The World cup is heating up, as six of the eight places left in the competition have been filled. Uruguay beat Portugal and France saw off Argentina to knock both Ronaldo and Messi out on the same day. It could very well be the last World Cup we see the two superstars at, as both will be in their late 30’s when the next one comes along.
Uruguay and France will play each other and Brazil will face Belgium, who narrowly beat Japan last night, scoring in the final minute of the game.
Russia were the surprise winners against Spain on penalties, as the hosts showed grit and determination to hold Spain to a draw in normal time.
They will now face Croatia in the quarter final, as they scraped a win over Denmark on penalties. Kaspar Shmeichel did everything he could to try and keep his country in the competition, having played excellently all game, even saving a penalty by Luka Modric in extra time. Croatia showed resilience and won in the penalty shootout.
Today’s matches will be interesting. If England can get through Colombia (which is no easy task), then they will have an excellent chance of making the Semi-finals of the World Cup. Sweden and Switzerland make up the other last 16 fixture, and England would be the favourites against one of them if they were to progress. Although, this is the same country that lost to Iceland at the Euro’s, so who knows?
They seem to have improved though, and it seems the team has a lot of potential to beat Colombia and Sweden/Switzerland to make it to the Semi’s.
This World Cup is very unpredictable, with most of the favourites now out of the competition. It has made it more exciting in that way, with many of the teams who would have been predicted to win have severely underperformed, such as Germany and Argentina.
The next stage will be very interesting, As either Belgium or Brazil will be knocked out, leaving it open for France to take advantage and possibly win the whole thing. But with this World Cup, who knows what will happen?
John McAuliffe