amazing speed, beating the defence and the goalie at will, back of the net. Brilliant.
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 would only introduce Aguero with about 12 minutes left in the clock, and start 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. 
Croatia knew exactly how to exploit the narrow shape of Argentina in their last game, by pining it along the wings and spraying it left to right and vice a versa. It also helped that the, Argentinean goalkeeper, Caballero, his brain went away without leave, gifting Rebic a free strike, which he took superbly. After that Argentina were always playing catch up. Croatia had so many more chances, and sure enough another goal came for Croatia, and what a goal it was. Modric creating space for himself to curl a lovely ball into the corner of the net, top class stuff. Rakitic, who had a good game overall, apart from his playacting, then hit the post, but got another chance to get on the score sheet, minutes later, when he had an easy conversion from a square ball to simply place it into the net. Argentina were dead and buried, from Croatia with love, thank you very much, 3-0.
Nigeria can be very disjointed at times, and terrible to watch on occasion, but when they click boy do they click. Its really all about confidence. They absolutely took apart Iceland. Moses was opening up the space on the wing and doing so much running at the Icelandic defence, that he had a huge effect on the game. Then you got Musa, who did very little in the first half, but was extraordinary in the second. Two absolutely brilliant goals, one taken from a quick break, again on the counter, he flicked it up and banged in into the bag of the net, every schoolboys dream, brilliant. The other, running with amazing speed, beating the defence and the goalie at will, back of the net. Brilliant. Iceland were ran ragged. 
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.