France 4-3 Argentina

Coming in as huge underdogs Argentina knew they couldn’t make many mistakes if they were to advance. They looked competent early on until they Kylian Mbappé won a penalty after sprinting past all of Argentina’s defense into their penalty box and before he could take a shot he was pulled down by Marcos Rojo. After Antoine Griezmann scored the penalty in the 13^th minute everyone taught this game was over and France was going to go back to their boring style of play and well it wasn’t even close. Argentina kept dominating possession but couldn’t get anything going until the 41th minute when out of nowhere Angel Di Maria scores an amazing goal from about 35 yards out, shocking Hugo Lloris, the whole France defense and probably his own teammates because he usually doesn’t play well in big matches.

Argentina came out more confident and active in the second half and quickly took the lead in the 48^th minute when Mercado deflected Messi’s shot into the goal. That goal gave Argentina false hope they could win this game as France used it as a wake-up call and didn’t look back. It didn’t take long for France to get the equalizer, in the 57^th minute Benjamin Pavard scored probably the best goal of the World Cup so far.

After a goal like that I knew the match was over. Argentina just didn’t have enough and couldn’t keep up, they were old and slow and Mbappé (future GOAT) took advantage of that scoring two quick goals, first in the 64^th minute and then in the 68^th. In 11 minutes France when from losing 2-1 to winning 4-2, that’s how quick and lethal their attack can be. Sergio Agüero got a consolation goal for Argentina in the 93th to make it look like it was closer than it really was.

Uruguay 2-1 Portugal

Two very even teams made for a less exciting match than the one in the morning. But Uruguay opened the score very early with a Cavani header/shoulder goal in the 7^th minute thanks to an amazing cross from Luis Suarez. Portugal had the ball for most of the match but just couldn’t break Uruguay’s defense that after scoring a goal was happy to slow the game and defend. It wasn’t until de 55^th minute that Portugal finally scored off a short corner cross into the middle that an unmarked Pepe headed in goal. Portugal’s goal really opened the game and made Uruguay go forward more as they tried to grab the lead again and it didn’t take long. In the 62th minute Cavani again gave ‘The Celestes’ the lead with a superb goal.

Portugal dominated the rest of the match and endlessly tried to get the equalizer until the end but Uruguay's defense was too strong.

Uruguay moves on to face France Friday July 6.