The first knockout stage match was France vs Argentina. Messi's Argentina barely escaped the group stage and things looked bleak after giving up an early PK. Di Maria gave them hope at the end of the 1st half with a blast from outside the box. Argentina followed this up with an early 2nd half goal off a scramble corner. A belief started setting over the audience, but a ridiculous volley by Pavard from a cross stomped on the hopes and started a landslide for France. In a span of 10 minutes, France went from 1-2 down to 4-2 up off a pair of goals from Mbappe. Aguero made it exciting by scoring an injury time goal, but Argentina's clock ran out.
The second match was Uruguay vs Portugal. Uruguay came in undefeated and not allowing a single goal in the tournament. Portugal have kind of limped into the next round after scoring 3 goals against Spain. Cavani gave Uruguay an early lead, which Portugal finally overcame early in the 2nd half, but Cavani once again put Uruguay up for the final time.
The next match was Brazil vs Mexico, where Mexico was looking to replicate their game plan which they successfully deployed against Germany. They lasted until the 2nd half where Neymar finally solved their defensive setup and then Firming capped it off with a 2nd.
Belgium vs Japan doesn't sound like an exciting match on paper, but if this tournament has taught us anything, don't underestimate anyone. I wouldn't say that's what Belgium did but Japan definitely came to play; holding off the favored Belgians until they exploded with 2 goals to begin the 2nd half. Everyone was stunned until a looping header found the back of the net for Belgium; they had life again. A few subs came into the game and the 1st one made a difference in the 74th minute, Fellaini finishing a cross with his head. We looked destined for extra time, but Belgium had another idea. Off a misplaced corner, a counter attack started from the goalkeeper and launched directly at Japan's goal and left them in disbelief as Chadli put the finishing touch on the game making it 3-2 for Belgium.
The other side of the bracket was wide open with the majority of the heavyweights on the other side. Spain didn't look the strongest, but their path to the finals looked decent. Spain vs Russia was not a match that many were looking forward to, Spain got an early gift with an own goal in the 11th minute but Russia came back before the end of the half to tie the game 1-1. Spain played their tika-taka play style while Russia defended for their lives and miraculously they forced a shootout. With the fans behind them, Russia punched through and defeated Spain 4-3 on penalty kicks.
Croatia vs Denmark was one of the strangest as it started off with a double bang. A 1st minute goal by Denmark followed up by a 4th minute goal by Croatia. And then the game kind of halted and slowed down until extra time. In the 2nd extra time period, Denmark had to give up a penalty on a breakaway. Modric stepped up but was magically stopped by Schmeichel. Going into penalties, Denmark felt like they had the momentum after the late penalty save, but both keepers showed up huge in the penalties, they saved 5 out of 10 penalties. Modric redeemed himself and led Croatia to the victory 3-2. Sweden vs Switzerland was a defensive match up. Switzerland felt like they could control the game against Sweden and kept pushing them back with 68% possession. Sweden have been living and dying with their team unity and they found the goal in the 66th minute with another masterful performance. Columbia vs England was supposed to be a good match up but James Rodriguez got injured in the game before. England felt like they should have won this game easily but Columbia dirtied the game and created a stalemate. They went a little too far and gave up a penalty in the 57th minute which Harry Kane converted. Columbia pressed a bit but never really could sustain pressure. In the very last minute of extra time, they won a corner and scored off a towering header from their defender Mina. Extra time solved nothing and it was down to the dreaded penalties. England went down early, but Columbia missed 2 to open the door for England. Eric Dier was given the responsibility; all of England were holding their breaths and he calmly stepped up and fired it in the bottom corner and launched England into hysteria. Football is Coming Home!
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