Why Brazil vs. Belgium Could Be the 'Best Game of the Tournament'
*By Christian Smith*
Play at the 2018 FIFA World Cup gets back underway Friday, and the day's quarterfinal match-ups shouldn't disappoint.
For Quartz editor and soccer fanatic Mike Murphy, France is the team to beat this World Cup.
"They've probably looked the strongest, most organized team of the true real contenders," Murphy said in an interview on Cheddar Thursday.
France takes on Uruguay in Friday's first game, which kicks off at 10 am ET. Nineteen-year-old rising star Kylian Mbappé, who helped lead France to a stunning 4-3 victory over Lionel Messi and Argentina, will be one of the players to watch as *Les Bleaus* look to knock out the Uruguayan squad led by Luis Suarez.
But the other real contenders in Murphy's (and most of the world's) book are Brazil and Belgium, which face each other on the field at 2 pm ET Friday. Brazil was slow out of the gate in its 2-0 victory over Mexico Monday, but so was Belgium. That team came back to win the game 3-2 in the last minute of stoppage time, despite being down by two scores earlier in the match.
Both teams have world-class strikers - Brazil in Neymar and Belgium in Romelu Lukaku. Brazil's defense has only given up one goal this World Cup, but Belgium is the highest-scoring team so far, so the match-up should make for some great soccer. The winner of the match will take on the winner of France and Uruguay in the semifinals.
On Saturday the other side of the bracket steps onto the pitch. Sweden goes head-to-head with England at 10 am ET. The young English team will have to pick themselves up, coming off a near upset in penalty kicks in their Round of 16 against Colombia. Sweden has been playing a consistent game throughout the tournament. That consistency is the reason Jeffrey Marcus, publisher of the World Cup newsletter "The Banter," calls Sweden ["predictable but effective."](https://mailchi.mp/f1ebcf954362/world-cup-banter-be-smart-about-the-quarterfinals)
Whichever team walks away victorious Saturday morning will take on the winner of the Russia-Croatia match. The hometown favorites surprised most critics by making it to the quarterfinals, and it will be even more surprising if they can upset a better-fielded Croatian team just days after stunning Spain in a penalty kick shootout.
However, there is something to be said about home-field advantage. Six countries have won the World Cup while hosting the tournament.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/what-to-expect-in-the-2018-fifa-world-cup-quarterfinals)
After two incredibly close games, the Super Bowl matchup is set. On February 13th, at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California, the Los Angeles Rams will face off in their home stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals. After 54 Super Bowls where a home team never hosted the game on its field, it will now happen for the second year in a row, after Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs last year. Speaking of Brady, ESPN dropped a bombshell of a headline Saturday that Tom Brady was set to retire after 22 seasons and seven rings. To discuss all the latest NFL news, Anthony Tall, President of Miracle Sports Group, joins Cheddar News.
In January alone, the gaming sector has seen three major acquisitions. Yesterday, Sony added to the flurry of M&A activity in the gaming space, snatching up game developer 'Bungie' for $3.6 billion dollars. Renee Gittins, executive director at the International Gaming Developers Association, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
NFL legend Tom Brady says he is done playing football after 22 seasons. Cheddar News speaks with Trey Wingo, Chief NFL Analyst at Pro Football Network, about Brady announcing his retirement.
Greg Bishop, Senior Writer for Sports Illustrated, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says Tom Brady's legacy is all about 'progress' and expects the future Hall of Famer to bolster his entrepreneurial ventures following his retirement.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been a driving force for youth mentorship since 1904. The nonprofit organization is launching its annual Big Draft campaign this month in partnership with the NFL, and Artis Stevens, the first Black CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, joined Cheddar to discuss the push for adding more "Bigs" as mentors on his one-year anniversary leading the non-profit organization. "While the NFL is recruiting and drafting more players, they're also helping us to draft more mentors and, particularly, men all the way from across February to all the way to April of this year," Stevens explained.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, breaks down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics; Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, discusses the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Predicting a Pro'.
Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, joins Cheddar Reveals to break down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics.
Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential.
With the Beijing Winter Olympics set to get underway on Friday, Dan Wolken, a national columnist for USA Today, joined Cheddar News to break down the big storylines as the pandemic and international conflicts threaten to cast a cloud over the event that is aspirationally seen as a beacon of international cooperation. Wolken noted specific issues over cybersecurity for visiting athletes and disputes over human rights leading to a diplomatic boycott have been making waves even before the opening ceremony. "So you've got sort of these barbs going back and forth already between the Americans and the Chinese, and things haven't even started yet," he said. "We don't even know what's going to happen once the games start and people actually start winning medals."
