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You are here: Home / Sports / World Cup / World Cup Friday: Exciting!

World Cup Friday: Exciting!

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Folks, today should be thrilling. All times Eastern.

First at 8, Brazil v Costa Rica. I expect Brazil to come roaring back, and hope to see how injured Neymar is. Although he rubs me the wrong way, he’s truly an amazing player and I hope he’s rested and recovered and makes it through the game without more injury. Seeing him scream in pain startled me.

Next at 11, Nigeria v Iceland. Look for Iceland to pick up the pace; they need the win. This wonderful team is a great story, fun to root for!  FYI, Nigeria has more soccer players than Iceland has population.

Finally, the game of the day begins at 2: Switzerland v Serbia. I expect Switzerland to win.

 

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  3. 3.

    Montanareddog

    FYI, Nigeria has more soccer players than Iceland has population

    Alain, I think you need to elaborate a little on this stat. Since Iceland has a population of 335K and Nigeria has a population of 186m, I am damn sure that what you say is true but is not a surprise. Do you mean registered players with the football federation?

    As a comparison, the Netherlands has a population of 17m and 1.2m registered players as of 2015

    Over 1.2 million play football in Netherlands

  4. 4.

    Victor Matheson

    Point of order, it is not just Nigeria. There are more soccer players Massachusetts than there are people in Iceland.

  5. 5.

    Montanareddog

    Another country that punches above their weight is Uruguay. Compare Brazil, pop. 210m with Uruguay, pop. 3.5m

    Brazil and Nigeria are the two largest countries in this year’s finals.

  7. 7.

    Montanareddog

    Argentina, pop. 44m, was put to the sword yesterday by Croatia, a country with 1/10th the population, who played their first World Cup finals in 1998, 12 years after Argentina won their last World Cup. (Am I boring everyone with these useless stats yet?)

    But I don’t think the balance of power is fundamentally changing. This year’s winner will come from France, Spain, Germany or Brazil with Belgium as outsiders. From the matches already played, I see Spain as the strongest team so far.

  8. 8.

    cmorenc

    Going into WC18, the possibility for Iceland to advance out of group stage seemed but a long-shot dream, being in the same group as Argentina and Croatia. But if they win today, they lock at least second place in the group and advance to the knockout stage. I like their chances against Nigeria, if they can muster the same level of performance they showed against Argentina.

    They are my Cinderella favorites in this tournament – I will be pulling for them today. Gotta practice my Viking cheer!

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack

    Perfect weather in St. Petersburg for soccer (Brazil vs. Costa Rica): 66° and 45% humidity at 3:47 p.m. Score is now 0-0 at halftime.

  10. 10.

    Onkel Fritze

    Brazil fails to convince in the 1st half. I still believe they’re going to take it in the 2nd, but not a foregone conclusion.

  12. 12.

    Tony Jay

    I don’t want to risk jinxing anything but so far Brazil are not exactly setting the world alight. Costa Rica are sturdy in defence and relying on hitting the Samba Boys on the break, while Brazil are funnelling everything through Neymar when they’re not peppering the Costa Rican goal from afar.

    If this gets to 70/75 mins without a goal I can see Brazil panicking and Costa Rica nicking something out of the game.

  14. 14.

    Tony Jay

    Strike that. Here comes the magnificent Bobby Firmino. He’ll run the Costa Rican back line ragged, open up spaces for Neymar and Gabriel/Jesus and finally deliver a killer ball or two for others to feast on.

    I’m from Liverpool. We love us some Bobby Glowtooth.

  15. 15.

    Mary G

    I was an ugly American who didn’t watch TV in 1994 and had no idea how popular the World Cup was until Brazil won and Pasadena was full of joyful people waving their flags. Everywhere!

  17. 17.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Mary G: I remember being in small towns in Switzerland, France, and Italy when I was a kid. During the World Cup, the entire towns would shut down to watch matches at cafes and bars. This community event left a mark; I find the Worid Cup a recurring reminder of the mass of humanity and how, at our core, we are the same.

  19. 19.

    raven

    @Mary G: IN 96 they say there were 25,00 Brazilians in Miami who were ready to come here for the Olympic Soccer final. The lost in the semi’s.

  20. 20.

    Bostonian

    I was wondering when Neymar would finally get a yellow card. His simulations are ridiculous.

  21. 21.

    Tony Jay

    Neymar dives in the Costa Rican penalty box. Referee gives a penalty, but it’s ruled out by the VAR officials.

    I think that answers the question about what VAR is good for. OTOH if Neymar had been yellow carded for that dive (as he should have been) then he’d be off now because he’s just been yellow carded for dissent, as has Coutinho.

    Brazil are getting testy. This stays a draw it will be a pretty substantial humiliation for them. Glyph of smiling face.

  23. 23.

    Tony Jay

    The BBC commentators are openly laughing at Neymar having the cheek to mouth off at a Costa Rican player (Acosta?) for simulating a foul.

    Some people have standing to judge others, spaghetti-hair. You’re not one of them.

  29. 29.

    Tony Jay

    @raven:

    Firmino to Coutinho. Goal. How many times have I heard that before?

    (Coutinho played for Liverpool until a few months ago.)

  30. 30.

    Barbara

    @Tony Jay: I hope they play better against Serbia. I used to have Brazilian au pairs and being around them when they were watching their national team was so much fun that I usually hope for Brazil to at least advance to the next round.

  32. 32.

    Tony Jay

    If Brazil do manage to smuggle themselves out of this group they’ll play one of the top two teams in Group F, which includes Mexico, Germany, Sweden and South Korea. Playing like this I wouldn’t back Brazil against any of them.

  37. 37.

    Chris

    @Mary G:

    Discovered soccer in 1998 while living in France, which was hosting the Cup that year. The icing on the cake is that France won the Cup on July 12, just two days before Bastille Day. I’m pretty sure patriotic euphoria that year was the highest it had been since 1944.

  39. 39.

    Tony Jay

    @Barbara:

    Brazil have a storied history but they haven’t been the glorious ‘Harlem Globetrotters of Football’ for a long time, and four years ago there were very few people who felt much sympathy when Germany demolished them 7-1. This time around they’d be a lot more popular if they – didn’t – have Neymar hogging the limelight and diving all over the pitch. They’ve got some incredibly talented players, all capable of playing lovely football, but it’s hard to get past the impression that all of that effervescent talent is brutally crushed, twisted and hammered into an unsightly pedestal-shape for the World’s Most Expensive Prima Donna to (di)splay himself on.

    Now, about those Brazilian au pairs…. ;-)

  40. 40.

    Barbara

    @Tony Jay: I don’t doubt your assessment of the Brazilian football team, but for those of us who follow soccer only fleetingly, the joy of their fans is infectious. My first Brazilian au pair became fast friends with two other Brazilian au pairs, a girl and a boy, and let’s just say that wherever they went, they brought a party with them. They used to go to clubs and when they started dancing most people around them — Americans are by and large pathetic dancers — would either exit or try their best to follow. She used to sign her name with an exclamation point, if that gives you an idea — Lula! (that wasn’t her real name).

    ETA: I do recall that in the year they got drubbed by Germany, they were the recipient of some very dodgy ref calls in a game against Colombia. I do not like it when refs appear to be instrumental in the outcome of the game. It might not always be avoidable, but it still stinks.

  41. 41.

    Tony Jay

    @Barbara:

    You are totally right. I remember being in Marseilles and watching the Euro 2000 Final when France beat Italy 2-1. The whole city erupted and our French friends were fleshy bags of tearful joy. Magical experience, especially marching down a wide boulevard with thousands of cheering French fans while every car in the inevitable traffic jam sported tricolour flags except for the single defiant Italian car stuck slap bang in the middle.

    As for that game against Colombia I think the archives here cover that stitch-up quite well. As I recall there were quite a few ‘words exchanged’ on the World Cup thread that night.

  42. 42.

    Barbara

    @Tony Jay: I was in Spain in 2010 when they won the quarter and semifinals. Same idea. The celebrations went on well into the wee hours of the morning. I was also in Italy in 1998 and when an Italy game was on it seemed like the entire city of Rome came to a halt. A sidewalk cafe I was eating at got an extension cord to move a tv outside so the waiters could watch the game from the sidewalk.

  43. 43.

    Victor Matheson

    @Barbara: As long as that stadium is not financed with taxpayer money, I am happy to fit as many Icelanders as you want into the stadium.

  44. 44.

    Barbara

    @Victor Matheson: The point was to try to encapsulate just how small a country Iceland is. Its second largest city has 20,000 people. It’s smaller than our least populous states, like North Dakota or Wyoming.

  45. 45.

    Tony Jay

    @Barbara:

    That’s Roma for you, they take living a good life very seriously. Apart from that aborted trip to the Vatican (seriously, never again) we loved every bit of it. Have to get back there for a city-break.

    Right. Nigeria vs Iceland. Let’s do this.

  47. 47.

    Onkel Fritze

    @Tony Jay: I remember that Brazil – Colombia matchup very well, having watched it in Colombia. Not sure what you mean by the ref being instrumental in the outcome, since Brazil won the game.

  48. 48.

    raven

    @Tony Jay: Harlem Globetrotters? Maybe the Celtics or the Bulls, while the guys on the Globetrotters could really play it wasn’t and isn’t real hoops.

  49. 49.

    Onkel Fritze

    Ok, for some reason I can’t edit my above comment. That was supposed to be a question for Barbara, not Tony Jay.

  50. 50.

    Barbara

    @Onkel Fritze: My memory is fuzzy, but I meant that Brazil was the beneficiary of biased reffing that seemed to undermine Colombia. To be specific, if I recall correctly, the refs overlooked a lot of physical contact against Colombian offensive players that probably merited intervention. It made the whole match kind of ugly as Colombia started retaliating. Sorry for being unclear.

  53. 53.

    Felanius Kootea

    Obviously I’m rooting for Nigeria, not Iceland but after their Croatia loss, I’m not very hopeful. It isn’t necessarily a good thing to have the youngest (read least experienced) team in the World Cup. That said, go Super Eagles!

  55. 55.

    randy khan

    @randy khan:

    If Iceland were a city, it would be the 57th biggest city in the U.S. If it were a county, it would not rank in the top 100 (and it probably wouldn’t be in the top 150, but I can’t find a longer list quickly).

  56. 56.

    Onkel Fritze

    @Barbara: OK, that way it makes sense. I thought you meant it the other way around, that Colombia benefited from the refs calls. That was a really nasty game on both sides. A few days later, when Germany played Brazil, the Colombians wanted Germany to score more goals against Brazil ;-)

  57. 57.

    Onkel Fritze

    @HumboldtBlue: Not quite. But if Croatia and Iceland decide to play for a tie, then that’s it for Argentina. If Croatia wins, they could still make second place.

  59. 59.

    HumboldtBlue

    Nigeria has talent all over the field they just can’t stitch together a solid possession.

  60. 60.

    Felanius Kootea

    @raven: That must have been fun! I watched the match at International House in Philadelphia at the time and almost lost my voice screaming for joy. It’s the best I’ve seen Nigerian soccer on the world stage.

  63. 63.

    scav

    Super Eagles v. Iceland is the tricky one for me. Go Both!
    (well, ok Naija has a bit of an edge temporally — I’m pretty sure I remember them being green eagles. But Iceland and magnificent barren geothermal self?!)

  65. 65.

    Alain the site fixer

    Wow, go Super Eagles! Iceland just couldn’t keep up their defense. Shame.

  70. 70.

    scav

    The names in this game are grand: this one’s got some middle earth vibe mixed with I’m not sure what. Decent assemblage of gods (or near equivalents) too I think.

  76. 76.

    Onkel Fritze

    Nice goal, but what a stupid move to take off his shirt and take the yellow card. That just has to bite him in the ass in the knock-out stage.

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