France is the scariest team. I am not sure who to root for France or Spain.
One good news about the rule of yellow cards. They get wiped out in the semi-final round. This gives England a big relief as 4 players on the England team got yellow cards including Jude Bellingham. They now can play without worrying about getting another yellow and getting sent off.
Yet the scale and intensity of the displeasure and conspiracy theorieshas escalated during the knockout stages of the competition. Some have been outbursts without any evidence at all, a heartbroken nation kicking and screaming in the immediate aftermath of defeat, and some stem from well-founded concerns about the processes of the decision-makers involved.
What is clear is that FIFA’s approach to transparency and governance often gives succor to those most inclined to push unevidenced conspiracies and allows even those of us who largely view the world through logic to question how, exactly, decisions have been taken and the motivations behind them.
ayy just remember me when lamine yamal scores 2 and knocks out France like last year and how he knocked France at 16
Argentina is my guess to take the Cup.
My husband the military history buff wants agincourt redux in the final after goose green redux this week 
Kudos to Spain! Played magnificently.
ETA: It’s fun arguing with family about who we are supporting. My DIL does NOT want England, saying their fans are horrible. I countered with the fact that Argentina harbored Nazis! lol
At this point I think it’s Spain. They made it look easy against France.
We are rooting for ABA - anyone but Argentina! Otherwise our Brazilian futbol fans will not talk to us! 
I’m so sad! And on Bastille Day too! 
I’ll be rooting for England now with H.
Any team but Argentina. Argentina has scraped by with a big dose of help from the refs for quite few games.
Not all England fans are bad! We have lots of England fans in our family and will be rooting for them if they make it through.
Take it up with my DIL! lol I don’t know why she thinks they are worse than any other fans. Argentina fans were caught being racist to opposing players. That’s why I said it was funny how people slice and dice their fandom!
lol.
He has been absolutely brilliant at creating a “brand”. Not saying he consciously has done so. But so so valuable in terms of sponsorships etc. Worth tens of millions $$$$.
He is blessed with the magical (money-making) quality of authenticity.
We’ve had a banner year for authenticity and joy in sports IMO, between Alyssa Liu and the Knicks and now these great World Cup characters. I’m loving it.
Yes! 69M instagram followers as of today (I’m sure more on other platforms.) Far lower than Ronaldo at 675M(!) but more than Lady Gaga and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Agreed! He is so appealing because of this. I’m sure he’s not even near his ceiling of earnings/star power. Hope he has a great upcoming season at Manchester City.
Amazing! 2 assists by Messi! 
