The application of VAR has contributed to officials awarding a record number of penalty kicks during the 2018 World Cup. The 28 penalty kicks awarded thus far shattered the previous record of 18. In addition to identifying fouls in the box, VAR could be used to improve penalty kick rules by making them more nuanced.
There’s your answer: From front to back, France has the best blend of talent at this World Cup. That’s not to deride Croatia or England, it’s just a question that was very obviously going to be settled in this particular semifinal. Could the “magic” propel either of those nations beyond France in the final? As Steven Gerrard would say, yeeeaah course — Portugal did it.
We’re down to the last four teams at the World Cup: France, Belgium, Croatia and England. Who on earth would have thought that these would be the last teams standing? But we’re not complaining. It’s been a World Cup full of surprises and there's definitely room for more. I mean, England won a penalty shootout.
As always, we’ve picked our best lineup from the top performers in the quarterfinals. A 4-4-2 formation is how the team looks again.
Immigrant players and sons of immigrants largely make up World Cup rosters. Welcoming immigration has proven to be the secret to having success at the World Cup. Out of the four teams still remaining in the tournament, France, Belgium and England feature squads composed of players from very diverse origins.
It’s coming home. At least that’s what just about every English person is saying right now. Laugh at them if you want, but based off how this England side is playing right now, it might actually be coming home.
Many fans would associate England with being one of the most underwhelming sides on the international stage. In terms of World Cup performance, England made the quarterfinals in 2006, followed that up with a Round of 16 finish in 2010 and then in 2014, they failed to make it out of the group stage.
When Denmark and Croatia fell into a penalty shootout after a 1-1 deadlock, Denmark’s Nicolai Jorgensen failed to deliver. With that failure, the 27-year-old doomed himself to the role of a lifetime: the third villain in the next John Wick flick.
Jorgenson also received an alarming amount of online abuse — the Danish Football Association (DFA) even reported death threats!
On Tuesday, the Danish FA tweeted this:
England finished off the Round of 16 Tuesday with a win over Colombia on penalties. It led me to think that we may be living in a parallel universe if England won a knockout game via a shootout, but no one is complaining — expect for Radamel Falcao and Jose Pekerman.
This has been one of the hardest lineups to make, simply because there were plenty of outstanding performances.
Without further ado, here's the best XI from the Round of 16. As always, a simple 4-4-2 formation is the go for us.
OK, England won a penalty shootout, so we can be done with those forever now, right? No more penalties, no more penalty shootouts. Let’s just see some goals from open play and some gentlemanly behavior out there. Let’s all just agree to that and we’ll enjoy ourselves in the quarterfinals. What’s that? I’m being sent to the Gulag?