South America

France takes on Uruguay in the first quarterfinal of the 2018 World Cup at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on Friday, July 6, at 10:00 a.m. ET. The match will serve as the tournament’s first truly fascinating clash of styles: the attacking zest of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba versus the hard-bitten play of Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez and Luis Suarez. It’s all on the line with the winner advancing to the semifinal to meet either Brazil or Belgium. 

The opening 20 minutes of Mexico versus Brazil couldn’t have gone any better from an El Tri perspective. Carlos Vela and Andres Guardado were finding joy on the left with Fagner looking set for a nightmare. Chucky looked dangerous. But more importantly, Philippe Coutinho and Neymar hardly got a sniff of the ball with Rafa Marquez, Edson Alvarez and Hugo Ayala all taking turns putting the Brazilians on their backs.

Cristiano Ronaldo lasted just a few more hours than Lionel Messi at the World Cup, the world’s best No. 7 following the world’s best No. 10 out of Russia. Edinson Cavani scored two goals for Uruguay vs Portugal as La Celeste held on late for a 2-1 victory on Saturday in Sochi, Russia.

The usual South American suspects are dominating all the headlines so far this World Cup. How far will Neymar take Brazil? Are Lionel Messi and Argentina finally on form after squeaking through to the Round of 16? Even Colombia and its exciting play through Fernando Quintero and Falcao is garnering attention. However, lost in the chatter of those South American squads is a very exciting and solid Uruguay World Cup squad. 

After Argentina versus Nigeria, a journalist approached Lionel Messi and asked him a question. A few days previous, the same man had given the player a piece of red thread, a good luck charm passed along by his wife. In the aftermath of the forward’s fantastic goal, helping Argentina to qualify for the next round, the journalist asked whether Messi remembered the gift.

Mexico vs Brazil will be no doubt an attractive match come the Round of 16.

El Tri and the Verde amarelha have met several times in diverse tournaments.

The Mexico vs Brazil record is currently 22 victories for La Canarinha, seven draws and 10 victories for El Tri.

Brazil is a football powerhouse and is also the only national team to have won five world cup trophies.

The great news for Mexico is that South Korea’s shock upset of Germany kept El Tri in the tournament. The bad news is that it’s Brazil lying in wait in the Round of 16. The even worse news? That right-hand side of Mexico that just got torched by Emil Forsberg and Ludwig Augustinsson now has to stop Neymar and Philippe Coutinho. The only real news of comfort for the backtracking Miguel Layun is that Marcelo might not be there. 

The game’s an original drama unlike any other, but for 40 minutes of Argentina versus Nigeria at Saint Petersburg Stadium, this felt like a rerun. There was Javier Mascherano, bloodied, stretching every sinew as the side’s aging lynchpin and guilty of doing too much.

The Paolo Guerrero goal on Tuesday was a happy epilogue to all the drama that surrounded the Peruvian striker's participation in the World Cup.

After helping Peru clinch a spot in the intercontinental qualifier against New Zeland, Guerrero failed a doping control test, and that's where a whole nation's odyssey started.

He was first banned from all FIFA competitions for one year, which meant he would miss the World Cup. 

This was not the start Russia was looking for against the grizzly bear trap that is Uruguay. 10 minutes into Monday’s match, Luis Suarez buried a free kick from just outside the box by going low around the wall and just inside Igor Akinfeev’s far post.

The goal was greatly aided by Russian T-34 tank Sergei Ignashevich. You can tell that the 38-year-old was only trying to aid his keeper by clearing Edinson Cavani out of his sight lines, but it really just made an almighty clusterfuck in front of goal while Suarez curled in his precise finish.