Proper Football

World Cup mascots have been a thing since 1966.
They evoke memories of some of the great tournaments and some iconic moments, and remind you of the first World Cup you were old enough to remember

Personally, for us two behind the page, it was Spain 🇪🇸 82 and Naranjito the Orange and France 🇫🇷 98 with Footix the Cockerel!

Sadly, this year's World Cup will be remembered for the American mascot, Gianni the Bald Unscrupulous Eagle!

So it isn't just France v Morocco in the football later on, we also have many games around Europe in the Europa League and Conference league taking place.

In every corner of Europe, sides will be battling it out in their first legs as they kick off their European adventures.

We also have some British representation 👇

■ Nomme Kalju (Est) v LINFIELD (Nir)
■ CAERNARFON (Wal) v Levadia Tallinn (Est)
■ GLENTORAN (Nir) v RFS (Lat)
■ PENYBONT (Wal) v Santa Coloma (And)

Also a shout out to Welsh side Connahs Quay who drew 0-0 to FC Ballkani last night.

Also a big mention to Larne who won 1-0 away to Tre Fiori yesterday to set up their 2nd leg perfectly.

TNS have work to do though after losing 2-0 to Sabah Baku in what was a long old away trip.

All 2nd legs will be next week.

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A fascinating Europa League qualifying game tonight between European regulars Qarabag 🇦🇿 and Icelandic 2nd division side Vestri 🇮🇸, who won the domestic cup.

Qarabag, who are usually in some form of European competition each season, this year are only in the Europa League after failing to win their league last season.

Last year, they were in the Champions League and reached the knockout stages for the first time ever. They lost to Newcastle at this stage.

As for Vestri, they have qualified for European football for the first time after winning the domestic Icelandic Cup, which was a big surprise.

They were then relegated from the Icelandic Premier League, so they head into European football as a 2nd division side.

Qarabag will be expecting to win this game and win well, but Vestri may have something to say about that.

The game kicks off at 5pm UK time.

The World Cup quarter-finals are set and get underway on Thursday.

France 🇫🇷 v Morocco 🇲🇦 Thursday 9pm

Spain 🇪🇸 v Belgium 🇧🇪 Friday 8pm

Norway 🇳🇴 v England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Saturday 10pm

Argentina 🇦🇷 v Switzerland 🇨🇭 Sunday 2am

Who will get the Golden Ticket through to the quarter-finals in the match between Colombia vs Switzerland in the game that is being called Charlie vs The Chocolate Factory?

😂

Tonight saw one of, if not the best, games at the World Cup so far!

Egypt 🇪🇬 were leading 2-0 in the 79th minute, only for the reigning champions Argentina 🇦🇷 to come back and win 3-2 with a 92nd-minute winner!

Egypt looked home and hosed, but Messi and co had other ideas!

Argentina will now face either Colombia or Switzerland in the quarter finals.

It was a bad night for Gianni Infantino and his FIFA cartel, with the USA and Ronaldo both eliminated from the World Cup in their respective round-of-16 matches.

Ronaldo, who should have been suspended from their first two group games following a red card in the qualifiers, was given a miraculous reprieve by a FIFA Disciplinary Committee that issued a suspended suspension using Chapter 4, Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, AKA the Ronaldo rule! The same ruling was also used for the USA forward Balgoun.

We all thought Blatter was bad. Gianni is on another level!

Follow the money...

Jordan Henderson slipped while climbing over the advertising boards after celebrating with the England fans following the Three Lions' 3-2 victory over Mexico. From the videos circulating, it looks like he's suffered a bad break on his arm in the freak accident.

Get well soon, Hendo! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

What a fantastic battling performance by England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 to beat Mexico 3-2 in their own backyard!

Every player, to a man, was outstanding and gave everything, especially after we went down to 10 men on 54 minutes.

Gordon, Bellingham and Pickford were superb!
Even the subs Stones, Burn and Spence defended for their lives, and credit to Tuchel for the substitutes who closed out the game.

Next stop quarter-finals against Norway!

Well done, lads!

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

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