National Teams

France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had two opponents to deal with in the first half against Uruguay. In addition to keeping La Celeste off the scoreboard, Lloris saved a grasshopper from certain death. Perhaps encouraged by his gallant deed, the Lloris save vs Uruguay near the end of the half was the best stop of the tournament. 

Lloris made four saves against Uruguay in the first half, but the most troubling came from the animal kingdom when, in the 17th minute, a large grasshopper crawled into and out of the Tottenham keeper’s mouth.

With eight teams left in the 2018 World Cup, every remaining nation has done something to deserve to be at this point. While the path has been easier for some teams, to reach the quarterfinals is no easy feat. At this juncture, picking a World Cup predicted winner is difficult because every team left could win it.

From the unfancied host Russia to the favored Brazilians, all eight teams are three wins away from lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy in Moscow on July 15. 

When Miguel Layún stepped on Neymar’s leg during their Round of 16 matchup, the Brazilian star immediately kicked out at the Mexican offender. Almost as quickly, Neymar pretended to writhe around in immense pain. The reason for this odd little dance on the ground is simple — Neymar is one of the many players on yellows heading into the World Cup quarterfinals. 

Including Neymar, there are 32 players on yellows ahead of the quarterfinals. If any of them pick up another card on Friday or Saturday, they will be suspended for the semifinals. 

Jordan Pickford is the man of the hour. An incredible save during normal time (that funnily enough was not replayed on the live broadcast) and stopping Carlos Bacca’s penalty helped seal the Three Lions passage into a quarterfinal matchup against Sweden.

Brazilian soccer players are like American basketball players — no matter where in the world there’s a professional soccer team, there’s likely to be a Brazilian playing for it. Brazil players salaries range from the lowest leagues to the highest-paid players in the world.

The best of the thousands of professional Brazilian soccer players make up the Seleção, and the 23 players chosen to represent Brazil’s World Cup team. All are well compensated by their professional clubs, but not all Brazil players salaries are created equally on the 2018 squad. 

Brazil takes on Belgium in the second quarterfinal of the 2018 World Cup at Kazan Arena on Friday, July 6 at 2:00 p.m. ET. The match is a broadcaster’s dream with the likes of Neymar and Philippe Coutinho taking on Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard. It’ll be a high-octane affair with the winner moving on to Saint Petersburg to play either France or Uruguay in the semifinals.

We’re still trying to figure out if England is any good or if Sweden is as good as its results suggest. Our World Cup 2018 quarterfinal England vs Sweden prediction for their match on Saturday in Samara takes into account what both teams have and have not accomplished so far, as a team that’s beaten up on some really bad teams will go head-to-head with a team that made it through the Group of Death.

OK, England won a penalty shootout, so we can be done with those forever now, right? No more penalties, no more penalty shootouts. Let’s just see some goals from open play and some gentlemanly behavior out there. Let’s all just agree to that and we’ll enjoy ourselves in the quarterfinals. What’s that? I’m being sent to the Gulag? 

Few could have predicted this matchup in the quarterfinals of the 2018 World Cup before the tournament started, so making a Russia vs Croatia prediction might seem like a fool’s errand. But whoever survives the quarterfinal on Saturday at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi will deserve its spot in the semifinals against either Sweden or England.