Key events<\/p>\n
OK, one last thing about being old before moving on to more current topics \u2013 yes, I distinctly remember following the World Cup<\/a> on my tiny TV in an apartment in Wilmington, N.C., where the newspaper staff tolerated my fandom of all soccer things.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t remember the days before everyone was online 24\/7 or even 50hrs\/month, check out this then-and-now feature.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n I don\u2019t have a photo to show it, but the guy sitting behind Gianni Infantino and to his left (our right) in the Spain-Austria game looked eerily like Weird Al Yankovic. I\u2019d like to think Al would get better tickets than that.<\/p>\n What celebrities might we see at this one? Nelly Furtado was born to Portuguese parents who were born in the Azores and emigrated to Canada. Maybe we\u2019ll see ER heartthrob Goran Visnjic. (I did say I was old, right?)<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Lineups<\/p>\n Portugal: Diogo Costa; Mendes, Veiga, Dias, Cancelo; Vitinha, Jo\u00e3o Neves; Le\u00e3o, Fernandes, Neto; that guy<\/p>\n Le\u00e3o replaces Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix.<\/p>\n Croatia: Livakovic; Perisic, Pongracic, Sutalo, Stanisic; Kovacic, Modric; Baturina, Sucic, Vlasic; Budimir <\/p>\n Both teams are estimated to be in a 4-2-3-1 by the agencies that believe everyone is in a 4-2-3-1. Others probably say it\u2019s a 4-4-2. Or maybe a 3-6-1.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The jokes are already coming in \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cHi Beau! So, Modric vs Ronaldo. There\u2019s going to be a lot of old men jokes tonight, huh? Hopefully some of them won\u2019t be inappropriate. Can we respectfully agree that this qualifies as Clash of the Titans, then? (Because, in the actual myths, the Titans *are* older than Zeus). Sorry, couldn\u2019t resist.\u201d \u2013 Vlado<\/p>\n When I made the trip from Troy back to Ithaca (see the movie about that), I helped advise them on how to create the ideal soccer player. But they didn\u2019t listen to me, and Messi popped up in Argentina, which is far from Ithaca. Croatia<\/a> is relatively close, at least.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Saturday we are off on holiday to Spain and Portugal<\/a> for three weeks, and will be in Portugal for the semifinal and final. I can\u2019t bear the thought of having that insufferable \u2026. (I can think of any number of words to insert here, but poseur is probably the only one which would meet The Guardian\u2019s editorial guidelines) Ronaldo thrust down my throat day and night. So to be on the safe side Portugal had better go out as soon as soon as possible, i.e., tonight. Besides which they need to be punished for leaving Fulham legend Palhinha out of the squad.\u201d \u2013 Richard Hirst<\/p>\n Team news coming up next \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Welcome to a match that will answer a very important question \u2026<\/p>\n Who gets the honor of losing to Spain?<\/p>\n In the 48-team format (more on that in a bit), 12 of the 16 matches in the Round of Twice 16 are graced with a team that won their group. This is not one of them.<\/p>\n In fairness, Portugal<\/a> very impressively destroyed Uzbekistan 5-0 in between draws with Colombia and a DR Congo side that seems rather dangerous in hindsight. Croatia lost to an England side that rallied past that DR Congo side earlier in this round, then labored past pesky Panama and beat Ghana 2-1.<\/p>\n And these are star-studded teams. No, I don\u2019t mean that the players involved are older than the galaxy \u2013 to answer the question below about 1 March 2006, I was planning my 36th birthday party, so these people all seem young to me.<\/p>\n This match will provide a healthy diversion for us in the United States, where everyone in my social media feeds has opted for one of two messages today:<\/p>\n 1. It\u2019s unfortunate, but according to the Laws of the Game, Folarin Balogun had to be sent off.<\/p>\n 2. That was the worst call in the history of officiating, even worse than the 1972 Olympic basketball final. (Told you I was old, though I don\u2019t remember that game first-hand.)<\/p>\n Send in your comments, your diet tips and your Medicare advice, and I\u2019ll get through as much of it as I can.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here\u2019s more on today\u2019s matchup:<\/p>\n Can you remember what you were doing on 1 March 2006? Perhaps you were at Anfield, watching England beat Uruguay 2-1. You might have seen Switzerland put three goals past Scotland at Hampden Park.<\/p>\n Or you might have watched Luka Modric make his debut for Croatia. They beat Argentina 3-2, with Lionel Messi scoring his first international goal. The same evening, Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> scored twice in a 3-0 Portugal victory against Saudi Arabia, no doubt dreaming of the day he would live and work in the country.<\/p>\n While he and Messi have dominated football discourse since then, Modric has been there throughout too. In a more metronomic, less flashy, passing-more-often-than-scoring kind of way, granted, but as another constant presence at the top level.<\/p>\n The trio are in an elite group of four men who have accumulated at least 200 international caps. Claim a bonus point if you can name the other.<\/p>\n You can read the full article below:<\/p>\n