Swift passage of time

When I first got interested in the World football was the 1998 World Cup France.
20 years have already passed since them.


In this world cup, there are many young players who played outstandingly, such as Harry Kane (England) and Kylian Mbappé (France).

When they were kids, they met football players who were their idols, like many other boys.

Mbappé boy and his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo.

(frm: http://www.kosovapress.com)

Kane boy attended the football school run by David Beckham.

Oh, Beckham is very young!

(frm: http://www.leparisien.fr)

Surprisingly, the girl with her hair in braids is now kane's wife!!!!!

For Kane, Beckham is his idol when he was a kid, but for me, Beckham is the player who played until quite recently.
Even Ronaldo is still an active player.

Those kids are now active professional players.
Time flies and I feel the passage of time.



Just before the final game, two people carried the World Cup trophy as presenters.

Trophy in the Louis Vuitton case

(frm: https://www.fashionsnap.com)

The TV reporter said the men was the legend of German football, but I thought I didn't know of him, and so I thought he was older generation.

However, after finishing the trophy present event, I got to know that he was Philipp Lahm! I know him very well since he first attended the World Cup, which was the 2006 in Germany.

At that time, I chose my own awards and selected him as the New Face Award. Haha. He was 22 years old.
My article in another blog.
https://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-general-comment-on-2006-world-cup.html

That young player became the captain of the German national team after that, and won the championship at the previous World Cup in Brazil, as many people know.

The 22-year-old young guy is now considered as the legend and looks quite old (haha).
Time flies and I feel the passage of time again.

Orgiastic French people

French President Macron got too excited!

At the final game, there were Russian President Putin, Croatian President Kitarović, President of IOC Bach... etc. VIPs were in the VIP room, however...

French President Macron was too excited and showed this performance.
Haha! That's not the place to stand, President Macron! Funny!

(frm: https://twilab.org)

Croatian President Kitarović was not outdone!

(frm: https://courrier.jp)

The French players burst into the press conference.

After winning the championship, the manager of the French team Deschamps was attending the press conference.

Then, the French players burst into and started to spray champagne to Deschamps!

(frm: https://www.huffingtonpost.jp)

That's not the place to stand either! Haha.

(frm: https://www.footballchannel.jp)

There isn't any more common sense and order there. Haha!


French people rampaged through the town.

After France won the championship, the Champs-Elysees in France became a big deal.

Too many people!

(frm: http://www.chunichi.co.jp)

Too----- many people!!

(frm: https://omoganews.com)

It would happen in any countries.
But, some people rampaged, vandalized and looted stores,,,,,

(frm: https://www.bbc.com)

(frm: https://www.asahi.com)

I saw one store (or restaurant?) which was destroyed and looted on the TV news.
It was terribly destroyed. I don't think it's possible for the store to reopen.

What I saw on the TV was much worse than the bellow.

(frm: http://jin115.com)

President Macron, you have much more important things than being too excited.
Your people are...

The 2018 World Cup has finished.

(frm: https://www.theguardian.com)

Golden Ball Award: Luka Modric (Croatia)

Young Player Award: Kylian Mbappe (France)

I think nobody complains those selection.

left: Modric without smile, Right: Mbappe

(frm: http://saudigazette.com.sa)

Modric never showed his smile during the ceremony. The ceremony was just after the final he lost.

I recalled the similar scene.

Messi won the Golden Ball at the last World Cup in Brazil. He never showed his smile either because of the same reason, it was just after the final he lost.

My article about that;

https://mytokyoolympics.blogspot.com/2014/07/germany-won-championship.html

Golden Glove Award: Thibaut Courtois (Belgium)

Many goalkeepers showed great performance in this World Cup. And I think I said the same thing at the last World Cup.

And, yes, Courtois was great and deserved the award.

Coutois and the Belgium players with the bronze medal

(frm: https://www.eurosport.com)

Golden Boot Award: Harry Kane (England) - 6 goals

I'm really happy that such a great player exists in the England team.

I have a high expectations of this young guy and the young England team!

Fair Play Trophy: Spain

I don't know well about this award, but it seems to be given to a team which has fewer yellow/red cards and fouls.

The Final: Croatia vs. France

I wanted Croatia to win, but France won the championship. The final was 4 - 2.

France was stable.

Croatia went  into extra time three games in a row before the final, so it was said that they would change some players for the final. However, they didn't. They chose to play the final with their best members.

Although Croatia players were worn out, they played very well.
France's first goal was Croatia's own goal. Their second goal was PK, because the ball accidentally hit a Croatian player's hand.
Given those facts, I think it can safely be said that Croatia and France played evenly.



Griezmann is definitely the pillar of the France team and led the squad very well.

Griezmann with the trophy and his daughter he dotes on

(frm: https://www.deccanherald.com)

Congratulations, France!!

(frm: https://newsclick.in)

The 3rd-place match: England vs. Belgium

0 - 2.
Ah---, I have to write about England’s defeat two times in a row...

Just 3 days after the draining duel with Croatia, England obviously was exhausted.
Also, one article said that England would play with the 2nd squad due to injuries to key players and mental (?) problems.
For details;
https://sivpost.com/media-england-match-for-third-place-in-the-2018-world-cup-will-play-with-the-second-squad-news-zik-ua/7976/

I think it was a complete defeat. Belgium was strong as everyone knows.

One article I read the other day said that British people expected the England team to show great performance at the next World Cup Qatar. I understand they think so because the England team is very young.
However, they did very well even this time!

I'm looking forward to see the England team win the championship at the 2022 World Cup Qatar!!

England squad

(frm: https://www.soccer-king.jp)

And, congratulations Belgium for the 3rd place!

(frm: https://www.irishtimes.com)

The Semifinals: England vs. Croatia

England was defeated... 1 -2 in extra time. Real pity...

It was a draining duel. Especially Croatia went into extra time 3 games in a row. So they must have been worn out. Even Modrić, who is the captain and the pillar of the Croatia team, botched a ball several times. However, they were playing strongly.

Modrić playing in the game vs. England

(frm: http://www.goal.com/jp)

Croatia advanced to the semifinals for the first time in 20 years.
I remember very well when Croatia placed the 3rd at the 1998 World Cup France.
At that time, Boban, who was the ace and the captain, led the team. Croatia was very good team and defeated Japan in the Group league, it was the Japan's first world cup.

This time, Modrić is leading the team and Croatia reached the final for the first time ever. Congratulations!

The Semifinals: France vs. Belgium

Belgium was really a strong team, but France won 1 -0.

According to some article, some players of Belgium criticized France's too defensive playing style.

Anyway, how can Mbappé run so fast?
France is able to be too offensive because they have too fast counter attack by Mbappé?


In 4 hours from now, another semifinals England vs. Croatia will starts!
It will be 3am in Japan. I'm going to take a catnap and then, I'll watch it!

England made the Final Four!!

England advanced to the semifinals!!

I've been cheering for England for a long time and it's the first time that England reached the semifinals since I started cheering for them.

Actually, I hardly knew the players of the current England national team.
After the players who had been the pillars of the England team, such as Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, etc. retired from the national team, I had been having the end-of-an-era feeling.

And! the new era has come!

The current national team is very young. And the pillar and ace is Harry Kane. Although he is still 24 years old, he is the captain.

(frm: http://www.goal.com)

He currently scored most. He can aim at the Golden Boot, or even the Golden Ball?!

But, he is not the only talented player in the England team. In fact, although he didn't get a goal in the last game, vs. Sweden, England won. Especially, the GREAT performance of the goalkeeper Jordan Pickford wowed me! He was elected as the Man of the Match, needless to say.

(frm: https://www.express.co.uk)

The team members celebrating Pickford's great saving

(frm: https://www.soccer-king.jp)

Their next game, the semifinals, will be vs. Croatia. Go for it!!

The Final Eight

England reached the Final Eight. Good, good!

The strongest favorite is, I guess, Belgium.

Young players have become an adult??

I didn't mention him in my previous article about the Denmark team, but the ace of the Denmark national team now is definitely Christian Eriksensen.

(frm: https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com)

One TV program introduced him couple days ago and it also talked about him playing in the 2010 World Cup South Africa.
When I saw its video, I was so--- surprised!

This is Eriksen with Denmark’s coach Morten Olsen at the 2010 World Cup.

(frm: https://www.shoot.co.uk)

I remember this young guy very well!!! Probably he was 18 years old and the youngest player in the 2010 World Cup.

He is him?!?!?! Different at all!!

I said in my previous article that I first didn't recognize Kjaer.
After 8 years, these talented young guys came back to World Cup becoming an adult? haha.

Denmark

I always cheer for England and Denmark.

Denmark couldn't attend the previous World Cup Brasil. The last time they attended was the 2010 World Cup South Africa.

At that time, I took notice of one talented Danish defender, Simon Kjaer.
He was still 21 years old.
Here is my article about him on my old blog.
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2010/06/sleeping-until-game-denmark-vs-japan.html

I also saw the Denmark team at the EURO 2012.
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2012/06/euro-2012-wow-wow-wow-denmark-almost.html


Then, he came back to the World Cup becoming Denmark's captain!

(frm: http://www.cameroonintelligencereport.com)

Actually I first didn't recognize him as Kjaer. No wonder. The last time, he was 21-year-old very young guy.

Although Denmark advanced to the Knockout Stage, they were defeated by Croatia.
It was a very good game, 1 - 1, on PK 3 - 4.

The defense of Denmark is great and Kjaer is the pillar of that. And, the greatest thing of their solid defense is its goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel.

(frm: https://www.theintelligencer.com)

I was very surprised to hear that his father, Peter Schmeichel was one of the best Goalkeepers of the 20th century and he was also playing in the Denmark national team!

Big-name stars have already left.

As I wrote in the previous article, Spain was defeated, and Iniesta's World Cup ended.
Spanish Spar Star, Iniesta announced his retirement from the Spain's national team.

Iniesta, Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).....
Big-name starts have left the World Cup Russia. They and Germany team must have aimed the Champion, but in the end, they even were not able to reach the final eight.



Actually Iniesta will move to a Japanese team and play in the Japan's league "J league,” with INCREDIBLE EXCEPTIONAL pay.
I'm wondering why he decided to play in such a low level league, but Japanese football fans are very excited that one of the top players in the world will come to Japan!

Russia is doing a great job!

Although the FIFA ranking of Russia is the 70th, they got through the Group Stage.
It worked out as planned, didn't it?

In the FIFA World Cup, the host nation must advance to the Knockout Stage. Otherwise, the event would be considered as failure. In fact, there hasn't been a host nation which wasn't able to get through the Group Stage.
The draw is always fixed. The Group A this time was quite easy group.

It's true for the 2002 World Cup Korea / Japan.
Japan was in a easy group and able to advance to the Knockout Stage.


So, I wasn't surprised that Russia won the Group Stage.
However...

Russia defeated Spain in the Knockout Stage!!
1 - 1 and Russia won on PK 4 - 3.

The most significant scene, if you ask me, was this;

(frm: https://www.asahi.com)

Russia's Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev saved Spain's 5th shot on PK.
He jumped to the right, but the kicker shot to the middle. Oops! However, although his body was already on the right side, he saved the shot with his left foot. Amazing!!

He was chosen as Man of the Match.

Messi and Mbappé

France vs. Argentina.
It is not the final match. It's the first game of the Knockout Stage. haha.

France won by 4 - 3. Messi's World Cup Russia finished, I wanted to see his performance more though.

Messi being stunned after the game

(frm: https://article.auone.jp)

Although he has been getting many kinds of titles and awards, he can't get only the World Cup championship.

There is no doubt that he is the best of the best in the football history.
He is 31 years old. I wonder if this is the last World Cup for him.

An incredibly talented player might leave the World Cup, and at the same time, another incredibly talented player has appeared.
It's Mbappé who is France's forward.

Although he is still 19 hears old, he got No. 10 of the France's national team.
And, yes, he was surprisingly great in the game vs. Argentina.

Messi and Mbappé after the game

(frm: http://www.soccerdigestweb.com)

The Knockout Stage

As usual, I'm cheering for England and Denmark! Go for it!!

One of the worst games - Japan team

Japan unexpectedly moved on the Round 16.
However, their last game in the Group H, vs Poland was the most terrible game I have ever seen.

They needed to win the game to proceed to the Round 16, but they were 1 goal behind.
Another game in the Group H, Columbia vs. Senegal, Senegal was also 1 goal behind Columbia. In this point, Columbia was the 1st place and Senegal and Japan were... the points, the goal difference, and even scored goals were the same. The direct match was a draw. Japan exceeded on only the fair play points which is the number of yellow and red cards.

Then, Japan stopped to try to win. I can say Japan stopped playing soccer. They tried hard not to get a yellow card and just kicked a ball each other in the small space to buy time.
Buying time is often seen in football games, but I have never seen this bad. It continued about 10 minutes! For this 10 minutes, booing became bigger and bigger. I also never heard such big and long booing.
In the end, although the game wasn't over, one of the Poland players sit on the ground because Japan never crossed over a halfway line.

In the highest football event, I didn't want to see such a terrible scene, and it was played by Japan...

Shame on you, Japan!

Needs top referees for the top world games

Watching the games in the Group Stage, I felt that judges by some referees were strange.

Especially, Portugal vs. Morocco in the Group B, I thought that the referee obviously judged in favor of Portugal and was very unfair.

I found that my thought was not wrong.
After the game, the Morocco's head coach Hervé Renard said in the press conference, "Morocco had been victim to a total injustice," "When you look at the facts in the Portugal game, it's totally unfair."

The World Cup is one of the top level world events. They should use top level referees.

By the way, Morocco's head coach Hervé Renard became a bit of hop topic in Japan as a good-looking middle age. haha.

49-year-old Morocco coach, Hervé Renard

(frm: https://citizen.co.za)

The defending champion Germany was knocked out!

Surprisingly! Germany which won the previous World Cup Brazil wasn't able to move on the Round of 16 and left from the World Cup Russia.

They lost their first game, vs. Mexico. Many people must have been surprised, but I think they still believed that Germany would proceed to the Round of 16.
In fact, they won the next game, vs. Sweden.

However, the 3rd game, vs. Korea, they lost even 2 points (goals?) in the additional time!!!!

Oh my gosh! German players putting their head in their hands

(frm: https://guardian.ng)

By the way, Korea's guts always surprise me.

World Cup Russia has started.

The World Cup Russia started on 14th June and the Group Stage has finished. The results are;

(frm: https://www.theguardian.com/football/world-cup-2018)