Eleven picks right so far (I’m posting just before Colombia-Ghana), but some of my winners survived some real scares. Not scares for me; I have a grand total of zero dollars riding on these games.

Four misses. Paraguay shocked ze Germans. I feel like this has happened a lot recently: ze Germans dominated possession, had far more shots and corners, were definitely trying to win and not to not lose… but they just kept missing the target. Oh well. Morocco beat the Netherlands. That’s not really an upset given that FIFA ranks them 6th and 7th, respectively. I just guessed wrong. Portugal won a wild one over Croatia. Switzerland beat Algeria comfortably. Algeria had more possession, the Swiss had more shots.

Goal of the tournament so far: Lopez Cabral’s equalizer against Argentina tonight, no doubt. High stakes, high skill; it’ll be tough to beat.

Until that goal, my goal of the tournament was really an assist of the tournament: Campaz’s goal for Colombia against Uzbekistan came off a good run, a great battle, and great cross from Cucho Hernandez.

My picks for Round of 16, or the “eighth finals”:

Morocco over Canada. Paraguay was impressive against ze Germans, but France is firing on all cylinders and should win easily.

Brazil should beat Norway, especially if they have the good sense to mark Haaland out of the game. Much easier said than done– maybe he’s open that much because he knows how to get open, but sometimes I watch these games and wonder if anybody’s even trying to mark him. Wouldn’t be too much of an upset if Norway pulls it off.

Mexico will beat England. England will have the best player on the field in Kane, but Mexico’s been good, they’re playing at home, and after reading some reports today… I’m not sure England will be up for this match. I’ll leave it at that.

Portugal runs out of good fortune, and Spain wins. Portugal’s done better than I expected, and they seem less and less afraid of offending CR7 by subbing him out, but Spain looks a little too good to me. Oyarzabal is this year’s Superstar Who Looks Like An Accountant, and I think the writers will have him stick around a while longer.

The US has impressed. They’ve beaten teams they’re supposed to beat, and beaten them soundly. Yes, the backups had some defensive lapses against Turkey, but at least you can say those were the backups in an almost meaningless game. They really impressed me against Bosnia. The first touch looked much better than it did throughout the group stage. They put two in the net that counted, two that got called back, and one of each happened after the Balogun red card. They’re doing about as well as anyone could ask.

For that reason, and for Patriotism’s sake, and because Belgium has used up its good luck, and because the European Union should be dissolved into at least two different currency areas, the United States will win.

Argentina will slip past Egypt. The winner of Colombia-Ghana (I picked Colombia, but again, I’m posting just as the game kicks off) will beat Switzerland.

…

Own Goal still leads the tournament in scoring, but I’ll bet Goal Called Back is high up there too, if not ahead.