GoooooooL!!!!

Left

And then there were four: Argentina, Croatia, France, and Morocco.

Argentina: The last chance for Messi to win the big one.

Croatia: Runners-up four years ago, in their Ralston Purina checkerboard squares.

France: The defending champions.

Morocco: The road from Morocco has made them the first team from Africa to reach the semi-finals. The 1942  film “Road to Morocco” featured one of the greatest puns ever when Bing Crosby and Bob Hope sang, “Like Webster’s Dictionary we’re Morocco bound.”

Left

On the way home are Portugal, England, and Brazil—joining Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany as big names ousted from the tournament. 

Left Home

Italy: who never qualified. To me, no World Cup is legitimate without the Italians, who always seem to have more personality than all the other teams combined.

Nothing New

England go out of a major tournament because of a failure to convert on a penalty kick.

Sore Losers

Portugal: who complained that an Argentine referee was assigned to their quarter-final match against Morocco: “Bruno, Pepe blame ref for Portugal World Cup elimination: 'Clearly, they've tilted the field against us.’”

The Netherlands: Luuk De Jong had a complaint against the referee in the defeat to Argentina: “It’s not easy …. But he seemed to blow very easily for Argentina.”

England: England defender Harry Maguire, also about the referee: ”I can't really explain his performance, the amount of decisions he got wrong was actually incredible. Really poor."

An Oldie, But a Goody

Olivier Giroud (France) 36 years old: Scored the winning header against England. (See above.)

Youngsters, But Goodies

Jude Bellingham (England) 19 years old. 

Bukayo Saka (England) 21 years old

Multicolor

One of the delights of the World Cup is seeing how the fans of the different countries deck themselves out not only in their national colors but in some outrageous costumes. Have fun, folks! The most colorful of crowds are the followers of the African elevens, in this edition the Ghanians, the Cameroonians, and the Senegalese, the last of these never stopped dancing and singing throughout the ninety minutes.

White

By contrast, there were the ranks of Qataris, who made me do a double take; I thought my linen closet had escaped from home.

Speaking of White

The Senegalese (see picture above) had painted their faces white. What would have been the reaction if, say, the English fans had painted their faces black?

A Bust at Burnley

Wout Weghorst (the Netherlands) was no help to Burnley Football Club in his time in the English Premier League. He scored two goals against Argentina. Go figure.

  

Español 

I have been watching the matches on Spanish web streaming. I can boast that I have understood every tenth word—as long as that word is “corner.” Are the Spanish-speaking play-by-play announcers the fastest speakers in the world outside of tobacco auctioneers? And it should be noted, as a gesture to equality, the network at times employs two women analysts together.

All Set

For the semi-final Tuesday—Argentina versus Croatia. 

Headgear ready. But the face will be painted neither white nor black.