It’s time for history and legend to meld in the form of the greatest spectacle in all of sport, the World Cup final. You can debate the perceived strengths and shortcomings of each nation, but there’s no denying that these are the two most deserving sides in the competition.
On July 15, 2018, France and Croatia will meet at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to contest the final of the World Cup. It’ll be a matchup of the two most deserving teams, but you can’t help but feel that England missed out on a massive opportunity after looking in the ascendency for the better part of the opening hour today.
Sweden was sent packing by England after a 2-0 defeat in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. The Swedes showed the world that they were there to really have a go at the tournament, making it out of a group that barely anyone gave them a chance in.
However, while Sweden’s players will no doubt be proud of their achievement, there was one little bit of negativity that arose from it — a piece of negativity to the tune of $66,000. More specifically, Andreas Granqvist’s socks are going to cost him $66,000. Clear enough for you?
After England made it through to the World Cup semifinals with a 2-0 victory over Sweden, English fans went berserk. In Samara, Russia, fans behaved themselves, but in East London, fans had another thing in mind: the local Ikea store.
Many videos went viral as England fans raided the Ikea store singing the lyrics to “Three Lions,” all while jumping on the Swedish company’s beds.
Japan’s entire 2018 World Cup cycle was something of a bitter complaint. Yes, the Samurai Blue qualified for a sixth straight tournament, but manager Vahid Halilhodzic was fired ten weeks before the finals for doing things like losing to the UAE and drawing with Iraq. To begin World Cup play, Japan recorded a 2-1 win over Colombia but somehow managed to look second-best despite playing 87 minutes with a man advantage.
The opening 20 minutes of Mexico versus Brazil couldn’t have gone any better from an El Tri perspective. Carlos Vela and Andres Guardado were finding joy on the left with Fagner looking set for a nightmare. Chucky looked dangerous. But more importantly, Philippe Coutinho and Neymar hardly got a sniff of the ball with Rafa Marquez, Edson Alvarez and Hugo Ayala all taking turns putting the Brazilians on their backs.
The first four minutes of Croatia versus Denmark was the most lit beginning to any knockout stage match ever. I can factually say that because it was the first match in knockout history to feature two goals in the opening four minutes of play.
Denmark’s opener in the first minute was due to an error by Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic (remember the name). That was the last error he'd ever make. It was a dream start for the underdogs.
Spain controlled nearly 80 percent of possession, out-passed Russia 1,005 to 191 and attempted 24 shots compared to Russia’s seven, but all those stats are so entirely meaningless in the face of what’s transpired today: Russia has stunned Spain on penalties thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.
Russia, with 80,000 countrymen cheering them on in Moscow, were stone cold in the shootout, burying all four kicks form the spot. Spain, on the other hand, saw Rodrigo’s shot saved before Akinfeev denied Iago Aspas with a wonder stop.
When the groups were announced for the 2018 World Cup, people would have bet the house on Germany to make it into the knockout rounds in a group alongside Mexico, Sweden and South Korea. But if you believe in superstitions, then you would have seen Germany crashing out of the group stages, as the last three European World Cup winners before them had the same fate.
Instead, Sweden finished at the top of Group F. But, how did a team that didn’t have much expectation from the public achieve what many thought was highly unlikely?
It’s official. Panama will be the 2018 World Cup last place team, finishing 32nd out of 32 teams in Russia. Los Canaleros were in the World Cup for the first time, but other than a goal against England, it was a tournament to forget.
In a tournament with surprising parity throughout, Panama was the lone outlier, piling up poor results and not exactly bringing pride to the Concacaf region.