FIFA tries and tries to ruin this tournament, but the football always bails them out. Ad breaks, expansion to 48 teams (another 40 games in which to sell ads that run in those breaks), ticket pricing nonsense, etc. are annoying and make a mockery of all the records being set. We've got top teams playing the #83 nation, and an extra game for all the good teams; of course scoring records will fall. But once past the mostly boring group stage (little was at stake for any of the teams with a shot at winning the cup), the round of 32 has served up some really good games, most of which were real nailbiters.
The Arsenal players in the tournament have done their part. I was very impressed with Trossard taking charge for Belgium, and even more impressed with Odegaard's running the show for Norway. Martinelli got Brazil's winning goal against Japan, and Gabriel Magalhaes assisted the equalizer. Declan Rice is England's most important player. Madueke does not look great to me even if he is energetic; Saka is obviously injured. Eze is a bit player but a useful sub. Gyok never really hit top gear for Sweden. Saliba is his usual magnificent self. Our Spanish players may get a shot later. Havertz has scored for Germany but he missed a pen that helped Paraguay oust them. Hincapie covered his mouth instead of uncovering his butt, and the ref gave him a red card out of disappointment. Former Gunners abound--Kolasinac shared a postgame chat with Flo Balogun after the USA's 2-0 win over Bosnia today. I love our players and want them to be happy, but I also would like them to get some time off from crunching tackles, so I'm conflicted.
England-Mexico looks like a good game in the next round. I like the USA's chances against Belgium. But France will probably win it all. Argentina is the only squad that might stop them.
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