FIFA World Cup 2018

junoreactor · July 4, 2018, 10:44am

Thanks!

Icon · July 4, 2018, 11:50am

The Simpsons predicted it again:

FB_IMG_1530704840569

And South Africa’s KFC has the best spoof:

shiadoa · July 4, 2018, 1:03pm

hehe

shiadoa · July 5, 2018, 5:00am

bojack · July 5, 2018, 5:30am

Because of 2am matches next Wednesday and Thursday, those are going to be tough days.

If it’s Brazil-France at 2am Wednesday, no way I can miss that and highlights won’t do. I may wimp out on Thursday early, depends.

the_bear · July 5, 2018, 6:11am

But 10 pm Saturday for the big one, Poms against IKEA. How massive is that going to be here?

hannes · July 5, 2018, 6:14am

Sure it will be Ikea and not Volvo? Or elks?

Icon · July 5, 2018, 6:15am

Wake me up if Brazil starts to lose. Otherwise, Zzzzz.

bojack · July 5, 2018, 6:27am

Eh. Rumor has it that if bamboo toothpicks are left against eyelids for too long they’ll grow their way right through. Not sure I can risk that, not after Sweden-Switzerland. And I don’t think England will need my ventilated eyes to win.

hannes · July 5, 2018, 6:31am

And they will definitely play added time and have a penalty shoot out for good measure.

the_bear · July 5, 2018, 6:42am

No, its Ikea.

hannes · July 5, 2018, 7:06am

Well, then, let’s play hard and they’ll fall apart.

shiadoa · July 5, 2018, 3:07pm

I call it optimism
My Swedish friend sent this. Let the games commence.

shiadoa · July 5, 2018, 4:00pm

shiadoa · July 5, 2018, 4:10pm

shiadoa · July 5, 2018, 4:37pm

IKEA has been accused of evading over £500m in taxes.

Apparently, prosecutors have been after IKEA for years, but they’re having a really hard time putting their case together.

bojack · July 5, 2018, 5:10pm

Two teams have made evolutionary jumps in improvement this WC, Brazil and France. Every time I watch these national teams play I think they looked exponentially better than the game before.

Uruguay, too, but it looks like Edinson Cavani won’t be around to help Luis Suarez, which could be fatal against France.

That kind of evolution hasn’t been true yet for Belgium, Croatia, England, Sweden, or Russia.

Chances are good that Brazil will look exponentially better against Belgium than it did against Argentina. I think that France will follow suit against Uruguay, despite the absence of Cavani. So far I see these two teams as the best in the tournament; it’s a shame they’ll meet in the semis instead of the finals (thanks to Germany’s early exit, the other bracket is probably there for either Croatia or England).

And I’ve seen too many 19-year-old athletes blossom like supernovas to think that France-Brazil could be a sleeper. Mbappe showed world class speed - world class burst - in the match against Argentina. That he would push a pass so far into the penalty box that even he couldn’t catch up, and get fouled intentionally by his defender anyway, tells me that we may be watching something special for France. Like, even more special than Neymar.

hannes · July 5, 2018, 11:40pm

I favor France too and like them best of the remaining teams, cause I want to see Mbappe shine some more.

Neymar’s antics have really gotten in the way of Brazil being a likable team.

Belgium is OK, but they don’t really excite me.

Uruguay can be exciting, but Suarez has always rubbed me the wrong way. Has he bitten anyone yet?

Russia, wouldn’t be far-fetched if rumors of systematic doping would bubble up again. Also, don’t want to see Putin smiling again.

I have always a hard time warming up to them. Never liked the attitude of players like Mandzukic.

Schweden, well organized, good on defense, but utterly boring.

England, always on the brink of being over-confident before having accomplished much. If they were more humble, I’d like them to win, perhaps.

DrewC · July 6, 2018, 12:47am

Wish Japan had gotten through.

Belgian_Pie · July 6, 2018, 4:16am

Tonight B. vs B.!

Neymar seemingly spent 18 min total on the ground pretending being hurt. Expect a long overtime.