Tuesday Cannon Fodder: World Cup Day 17

The World Cup Round of 16 wraps up today with Morocco taking on Spain at 10 am ET and Portugal facing Switzerland at 2 pm ET. Sadly, after today’s action, we have two whole days without matches before the Quarterfinals start on Friday. Whatever shall we do?

Croatia 1 (3) - Japan 1 (1): poor Takehiro Tomiyasu. He had one of the worst games in his career at the worst possible time, describing his play as a “disaster” in his post-match press conference. Japan were the better side in the first half, and Croatia were better in the second. Japan’s penalties were among the most dire penalties I’ve ever seen. They had three saved, all of which were poorly placed.

Brazil 4 - South Korea 1: Neymar returned and Brazil smashed South Korea, jumping out to a 2-0 lead after 13 minutes and leading 4-0 at halftime. Richarlison scored another incredible goal, and A Seleção danced their way into the QFs. I guess the images of Richarlison consoling teammate Son Heung-min after the match are touching, but only because they’re wearing national team kits and not Spurs ones.

How do y’all feel about penalties as a way to decide matches? If not penalties, how would you decide winners? I’ve always liked the idea of taking penalties before the start of extra time so that one team knows they have to go for it. That or manager keep-uppy contest at midfield.