World Cup roundup: Round of 16 and quarterfinals

I prayed that the World Cup would continue to offer us surprises, and God certainly answered me. Of the three World Cups I have followed, this is certainly the best one, and that's not just because England are in the semifinals for the first time since before I was born (!!!!).

Wow, wow, WOW. Where do we start?

Let's start with the round of 16. Within four hours on a Saturday, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two greatest players of this generation, were both sent out. Ronaldo and Portugal crashed out to a clinical Uruguay side, while France put four past Lionel Messi and Argentina to send them out in style. This continued a theme from the group games: the teams that relied too much on one star player were going out. The teams that were staying had unified sides with more than one "star".

The next day brought the biggest upset of this World Cup, as Spain fell to Russia on penalties. I came out of church that morning, looked up the results and reeled in shock. Spain and Russia had gone to penalties! Russia had taken Spain, the 2010 champions, to a penalty shootout. Russia then proceeded to cement my shock by winning said shootout. There has been plenty of shock this World Cup, but this topped it all in my opinion. The lowest-ranked team going into the tournament beat the 2010 World Cup champions, who were favorites to win. It was absolute insanity. (Though honestly, I think I can use the words absolute insanity to describe the entire tournament.)

Picture from the Times of Israel.

Less surprising on the same Sunday was Croatia putting Denmark out on penalties. If anything, I was shocked that Denmark even took Croatia that far. Yet again, no team was to be underestimated in this topsy-turvy tournament.

I was very nervous for England going into the round of 16 game. For those who are not familiar with England's recent footballing history, the prevailing theme is disappointment. England had a lot of talent, but after 1990 (the last time they made the semifinals), they could never pull it together. Eventually, the gap between expectation and reality became a source of pressure and fear for England players, to the point where they were at the brink of collapse whenever they played. Whether against a weak team or a strong team, watching England was always a nervy affair and very often a disappointing one. Their performance at Euro 2016 two years ago is the best example of what they'd come to. They barely scraped into the round of 16, where they found none other than Iceland, a country the size of Pittsburgh, PA. When Iceland scored twice in 12 minutes, the team essentially turned into 11 headless chickens, failing to execute any sort of coherent plan and gifting the win to a grateful Iceland team. The fear of failure haunted them throughout that tournament and many others, to the point where the English players literally could not cope with even the slightest danger. These players, who were so talented for their clubs, would mess up for England time after time because the pressure had paralyzed them.

Terrible memories...Iceland after beating England back in 2016. Pic from The Telegraph.

After Euro 2016, no one really wanted to manage the England national team. The unenviable job went to a former youth coach, Gareth Southgate. I'm no football analyst, so I can't tell you everything Southgate did right, but there are a couple obvious things. The first thing is that he made England confront their fears. England in particular were very bad at penalty shootouts, so he made his team focus on penalties in order to break that fear. He was also very realistic about his team instead of pouring too much expectation on them, and he chose players based on merit, not their "possible potential" or "history with the team". His team had some stars (Harry Kane and Dele Alli come to mind), but most of the the team were not so well known before the tournament. It helped that the players had grown up playing for England's junior national teams together and were able to put aside club rivalries in order to be a team.

Going into the World Cup, people liked Southgate and the new-look team, but expectations were very low. I was nervous for the Tunisia and Panama games; England had faltered against nations like these. But instead, they won against Tunisia and absolutely crushed Panama. They lost against Belgium, but Belgium are #3 in the world, so no one was disappointed. Their loss also meant that they finished second in the group, so they went into the half of the draw with the lower ranked teams, which was very good in retrospect. But still, they had Colombia to deal with. 

Colombia are a very good side, with stars such as James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao, and most pundits would have favored them to win. But they were not at full strength, and as a result, they mostly tried to defend and play somewhat dirty. The game dragged on with the sides getting one goal each, and it eventually went to penalties, England's old enemy. To my shock, England won the penalty shootout! (They'd been in five penalty shootouts in major tournaments and had never won until then.) As my cousin said after that game, "This World Cup is like a kid in primary school who's been told it's opposite day!"

The magic continued into the quarterfinals, where England played Sweden, who were in the quarterfinals for the very first time. I was fortunate to watch this game live, and it was an exciting one. Sweden were great and fought to the end, but England were the better team, creating most of the chances and scoring twice. It ended 2-0, and for the first time in my lifetime, England were in the semifinals! I'm still wearing my England shirt that I took from my brother four or five years ago. For the first time ever, I'm wearing it with pride. No matter what happens now, this World Cup has made me and many others proud to be England fans again, and for that I have to thank Gareth Southgate and his team!

Happy times...Dele Alli celebrates after his goal vs. Sweden (NDTV)

After winning the penalty shootout vs. Colombia (BBC)

I watched that game out in the San Fernando Valley, also known as "the Valley", and I stayed around to watch the last quarterfinal, Russia vs. Croatia. As it turns out, the Valley is full of Russians, and several of them showed up to the watch party where I was, shouting chants nonstop for 120 minutes and a penalty shootout. 

The game certainly fit the crackling atmosphere. Denis Cheryshev scored a beautiful long-range goal for Russia, but Croatia let them know that it wasn't over just eight minutes later via a header from Andrej Kramaric. In extra time, the roles were reversed; Croatia scored first to go ahead, only for Russia to respond with an incredible header from Mario Fernandes via a corner kick from Artem Dzyuba. They were neck and neck until the penalty shootout, and it was exciting and tiring to watch! I knew Russia's game was over the moment that Fernandes shot his penalty wide. Honestly, though, they have absolutely crushed the expectations and silenced all the haters, and they've done so well just by getting to the quarterfinals.

And honestly, I can say that for almost every team. Sweden weren't even in the World Cup for so many years, but this year they went to the quarterfinals WITHOUT their star player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Croatia had been in the World Cup for a while, but they were always crashing out in the group stages. This time they've declared themselves one of the teams of the tournament; not even the hosts, buoyed by an entire nation, could stop them. Belgium have only become good in the past six years or so; their golden generation is finally reaching the heights they're supposed to reach. Japan, who in the past often looked like a waste of a World Cup spot, topped their group and broke into the Round of 16 for the first time in a while. Even Denmark, who crashed out in the round of 16, are better than I can ever remember them being. Almost all the traditional powers are at home watching while the underdogs get to run the tournament, and for that reason, this is my favorite World Cup ever. (Hopefully the next World Cup will involve more African teams, though. Just saying...)

I end this (somewhat biased) review with a shoutout to a Russian player whose name no one knew before this tournament, the aforementioned Denis Cheryshev. Cheryshev plays for a lesser-known Spanish club called Villareal, and prior to this tournament, he was not playing regularly for them. His biggest claim to fame was getting Real Madrid eliminated from an important tournament back in 2015. He has spent the last five years being shuttled between clubs, and he wasn't guaranteed to get into this Russia team for the World Cup. Even then, he was expected to be a fringe player. Instead, he's been the breakout player of the tournament, scoring four gorgeous goals, including this screamer in the Russia-Croatia game just a couple hours before this piece was written.

Six days before this game, he made a post on his Instagram that piqued my interest as I was scrolling through the 'gram today. His Instagram (@cheryshev90) is not particularly interesting, but the caption on his last photo, taken during this World Cup, caught my eye. 

The caption reads: "Thank you Lord for everything! Phil 4:13: I can do everything through Jesus Christ #togetherwithmyteam." And it's not just this post; a lot of his posts have the caption "thank you Lord for everything." Is it not like God to lift his people out of the dust like that? As Hannah put it in 1 Samuel 2: 

"He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world." (1 Samuel 2:8 ESV)

The Bible also says this:

"One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much..." (Luke 16:10 ESV)

Cheryshev's previous posts show that he had made a habit of glorifying God in every victory, no matter how many people saw him do it. Now that the whole world can see him, he's decided to continue with what he was doing. Just more proof that God is good to those who serve Him!

ON TO THE SEMIS!

World Cup roundup: the group games

Most people who know me probably don't know that I've been a soccer fan for about 10 years now. It all started on New Year's Eve, 2008. I was fourteen years old and visiting England with my family, and my uncle had a Premier League game on. Intrigued by how fast-paced and smooth the game was (in comparison to the stop-and-start nature of American football), I watched the entire game, and I've been hooked ever since.

I've spent most of my football fan life following the Premier League (with occasional interruptions from Spanish, French and German league football), but my favorite soccer event by far is the World Cup. Every four years, the world comes together around one game. It's amazing. I've had the privilege of following three World Cups now, and though apparently none of them have been as good as the past ones (according to more seasoned fans), I love it just the same. There's nothing quite like a World Cup summer.

This World Cup has been by far the most fun one to watch so far. What a round of group games! I checked results every day, and practically every day there was a surprise to gasp over. It literally started on day 1 when Russia, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, beat Saudi Arabia 5-0. Even Uruguay, who are a much better team, didn't do as well against Saudi Arabia, and Russia were able to follow it up by scoring 3 goals against Egypt, qualifying to the knockout rounds easily. They may not be a great soccer team, but Russia is definitely a sports country, and home support can make a big difference for teams. (Just look at South Korea in 2002).

For Group B, Spain provided most of the drama when they sacked their coach a mere two days before the World Cup started. Their coach unwisely decided to announce that he'd be managing Real Madrid (one of the biggest clubs in Spain, and one whose administration is known for their prima donna attitude), and the federation was not having it, so out he went! The real question was whether Spain would recover, and they did. It wasn't too pretty, but they managed not to lose, which is more than a lot of favored teams can say.

Argentina were just one of the favored teams that found themselves in huge trouble after less favored teams proved to be good against them. Iceland were able to tie with them, and Croatia outclassed them in every way. I saw Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic's goals live, and I just remember having my mouth drop after Modric's goal, in particular. It was just one of the many screamers of the group games, but what a goal it was. I did not see Croatia's first goal live, but it was also incredible. Ante Rebic not only took advantage of a goalie blunder, he did so in STYLE. What a volley!

Group D also had one of my "official" teams (AKA a team I support), Nigeria, and they, too, shocked me in their second game by winning against Iceland. After Argentina capitulated against Croatia on the same day, I wanted so much for them to win against Argentina. But Argentina, they of four World Cup final appearances and two wins, were able to dig deep and find the will to win. That was probably my least favorite result of the group rounds, but Argentina likely deserved their win. Group D was one of the deepest groups, with two good teams being forced to leave the tournament early (Nigeria and Iceland).

At least Nigeria went out as the undisputed flyest team of the tournament. LOOK AT THIS KIT! *swoons*

Group E provided some unexpected political tension with Switzerland fielding three Kosovo-born players against Serbia, but other than that, it was relatively uninteresting, with expected results. Its relative lack of drama was made up for by Group F. OH MY DAYS.

Everyone thought Germany was going to contend for the trophy again after their showing in the Confederations Cup, a World Cup preview tournament, last year. Looking back, of course, we're not so sure now, but then they looked incredibly deep and almost invincible. Cue Mexico, who broke that impression with a single goal:

Even after that game, though, people just assumed that Germany would recover, because they always do. It is said that "football is a game where 22 people play for 90 minutes and the Germans always win". They have four World Cup trophies and haven't gone out earlier than the semifinals for the past 20 years at least. But then the game against South Korea came. Like a dead snake who can still kill you with its venom, South Korea, a team that was already eliminated, came in with a vengeance and scored two goals on Germany in stoppage time. At the same time, Sweden, traditionally known as a defensive side that grind out games, burst into the scene with three goals against Mexico. The combination of results put Germany out of the World Cup for the first time since 1938! EIGHTY YEARS!

Hindsight is 20/20, but I must say, I did suspect that the German league was getting weaker over the past four years. Bayern Munich is the only top club right now in the German league; they haven't had real competition in years, and they've had time to get complacent. Compare this to 2014, where the year before, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund (two German clubs) had played the Champions League final. (The Champions League is the annual all-Europe club competition, generally fielding the best clubs in football.) German football was a lot more competitive then, and the team members had much more ambition than they did this year, in 2018. I sense that Germany spent four years sitting on their laurels, and they paid for it. They'll certainly be back though; their system is solid. All they need is ambition, and I hope this dismal World Cup performance gave them some!

Group G generally made me happy. My other official team, England, did really quite well for themselves. After grinding it out against Tunisia in typical England fashion, I was expecting their game against Panama to be another toughie; they instead blew Panama away with a six-goal rout. The English press, trying not to get excited, called them "clinical", but in what world is SIX goals a "clinical" performance? It was amazing, that's what it was, especially since Panama were playing so dirty and trying to distract them. Unfortunately, England lost against Belgium and they now have to play Colombia, one of the top teams in the tournament. Most people expect them to go out, but this World Cup has been full of surprises so far. Let's see what happens.

Happy England makes me happy. Photo from The Telegraph.

Group H, as it turns out, was the other group of death. Japan, traditionally a nonentity in football, had a coming out party in Russia, opening their tournament with a surprise win against ten-man Colombia. Granted, they were greatly helped by a mistake from Colombian Carlos Sanchez, but a win is a win! Senegal nearly did the same as Japan, winning over favored team Poland in one of my favorite surprise wins of the tournament. I was really rooting for them to do the same against Colombia, but again, the South American team proved stronger, and Senegal went out on a tiebreaker with Japan. Poland, who were ranked sixth in the world going in, were atrocious, and they went out with three losses.

Senegal in happier times, after they scored against Poland with a HOWLER! Sigh. Always in our hearts <3

That sums up the group stages for anyone still reading. It has been an incredible two weeks. Of course there are minuses: Group C in general (what is France doing?) and the fact that there are no African teams left in the tournament (*sobs*). But the amount of surprises and the amount of goals (just one 0-0 draw in 40+ games) has made up for the sad parts, and I am SO excited for the knockout stages. Pray with me that they will be just as good as the group games!

Lessons learned from the Champions League final

Note that this and the next couple posts are some things I made a long time ago. 

I got to watch a lot of the Champions League final for soccer live on Saturday, and it was just awesome. The last 50 minutes played out like a movie. If you’re not familiar it was the European club final, and it was between Bayern Munich (Munich’s local club and one of the best in the German business) and Chelsea (North London club and among the top English Premier League clubs). It was played in Munich, and Bayern was obviously the favorite…but Chelsea won—and in dramatic fashion too. Bayern scored once, and within five minutes Chelsea had equalized; the game had 30 minutes of extra time, and then it went to a shootout and Chelsea took the cake. You’ll learn more from my lessons. 

Without further ado:

Lesson 1: It a’int over till it’s over.

I definitely thought it was over at a couple of points. Nothing happened for the first 80 minutes (there are 90 in a normal game), and around the 70th minute I went upstairs because I was a little bored. I ended up missing both the goals, first by Thomas Mueller for Bayern, and then the equalizer shot by Didier Drogba for Chelsea. The two goals were within five minutes of each other and were also in the last 10 minutes of regular time. It may look like the whole situation is going to go one way, but in five minutes or less, everything can change! Literally! Another example; it was penalty shootout time, and the team with the most penalties (goals shot close to the goalkeeper) would win. Each team got five chances. Petr Cech, the Chelsea goalkeeper, had seen three penalties go past him—one from the Bayern goalkeeper. (I’m still shocked that goalkeepers are allowed to shoot!) Chelsea had missed their first penalty. He had been defending from Bayern the entire game, and my mom and I figured, it’s Bayern’s! Cech (pronounced like check) is too tired, and Bayern are ahead! Then, Bayern came up with Bastian Schweinstiger, one of the best midfielders in the world, and I REALLY thought it was over.

Schweinstiger ended up hitting the goalpost.

The rest went in dramatic fashion. Chelsea’s fourth player made his penalty. The last Bayern player got his penalty saved by Petr Cech, the tired goalkeeper. And then, the last Chelsea player, Didier Drogba, fired his penalty past the Bayern goalkeeper into the net. It was 4-3 on penalties. Chelsea had won.

Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow; you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. Proverbs 27:1 MSG

(In my case, change tomorrow to the next five minutes…)

2. People can have multiple talents…

Granted, this sounds like an awfully stupid lesson. But I was genuinely shocked when Bayern sent their goalkeeper up to shoot a penalty. Bayern have three of the best forwards (people who WOULD shoot goals normally) in the world—Mario Gomez, Thomas Mueller and Arjen Robben—but guess who was put up third for the penalty shootout? Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper. I wanted to laugh. I honestly thought it was illegal to send goalkeepers up to shoot in penalty shootouts.

But, you know what? Neuer did great! He fired that ball straight past Petr Cech like one of the pro forwards would have—or honestly, wouldn’t have (what with Schweinstiger hitting the goalpost, Robben missing a penalty during normal time and Gomez not scoring a single goal? seriously!).

Lesson learned: it’s better to not be a one-trick pony. Of course, you have to find your greatest talent and then spend your time honing that. But it’s also nice to be able to back up the team when the team’s first choice is out. It was great that the Bayern manager could trust Neuer to go up there and score a goal if he was needed. It’s good to have enough skill in something that’s not your major talent that you can go out there if you’re needed.

3. People may be talented, but it is God who will put them over.

Chelsea won their first Champions League title ever yesterday. They’ve been to the final before—in fact, they’ve been to penalty shootouts before. It was only four years ago when they played Manchester United in the Champions League final in Moscow, and their captain, John Terry, missed a penalty as well as the Champions League title. Fast forward—four years have passed. Chelsea are back again, against one of the best teams in the world. Bayern pressure them for the entire game, but five minutes after they score, Chelsea scores. They go to penalty shootouts again. Schweinstiger hits the goalpost. Drogba scores the winner.

Chelsea have been a great club for several years. They’ve rarely been out of the top 6 in the Premier League. Didier Drogba has been their talisman for nearly a decade, and he’s shown no sign of stopping; he scored nine goals in nine games leading up to this final. But truth is, the only thing that mattered was the last four penalties. Had Schweinstiger and Ivica Olic made their penalties, Chelsea would have lost the Champions League final again. 

Drogba knew who to look to at this moment. He told the BBC: “I believe a lot in destiny. I pray a lot. It was written a long time ago. God is wonderful. This team is amazing.” 

Chelsea certainly put in the work, but it was God who turned that work into a Champions league trophy.

Moral of the story: Do work, son! Do your homework! But don’t just think your effort is going to put you over. God is the one who will do that.

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. Psalm 18:32 NKJV