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t had been nearly 30 years since England reached the World Cup semifinals, but the Three Lions are on their way to the final four in Russia. England beat Sweden 2-0 in Samara on headers from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli and timely saves by Jordan Pickford, comfortably securing their place in the semifinals, where it will play either host Russia or Croatia on Wednesday. England, riding the high of winning a penalty kick shootout at the World Cup for the first time after besting Colombia in the round of 16, is in its first semifinal since 1990, while Sweden...

Much has been made of Neymar’s flopping during this World Cup. Brazil’s superstar has spent plenty of time on the ground writhing in agony — some warranted and some very much not. And his antics look a lot like a KFC South Africa commercial that was released upon the start of this year’s tournament. Neymar has spent 14 minutes on the ground Perhaps the most impressive advanced stat of this World Cup has been provided by Swiss TV station RTS Sport. According to RTS’ math, Neymar has spent 14 minutes’ worth of game time on the ground. Neymar has also...

After the agonising nature of their last-16 defeat by Belgium, Japan's World Cup squad and their thousands of fans would have been forgiven for leaving the Rostov Arena as swiftly as possible. A number of Japan players were in tears after being knocked out of the tournament when a late, late goal from Nacer Chadli sealed a 3-2 comeback victory for Belgium. But, as revealed by FIFA general coordinator Priscilla Janssens on Twitter, Japan's squad went to extra lengths to thank their hosts in Russia as they bowed out.

Young Hunter with Canadian Goose and 20 gauge 870 A few years ago, a relative of mine was visiting his sister in a Midwestern college town. The sister and her husband have done well. They have two lovely children and are in the upper middle class. The husband is an entrepreneur and a developer. The sister and kids are athletic. My relative is an accomplished woodsman, hunter, and shooter. He is not above a play on words or a practical joke.  He shares an opinion with Thomas Jefferson. Ball games do not impress him. He followed Jefferson's advise on...

England. Penalty kicks. Big stage. It used to be a foregone conclusion of doom for the Three Lions. But not anymore. England edged Colombia in penalty kicks 4-3 after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes, reaching the quarterfinals in dramatic fashion. Colombia center back Yerry Mina's 93rd-minute penalty kick forced extra time, after Harry Kane's second-half penalty kick had seemingly put England in control, and the two played through a scoreless extra 30 minutes to go to the shootout round, where England has notoriously failed.

Neymar may have scored for Brazil in their 2-0 victory over Mexico but it was his theatrics that got everyone talking during the last-16 World Cup clash. But football fans have flocked to social media to direct their anger and embarrassment towards the player for his theatrics, with Gary Lineker leading the charge. The former England international, now pundit, wrote on Twitter: 'Neymar has the lowest pain threshold of any player in World Cups since Opta stats began.' Another social media user, @Scienceofsport, posted a video of the incident, alongside the caption: 'Come on, man. How do you even show...

While there is a splash of ethnic diversity on virtually every team playing in soccer's 2018 Russia World Cup, many cite the Swiss national team for setting the standard for being multicultural. Known affectionally by its fans in Switzerland as "the Nati," 14 of the 23 members of the Swiss team were either born outside of Switzerland or are "secondos" -- a word used by the Swiss to denote the offspring of immigrants. Switzerland is not the only team that came to the World Cup in Russia with a sizable portion of players from the country's migrant or ethnic minority...

The result, Mexico’s fifth defeat to Brazil at a World Cup, means that for the seventh successive tournament El Tri has been knocked out in the last 16

And YOU get a goal! And YOU get a goal! The talk-show queen made a video supporting El Tri. Plus: Lots and lots of penalty kicks. World Cup watchers, are you on the Mexico bandwagon yet? Make room for talk show legend Oprah Winfrey, who announced in an Instagram video on Sunday that she's rooting for El Tri.

It started as one of Spain’s typical grand passing rondos, it grew over 90 minutes and then 120 into one of the biggest mountains of possession amassed since World Cup records began, and by the end it felt like this great generation of players had run out of fresh ideas. This was the remnants of the great world champions of 2010 passing the ball 1,114 times in a match but unable to score more goals than a Russia team who refused to be passed to death in the way that so many opponents have in the past. By the end...

China and Australia have joined the search for 12 boys missing in a Thai cave, as divers on Sunday closed in on the spot where they believe the teens are sheltering. The international rescue operation -- which includes over 1,000 people from Thai emergency services, the US Military and British cave experts -- has been ramping up its efforts since the boys and their 25-year-old soccer coach disappeared during an outing in the caves in northern Thailand eight days ago. Divers are now closing in on the spot where they believe the missing boys are sheltering in the Tham Luang...

Newcastle United’s latest signing Ki Sung-yueng may be one of the better known faces in his native South Korea – but that doesn’t make him immune from completing his national service for his country. Back in the summer of 2016, the 29-year-old had to ditch his luxury items and complete his mandatory military service which every male between the ages of 18-30 must do - and usually for 18 months. This is due to the volatile relations between South Korea and North Korea - although in April 2018, both countries signed the Panmunjom Declaration with the hope of ending the...

Friends were unable to save the 30-year-old, who warned that 'accidents do happen' in her final written Facebook post A BRAZILIAN football fan has died after slicing open her THROAT when she fell on her wine glass while celebrating her team's victory against Serbia. Tamra Maiochi suffered the freak accident just as the referee blew the whistle after the game on Wednesday, which sent Neymar and his teammates through to the knock-out stages of the World Cup in Russia. Tamra Maiochi suffered the freak accident as she was celebrating Brazil's win over Serbia The 30-year-old had been watching the crucial...

You would think that the first priority for both teams in a football match is to win. But that might not be the case when England take on Belgium at Kaliningrad Stadium in the World Cup tonight, as both sides could benefit from defeat. For the loser will face an arguably easier run, with Sweden or Switzerland in the quarter-finals - before Spain, Russia, Croatia or Denmark in the semi-finals.

The unthinkable has happened - Germany, reigning world champions, the consummate tournament team, are out of the World Cup at the group stage. Their failure to beat South Korea on Wednesday afternoon, combined with Sweden's comfortable win over Mexico, saw Joachim Low's men exit Russia at the first hurdle - their first World Cup elimination at this point for 80 years. Sweden won the group by beating Mexico 3-0 in the other match taking place at the same time, meaning Germany needed to defeat South Korea to get through in second place.

• South Korea takes a 2-0 lead over Germany on two stoppage time goals in the second half. • Refresh here for live World Cup updates and analysis from Russia. Germany and South Korea both have hopes of advancing to the knockout rounds, and both of their chances of doing so go up markedly if they win by multiple goals.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) — The criticism of Mexico’s national team heading into the World Cup was loud and scathing. The answer has been emphatic. The Mexicans won their second straight match at the tournament, beating South Korea 2-1 Saturday to move ever closer to a spot in the round of 16. “We didn’t listen to the criticism,” said Javier Hernandez, one of the scorers against South Korea. “It was just noise.”

When police in Huntington Park shut down Pacific Boulevard in anticipation of the celebrations, fans moved one block over. CBS2 captured video as crowds shut down the intersection of Rita and Saturn avenues while a car did donuts. Rocks and eggs were thrown at patrol cars. One man was arrested on several charges. Dozens of people also hit the streets of Pacoima, celebrating at the intersection of Van Nuys and Laurel Canyon boulevards. A watch commander at the sheriff’s East L.A. station confirmed that extra units were deployed, but refused to go into further detail. There were no reported injuries. All...

Thousands of soccer fans gathered in sports bars, churches, restaurants, pubs, football clubs and makeshift viewing stands all over Southern California on Saturday to watch Mexico take on South Korea in the World Cup in Russia. Mexico, which upset reigning champion Germany in its June 17 opening match, was favored to win. But history was not on Mexico’s side because it had not won back-to-back matches at a World Cup since 2002. The two teams had met once before at the World Cup in 1998, with Mexico winning 3-1. Watching the first half of the game at Wilshire Plaza Park...

Every four years there’s a new ball for the World Cup—and every four years players are unhappy with it. Maybe it’s too light and has too much lift, like the 2002 Fevernova. Or maybe it wobbles unexpectedly in the air, making it harder for goalies to predict its motion, like the 2006 Teamgist. Or maybe the ball suddenly changes speed, dropping out of the air and causing accidental handballs, like the 2010 Jabulani. At the World Cup level, these tiny changes in a ball’s aerodynamics can legitimately impact a team’s performance, so the intense scrutiny of the World Cup ball...