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The World Cup is approaching its peak. There is no Brazil, no Germany, no Cristiano Ronaldo, no Lionel Messi and now, no Belgium. But there is always France. The young team of coach Didier Deschamps defeated Belgium yesterday and will face the winner of the semi-final between England and Croatia on Sunday in Moscow. This will be the culmination of a month – long football festival that has excited fans with the proximity of its games and last minute dramas – much to the delight of the host nation, Russia. Despite international political tensions, Russia is enjoying a sort of triumph in public relations as the host cities warmly welcome the hundreds of thousands of foreign fans who have invaded the streets during colorful celebrations.
What's left?
Three other games. The goal of Samuel Umtiti allowed France to impose 1-0 in Saint Petersburg last night and clinch his third World Cup victory in 20 years. The loser of tonight's semi-final in Moscow (local kickoff at 9pm) will meet Belgium in the third place qualifiers on Saturday (5pm local time). The following day, the 64th and final round of the tournament will start at Luzhniki stadium in Moscow at 18:00 local time.
2. What is unusual in the queues?
This is the first time since the inaugural event in 1930 that the first four do not include at least Germany, Brazil or Italy. After the exit from Belgium, Croatia is the only remaining team to have never won the tournament, or to have played in the final. England, which got its only title in 1966, will compete in its third semi-final of the World Cup and the first since 1990, a defeat in the penalty shoot-out against Germany's No. 39. ;Where is. Croatia, winner of the playoffs for third place in 1998, will compete in its second semifinal. He lost in France 20 years ago.
3. Who will the French face?
Bookmakers give England an advantage, but there is little between the semi-finalists. Captains are lynchpins: Englishman Harry Kane and Croatian Luka Modric have more awards (three each) than anyone else in Russia 2018. Modric, the best Croatian scorer with two goals , forms the heart of an impressive midfielder alongside Ivan Rakitic. Kane's six goals put him at the top of the World Cup scorers, while Jordan Pickford, England, discovered a goalkeeper capable of saving matches. Croatia has reached the last four because of penalty shoot-outs against Denmark and Russia. The more comfortable quarterfinal of England (2-0 against Sweden) can count in his favor, especially if there is extra time. The discipline can enter: Croatia has a high number of 12 yellow cards in tournament against five in England. In seven face-to-face meetings, England has lost twice, one time and four wins, including (more recently) 5-1 and 4-1 wins in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
4. Can someone stop France?
The Blues look great. In addition to having pace and strength in the attack, they are able to deny team space and scoring opportunities. This feat was again highlighted when they cleared Belgium, the highest-ranked team in the World Cup, to end its run of 24 games without defeat. Four teams failed to break through the French defense, a tournament record. Deschamps, the captain of France in 1998, seeks to join the German Franz Beckenbauer and the Brazilian Mario Zagallo as the only winner of the first prize of football as a player and coach.
5. Who will win the golden boot?
Kane's six goals make him an absolute favorite after Belgium's Romelu Lukaku failed to add his four goals yesterday. Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe are leading the list of scorers in France but each needs a hat-trick in the final to reach six goals. The Portuguese Ronaldo and the Russian Denis Cheryshev also scored four goals to share the second place with Lukaku.
6. What was different at this World Cup?
Arbitrators make large rectangular shapes with their fingers, then replay controversial moments on a television screen. FIFA, the governing body of football, has introduced "video badistant referees", or VARs, to help judge goals, penalty decisions and more. Four examiners are watching the action from a play in Moscow, and they have been busy. The receipt of VAR has been largely (if not totally) positive, with most critics not coming from the current system but from flawed interpretations of referees or the failure of VAR deployment. The concern to slow down the games has been revealed largely unfounded.
7. Another different thing?
The absence of 0-0 – just a single one up here (Denmark vs France). Thanks in good measure to VAR, Russia 2018 has been high on penalties (a record 28) and low on red cards (four) and offside. The 11 goals conceded broke the record of six in France in 1998. Senegal became the first team to be eliminated due to a bad "fair play", losing to Japan because it had accumulated no more yellow cards. There was also the first ever Icelandic Viking Fans World Cup in their tournament debut, as Panamanian fans wildly celebrated their World Cup team's first goal in a 6-1 defeat at the tournament. England as if they had won the match. Another novelty: England finally won a penalty shootout in World Cup on the fourth attempt.
8. What would Gareth Southgate do?
England's shootout win over Colombia in the second round raised a weight on the shoulders of long-suffering fans, not to mention the team's coach, Gareth Southgate. He missed his kick in the semi-finals defeat of the 1996 European Championship in Germany and put a point of honor to focus his players on the art of shooting in the # 39; accumulation of the tournament. The cold head and the good guy from Southgate – he comforted Colombian players after their defeat on penalties – sparked a Twitter trend of #GarethSouthgateWould phrases, such as "giving you his portable charger while it's on 1 percent. "
How are the banks and the psychic animals derived from them?
Some forecasters are learning the hard way that the beautiful game can not be simply reduced to statistics and data modeling. Commerzbank AG and UBS Group AG chose Germany, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chose Brazil. EA Sports, the official video game company that correctly predicted the last two winners by simulating all the tournaments, is still in contention: it predicted that France would win. After the success of Paul the octopus in predicting results in 2010, pointing a tentacle at one of the two food boxes carrying the national flag of each team, Russia promoted a deaf cat called Achilles as an oracle of tournament. However, the psychic powers of the feline were eclipsed by Rabio, an octopus who correctly named the first three results of Japan. Alas, Rabio was killed and sold as seafood before the team's next game: a 3-2 loss to Belgium after Japan led 2-0. Meanwhile, the central bank of Russia noted the similarity between an image on its special World Cup ticket and the decisive shooting stoppage of the Russian goaltender against Spain. "Forecasting has always been our strong point," said the Bank of Russia.
10.
While President Emmanuel Macron was in the stadium for the semi-finals of France, there will be no English officials tonight after Theresa May, British Prime Minister, has ruled out politicians and members of the British royal family. His decision followed the poisoning on British soil of a former Russian spy and his daughter and, according to Thomas Penny of Bloomberg, looks like a personal political goal. On the other hand, the death of a British citizen the same poison this week would have made participation may be controversial. A group of absent from the tournament: Russian football hooligans, known as "ultras".
11. The 2010 vote of FIFA's executive committee awarding Russia this year's tournament is still under criminal investigation by French, Swiss and US prosecutors, with lingering accusations that the vote was rigged. The memories of the doping scandal that occurred after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and which resulted in the ban of the Russian Winter Games team from this year are still very present. (Vitaly Mutko, former sports minister banned from the Olympics, was part of the FIFA committee that selected Russia and led the organizing committee until his resignation in December.) Due to the 2013 law banning homobaduality football fans were warned not to hold hands or otherwise manifest their affection.
12. What about Russia?
Putin's government spent 683 billion rubles ($ 11 billion) on preparations, largely on new stadiums and transport infrastructure. Beyond that, the economic impact will be "very limited" as most of the 12 stadiums are in regions – like Ekaterinburg in the Urals – that should not attract tourists, said Moody & # 39th Investors Service before the tournament. Putin has used the Sochi Olympics to reinforce his public image, but his approval ratings are so high that the World Cup should not affect his position at home. Although the success of a tournament probably does not influence its critics abroad, many fans have noticed that Russia was much more pleasant and inviting than expected.
• See goals and more on the YouTube page of the FIFA World Cup ™. • How the British protest fizzled.
• The City of the World Cup Maverick
• A QuickTake on the corruption of the World Cup
• The author Ken Bensinger asks: Russia has she stolen the World Cup? -With the help of Stephanie Baker and Jake Rudnitsky
To contact the reporters on this story: Grant Clark in Singapore at [email protected], Tony Halpin in Moscow at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Leah Harrison Singer at [email protected], Laurence Arnold, Tony Halpin
© 2018 Bloomberg LP
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