Advanced to Semi-finals

Argentina: Argentina won a thriller against the Netherlands. Lionel Messi had a goal and then added another one on a penalty kick as Argentina moved to the semi finals on a 2-2 draw, but then a 4-3 win because of penalty shots. Netherlands had a great run, but failed to make it even better despite a 2 goal performance by Wout Weghorst. Watch out for Netherlands next World Cup.

Croatia: Croatia advanced on a stunning match against favorites Brazil. They went into stoppage time at 0-0. They went down early in stoppage time due to a Neymar goal, but in the final minutes of stoppage time, Bruno Petkovic of Croatia came up clutch with a goal to send it into a penalty shootout. Where they won 4 goals to 2. Look out for them to make it to the finals in consecutive World Cups.

France: France, the reigning champs, played a surprisingly tight game against England. Mbappé wasn’t a factor as he was shut down by the England defense, so Aurélien Tchouaméni and Oliver Giroud stepped up. They each scored a goal as France prevailed on a missed penalty shot by England star Harry Kane.

Morocco: Morocco made history as the first African team to ever reach the World Cup semi finals. They beat a Christiano Ronaldo led Portugal team. Despite being completely outweighed in possession, (Portugal 73%, Morocco 27%) they came away when they needed it the most.  Now they have to face reigning champs France.

Eliminated from Quarter Finals

Netherlands: Netherlands lost a heartbreaking match to the powerhouse known as Argentina. They had a really strong showing, and probably surprised many by how close they were to having the upset of the whole World Cup. 

Brazil: Everything was going well for Brazil, Neymar came back from injury better than ever, their players were playing well, they were winning, until they played the tiny country of Croatia. Croatia extinguished their hopes of moving on, but Brazil didn’t go down without a fight, Neymar had a goal in stoppage time, but their defense couldn’t keep it up, another late goal by Croatia and more from them on penalty shots swiftly ended their hopes.

England: England’s hopes were sadly eliminated, although shutting down superstar Kylian Mbappé and dominating possession time. Harry Kane had a penalty goal early in the match, but missed his second one as that was the final blow in England’s World Cup run.

Portugal: Portugal was unfortunately eliminated although completely dominating possession(see above). Their leader, Christiano Ronaldo, announced that this World Cup was going to be his last. It didn’t end well for Ronaldo after being benched, and then losing in the quarter finals.