This is it! #WorldCup FINAL DAY! As a last #AWCHQ preview for #FRACRO, here’s what that FourFourTwo guide I bought said about these teams. First, alphabetically, Croatia:

Most Likely To… – Fail to live up to a billing of dark horses. Croatia are long shots to be long shots.

What Croatia Hope Will Happen – Apart from to match the achievement of Croatia’s bronze-winning heroes of ’98 and win back the nation’s hearts…?

What Will Happen – If they don’t

Read the rest “”

WHAT a gameday. #URU v #FRA & #BRA v #BEL in quarterfinals. South America v Europe, fought on two fronts! Too bad I have to “work”; I’ll be sneak-watching #URUFRA & time-shifting #BRABEL. What does this amazing #WorldCup have in store today? #AWCHQ ⚽️

Probably long past the point of spoiling today’s games, but: both of today’s games were good, and the 2nd (#BEL v #JPN) was amazing. Just rewatched the 2nd half: no bunkering, no fouling, no crying for fouls, just attack, attack, attack. So fantastic. #AWCHQ ⚽️

From a preview magazine published before a ball was even kicked at this #WorldCup… no pressure, Messi. #AWCHQ #FRAARG ⚽️
"The World Cup is like a gun to Messi's Head"

Well, that ended things with a whimper. Disappointing. If you skip them all today, you’re honestly not missing that much, but if you want to put one on, make it Senegal v Colombia, I guess. #AWCHQ #ENGBEL #PANTUN ⚽️

When I saw the lineups for #ENGBEL I thought: okay, B teams, but maybe they’ll come out & play, and it can still be a fun game… Nope, not so far it ain’t. Think I’ll put #PANTUN on my main screen for the second half. #AWCHQ ⚽️

The Guardian’s Marina Hyde on #ENG’s unknown unknowns:

“I don’t know what is happening, but… I think I like it? I certainly like the fact that most England fans’ joy cheerfully acknowledges that it’ll probably go tits-up any minute”
#AWCHQ #ENGBEL ⚽️

And here come the final two games of the 2018 #WorldCup group stage. Between that performance in #JPN v #POL and all this talk of #ENGBEL being a fight for second, I’m pretty worried these games will be boring. Let’s see! #AWCHQ #PANTUN ⚽️

Well, that ended… interestingly. Today’s games had a few moments of excitement, but also a lot of group-stage scenario calculations. Senegal v Colombia is okay, but if you missed both of these you didn’t miss much, in my opinion.