Ketsbaia

Last two World Cups have seen Brazil progress by beating non-European sides, then being eliminated by Holland and Germany. And they slipped up vs Switzerland this time, so if anything it's the European sides that are Brazil's weakness. Not that a whole continent can be generalised, of course.

Their history is comparable but, right now, Belgium have a great set of players who I'd like to see reach their international potential. Maybe not 'big' in terms of the global game, but a heavily-fancied team.

y tho Just an unpopular personal preference to see big teams reach the big matches. The occasional underdog win is fine but the line-up is getting a bit weak.

Delighted and relieved to see Belgium win. After missing all those chances in the first half I had a feeling that Japan might punish them, but to wake up and do such a comeback was remarkable. Brazil v Belgium could be tasty.

I'll never be too ecstatic to see a good bloke go and Ritchie has been a great servant for us. Nice guy who worked his socks off - he genuinely enjoyed playing for us and it showed. Footballing-wise, a few big goals in the last months covered up a poor first half of the season. Assuming there's a replacement (not Townsend), this makes sense for us. Best of luck to him though

About to sign Dylan McGeough, which is actually a surprise. Not sure why he'd choose them.

Brazil have been quietly getting the job done, unlike the other big nations. Generally playing well too, although they'll not be remembered as a Holland '74 or Brazil '70. It's got to be either them or France. Oh, erm..... IT'S COMING HOME.

Optimism scares me

Jorgensen is the new Suarez.

A Russia v Denmark quarter-final FIFA should just call the whole thing off.

I guess Putin is a rich man. It showed with that decision.

Got to be a penalty

Makes me pine for Denmark 0-0 France

There'll be a weak side if Spain get through. They're fucking shite and truly dreadful to watch. They've been disappointing but at least they're not sitting back. They have a few gears to go up, you'd hope. Russia are just nothing.

This is awful. If Russia get through this, there'll be a weak side in the final. That's annoying.

An all-time classic, man. Can't get over how great that was. Gutted for Messi because he's surrounded by absolute shite and has to bow out of World Cups playing alongside Fazio, Rojo, Meza, Perez and this version of Mascherano. Their defence basically doesn't exist, so I always felt France would win. It wasn't the making of a new star because Mbappe already is a star, arguably already one of the world's best 5 players. But to do this at 19 is phenomenal. If he stays away from injury, he's the one.

Today's gonna be lush - 2 underwhelming giants, then a festival of the dark arts. Cheering on South America.

Only positive of the day off is that I caught up on World Cup podcasts. That's about it.

I can't unsee that thin stripe going into the neck. Don't like it, although the maroon and blue one could be a stunner.

Great if he's replacing Colback & Saivet. Worrying if he's a cheapskate way to replace Merino, which it will be

We do have a huge excess of players but it's beyond ridiculous if we're genuinely saying 'sell to buy'. We're dripping with money just like every other Premier League club They clearly want Rafa gone next summer, like. Which makes no sense when it comes to protecting your assets, club value etc. But Ashley doesn't make sense.

Golovin heavily linked with Chelsea, potentially freeing up Loftus-Cheek? Obviously for an ambitious club with money, not us....

Says the guy who was proposing the whole situation after we beat Tunisia. Talk about pot calling kettle. Yeah I know, how is that a contradiction? I think 2nd is smarter but also don't realistically think England will win the World Cup. So ultimately it's all a bit pointless.