Shit! I’m never getting to bed, am I?

Oooffff! That would’ve been a great Ronaldo goal. So close!

Ooops! Perišič. Crazy 37yo youngster has crashed the over-40s party. I’m hoping for a Spain-Portugal game, though.

Come on, you Lions of Terenga. 🇸🇳

Blimey! Two goals in two or so minutes. From out of nowhere.

Reminds me of the time England robbed Cameroon in 1990. I think Roger Milla is still in the British Museum.

Hard agree.

The crowd sounds like the Lords crowd on a Thursday morning.

Nice to see the guy on the left looking so well. He seems to have made a miraculous recovery after being half-melted by toxic waste and then obliterated by Robocop’s speeding car.

Watching the Mexico/Ecuador game coverage from last night. The game was delayed an hour by lightning and they initially announced they’d be dropping the hydration breaks. Yay! But no, of course, they then said they’d be back in. Boo!

Watching the replay of Netherlands v Morocco and getting very teary at the Dutch mobbing Gakpo when he scores in a huge cuddle.

Weird bit of dejá vu at the moment, which should be impossible because Germany have never lost a World Cup penalty shootout before.

I did not have Tim Vickery referring to ‘hwyl’* on my late-night World Cup bingo card. Extraordinary times indeed. *Not quite correctly, unless I misheard/misunderstood what he was saying.

Look it’s just typical Paraguayan efficiency. Famous Paraguayan precision engineering. Strict, emotionless Paraguayan rationality. No wonder they’ve never lost a World Cup penalty shootout

Germany going out on pens?! Could it be?!

Arsch!

Was he onside?

Sam Matterface keeps talking about ‘Rayan of Bournemouth’ as if he was an Arthurian knight.

I keep hearing about how the World Cup is starting now with the knockout rounds, but for me this is when it begins to fade away. I feel like the real World Cup is when teams are able to introduce themselves and their countries to the world after a break of four, 28, 58 years or for the first time.

Blimey! This Stokes news is crazy. Well, not crazy. It makes sense, but blimey!

Also, how is it there’s only one city hosting WC games in the US outside the Coasts/Texas axis? It’s like the Judge Dredd Mega City World Cup. Doesn’t Chicago get a game?

Blimey! El Anschluß that wasn’t. (I mean, it’s not like either Algeria or Austria ever annexed the other, anyway. The metaphor is flawed.) It’s beautiful how such a great game goes some way to neutralise the cynical abomination in Gijon 40 years ago.

All-white vs red shirts/black shorts again - Algeria v Austria looks like Panama v England. A bit weird.

Hmmmm. That Colombia goal didn’t look offside to me.

Good to see Rashford maintaining the Republic of Mancunia tradition of not singing to God Save The Human In The Shiny Hat.

So, the pitch at MetLife Stadium is cutting up and will be hosting the final in three weeks. Mind you, the pitch at the Azteca was supposed to be bad and that’s had two WC finals and will have a semi-final soon… I probably had a point somewhere.

I’ve been fairly agnostic about England’s tournament performances over the last 44 years, but I miss watching them in a communal setting. I seem stuck in a pattern of just watching them at home now with Dr L or on my own. 😞

So, Ghana need to beat Croatia by three and Austria need to beat Algeria by two. How can I make this happen?

Heartbroken that Uruguay got unceremoniously dumped out of the World Cup earlier and with a red card flourish too. 😂

As Britain swelters through another heatwave, few people will have heard that ministers have quietly dropped plans for solar carports. Cars cooler in summer. Shelter from the rain in winter. Clean electricity all year round. A missed opportunity? @eastangliabylines.co.uk

Done the stupid thing of working out what results Scotland need to get through. All quite plausible, and only a couple of them needed for it to happen. An Iraqi equaliser would be a great help though.

Oh, FFS!!!

Marvel Moiders just about hanging in there like Scotland in the third-place table (currently 7th out of 8 places!). This time, some thinks about the first solo Wolverine film. I’d have liked it to be more film noir & lean into the PTSD and paranoia, but Fox weren’t keen. Surprisingly.

VAR made an okay start to the tournament, but that was a daft non-decision. High foot in the face should be a foul, no? Pretty obvious error - and yet nothing… Still Scotland need neither Ecuador nor Curacao to win, so…

That’s Scotland out.

I was already dreading watching Scotland slide down the third-place table over the next couple of days, but they’re already sixth. 😖

What a ball in from McGinn there!

Fuucckkk!! Why are Scotland so intent on beating Scotland?!

Scotland v Brazil at the World Cup is it

Cunha had a wee hug for Tyler Fletcher then. Love to see it.

If Wales *had* managed to get past Bosnia and Italy and qualify for this, what a huge night this would’ve been. They could’ve been playing Qatar to qualify for the next round, and then Scotland would’ve been playing Brazil for the same. Massive in my dreams, anyway.

The whole Boston-Scotland thing has been lovely but I keep hearing the Bostonians talking about Scots and Brits like they’re two different groups and that’s just weird. Scots are British, even if they identify as Scots first. Are the Scots going along with it?

Fabulous for Cape Verde. Terrible for my sleep schedule.* * I have no sleep schedule.

Applaud that, you bitey shit!

Stop showing that dickhead Suarez applauding. 🙄

Woah! #URUvCPV

As the proud owner of a recently dead Dad, I loved Emma Hayes' shout-out to her departed old man. She's great.

Potentially for the last time, please enjoy the best picture of Keir Starmer

Another Fathers morning and the kids run downstairs to check under the Fathers Tree to see if Father Fathers has been.

Normally, I’d be more supportive of Iran as an underdog in this tie, but Qatar 22 still hurts and if I squint Belgium look a bit like Cymru. So, come on, you Red Devils!