Both of my picks for today's matches were correct, so it looks like I got 3 out of 4 right for the Quarterfinals.
Sweden vs England 0 - 2
Both teams played very well, but it was England that was able to score goals from corner kicks. And although both teams had good defense, England was able to back theirs up with a goalkeeper that made some very good saves. With this win, England has now made it to the semifinals for only the third time ever (first was in 1966 when they won the championship, and the second was in 1990, so it's been 28 years since the last time this team made it this far).
Russia vs Croatia 2 - 2 (penalty kicks: 3 - 4)
Russia sure had a rather solid defense formation, but both teams ended up in a stalemate, with one goal each in regular time, and then each scoring another goal in overtime, so it went on to penalty kicks once again for both of these teams. It was Croatia that ultimately won, and thus they become only the second team to ever win back-to-back matches on penalty kicks (the first was Argentina in 1990).
(I've heard that thanks to Russia's better than expected results in this World Cup, there's a good chance it will lead to more interest in this sport throughout that country, much like what happened here in the United States when we hosted the World Cup back in 1994.)
With these results, we know which teams will be playing in one of the Semifinal matches:
Croatia vs England
All Quarterfinal matches are now done. All that's left to go are the two Semifinal matches, followed by the Third-Place match and finally the Final.
Here's a quick recap of my current picks for the remaining matches...
Semifinals:
France vs Belgium (France)
Croatia vs England (England)
Third-Place:
Belgium vs Croatia (Belgium)
Final:
France vs England (England)
So those are my picks at this time, which means I'll be cheering for England. Which teams do you guys think will win the last few matches?