I wouldn’t be too confident about England. They are the only team left that has lost a game, losing to Belgium.
Belgium hasn’t lost yet or even tied. All their wins are in regular time.
France has one tie and all their wins came from regular time.
Croatia has no losses, no ties and won two PK shootouts.
@Nrdsb4 : In a major tournament game, there will be some hard challenges and some yellow cards. I think I only saw one really stupid one. Given their prior games, I expected more thuggishness. I think I said “relatively” clean. If not, I should have. Cheers.
@doschicos : I’m still not sure who “won” the England-Belgium game. Get back to me when the semis are over. B-)
In terms of fouls, I’ve seen some stupid, but nothing vicious. BTW, one of the yellow cards today in the Russia-Croatia match was given to Vida in extra time, a Croatian player, after he took off his shirt in his goal celebration.
Yes, the earlier Belgium-England game was a bit of a throwaway. Many lineup changes for both sides and Harry Kane didn’t play either.
I’m pretty happy that none of the remaining sides has more than one WC win.
The marquee final at this point would be England/France, but Belgium and Croatia are exiting to watch as well.
If England do make it to the final in the World Cup some difficult choices need to be made.
Wimbledon stats at 2pm and the WC game will start at 4pm. Will Wimbledon move the match or risk having the lowest viewed/attended final in history?
I’m not a tennis fan, so that sounds like someone else’s problem. :))
No soccer today. Boring.
“No soccer today”
Not in my house-- I have the full slate of MLS games from yesterday on the DVR
Very happy with the results yesterday.
My favorites of the remaining teams:
In non-World Cup soccer news, just because I want to brag, I had a hat-trick in my weekly pickup game yesterday 
I’d be glad to participate in thread that discusses why the rule changes proposed above are a really bad idea.
Start it @jmnva06 : Sounds like fun.
@sly123, I’m having difficulty understanding your post in #465 of this thread. What, exactly, do you mean IF England makes the final?!
Come on England! :)>-
@USCWolverine : ^:)^
Lukaku vs. Mbappe is a nice matchup. Belgium are loaded up front. France are a bit better, probably, in midfield and defense. My fear is that France will wreck the game with extremely aggressive midfield tackling. Call it Catenaccio in the midfield.
France 2, Belgium 1
Modric and the pace of the game are keys in the other semi. If Modric is allowed room to weave his magic, Croatia can win. Mandzukic can provide the thunder strike. England are a bit stronger overall, though, so unless Croatia’s offensive stars have their way, England’s pace and quality should win the day.
England 3, Croatia 2
Final: England/France.The Capetians and Wessex are trash talking already, and the Normans arecaught in the middle. Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine are threatening divorce again.
Mr. B just read me a headline form a U.K. nwes site - England fans invaded IKEA and jumped on the sofas there. Punks. News from our Moscow source that the city has not burned… yet.
Croatia was fun to watch, but one of the things that made them fun to watch is that they forgot to play defense when they had a lead.
JHS, gets it! Already using past-tense for my 3 Lions next foe. Love it! =D>
@USCWolverine your comments throughout this thread have amused me. I’m English but I am living in the US and I’m so used to our team flaking out, I really hope your eternal optimism pays off. My husband has watched every game so far and he will be a bear to live with if we don’t get that trophy.
My order of preference:
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