World Cup Round of 16 Preview

The group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup has concluded in Russia. With it goes the defending champs (Germany), the best kit (Nigeria), and maybe the best nickname/dancers (Senegal aka the Lions of Generosity). While we could spend a good afternoon lamenting the fact that both the Vikings of Iceland and the Socceroos have to catch an early flight home, let's shift our focus toward the nations who are advancing. It's time to preview the round of 16, which means that Grant and Troy will give you both the team to root for (since we're experts on that) and the team who we believe will survive and advance now that we've been able to watch these teams play.

Saturday 6/30

France v Argentina - 10 AM - Fox

Grant's Team To Root For - I love Messi, but France is the team to root for here. This is a deep and talented team that includes hairstyle connoisseur Paul Pogba, teenage phenom Kylian Mbappe, and Blaise Matuidi, who is a great player with an even better name. Also, I picked France to win the World Cup before the tournament began, so I'm pulling for them to fulfill my prophecy. 

Grant's Team Who Will Win - I love Messi, but this French team has much more talent and depth than an Argentina team that struggled in its first two World Cup matches.

Troy's Team To Root For - The team to cheer for here is Argentina, and much like Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, it comes in two parts. First is that Messi is so good and has come so close that he almost deserves it. Second is that (unconfirmed) the Argentinian players are more or less coaching themselves, so that's interesting. Plus Messi v Ronaldo in the World Cup would be too legit to quit.

Troy's Team Who Will Win - France is a deeper, more talented team who are in better form, while Argentina has been struggling, which is why the French will be some real happy roosters. 

Uruguay v Portugal - 2 PM - Fox

Grant's Team To Root For - Who doesn't want to watch Cristiano Ronaldo play in this tournament as long as possible? Nothing against Uruguay, but a potential Ronaldo - Messi quarterfinal is too enticing to root against.

Grant's Team Who Will Win - Ronaldo will try to carry this Portugal team to the next round, but Uruguay is a much more complete team with numerous weapons all over the field.

Troy's Team To Root For - My reasoning for this one is similar to Argentina. Ronaldo has won the Euros and many club trophies, but it would be interesting to watch the world's most famous set of abs win it all. Plus Messi v Ronaldo in the World Cup would be too legit to quit.

Troy's Team Who Will Win - Since struggling at times in their game against Egypt, Uruguay has been one of the best and most complete teams in the field, which is why they will advance to the quarterfinals.

Sunday 7/1

Spain v Russia - 10 AM - Fox

Grant's Team To Root For - Russia has actually been enjoyable to watch during this World Cup, but the talented Spanish still easily beat out the Russians in my personal rankings.

Grant's Team Who Will Win - The hosts will be ready to battle and will have the crowd on their side, but Spain is one of the most talented teams in the world. After smashing two inferior teams (Saudi Arabia and Egypt), Russia got lambasted by Uruguay, and Spain is better than Uruguay.

Troy's Team To Root For - I'm torn on this since Russia is the host and have actually been fun to watch but I remembered that España is a lot of fun to say. 

Troy's Team Who Will Win - Russia may have had two great first games but they were against lesser opponents and now they have to face maybe the strongest nation left in Spain, thus I have little faith and tip my hat to the visitors.

Croatia v Denmark - 2 PM - Fox

Grant's Team To Root For - This is a tough one for me. I don't have strong feelings either way for these two teams. Although I like the checkerboard pattern, I'm going to go with the Danish, since I have a friend from Denmark.

Grant's Team Who Will Win - Croatia has been very impressive so far in this tournament, but I'm going to go with Christian Erikson and the Danish.

Troy's Team To Root For - I have very little interest, but apparently since I'm the only person that doesn't really like the Croatian kits, I need to plant my flag and cheer for the Danish.

Troy's Team Who Will Win - Croatia has been extremely impressive so far and I don't feel like Denmark is going to be the one to stop their roll.

Monday 7/2

Brazil v Mexico - 10 AM - Fox

Grant's Team To Root For - Some people might not like me for this, but I'm going to pull a Landon Donovan and root for Mexico here. The Brazilians are like the New York Yankees of soccer, and I usually root against the New York Yankees.

Grant's Team Who Will Win - Mexico is a talented team that will give a spirited effort, but Brazil might be the most talented team in the field.

Troy's Team To Root For - I shall cheer for Brazil unless Wells Fargo wants to pony up enough dough, in which case I shall cheer for Mexico.

Troy's Team Who Will Win - In the past Mexico has matched up well against the Brazilians, but Brazil is on a mission to show they are the most talented team on earth.

Belgium v Japan - 2 PM - Fox

Grant's Team To Root For - This is an easy one for me. I'm a big fan of Belgium, and Japan knocked out Senegal, another team (and manager) I was a big fan of.

Grant's Team Who Will Win - This is also an easy one for me. The Belgians are much more talented than the Japanese.

Troy's Team To Root For - Japan advanced based on fair play so we should cheer them on for good sportsmanship.

Troy's Team Who Will Win - Belgium is better, so much better.

Tuesday 7/3

Sweden v Switzerland - 10 AM - FS1

Grant's Team To Root For - I am a fan of the fish they have in Sweden, but I'm going to go with the Swiss here. They have a guy named Shaqiri and a guy whose last name starts with an X. That's cool.

Grant's Team Who Will Win - Sweden is a solid team, but Switzerland has the weapons to cut through the Swedes like...  Swiss cheese.

Troy's Team To Root For - I am neutral on the Swiss, and I do love Sweden's fish, which is why I will stand with my Viking forefathers.

Troy's Team Who Will Win - Sweden will try to bunker down, but I feel like there's just too many Swiss army knives to not handle that problem.

Colombia v England - 2 PM - Fox

Grant's Team To Root For - I'm a fan of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and co., but I also enjoy James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao and Colombia. This is a tough one for me. I'll go with the dancing Colombians.

Grant's Team Who Will Win - The Three Lions have to be weary of the dangerous Colombian squad, but I think England will win in the end.

Troy's Team To Root For - I honestly just want to stay neutral on this one because I feel like it'll be more fun.

Troy's Team Who Will Win - The game against Belgium aside, I really like the way the Three Lions are playing, which is why I give England the slight edge.



To stay up to date on the newest Head in the Game articles (and general sports commentary), follow @headingameblog on Twitter. You can also find us on Twitter @T_RoyStory (Troy) and @G_Tingley (Grant)

World Cup 2018 Rooting and Viewing Guide

Hello and welcome to the Head In The Game's first ever World Cup Rooting Guide. Whether you call it soccer, football, futbol, or kicky kicky round ball, you have every right to be excited to watch some of the best players in the world represent their country. Here is a quick breakdown of what we will be going through:

First, we'll go through each group and tell you in which order you should cheer for the nations plus the TV schedule for all the game in the group. After that, you can read our combined rooting ranking for all 32 teams so once it gets to the knockout stage you can know who to pull for plus we will give one totally real fun fact about each country. Finally, the complete schedule for the knockout rounds will be listed out.

Group A

Troy's Ranking:

1. Egypt - A) They worshipped cats and B) Mo Salah is kind of good at kicking balls.

2. Uruguay - Uruguay is the country that sounds the most like a sentence (You're a guay!).

3. Saudi Arabia - They might be the worst team to actually qualify for the tournament.

4. Russia - In Mother Russia, football kicks you.

Photo via frontpagemeews.com

Grant's Ranking:
1. Egypt - They like cats and Mohamed Salah, which are both quite likable things.
2. Uruguay - It starts with a U and ends with "ruguay".
3. Saudi Arabia - It's probably a fine country, but not a great soccer team.
4. Russia - Need I say more?

Photo via forbes.com

Schedule:

Thursday 6/14 

Russia v Saudi Arabia - 11 AM, Fox

Friday 6/15 

Egypt v Uruguay - 8 AM, FS1

Tuesday 6/19 

Egypt v Russia - 2 PM, Fox

Wednesday 6/20 

Saudi Arabia v Uruguay - 11 AM, Fox

Monday 6/25 

Russia v Uruguay - 10 AM, Fox

Egypt v South K - 10 AM, FS1

Group B

Troy's Ranking:

1. Portugal - Portugal is the team with the most busts designed based on players per capita.

2. Morocco - Their players are the most Moroccan.

3. Spain - This is the place where the rain falls mainly on the plain. 

4. Iran - I hate people who are always bragging about how they run.

Photo via cnn.com

Grant's Ranking:
1. Spain - Not only does Spain have a good soccer team, I took a Spanish girl to prom (that's the closest thing I've had to a "relationship", but enough about my nonexistent love life).
2. Morocco - Morocco is fun to say.
3. Portugal - They have the best footballer in the world, but they also have a bust that looks like something drawn by Spongebob (a new-and-improved bust has since been made, but still).
4. Iran - I don't like running or mispronouncing words.

Photo via knowyourmeme.com

Schedule:

Friday 6/15 

Iran v Morocco - 11 AM, Fox

Portugal v Spain - 2 PM, Fox

Wednesday 6/20 

Morocco v Portugal - 8 AM, FS1

Iran v Spain - 2 PM, Fox

Monday 6/25 

Iran v Portugal - 2 PM, Fox

Morocco v Spain - 2 PM, FS1

Group C

Troy's Ranking:

1. Australia - Their team nickname is the Socceroos and I enjoy that.

2. Peru - Peruvian guinea pigs are majestic and if you disagree you're uninvited to my birthday party.

3. Denmark - They gave us the Danish.

4. France - France has a city named Nice, which seems quite cocky. That's like naming a place Cool, Oregon.

Photo via pets4homes.co.uk

Grant's Ranking:
1. Australia - This group includes two countries I've been to. I enjoyed Australia, and we wouldn't have Steve Irwin, Koala Bears, or AC/DC without "The Land Down Under".
2. France - I also enjoyed France, but French fries aren't actually French.
3. Denmark - I haven't been to Denmark, but I have a friend who's Danish.
4. Peru - I have no connection to this country.

Photo via pinterest.com

Schedule:

Saturday 6/16  

Australia v France - 6 AM, FS1

Denmark v Peru - 12 PM, FS1

Thursday 6/21 

Australia v Demark - 8 AM, FS1

France v Peru - 11 AM, Fox

Tuesday 6/26 

Denmark v France - 10 AM, Fox

Australia v Peru - 10 AM, FS1

Group D

Troy's Ranking:

1. Iceland - A) They're basically vikings, B) the city of New Orleans has more people, C) the nation is beautiful, D) there's a surprisingly small amount of ice there. 

2. Argentina - They created chimichurri. Never had it, but it's fun to say.

3. Nigeria - Their flag is something I could've made in Microsoft Paint in fourth grade. 

4. Croatia - I honestly just don't know much about Croatia.

Photo via wikipedia.org

Grant's Ranking:
1. Nigeria - I originally had Nigeria last in this group (because its flag is boring), but then I saw the Super Eagles' World Cup kits. This is the most stylish team in the field.
2. Iceland - I've eaten Icelandic chocolate (it was pretty good), and I enjoy a good prank (like naming an island covered in ice "Greenland").
3. Croatia - Checkerboard patterns are cool, but that's the only thing I know about Croatia.
4. Argentina - The Argentines fall victim to a tough group. Maybe if they had cooler uniforms...

Photo via news.sky.com

Schedule:

Saturday 6/16 

Argentina v Iceland - 9 AM, Fox

Croatia v Nigeria - 3 PM, FS1

Thursday 6/21 

Argentina v Croatia - 2 PM, Fox

Friday 6/22 

Iceland v Nigeria - 2 PM, Fox

Tuesday 6/26  

Argentia v Nigeria - 2 PM, Fox

Croatia v Iceland - 2 PM, FS1

Group E

Troy's Ranking:

1. Costa Rica - It loosely translates to "Delicious Coast" if used in a culinary setting. 

2. Brazil - They have a plethora of colorful birds. 

3. Switzerland - I'm neutral about them.

4. Serbia - They kind of sound like someone saying, "Can I serve ya?" very quickly.

Photo via animalli.com

Grant's Ranking:
1. Coast Rica - I took a quiz to see which World Cup team I should root for, and it said Costa Rica, so I will root for the Rich Coast, because the Internet knows best.
2. Brazil - Brazil has a lot of beaches, and I enjoy beaches.
3. Switzerland - I like cheese, but I don't want to get too constipated.
4. Serbia - I've never been to Serbia, so I don't know how nice it is, but I've never heard somebody say, "I want to go to Serbia".

Photo via aweekatthebeach.com

Schedule:

Sunday 6/17 

Costa Rica v Serbia - 8 AM, Fox

Brazil v Switzerland - 2 PM, FS1

Friday 6/22

Brazil v Costa Rica - 8 AM, FS1

Serbia v Switzerland - 2 PM, Fox

Wednesday 6/27

Brazil v Serbia - 2 PM, Fox

Costa Rica v Switzerland - 2 PM, FS1

Group F

Troy's Ranking:

1. Sweden - They make affordable, easy to assemble furniture. 

2. Mexico - They make excellent food.  

3. Germany - Germany is just good at the soccering. 

4. South Korea - Their next door neighbors are really annoying.

Photo via wikipedia.org

Grant's Ranking:
1. Mexico - the food is tasty and the culture seems fun.
2. Sweden - I like their fish.
3. South Korea - South Korea is like that person you might hang out with more if he/she didn't have an insane roommate.
4. Germany - The bad guy in the classic Christmas movie "Die Hard" is German.

Photo via denofgeek.com

Schedule:

Sunday 6/17

Germany v Mexico - 11 AM, FS1

Monday 6/18

South Korea v Sweden - 8 AM, FS1

Saturday 6/23

Mexico v South Korea - 11 AM, Fox

Germany v Sweden - 2 PM, Fox

Wednesday 6/27

Mexico v Sweden - 10 AM, Fox

Germany v South Korea - 10 AM, FS1

Group G

Troy's Ranking:

1. Tunisia - It is literally Tatoonie.

2. Panama - They have the best canal and the best hats, even though Panama hats were invented in Ecuador. 

3. England - If I put them lower they'd send James Bond after me. 

4. Belgium - America's waffles are better.

Photo via gentlemansgazette.com

Grant's Ranking:
1. Belgium - I am a fan of great names, and Belgium's national team has some great names.
2. Panama - Any nation that has a Van Halen song named after it cannot be ranked lower than second. Those are the rules.
3. England - On the one hand, England gave us Harry Potter. On the other hand, most movie villains are British.
4. Tunisia - I know absolutely nothing about this country.

Photo via wikipedia.org

Schedule:

Monday 6/18

Belgium v Panama - 11 AM, FS1

England v Tunisia - 2 PM, FS1

Saturday 6/23

Belgium v Tunisia - 8 AM, FS1

Sunday 6/24

England v Panama - 8 AM, FS1

Thursday 6/28

Belgium v England -  2 PM, Fox

Panama v Tunisia - 2 PM, FS1

Group H

Troy's Ranking:

1. Senegal - Why not? Update I found a reason: their team nickname translates to Lions of Generosity. 

2. Japan - They gave us Digimon, which, I don't care what you say, is a much better show than Pokemon. 

3. Colombia - They have a very strong law school. 

4. Poland - This is for every time I thought it was a push door when it was actually a pull door.

Photo via graphicdesign.stackexchange.com

Grant's Ranking:
1. Senegal - Africa doesn't get the love it deserves.
2. Colombia - They make nice jackets.
3. Japan - Japan is the birthplace of many cool things, but their flag is just white cloth with a red dot in the middle.
4. Poland - It sounds like somebody started a sentence and didn't finish it. Pol and what?

Photo via wikipedia.org

Schedule:

Tuesday 6/19

Columbia v Japan - 8 AM, FS1

Poland v Senegal - 11 AM, Fox

Sunday 6/24

Japan v Senegal - 11 AM, Fox

Columbia v Poland - 2 PM, Fox

Thursday 6/28

Columbia v Senegal - 10 AM, Fox

Japan v Poland - 10 AM, FS1

Complete Ranking (and Possibly Factual Fun Facts)

1. Iceland - The country is not named due to its amount of ice but rather for the Viking prefix ice-, which means chicken nugget, and the suffix -land, which means shaped.

2. Australia - The original English settlers to Australia decided to colonize the island because, in the 18th-century, wombat painting had become so popular that people wanted to see them for themselves.

3. Costa Rica - Their capital of San Jose was at one point going to be named Gellerville, after the character of Ross Geller on Friends, but was voted down by local officials who preferred Seinfeld.

4. Egypt - Despite aliens having built the pyramids, Egypt has the least recorded extraterrestrial encounters since the stat was first kept track of in 1957.

5. Sweden - The Swedish Chef from the Muppets was based on a real chef named Lennart Bjorklund, whom puppet makers met while on a meatball grand tour of Europe.

6. Senegal - Every single percussive instrument has origins in Senegal. In fact, the country has the most drum beats per square kilometer, according to the Percussion Institute of Africa (PIA).

7. Morocco - Despite the name similarities, the show Rocko's Modern Life was banned due to the Moroccan people disliking wallabies.

8. Mexico - In 1894, culinary student Jorge Gonzalo was eating a piece of pizza. Because the crust of this particular pizza was unusually flimsy, Jorge folded it in half. He thought doing this thoroughly bettered his enjoyment of the pizza, so he created what would become the modern burrito.

9. Nigeria - We all know that the Nigerian flag has two green stripes and one white stripe, but you probably didn't know that the green represents jalapenos and the white represents cheese, making their flag the queso flag.

10. Brazil - There was a time when all the birds in Brazil were black and white, until 1933, when Sherwin-Williams dumped 10,000 gallons of paint from airplanes as a publicity stunt.

11. Spain - Due to Christopher Columbus being bad at both naming things and finding America, the Spanish still refer to Boston as New New Delhi.

12. Portugal - This nation was named after a well known phrase at the time, "Port you gal", which meant someone was being a little wooden and in the water.

13. Tunisia - 46 percent of desert-related movie scenes are filmed in Tunisia. The next most popular location for desert scenes is New Mexico (23 percent).

14. Panama - In Panama, curtains are referred to as camisa de ventana, which translates to "window shirt".

15. Peru - Legend states that Peru got its name from the mythological cat, El Gatito, being told, "Pur you".

16. Switzerland - The writers cheated and purposely ranked it in the middle, as we were both neutral on it.

17. Belgium - Waffles were actually originally created in Luxembourg, but quickly became referred to as Belgian waffles due to menu creators charging by the letter.

18. Uruguay - Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was originally founded by Monte del Montogomery in 1726 as a video store, making it the world's first (and largest) video store.

19. Argentina - In Argentina, it is illegal to sell or use Axe body spray. In unrelated news, Head in the Game is announcing that they are relocating to their new HQ in Buenos Aires.

20. Denmark - In the 1700s, Denmark was a pirate hotspot due to confusion, since they thought that den marks the spot.

21. Colombia - It's been said that the country's name is derived from Christopher Columbus, the famed explorer, but it's actually after Christopher Columbus, the director of Home Alone.

22. France - The character of Pink Panther was created in reference to a 19th-century trend in France where upper-class citizens would import panthers only to then paint them pink.

23. Germany - The famed Autobahn was originally named the Quicky-Quicky Fast Road, but had its name changed due to the popularity of the Transformers.

24. Japan - "House of the Rising Sun", the 1964 hit song by The Animals, was originally about Japan (which is often referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun"), but executives at the record label thought Americans would be more favorable to it if it was about the U.S.A., so they changed it.

25. Saudi Arabia - The car company Audi was originally invented in Saudi Arabia, but when founder August Horch had a bad lunch, he moved the company to Germany and dropped the S.

26. England - This may be confidential information, but England technically controls half of Mars and one quarter of Mercury. They plan to start colonizing Mars in 2022.

27. Croatia - The nation got its name when one of its original founders was asked about starting a new country and famously said, "I'll create ya one".

28. South Korea - Early on in its existence, the capital, Seoul, sought to form trade relations with European countries. An Englishman who visited the city for trade talks thought of it as a very spiritual place, calling it a city with soul. Unfortunately, he couldn't spell, but the name still stuck.

29. Serbia - Serbia holds the world record for the most triple chia mocha raspberry frappuccinos consumed in under two hours while it was between 62 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit.

30. Iran - There is an unspoken agreement between all of the people of Iran that if they ever changed names, it would be Irun.

31. Poland - In 1993, there was a suggested law to alternate the name Poland with the name Pushland, but it was voted down due to the cost associated with switching signs once a year.

32. Russia - According to the World Fur Coat Database (WFCD), Russia has the most fur coats per capita of any country (as of 2016).

Knockout Round Schedule:

Round of 16:

Saturday 6/30

Match 50 - France v Argentina - 10 AM, Fox

Match 49 - Uruguay v Portugal - 2 PM, Fox

Sunday 7/1

Match 51 - Spain v Russia - 10 AM, Fox

Match 52 - Croatia v Denmark- 2 PM, Fox

Monday 7/2

Match 53 - Brazil v Mexico - 10 AM, Fox

Match 54 - Belgium v Japan - 2 PM, Fox

Tuesday 7/3

Match 55 - Sweden v Switzerland - 10 AM, FS1

Match 56 - Colombia v England - 2 PM, Fox

Quarter-Finals:

Friday 7/6

Match 57 - Winner Match 49 v Winner Match 50 - 10 AM, FS1

Match 58 - Winner Match 53 v Winner Match 54 - 2 PM, FS1

Saturday 7/7

Match 60 - Winner Match 55 v Winner Match 56 - 10 AM, Fox

Match 59 - Winner Match 51 v Winner Match 52 - 2 PM, Fox

Semi-Finals:

Tuesday 7/10

Semi-Final 1 - Winner Match 57 v Winner Match 58 - 2 PM, Fox

Wednesday 7/11

Semi-Final 2 - Winner Match 59 v Winner Match 60 - 2 PM, Fox

3rd Place Match:

Saturday 7/14 

Loser Semi-Final 1 v Loser Semi-Final 2 - 10 AM, Fox

Final:

Sunday 7/15

Winner Semi-Final 1 v Winner Semi-Final 2 - 11 AM, Fox 

To stay up to date on the newest Head in the Game articles (and general sports commentary), follow @headingameblog on Twitter. You can also find us on Twitter @T_RoyStory (Troy) and @G_Tingley (Grant)