Sweden has already done its best World Cup since the legendary '94 World Cup. We don't play pretty but we manage to not concede goals and despite out lack of great forwards we do manage to make a goal here and there to get the win. So hard to say where this team ranks among all the others. What can be said is that we have a nice road in front of us. We can definitely beat England. And then, if we do, we have Russia or Croatia who I also think we have a chance against. The other side of the bracket seems a lot harder on paper; Brazil, Uruguay, Belgium and France.

Glad to see England advance though. In Sweden games against England have lot's more history to them than games against Colombia. And for me personally I have a good eye towards England since I used to live there for a period of time. Should be a fun game!

[/quote]

The worst thing for Spain is that taking a look to the potential rivals a final was more than posible, they will never have it easier than in this World Cup.

Very solid team, a great defense and they always have a couple of chances to score a goal, something they are doing. I do hope they can beat England and reach the semifinals!

Is it just me, or did the Swedes get better, when Zlatan the Satan is not in their ranks? Anyway, if Croatia doesn't win, I hope our neighbours do. They played nice football yesterday.

Few spare days before the games continue. What should we do with our lives now? Probably listen some music.

Without Zlatan we went back to what we know best, being a team and focus on defence. We don't have the star centred football culture. But we also have a new coach which is a big reason as well. Who knows how things would be with the current coach Janne Andersson and Zlatan. Maybe it would work better than under former coach Hamrén.

I only use it on international forums so that even those American weirdos with their lack of English get it

The team is now much more balanced. I think that the hyper ego of Zlatan didnt suit the traditional Swedish view of how a team should work.

I call it football here. This is a World Cup thread. Even the most clueless American/Canadian/Australian who happens to click this thread will know exactly what you mean when you say "football" fro crying out loud.

Anyway, back on topic: The QFs look pretty interesting on paper

I like that one of the "small" countries will get into the finals this year (emerging from the right bracket).
Although Russia and England are not small, possibly being in the final is huge for them. Its even a bigger deal for Sweden and Croatia.

Well, those who were doubting of France for today's match finally got their answer. We played very well even though the referee let several hard actions. We fulfilled our promise, which was to reach the semi-final. Let's see what will happen from now on.

Man, Courtois is a legend.

My God, those Devils did it.... I expected a 2-1 victory for Brazil, but Belgium resisted and Belgium won with 2-1. Brazil did give em hell though, especially in the second half. Holy shit. Belgium back to the semi-finals; this has not happened since Mexico 1986 (beaten by Argentina in the semi-finals).

So we're among the final 4 teams. Belgium vs France next. The country went crazy today wow!
Tomorrow we'll know the other 2 semi-finalists. I expect Croatia to beat Russia. And eventhough I'd like Sweden
to win, I think somehow England will eventually win with dirty tactics :/

I was also thinking about this doom scenario where Russia eventually wins this cup somehow. Because you gotta admit, Russia not among the final 4 when they're hosting the cup, how would Putin receive that.....

Funny you mention this, since this picture leaked a couple of hours ago (from a very reliable source)

Ahahah great picture!

I can't really make any predictions now on who's going to win. Weird af WC. Lots of own goals and GK blunders, great football from small countries, lots of disappointments from the sharks, terrible usage of the VAR. One thing I know for sure: I wouldn't like to see France win it.

Haha there are a LOT of football memes on my facebook, especially concerning Belgium. I really laugh hard.



Now the big mess is comin'. France against Belgium. What a fratricide it's gonna be! We'll teach you how to count and how to say 70, 80 and 90 properly... (a joke that only Belgian people can understand).

More seriously, I'm starting to worrying a lot about this team.

I myself keep forgetting what I learned at school; nonante-neuf or quatre-vingt-dix-neuf. Can't remember which one was to be used for France/Wallonia. Oh this is gonna be fun when if i ever go to the bakery in France, haha. Now what happens if you say the wrong expression in French speaking Canada, are they gonna look at me like an extraterrestrial alien ?

btw: the Belgian assistent-coach is Thierry Henry so the match against France is going to hurt either way for Henry. That has to suck... :/

hehe

I must confess I'm absolutely DELIGHTED to see Brazil out, they're always very arrogant. And I can't stand Gaymar.

France says "quatre-vingt-dix-neuf" which is one of the most illogical things I've ever learned... actually French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland ways are way more coherent and logical. Anyway, I have several friends in Belgium so this is gonna be fun like you said! I'm very glad your team won over Brazil, even though it would have been more suitable for us if Brazil would have won because we always won against them.

Same here, haha!

Was rocking the night with local bands (second rate Purples and Sabbaths). Just in time to catch the end of the match, and Croatia is winning! The dream still lives! Belgium versus Croatia would be the ideal final, if the diagram goes that way.

And just now Russia scores, oh well...

Yeah motherfuckers!!!
Shit... tight game though

Russia out of the game (I bet Putin is making dubious phone calls right now ). It was a tough and thrilling game though. When Croatia scored the 2-1 tiebreaker in the first extension, i thought they had it in the pocket, but then unexpectedly in the final minutes of the final extension, the Russians did score the equalizer. That stadium with probably 90% Russians went totally crazy.

But equalizing the game in the extension means... those friggin penalty kicks, aaarghhh... Still it was a thrill till the last kick, but Croatia won with that last penalty kick. Oophhhh glad this is over, but a tough night it will be for all of Russia. Was surprised they made it to the quarter finals, and this was a suprisingly strong game from the Russians, but the Croatians won the 'draw'.

Up next: it's the final four teams now; France vs Belgium and England vs Croatia

woa I'm already reimagining a possible re-match between Belgium and England, after that horrible 'dragon' of a game where no one wanted to win.. Either in the finals or that third place honour game right before the final... haha this time it will be for real if this happens, prepare yourself England! !

I enjoyed both games. England looked comfortable in a quarter final!?!

I expect Croatia to lose against England, it'll require the English team to collapse under emotional pressure for us to have a decent chance of winning. Which I doubt will happen. Or the Croatian team to recuperate from injuries and general exhaustion after this surprisingly tough match (which, however, looked better for us in the second half). Which again I doubt will happen till Wednesday. Still hoping for a third place though!

Glad to see Russia play a serious game instead of lolling around hoping for penalties. This one went the distance for the right reason, that both teams competed fully. (And because Perisic blorped a shot off the post with Akinfeev nowhere to be seen, luckily he got away with it.)

About the Belgian French debate, in Canada we are taught to say 70, 80 and 90 the chunky mainland French way. Though I also had a Belgian teacher for a couple years, who snuck the septante, octante and nonnante in there too.

Croatia almost played an additional full match if we accumulate all the additional time they got since the beginning of the cup. Seeing them yesterday, they seemed completely exhausted. They don't have much time to rest. I think they will crack sooner or later during the match against England.

On the other side, I saw plenty of memes or polls on the Internet choosing France as the big favorite of the Cup. Well, thanks dudes but I'm not that optimistic. They don't have the stats: Each time we faced the Belgians we lost. Last time we faced them, we lost 2 - 0 and they had the exact same team as now. But at the same time, we didn't. Belgian defense is okay though not exceptional, however, their attack is incredible. But we have a very strong defense and attack now. If Giroud, Mbappé, and Kanté do their very best, like Giroud blocking all the players like he did with Uruguay, Mbappé running at the speed of light and Kanté pretty much the same, there's a chance for us.

So the final would be France versus England? Oh boy... Shit's going down like in 1337... But if on Tuesday Belgium win, I really wish they would be the champions.

So, who would you guys like to see in the final? I personally would like it to be Belgium x Croatia.

Would like it to be Belgium vs Croatia too but have a feeling that'll be the third place playoff. Croatia barely scraped past Denmark and Russia so I'm not optimistic about their chances against England, although France vs Belgium is a little harder to predict and should be a cracker.

As a bitter Scot it is my duty to support whoever plays England, but I honestly think at this stage they'll win it. They seem to be getting better as the tournament progresses whereas the others seem to have shown their hands already. One of my best mates is Scouse and I'll never hear the end of it if England do manage to win. Needless to say it was better when Liverpool couldn't qualify for Europe and England were losing to Iceland

its bizarre how croatia managed to get to the semis they were and are not really playing well. its definitely a weird WC.

also belgium is our alt not germanies >:(

France for me (like if it wasn't too much obvious for now). Our coach has won everything: world cup in 1998 as a player, France championship, European cup etc... So why not a world title?

Despite my pessimism regarding the Croatia v. England match, IF it comes to penalties... I think Croatia will fare better.

As much as I'd like a Belgium vs. Croatia final... I doubt it's gonna happen. One of those teams won't make it. Or perhaps even both. Smaller countries tend to eventually go out even if they have great teams. I guess it's also a mental thing.

A France vs. England final? Ugh. I'd hate to see either country getting a 2nd World Cup trophy.

I'd like to see Belgium win it the most.

I was rooting for Belgium, quite sad to see the game turn out the way it did. Great match though, very balanced, Belgium never lost their cool throughout. If England beat Croatia, I hope the French lose against them.

While technically good, I found the game to be quite boring (only saw the second half, though). Some horrible time-wasting from the French, too.

Festivus, it's fine, just as long as we don't have to see that one smug Portuguese chipmunk lift the cup!

Count me in! I don´t want a England-France final but who knows what will happen….

I was expecting more from Belgium, but France controlled the match after the goal. Belgium had some serious chances to score a goal but they should have done something more in the last minutes. I hated the attitude of some French players in the last minutes.

I do hope Croatia can win today!!!

Big game today for a Croatia fan! But if they don't win the cup, I hope England does. A mild Hail to England from this couch. Just somehow can't stand France. I do like Zidane though. He was a gifted player. Feel sad how his career ended; some useless Italian talking shit.

It seems France is really taking it home. I don't see Croatia nor England beating them, they're very solid. And as hard as it is for me to admit it, they deserve to win it.

World Cup isn't about seeing little countries you never saw reaching the last matches because it's fun, it's about being the best. England will kick Croatia out because they are completely exhausted and unprepared and the final will be France - England.

Good match played by both teams yesterday. Thanks to our new President Mr Hugo Lloris we didn't even take a goal. Hazard was just a beast, he was freaking me out each time he was starting an attack. The strategy of coach Deschamps worked: we totally eclipsed other big attackers like Lukaku.

Argentina, Uruguay and now Belgium. I think the worst is done. If Croatia win we will beat them for sure, if it's England it's not so sure but now I'm optimistic. I think we are by now the only country to have not lost a single match since the beginning.

Don't know why so many people spit on France, it's been twenty years since we won. Since we lost everything and at some point, we all were ashamed of our team. Big troubles, bad cohesion and the worst mentality ever... It was so frustrating to lose against Portugal two years ago for the European Cup. Deschamps came and did a huge job with hiring very young and promising players. He deserves to win. Last time we won, it was almost 20 years ago day-for-day. On this specific day, I was born. Now today I turned twenty.

And yes, I was truly ashamed of how the match ended... In every sport, everywhere, the winner always manages to spare a few seconds before the end but the way we did was clearly stupid. I hope the coach will tell him. Such a bad way to end a good match.

One thing is for sure: if the final ends up being France x England then I won't even watch it.