With all of the group stage matches finished, the attention now focuses on the Round of 16. This next stage will now see the loser eliminated from the World Cup. Harsh, we know. But that’s just how the cookie crumbles. Here's the World Cup Round of 16 schedule with the dates, times and the stadium it will be played at. Strap yourself in, because the World Cup is about to get even better.
The presidents of the United States and Portugal sat down for a bilateral meeting on Wednesday. Beforehand, Donald Trump and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa held a joint press briefing, with comments that ventured into the realm of soccer, the World Cup and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Trump Ronaldo comments were just about the most bizarre thing the U.S. president has said while in office, which is saying something.
Belgium claimed top spot in Group G after defeating England 1-0 Thursday thanks to Adnan Januzaj’s beautiful 51st-minute curler. Michy Batshuayi celebrated the goal by thunder punting the ball off the post and back into his own face.
If England and Belgium had played in the first match day for Group G, it probably would’ve been one of the best matches of the group stage. Instead, as the final match of the group stage, it turned into a bit of a bore. Belgium forward Michy Batshuayi perfectly summed up the feelings of fans everywhere with a celebration gone wrong.
With one thrilling upset and a few hearty dances, Senegal quickly became a fan favorite at the 2018 World Cup. Sadly, after a 1-0 win for Colombia vs Senegal, the Lions of Teranga are going home in the most excruciating way possible — FIFA fair play points.
Senegal and Japan finished tied in every way imaginable except for one. The two finished with the same number of points, goal differential, goals scored and head-to-head tiebreakers.
You know in FIFA when you strike the perfect ball and the goalkeeper really shouldn’t even have time to react but instinctively leaps sideways and backwards and claws out your shot with a preposterous bit of animation that makes your blood curl? Well that just happened to Poland’s Kamil Grosicki but in real life.
The Polish attacker really should’ve scored with this perfectly placed header, but Japan’s Eiji Kawashima sprinted across his goal-line, went full extension and pawed it out with a monstrous right claw. This is what’s referred to as slamming the door shut.
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.
We will have no back-to-back champions. We will have no Germany 7 — Brazil 1. We will have no Thomas Muller doing silly things at the Munich Hofbräuhaus. Everything is different now.
How time flies when you're having fun. Thursday is the last day of the group stage, which means Groups H and G are in action! Group G is already wrapped up. England and Belgium have already advanced but will need to duke it out for the honor of winning the group (let's be honest, you don't want to win the group with the way the bracket is looking). Group H on the other hand sees Japan, Colombia and Senegal vying for the last two spots.