I have to be honest, I forgot about extra time and shoot outs. Both are nerve-racking. Three of the eight Round of 16 games were settled on a shoot out. And I was wrong about two out of eight of the results. I picked Spain and Switzerland but it was Russia and Sweden. So, let’s talk about what’s coming up.

Uruguay vs. France

France just looked too strong in the last game. Mbappe is emerging as a star (he already was one but he’s going to be the kind of star that everyone knows, not just the kind of star that soccer fans know). I want to get Luiz Suarez knocked out of the tournament. Cavani was great last game but he wasn’t good enough to eclipse my Suarez hatred. So, I’ve got to go with France.

Brazil vs. Belgium

My intellect is telling me Brazil but I want it to be Belgium, so, I’m going to go with Belgium. After that dramatic win against Japan (and I’m starting to realize that I might be too empathetic for this game – even though I wanted Belgium, I just felt so bad for Japan after the game) I think they have some momentum. Even when their stars couldn’t get it done, the second string, Fellaini and Chadli, did. As for Brazil, they’ve got to rely on Neymar and Coutinho but if those two don’t step it up and have career defining games, I think Belgium will win.

Russia vs. Croatia

Russia was lucky to beat Spain on penalties. I think they will be very lucky to beat Croatia. If they beat Croatia, I think it’s time to look at the possibility of Russian meddling in the World Cup. But, hell, Croatia is lucky to have made it here. Kaspar Schmeichel’s save in extra time was amazing. But it wasn’t to be. I’m going with Croatia.

England vs. Sweden

Watching the game today, I kept saying, “if it goes to penalties, we’re going to lose.” I said it over and over again. We can’t go to penalties. But we did and we made it through. I’m pretty amazed. I was in a bar full of Colombian fans. They went insane when they scored that equalizer in the 92nd? 93rd? minute. And I didn’t want to win on a penalty from Kane. I wanted us to score from open play. But that’s not what happened. We went to penalties and it happened to go our way this time (as I had never seen before).

I can’t really explain Sweden at this point but here they are. I think England will win but this is also the team that lost to Iceland in the Euros in 2016. So, I’m going to say England but you never know.

Bring on the quarters. I’ve got to be honest, I’m sad that the number of games keeps dwindling.