thiago_simoes

What a boring match. This bottom half has all sorts of boring teams, and it's almost infuriating that two of them will reach semi-finals (and one of them the finals... God forbid the title).

Not a fan of the ranking system myself, but I undestand this situation a bit differently: probably this goes on to show how unpredictable football can be. I mean, who would have thought that Russia could beat Spain? As for the ranking itself, it's idiot to have a ranking system and let it have zero effect on the World Cup qualifiers. Teams ranked 9 and 17 did not qualify, while teams ranked 61 and 67 did.

In the quarter-finals we'll have on the top half teams ranked 2, 3, 7 and 14, and on the bottom half we have, so far, teams ranked 20, 24, 70, and we'll have either 12 or 16. Best case scenario is that we'll have a final between teams ranked 2 and 12, worst case scenario is that we'll have a final between teams 14 and 70.

Unfortunate (for Japan) goal in the end, but I'm happy with the match. I wanted the winner to be a team not from Europe or the Americas, but now that this will not happen, I will cheer for Uruguay. Not that I think they can beat France, but this World Cup has been so weird that anything could happen.

I know we are supposed to write in English here, but I can't resist: がんばって!これはとても面白いです!

Japan

I don't know much about Spanish players, but all I know is that Brazil is insane. I was supposed to receive income tax refund and somehow I got screwed and instead I had to pay tens of thousands of reais in taxes. It's sick and revolting, and I'll have to hire a lawyer to fight against this absurd. Neymar was supposed to pay millions of reais in taxes, evaded payment and the federal government will probably forgive his millionaire debt if the team wins the World Cup. Absolutely disgusting. I can't cheer for a country that screws honest people and at the same time turns a blind eye to millionaires.

Few people in Brazil can. Mostly those brainwashed by media, but anyone with passing interest or no interest at all in football hates him just as much. His actions outside the field are also questionable. He's a notorious tax evader and this has become a sort of ongoing joke combined with his theatrical performances.

I'm rooting for Japan. If Russia could beat Spain, Japan can do it. Enough of European teams advancing to the next stage. Also, if Japan advances, we'll have three teams (Japan, Croatia and Russia) that were long shots for the title advancing to the next round. Of course these teams have talent and heart, but also a nice share of luck, and that may help winning the title.

My latest predictions have been terrible. I've been so close to eating bagel. And to think I had the only perfect prediction on the first day and after that everything went downhill.

I can't believe it. Congratulations, Russia. Biggest shock of the tournament so far, even bigger than Germany not qualifying for the knockout round, in my opinion (they didn't look too hot before the tournament).

Nice to see Uruguay advancing. I'll always cheer for South/Latin America (except for one country with a bunch of dirty players in many sports, but I won't say its name because some idiot might take it personally and call me names in his/her own language). Now I hope Brazil goes home next, but I have mixed feelings about the next match. Part of me wants Mexico to win, part of me wants the team to somehow avenge the Olympic final in 2012. Still, I'd be happier, much happier, If Mexico won the tournament than any other team.

Too bad for Argentina. I was rooting for them, of course, but as we say in Brazil, they had the knife and the cheese on their hands and still didn't slice the cheese. I hope Messi sticks around for 2022. He deserves a better coach, a better team to play with, and a World Cup title.

[hide] Knockout Round June 30th - July 15th, 2018 16 Nations, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Third Place Match and Final Round of 16 Date & Time Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 30th 2018, h. 17:00 (GMT+3) France 0 1 Argentina June 30th 2018, h. 21:00 (GMT+3) Uruguay 2 2 Portugal July 1st 2018, h. 17:00 (GMT+3) Spain 3 0 Russia July 1st 2018, h. 21:00 (GMT+3) Croatia 1 2 Denmark July 2nd 2018, h. 18:00 (GMT+4) Brazil 2 1 Mexico July 2nd 2018, h. 21:00 (GMT+3) Belgium 2 1 Japan July 3rd 2018, h. 17:00 (GMT+3) Sweden 1 1 Switzerland July 3rd 2018, h. 21:00 (GMT+3) Colombia 0 1 England [/hide]

Women's team: unless a miracle happens, no chance at all. Maybe not even in 2024. Women's team? No chance. Men's team? Pretty tough. I would say no chance, unfortunately. But it would be a nice surprise.

Not really the focus of the topic, but since we have a team event in artistic gymnastics, let me have some fun. Artistic Gymnastics Men's Women's For the 12th spot I tried something out of the box, and I know both Colombia and North Korea are long shots for a team spot, but anything can happen.

I don't care about him. My biggest beef is that you allow bestmen to stay around. He's a user who has called me a girl (it's not a problem being a woman, but this is not my gender identity), homo, made fun of me in the old forum whenever I referred to gay athletes... And he only gets 24 h bans? Really? You are the moderator, and I don't understand how you can keep reading the same complaints over and over again, and you still think doing nothing is the best way to ignore the situation.

Costa Rica!

As a drag queen said before, "sweetheart, let's get it together before you wanna read". As a gay man, I've been attacked numerous times by bestmen, and Sindo does nothing about it. Nothing. He's always given me the same old excuse, that it would make no difference to ban users because they can create new accounts, and for all that's worth, bestmen is still around with his questionable comments. I have my fair share of complaints about OlympicFan, but I decided to ignore him and never reply to what he writes. A few days ago, he made fun of Polish and Senegalese people in a humiliating way; curiously, he wrote a few moments ago that nasty people must lead miserable lives, what says a lot about him. Now, I replied to his nasty comment in a way that would subvert his own logic. I am always respectful and every time I criticize the results, I present my point of view. I never refer to specific users in any way that would make them feel bad or sorry about themselves. Besides, I've been around for a long time, even before the forum moved to this new format. You read ONE comment I make and you call me pontificatori. Well, we have a word for you in Brazilian Portuguese: cuzão. Have a nice day.

This is wrong. It should HUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE.

Thanks for the info. Good luck to Mexico! I hope that an Olympic medal in gymnastics finally come your way. It was so close in 2014!

My beer is German and my cell phone is from South Korea. I was really torn...

Zahran! He's an excellent gymnast. He deserved a medal. I'm also happy for Slovenia. Teja Belak, Rok Klavora and Tjasa Kysselef have been around for, like, forever. It's great for them to get a medal. Hell, even Hribar got a medal, and I did not see that coming at all.

I said it twice before and I'll say it again: I expect Argentina to challenge for the title. I'm only sad because we'll see more of Maradona and I honestly can't stand him.