Paul MacInnes was in Toronto and has filed this match report.
I’m back tomorrow to see if Garry Kasparov can put up a last stand against our robot overlords. (If you think that’s a deep reference, I could’ve mentioned Jonathan Coulton.)
Cristiano Ronaldo speaks, showing off Jota’s number 21. (And they won 2-1.)
I was amazed because the situation of the day, it means a lot to us, not only because we won the game but because of the way we did it.
On Modric:
I played with Luka so many years. He’s still a legend of football. I just said to him so many times, congratulations for everything, I wish you all the best for the next few years of your career.
I can only get to a few more …
“What is the shorts thing? Surely a multi-billion industry can make shorts that work. Ruben Dias doing a Declan Rice.” – Beth Davies
“First of all: what a game! Feel privileged to have seen it live! Hard to escape the feeling that Croatia were really hard done by, especially at the end. If I were the referee (and I have no refereeing experience whatsoever), I think the ethical decision would have been to let the goal stand and let the teams play extra time. That is a hugely consequential decision especially so late in the game and with such small margins, I think it is only fair to let the teams decide it the honourable way, by playing to get a proper goal. I think technicalities can get in the way of fairness. Anyway, Spain will probably crush Portugal anyway so maybe Croatia will get some poetic justice?” – Matthew Leung
I think it’d be fun to make it to a game at this Cup, but I also like having food and paying rent, so …
And a final comment for now on the technology in the sport …
“Computer says no goal. – Scott Bassett, linking to this clip (profanity alert)
This took me a second but is definitely in the running for Email Of The Day:
“If Portugal are at 0.97 xG, why not just take a long shot from 50 yards? It should automatically go in right?” – Thomas Krantz
“Don’t know what if any commentary you have yourself, but I’m stuck with the BBC claiming of the crowd “they’ve come here to see Ronaldo!” of that spot-kick. … Bloody hell, it’s reaching new lows when the English commentators are telling a Scottish audience what the Americans have turned up for.” – James Humphries
“Hate to disagree with you, but that wasn’t so much a hold as the kind of cursory pat-down a bored bouncer gives you when he knows you’ve never done anything more illegal than share your history homework.” – Ben Goodge
I’m thinking that’s in reference to the call that led to Ronaldo’s penalty kick. I’ve never been patted down that I can recall. Is that weird?
“Yea that’s not a pen. Especially in this WC we’ve seen that level of contact in the box and they’ve not been called.” – Casiano Martinez
I’m sure you’re not alone in thinking that. How many times did Paraguay get away with more blatant holds against Germany?
“If that’s a pk then there should be at least 4 a game. VAR has made a nonsense of the game.” – Alan Kirkup
Maybe giving four a game would make defenders stop holding?
“I am confused as to why Portugal aren’t anywhere near as convincing as they look on paper. A midfield featuring Fernandes with João Neves and Vitinha at the heart of it - and Nunes, Neves and Bernardo Silva should be running rings around their opponents. Perhaps it is a Roberto Martinez thing. Maybe someone like Luis Enrique should be managing them.” – Farhan
For much of the first half, they were indeed running circles around a pretty decent Croatian team, but why aren’t the incisive final passes there?
Pausing mail release to note that Portugal have just held up a jersey in honor of Diogo Jota, who passed away one year ago tomorrow (or today, if you’re not in the Americas).
Mail not related to the last play …
“Portugal went for the unorthodox decision of starting with a specialist penalty taker and removing him just before it got to the shootout.” – Cian Mulligan
“Regarding 78 minutes. I attended a summer exhibition match at Busch Stadium in St Louis, my seat behind one of the goals. The match finished 3-2 (I think), and all the goals were scored on the other end. The struggle is real.” – Joe Pearson
OK, tons of mail, and I apologize that I’m going to be working in reverse chronology …
“Pasalic is in offside position when ball is played intentionally by his teammate, Pasalic then passes it to Gvardiol after receiving ball in an offside position. Very fast and tight but straightforward offside.” – Rick McGahey
Right, so my questions would be whether Pasalic was NOT in an offside position when the ball was crossed, and does that mean Croatia are out because Matanovic has a full head of hair?
Ted Graves asks about a chip being in the ball – yes, there is. That actually looked like a cricket replay with the audio sensor
“Get rid of technology in this sport. We had a cracking goal disallowed by a faux offside. We have a last minute game tying goal disallowed by a strand of hair. The game is gone.” – Billy Graboso
Funny thing – at first glance, in real time, I thought Matanovic made a more substantial touch on the ball and thought it was an obvious call. Replay showed that it wasn’t substantial. R2D2 in the ball says it was still touched.
“We’re already ruled by the machines, aren’t we?” – Justin Kavanagh
No, we’re ruled by Alex Morgan, whose ad lampooning the “international media” for questioning her tea-sipping celebration over England just aired for the 8,000th time.
“I don’t get it. What is next. His nose hair puts him offside?” – Mary Waltz
Hey, you and I are old enough to know that’s a real problem.
“Have I gone absolutely mad or did VAR draw the wrong offside line for Sucic’s goal (from the CB rather than Mendes at left back). Ignore if I’m talking nonsense, and loved your Budimir line.” – James Burrows
I may miss the next game while rewinding this one.
Ronaldo and Modric have a few words and embrace. Immense respect between the two players whose combined international experience is in the 50-year range.
Updated
Final: Portugal 2-1 Croatia
I have no idea how, but the better team on the evening prevailed.
So here’s what it is – when the ball was crossed, Pasalic wasn’t in an offside position. I think. But it took a faint touch off Matanovic’s hair, according to a chip and a soundscan, so that was a play of the ball, and then Pasalic was off?
No goal
But the referee mentioned “Croatia player No. 20 touched the ball” before the PA system failed to cut through the crowd noise. But we knew that.
Updated
No, this can’t possibly count, can it? Pasalic seemed to be more than a body width offside. The only question is whether Croatia touched the ball as it went toward Pasalic, who brought the ball down and pinged it to Gvardiol, who finished at close range.
Goal!?
That pinged around like something from the Price is Right Plinko game and found its way into the net. Will it count?
Updated
Diogo Costa adds one more save to his stats. It was far too easy. Croatia just don’t have the legs to press forward.
90 min +12 Croatia aren’t getting numbers forward! They lose the ball too easily, and Conceição takes a shot at making it 3-1.
90 min +11 Modric is still on the field. Can he muster anything at this stage? He tries to keep a ball in play, but it rolls over the line for another goal kick.
90 min +10 Now we’re getting players asking the ref for VAR checks on the goal kick vs. corner kick decisions. This is what it’s come to.
90 min +9 Croatia get a corner kick. We’ll get more than 10 minutes because of the goal celebration and sub, so … maybe three minutes left?
90 min +8 WAY behind the ball, Perisic pulls a Zidane but with a shove rather than a headbutt, and it’s yellow rather than red as a result.
90 min +7 That’s a straight offense-for-defense sub. Croatia loft it into the box but can’t win the aerial duel.
The same Croatian player shoves two Portuguese players like the Hulk smashing up a bar, but Portugal maintain possession.
Do we have a VAR check? Of what?
Oh no – it’s a sub. Kramaric for Kovacic.
Goal! Portugal 2-1 Croatia (Ramos 90 min +4)
A superb header.
Leão chipped it to the center of the box. Ramos is in between Gvardiol and Pongracic but somehow outleaps both and hits a glancing header inside the post.
Updated
90 min +3 Vitinha charges into the box with the ball and falls over, but there wasn’t enough contact for anything but a short-lived shout from the Portuguese team.
Will we next see a VAR check of how much stoppage time to add? Seems only fair.
90 min +1 Portugal corner, and it’s another half-dangerous one but goes out again.
Vlasic out, Manchester City defender Gvardiol on. He started the first two games.
90 min Portugal press a little, and it pays off in forcing a long, aimless ball. Portugal possess as we await the stoppage-time signal. I’ll guess seven because we had a VAR check on top of the subs and the hydration break.
It’s 10. OK then.
88 min Croatia go ahead to Sukic on the right, he crosses and Mario Pasalic somehow heads it all the way back across the goal mouth wide of the far post. It seemed harder to do that than it was to put it on frame.
87 min Veiga outleaps everyone to get a head to the well-played corner, but he’s not able to redirect it toward goal.
86 min But THIS ball finds Conceição, who bangs it off a defender for a corner.
85 min Croatia press deep, but will they pay for it as Portugal work their way into the other half? Mendes ends up putting it in the air for Conceição, and I’m winning a 100m dash before he wins that ball in the air.
84 min Portugal have it now but can’t find a passage through the Croatian masses. They opt for “over” rather than “through,” but no one’s there.
82 min Portugal possessing against a neatly spaced gaggle of Croatians. They play it out for a goal kick, get it back, lose it again – still not seeing the long spells of possession they enjoyed in the first half.
Ronaldo is subbed out
Will that be his last kick in a World Cup? Ruben Neves is in.
Updated
No goal!
I was starting to say Portugal’s backline looks disorganized, and Croatia notice it as well, with a through ball to Sucic. He finishes neatly, tucks the ball into his jersey, then sees the flag.
Updated
80 min Did Martinez make too many changes? Don’t look now, but he’s about to make another one, which will be his last.
79 min Veiga rises to get a head to a Croatian cross with an attacker looming a few feet behind him.
78 min Now Portugal can’t get a hold of the ball. Maybe the ball wants to remain in this half of the stadium, where Portugal were attacking in the first half and Croatia are attacking now.
77 min COSTA AGAIN! Matanovic pounces on an errant aerial clearance and is 1v1 against the Portuguese keeper from a somewhat acute angle. Costa saves. Hadn’t typed his name until a couple of minutes ago, and now he’s made three huge saves.
75 min CROATIA OFF THE POST, THEN SAVED! What a run from Kovacic, then a shot on the ground from the center 22 yards out. Costa gets a fingertip to it and deflects it off the post. Ball gets back to Kovacic near the same spot, and Costa punches his shot over.
Updated
“The next issue they need to sort out, or at least clarify with respect to offside, is how they are determining when the ball is released. A few frames earlier and Ronaldo is onside.” – Jonathan Francis
This is something I’ve challenged for a while. You can make a precise-looking graphic showing when the ball was played, but have you synced it that perfectly with the ball? The ball now has a chip in it, but I’m wondering about that one …
72 min Baturina out, Pasalic in. Long throw-in, handled without too much difficulty by Diogo Costa, whose name I have not typed in this whole match thus far.
“Come on man, that was not a stonewall pen. Vlasic was holding him back but Veiga dived forward…” – Sicheng Jiang
Yeah, but he probably wasn’t able to dive as far forward as he would’ve liked? Maybe?
Everyone need a drink after all that? Good news!
Goal! Portugal 1-1 Croatia (Ronaldo 68 pen)
Ronaldo walks up, places the ball on the spot with no hesitation. Livakovic stands rigid. Whistle blows, Ronaldo takes one step, comes to a dead stop (are you allowed to do … never mind), no one moves, but Livakovic leaps to his right as Ronaldo rips it up the middle where Livakovic’s left shoulder used to be.
Updated
Penalty!
See? VAR does some good!
Now … who takes this?
Subs out: Cancelo, Neto, Vitinha, Fernandes.
Still reviewing. This is absolutely a penalty, as Vlasic made the Canadian football tackle on Veiga.
64 min Dangerous corner for Portugal, and was Veiga being held? I think so!
63 min The graphic is … oddly drawn.
Let’s see if we can get all the subs. Bernardo Silva, Semedo, Ramos and Conceição in.
He was off? No he wasn’t! I don’t care what some contrived graphic says. If that’s offside, I’m typing this from the pool.
Updated
No goal
It was a lovely finish by Ronaldo … oh wait! He looks on!
FOUR subs are up for Portugal. Martinez reacting or overreacting?
60 min Modric with the foul to slow down Portugal, and that’s a yellow card.
59 min SHOT ON GOAL FOR CROATIA! Sucic from just inside the penalty area, foot save out for a corner.
58 min OFF THE BAR FOR PORTUGAL! Leão rips a shot from the top of the box, easily beating Livakovic but off the woodwork near the far post.
Updated
No goal!
But Croatia have it in the net again! Vlasic raced onto the ball and centered, but he was well offside. No VAR or anything needed here. Clear-cut call.
Updated
56 min: Portugal possess, still reeling from the shock.
Perisic is a sprightly 37 years old, incidentally.
Goal! Portugal 0-1 Croatia (Perisic 53)
Croatia attack. Vlasic drifts right, passes to overlapping Stanisic, Matanovic challenges in the air against Dias, it goes over both of them, and Perisic settles before drilling it into the net.
Updated
53 min Enough of the crowd has returned that we can no longer see the maple leaf in the stands.
52 min Portuguese attackers have opted to eschew passing the ball in favor of trying to dribble through everyone. That doesn’t seem to be working.
50 min Some midfield battles and some giveaways. Choppy couple of minutes after that electric start.
49 min Another shot for Croatia! This one’s wide from Vlasic.
Croatia catching up on xG, now down 0.97 to 0.37 for those who follow such things. (I sort of do.)
48 min CHANCE FOR CROATIA! Matanovic, just introduced, wins a fierce duel, and Kovacic races onto the loose ball and shoots. Well saved. Corner to Croatia.
Updated
47 min Croatia break, Sucic has tons of space on the right, but his cross is picked off.
46 min We’re back. Well, not all of us, as there are tons of empty seats in the lower level, and Matanovic has replaced Budimir, who probably fell asleep awaiting service.
More mail (not counting the mail on officiating, which I appreciate and may be able to get to later)
I’ll start with an actual tactical observation …
“For all of the praise Portugal’s team have gotten, it’s not often spoken about that they lack good off-the-ball movement and, somehow, basic football intelligence when it comes to movement. Some of that is Ronaldo and his constant slow strolls but João Felix and Pedro Neto are also bad at stretching the play with runs or pushing defenders out of position.” – Jose Casares
And now back to the age question …
“Does Medicare cover longevity medicine? Asking for a Portuguese pal.” – Justin Kavanagh
Alas, he went to a different post-Europe league than Messi did.
“See if you can shoehorn the cover image of ‘Worse’ into your thread. We don’t need more shots of Ronaldo.” – Bruce Brooks
I nominate Weird Al for the halftime show at the final.
“Brad Pitt wouldn’t be offended by you not recognising him, as he himself has prosopagnosia (face blindness). It was an interview with him which prompted me to get tested and confirmed I have it too. Luckily I’m not a football commentator!” – Martin Burley
That’s why they wear numbers.
“The Nations League offered Sweden a route to this world cup even though they finished bottom of their qualifying group with no wins, two draws and four defeats. So it definitely should be taken seriously.” – Andrew Goudie
OK, here’s one response to the topic of officiating at the World Cup …
“I’d love to. But I’m too old and don’t understand the offside rule.” – Daniel Brint
Neither does the coach of the second-to-last game for which I was an AR this spring. And he gets paid to coach that team.
Miss the earlier game today involving Portugal’s neighbor? We’ve got you covered …
Miss the late game today? We’ll have that covered as well. Will link when the commentary starts.
Meanwhile, a note on US viewership:
I’ll check – that’s more than the population of many countries in this Cup.
“Funny you should mention Nelly Furtado, as her big hit ‘Promiscuous’ came out in the spring of 2006. Does that make me feel old? No. Being old (closing in on 69) makes me feel old. Hell, I’m older than Medicare, now that I think about it.” – Joe Pearson
“Jarrod Gillet is probably the best referee Australia has, he is also the best Australian referee not refereeing in Australia, the English Premier League having stolen him.” – Phil Withall
In fairness, they need the help. I think we’re still waiting on a VAR decision from a Burnley-Sunderland match this past season.
“Hope you’re well! I’d like to give a shout-out to the Portugal kit; I think that’s a lovely number. Do you happen to know if teams in the World Cup are subject to similar rules as in club football where teams have to wear their away/third kits some number of times per season to satisfy contracts, etc.? Or is there another reason why neither team is in their home kit?” – Adam K
There’ve been some complaints about not wearing traditional colors at times, but yes, these are sharp. I also liked the DR Congo shirts.
“With all due respect to other email contributors, surely footballers with, how shall we say, “less hair” are more easily identifiable? Zidane, Henry, Tim Howard, Andres Iniesta, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben … okay, okay maybe not. But I think the long flowing locks do sometimes make it harder to identify certain players (as any Arsenal fan will unhappily remember from when David Luiz and Matteo Guendouzi were in the squad together. My apologies for forcing them to remember those days…) As an aside, I’ve always had much more confidence in American goalkeepers who are bald. I feel like it should be a necessary criteria to be the #1 on a USMNT team.” – Russell Eberts
I once interviewed a US keeper and started a question with, “Is it coincidence that all US keepers these days are …” and he injected with, “… follically impaired?”
“I am broadly in agreement in feeling that Martinez seems to be low on trophies in face of the jobs he lands, but then I compared his managerial achievements to Bielsa’s and - there’s really not much in it. I’m always hearing that Bielsa is a managerial genius so ... Maybe Roberto is a genius?” – James
I think Martinez had a full head of hair until he started managing Ronaldo.
Halftime: Portugal 0-0 Croatia
Passive ending to that half on Croatia’s part. Puzzling. They’ve seen very little of the ball and almost none of it in the final third.
45 min +3 Ruben Dias gives away a foul on Budimir, and something is wrong with his shorts. The foul is just past midfield, but Croatia show little interest in progressing any further. They win another free kick, Sutalo absorbing the gentle foul this time.
I see the bulging mailbag. Will get there soon …
45 min +2 Dangerous cross from Portugal, not cleared well, but Leão flubs the shot well high. Not the easiest angle, to be fair.
45 min +1 Four minutes of stoppage time. Sukic believes Mendes went to ground a tad easily.
44 min Shot of Gianni Infantino … oh, wait, that’s Roberto Martinez. (See, I only recognize hair or lack thereof.) Portugal possess.
43 min It’s been a clean game, but we’ve had more than the seven fouls that have been actually called. Croatia have it again. Baturina’s pass is deflected high and won back.
41 min Croatia trying to build from the back despite some significant Portuguese pressure. They break across midfield, lose it momentarily, a player is upended but surely the referee played advantage, and now … how was that not a foul? The crowd are not happy.
40 min Corner to Portugal, so I’ll check the completed-passes count: 250 to 89. Less of a margin than I would’ve thought.
The kick goes over the penalty area but must have had some help from a Croatian defender, because we’ll do it on the other side now.
39 min I’ll look at the passing stats at some point. Safe to say which team has the lead.
37 min When your star forward is a quadragenarian, being able to control the ball without having run at all can only be a good thing. Portugal continue to possess.
Livakovic collects a cross, and Croatia try to break with their own elder statesman, Modric, who has the wheels but not a precise pass to receive.
36 min Better from Croa- … oh, never mind, they’ve given it away again.
34 min Off the corner, Croatia try to break, but Portugal get multiple players around Baturina, and the referee sees nothing wrong as the Croatian attacker falls. Looked like a trip, but what’s a foul these days?
33 min CHANCES FOR PORTUGAL as a long ball is kept in play and recycled for Fernandes to shoot from an acute angle. Rebound stays in play, and it takes a timely intervention to concede only a corner.
Updated
32 min Back to patient Portuguese possession. Croatia intercept, try to pass, lose it again, and we’re back to patient Portuguese possession.
30 min CHANCE FOR PORTUGAL – in fact, two of them. Cancelo crosses, and the ball barely gets through without being redirected on net by Ronaldo or Fernandes.
Updated
29 min Croatia drift backwards and lure Portugal forward, and then they go long. Too long, though, because the AR has raised the flag. Close but likely correct call.
28 min Croatia come out the break and manage to complete some passes in the other half of the field.
Checking the spam folder … Tom Hanks has Portuguese heritage … thunderstorm just south … you’re the only football writer in the last 25 years who doesn’t recognize Carles Puyol (I didn’t recognize Brad Pitt, either, and I saw the F1 film – I’m terrible with faces out of context) … I have privileged information about a business deal … OK that’s spam.
The corner kick is ineffective, and it’s Water o’Clock.
23 min Croatia clear but come no closer to having any sort of possession.
Pongracic is forced into a dangerous header facing his own goal, but he manages to put it wide and concede a corner rather than allow Own Goal to pad its lead atop the Golden Boot race.
22 min Portugal working the ball around well as Croatia drop as many blue shirts into the penalty area as they can fit. Not a ton of movement off the ball, though, as we near the end of the first quarter.
Updated
20 min Portugal turn it over deep in the Croatian half, then win it right back.
19 min Patient buildup for Portugal now. It’s still hot in Toronto, as odd as that sounds, so slowing things down will be appreciated by all.
18 min Free kick for Croatia deep in the Portuguese half, well cleared.
Incidentally – if you have any thoughts on officiating at this World Cup, please do send them my way. Might not get to them tonight, but I’d like to hear from people.
17 min Yellow card to Ruben Dias. In fairness, it was only a forearm to the face of Budimir. That’s not card-worthy these days, is it?
16 min Pongracic tries to head the ball out for a throw-in but heads it out for a corner. That happened to a team in a game I was reffing a few weeks ago, and it resulted in the game’s only goal. Not this time, as Veiga heads the ball over the bar.
15 min A long diagonal ball from Croatia goes too far, and Portugal will have possession again.
I’ve noticed some email going to spam. The good news is that the thunderstorm does indeed appear to be going south of the stadium.
14 min Croatia manage to coax a foul out of Portugal. Will they be able to cross midfield with the ball, as they have not done in some time?
13 min Pongracic forgot one of the fundamental rules that men must obey when being in a wall on a free kick, and I’ll leave it at that.
11 min Here come Portugal again, and a whistle angers Croatia. (The team, but probably also the country.) Kovacic caught Mendes on the foot after the ball was gone, so the call is legit, and Ronaldo will try his luck from 28 yards or so – I know because a player just walked off the distance.
8 min The Portuguese shirts look like old-school breath mints. Croatia surely don’t find them so refreshing as a cross from Neto goes just over a tangle of bodies that included the uncertain Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic and the ageless Portuguese forward Ronaldo.
7 min Corner to Portugal as the attack continues.
It was Leão who did the good work on the left and centered to Bruno Fernandes, who one-timed it with some venom from near the penalty spot. It slams off Livakovic back to Fernandes, whose second shot isn’t quite as powerful, though Portugal shout for a handball without the answer they wanted.
4 min: HUGE CHANCE for Portugal, and are we holding for a VAR check? Yes, but briefly, and we’re back. Actually a double chance that I’ll describe when the trouble is cleared.
Updated
3 min: Perisic up the left, Baturina ahead, centered to Budimir, tame shot saved but good statement of intent from Croatia.
Updated
Kick-off
1 min: Croatia in blue, Portugal in white.
Updated
Weather and ref
Reader ceri alerts me to an incoming thunderstorm in Toronto. It looks like it might miss?
Espen Eskas of Norway is the ref. Jarred Gillett of Australia is the VAR.
“I guess I’m a different generation to you, as I’ve always thought that Carles Puyol is one of the most easily identifiable footballers in history.” – Liam Murray
Yeah, but Weird Al is one of the most identifiable people on the planet. To some of us.
More pregame mail
“Shouldn’t a good manager/coach be able to design a system in which Ronaldo worked well with the world’s best midfield & Portugal became a team better than the sum of its parts? Or does Ronaldo being Ronaldo make that impossible?” – Gary Stover
Thinking you might have answered your question. I also will probably be compelled to say the world’s best midfield is Malik Tillman, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams. They’re not bad.
“As far as I can tell, the last (and only?) impressive thing Roberto Martinez did as a manager was win the FA Cup for Wigan in the same year they were relegated (against Man City no less). It seems a bit mad that he’s still the manager of Portugal. If Portugal do make it past Croatia, surely he cannot start *that man* against Spain? Or has this become some sort of theatre of the absurd and we should drop our attempts at rational thought and enjoy the spectacle?” – Russell Eberts
Didn’t Portugal win the UEFA Nations League last year? Is that taken seriously in UEFA’s constituent countries?
“Never mind the celebrities, Beau, the VIPs to spot tonight are the talent scouts from AARP (American Association of Retired Persons, for non-American readers).” – Justin Kavanagh
Their magazine is pretty good. So are the discounts. Maybe I can get a sponsorship deal with them …
“I am gutted that Flo will miss the Belgium fixture but it was a red. Imagine if the same thing happened to Pulisic. We would have gone berserk if a red wasn’t issued. So far as Medicare advice, I was born when Eisenhower was President. Try not to get sick or win the lottery.” – Mary Waltz
I have actually spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone with insurance people today.
“If I recall, the man behind Infantino was Barcelona legend Carles Puyol, who for the sake of sticking with the main story tonight can be seen taking on a certain Portuguese forward.” – Liam Searle
Speaking of “then and now,” here’s Puyol at the earlier game:
And here’s Weird Al Yankovic:
OK, one last thing about being old before moving on to more current topics – yes, I distinctly remember following the World Cup on my tiny TV in an apartment in Wilmington, N.C., where the newspaper staff tolerated my fandom of all soccer things.
If you don’t remember the days before everyone was online 24/7 or even 50hrs/month, check out this then-and-now feature.
I don’t have a photo to show it, but the guy sitting behind Gianni Infantino and to his left (our right) in the Spain-Austria game looked eerily like Weird Al Yankovic. I’d like to think Al would get better tickets than that.
What celebrities might we see at this one? Nelly Furtado was born to Portuguese parents who were born in the Azores and emigrated to Canada. Maybe we’ll see ER heartthrob Goran Visnjic. (I did say I was old, right?)
Lineups
Portugal: Diogo Costa; Mendes, Veiga, Dias, Cancelo; Vitinha, João Neves; Leão, Fernandes, Neto; that guy
Leão replaces João Félix.
Croatia: Livakovic; Perisic, Pongracic, Sutalo, Stanisic; Kovacic, Modric; Baturina, Sucic, Vlasic; Budimir
Both teams are estimated to be in a 4-2-3-1 by the agencies that believe everyone is in a 4-2-3-1. Others probably say it’s a 4-4-2. Or maybe a 3-6-1.
The jokes are already coming in …
“Hi Beau! So, Modric vs Ronaldo. There’s going to be a lot of old men jokes tonight, huh? Hopefully some of them won’t be inappropriate. Can we respectfully agree that this qualifies as Clash of the Titans, then? (Because, in the actual myths, the Titans *are* older than Zeus). Sorry, couldn’t resist.” – Vlado
When I made the trip from Troy back to Ithaca (see the movie about that), I helped advise them on how to create the ideal soccer player. But they didn’t listen to me, and Messi popped up in Argentina, which is far from Ithaca. Croatia is relatively close, at least.
“On Saturday we are off on holiday to Spain and Portugal for three weeks, and will be in Portugal for the semifinal and final. I can’t bear the thought of having that insufferable …. (I can think of any number of words to insert here, but poseur is probably the only one which would meet The Guardian’s editorial guidelines) Ronaldo thrust down my throat day and night. So to be on the safe side Portugal had better go out as soon as soon as possible, i.e., tonight. Besides which they need to be punished for leaving Fulham legend Palhinha out of the squad.” – Richard Hirst
Team news coming up next …
Preamble
Welcome to a match that will answer a very important question …
Who gets the honor of losing to Spain?
In the 48-team format (more on that in a bit), 12 of the 16 matches in the Round of Twice 16 are graced with a team that won their group. This is not one of them.
In fairness, Portugal very impressively destroyed Uzbekistan 5-0 in between draws with Colombia and a DR Congo side that seems rather dangerous in hindsight. Croatia lost to an England side that rallied past that DR Congo side earlier in this round, then labored past pesky Panama and beat Ghana 2-1.
And these are star-studded teams. No, I don’t mean that the players involved are older than the galaxy – to answer the question below about 1 March 2006, I was planning my 36th birthday party, so these people all seem young to me.
This match will provide a healthy diversion for us in the United States, where everyone in my social media feeds has opted for one of two messages today:
1. It’s unfortunate, but according to the Laws of the Game, Folarin Balogun had to be sent off.
2. That was the worst call in the history of officiating, even worse than the 1972 Olympic basketball final. (Told you I was old, though I don’t remember that game first-hand.)
Send in your comments, your diet tips and your Medicare advice, and I’ll get through as much of it as I can.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s more on today’s matchup:
Can you remember what you were doing on 1 March 2006? Perhaps you were at Anfield, watching England beat Uruguay 2-1. You might have seen Switzerland put three goals past Scotland at Hampden Park.
Or you might have watched Luka Modric make his debut for Croatia. They beat Argentina 3-2, with Lionel Messi scoring his first international goal. The same evening, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in a 3-0 Portugal victory against Saudi Arabia, no doubt dreaming of the day he would live and work in the country.
While he and Messi have dominated football discourse since then, Modric has been there throughout too. In a more metronomic, less flashy, passing-more-often-than-scoring kind of way, granted, but as another constant presence at the top level.
The trio are in an elite group of four men who have accumulated at least 200 international caps. Claim a bonus point if you can name the other.
You can read the full article below:
