World Cup Takeaways: Round of 16

Photo by the Associated Press

We’re down to the Final 8.

And while there are many we expected to be here, there are still some shocks.

So let’s dive in.

The Netherlands defeat the United States 3-1

In win or go home games, no matter the sport, mistakes get magnified.

What’s more magnified as well, are how teams take advantage of those mistakes.

The U.S. made about 3 mistakes leading to scoring chances, and the Dutch made 1.

The Dutch mistake came in the first 10 minutes of the game, leaving Pulisic alone one on one. If he scored, the U.S. would take an early lead and force the Dutch to push forward more, which would lead to more open channels on the counter and more scoring chances for the U.S.

He missed.

On the other side, the Dutch ruthlessly punished every single mistake the U.S. made with clinical finishes.

The Dutch took advantage of their chances. The U.S. didn’t. It’s as simple as that.

(Side note: The U.S. still played well tactically, as they did all tournament, and the mistakes defensively were from Tyler Adams, Sergino Dest and Antonee Robinson, all of whom play in premier European leagues. Berhalter isn’t faultless, but stop blaming him and MLS players as the reason they lost. It’s a lazy argument).

Argentina defeats Australia 2-1

Something else USMNT fans need to learn are that sometimes you’re just not the better team.

Australia didn’t play poorly and they fought hard to come back into the game.

But they aren’t as good as Argentina.

And that’s ok! The Socceroos had a great tournament and should be very proud of what they accomplished.

France defeats Poland 3-1

It can’t be understated how good France has been this tournament, especially with all of their injuries.

They haven’t had the most difficult run so far and that will change against England, but they’ve done exactly what was asked of them, which is more than we can say for the three World Cup winners before them.

Germany, Spain and Italy have not won a single World Cup knockout round game since they won in their respective years.

This is a much better showing from France.

England defeats Senegal 3-0

Remember earlier when I mentioned that the U.S. played well but made careless mistakes and were punished for it?

That’s what happened in this game too.

Senegal slipped up, and England punished them.

That has been the recipe for England’s success in this tournament, so the upcoming game against France should be very interesting to watch.

Croatia defeats Japan 1-1 (3-1 on penalties)

Penalty kicks matter.

Japan played well and had a good chance to win and advance to the quarterfinals, but they had an abysmal penalty shootout performance which led to their exit.

As for Croatia, I’m sure their fans would appreciate if they got the job done in normal time. This was the 4th knockout round of their last 5 that has gone to extra time.

If the U.S. had a run like that I think I’d probably die of heart problems.

Brazil defeats Korea 4-1

Brazil is playing on a higher level than everyone else right now.

That doesn’t mean they’re going to win the whole World Cup. Anything can happen.

But nobody can deny that they are by far playing the best soccer of the bunch.

They look outstanding.

Morocco defeats Spain 0-0 (3-0 on penalties)

There are two ways to look at how Morocco played Spain.

You can think that Morocco held on for dear life and stole one on penalty kicks because they knew they weren’t as good as Spain.

What it looked more like to me was that Morocco played discipline defense to prevent any quality shooting opportunities for Spain, and could have had a goal or two themselves if they were better on the counter.

A disciplined team is a dangerous team in tournaments like these, and Morocco is very well coached.

As for Spain, sometimes you need to just take a shot. Passing all over the place hoping to break down your opponent is not always the right play.

Portugal defeats Switzerland 6-1

This should be where I talk about Portugal, but I’m actually going to talk about Ronaldo because I’ve had this thought for a few years now.

Ronaldo was at his absolute best in the early years of Manchester United and Real Madrid, because he had a World Class team around him.

This isn’t meant as a slight against Ronaldo. He doesn’t track back and conserves energy so that when his team gets the ball back he can attack at full speed, and that stems from having world class players behind him that can take care of the defense and midfield. It made him the best player in the world.

But he hasn’t had that in Portugal. He didn’t have that at Juventus and he didn’t have that at Manchester United.

Erik Ten Hag benched him at Manchester United, and the team immediately started playing better because they complimented each other.

Portugal decided to bench Ronaldo yesterday.

It was the best I can remember Portugal looking since they trounced North Korea 7-0 in the 2010 World Cup.

At this point, that can’t be a coincidence.

When you have such a World Class player like that with not the best squad around them, you can find they usually try to play hero ball which hurts the team in the long run.

Look at Poland with Lewandowski. Look at Sweden with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and what Sweden was able to do as soon as he retired from the national team.

Portugal needs to have him remain as a bench player for the rest of this tournament. The team is simply better without him.