World Cup 2018

[Marc]

Fair point. Honestly, for a Southerner like me the English climate is jus as bad the Swedish one. The closest I got to it was living in The Netherlands for more than a year, and I just  hated the rain, the rain, the rain, the never, never, never, never ending rain...

Hell, yeah! Do I love this "what you see is what you get" attitude. 

|Oh, I'll certainly give you ABBA over Samantha Fox any time of the day. As for me, I prefer Schubert to both. 

Just kidding, I actually prefer BZN. 

Of all these, BZN most certainly has got most inventive bass parts!

[Florestan]

Of all these, BZN most certainly has got most inventive bass parts!

Seriously now, I wouldn't go as far as to put their bass above Schubert's but I quite like their music. It's one of my (many) guilty pleasures in this respect.

[Zeus]

My predictions:
France over Uruguay
Belgium over Brazil
Russia over Croatia
England over Sweden

Not necessarily what I want to happen.  I will be rooting for Croatia.

[Florestan]

I will be rooting for Croatia.

A man after my own heart. 

[Marc]

Seriously now, I wouldn't go as far as to put their bass above Schubert's but I quite like their music. It's one of my (many) guilty pleasures in this respect.

Not to worry, I wasn't serious.
And don't feel guilty about pleasures, I would like to add.

[vandermolen]

Disturbing:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/983716/england-colombia-fifa-world-cup-2018-penalties-death-threats-escobar

[eljr]

My predictions:
France over Uruguay
Belgium over Brazil
Russia over Croatia
England over Sweden

Not necessarily what I want to happen.  I will be rooting for Croatia.

Who I'd like to win,
Uruguay
Belgium
Croatia
Sweden

[Gurn Blanston]

My predictions:
France over Uruguay
Belgium over Brazil
Russia over Croatia
England over Sweden

Not necessarily what I want to happen.  I will be rooting for Croatia.

For me,

Croatia
Uruguay
England
Belgium

No hope for that lineup, but there you have it.

[vandermolen]

Who I'd like to win,
Uruguay
Belgium
Croatia
Sweden

What? No England! 

I think that France have a good chance of winning the whole thing.

[eljr]

I think that France have a good chance of winning the whole thing.

They can sure throw themselves to the ground and roll around as good as anybody.

I am so sick of the horrible officiating of which allowing this is a part.

It is just so hard for this American to enjoy soccer with all the manifestations of poor control of the rules.

[Zeus]

Brazil, Belgium... the two best teams in the tournament so far, imho.

Here goes....

0-0 after 120 minutes?  Or a slugfest?

[Marc]

I'm not entirely 'happy' with Belgium not chasing after the ball at an earlier stage, but Brazil didn't manage to punish them, and with a.o. De Bruyne in a different position, Belgium seems more dangerous in ball possession than ever before during this tournament.
2-0 for my neighbours. It's impressive (so far).

And luckilly, so far also a very good match, without much dirtly little fouls and diving.

[eljr]

Brazil, Belgium... the two best teams in the tournament

totally agree

[Marc]

Brazil deserved a penalty kick earlier in the 2nd half.
Now it's 2-1... Belgium needs soms substitutions, otherwise they could get slaughtered like they slaughtered Japan themselves.

[Marc]

Lukaku off... strange.
I would have picked one of the tired looking midfielders...

[Marc]

Neymar just can't help himself. That was a little foul on him, he dived almost into the back of the net and this ref doesn't appreciate his theatre.

Brazil deserves an equalizer though. Just 3 minutes to 'fix' that.

[Marc]

Congrats to me neighbours.
They were the luckiest in a great and exciting match.

Hehe... here, in the north of NL, there are now some crazy Dutchmen doing a little fireworks spectacle.

This Brazilian team was much better than their squad in 2014, yet they didn't get that far.

So, it's France against Belgium for the 1st semi-final, isn't it? Very interesting.

[Florestan]

A very good game. Belgium was better in the first half, Brazil in the second. They would have deserved an equalizer but all in all I am pleased with the result. And I agree with all of Marc's comments.

[Ken B]

They can sure throw themselves to the ground and roll around as good as anybody.

I am so sick of the horrible officiating of which allowing this is a part.

It is just so hard for this American to enjoy soccer with all the manifestations of poor control of the rules.

It's a cheater's game.
[insert snarky comment about that's why it's popular in Europe here]

[Marc]

Russia - Croatia: insane intensity.

(Earlier today I fell asleep during Sweden - England.)