Cugalabanza

Yes. Colbert and Kimmel especially are really good. I don't watch that often because I have to get up early, but when I do they make me laugh.

I think the new Sacha Baron Cohen project on Showtime, "Who Is America?" is pretty great.

Not even a little. You’re right about the national pride. The WC is still a huge deal to top players and millions of fans around the world. To me, this was a great tournament. I enjoyed it very much. Great performances and surprising results.

France vs. Belgium tomorrow at 2 pm ET. Probably the two best teams at this point. Promises to be a very good game.

I agree with you. I have no problem with it.

The CL final goes to penalties after extra time. It has happened many times. The regular (non final) ties are home-and-home. Obviously, that’s not possible for neutral site games and international tournaments.

Kind of, yeah. So congratulations I guess for the successful trolling. I’m curious though: does it feel good?

Great game. Heartbreaking finish. Cheers to Russia for showing so much heart. They did better than anyone would have thought possible. Cool. Nice trolling. You’re a child.

Very impressive from England. They actually have a good shot of reaching the final. Amazing.

Belgium looked great. That was a very fun game.

Great games scheduled for tomorrow (7/6): Uruguay vs. France at 10 am ET Brazil vs. Belgium at 2 pm ET

That was a nervy game. I’m happy for England. England was by far the better team for 80 minutes and then ran out of steam a bit. Colombia played an ugly game in stretches with a lot of diving and begging and some dirty ****. But they surged in extra time and got that equalizer. Good, tense, physical game. Harry Kane is world class.

That’s one way of looking at it. A boring, unnecessarily antagonistic way, but whatever... I don’t think I’ll ever understand why someone would waste the energy to try to make an argument to try to discredit something that people enjoy. Especially inside of a thread made for those who are fans of that thing. A discussion which you could so easily ignore. What an arrogant, ignorant, smug position. You’re right and millions of fans are wrong. I hope you’ll accept my apology for enjoying something that you consider unworthy. Aren’t you and row33 due back in PPP for a rally or something?

Wow, Russia just showed Spain what they can do with their tiki-taka. Huge upset!

Oh good, a fresh perspective

Have a great b-day!

Brazil looked really good in their last group game. Something clicked for them and they looked like themselves again for the first time in a while. That's scary. That Brazil vs Mexico game on Monday is a must watch for me. I'm rooting for Mexico, but they will have to play at their absolute best to have a chance. I agree that quite a few teams have a real shot. It's interesting to see which teams get better as the tournament goes on and who's willing to give that extra effort and to grind out the close ones. I really can't guess who will win it. Brazil, Belgium, Uruguay, Croatia, Portugal, England. Spain,... who knows.

Great big It's the World Cup! It's special in a way that nothing else is. All of the things about this tournament and about the game itself that people complain about...those are many of the things that make it most interesting, exciting, dramatic and fun (and occasionally hilarious) to me.

Mrs. Banza got me this Martin about a decade ago. Gets better with age. Sounds super sweet.

Well, it would be USA, but...? I’m rooting for Mexico ( I guess that’s sacrilege to some). Also England (they invented the game—they deserve some love) and Portugal somewhat too.

I feel like both Sweden & Mexico are capable of beating anyone on a good day. Consistency is the issue, especially for Mexico. They were poor today, but they can play at a very high level when it comes together for them. Hard to say. It’s pretty wide open. Germany’s out. Spain & Brazil look ok, but not great. Portugal, Croatia, Uruguay, England, Sweden...all very much in the mix. Makes it a fun tournament in my opinion.

Nope. But I bet they’re going home feeling pretty ok about the victory against Germany in a game Germany needed.

Wow, crazy stuff in today’s early games. Mexico lucky indeed. They owe a huge debt to S. Korea, especially their keeper, who was great. I didn’t think S. Korea was capable of a performance like that. Good stuff!

No. They likely still need at least a point tomorrow.

True. Also, I'm not sure how much either team really cares whether they play the #1 or #2 seed from group H (Columbia/Japan/Senegal) since it's still up in the air how that group will play out.