In Mother Russia, Penalty Kicks You

13/16 through the World Cup and we got to see the cruelty of going to Penalty Kicks. In the early match Russia gifted Spain a goal and then made up for it by scoring off a penalty kick in regulation. They then road the wave of Russian fans into the penalty kick stage where they fended off La Furia Roja 4-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. For Spain this was deja vu, as in 2002 they met cohosts South Korea in the quarterfinals only to lose on penalties.

In the second match, Croatia and Denmark got off on the right foots. Mathias Jorgensen scored in the first minute to put the Danes ahead. Three minutes later Mario Mandzukic would tie the game. Then, there would be no more scoring. Even as extra time came to a conclusion, Croatia's Luka Modric had an opportunity to win the game on a penalty kick which was saved by Danish keeper Kasper Schmeichel. Advantage Denmark? Not so, Schmeichel and Croatian keeper Danijel Subasic traded saving and allowing goals round for round. In the end, Subasic got the final save securing Croatia spot in the quarterfinals where they take a crack at eliminating Russia.

Spain 1(3):1(4) Russia

Sergei Ignashevic (og) 12' 1-0

Artem Dzyuba (pk) 41' 1-1

Andres Iniesta (pk) 1-0

Fyodor Smolov (pk) 1-1

Gerard Pique (pk) 2-1

Sergei Ignashevic (pk) 2-2

Aleksandr Golovin (pk) 2-3

Sergio Ramos (pk) 3-3

Denis Cheryshev (pk) 3-4

			Spain		vs	Russia
	Result	Points	B1	Score	Points	A 2	Score	Points	Total
Artifex	Spain	0	Spain	3	0	Egypt	2	0	0
Fortuitous	Portugal	0	Portugal	4	0	Egypt	1	2	2
Historicus	Spain	0	Spain	3	0	Saudi Arabia	1	2	2
IoannesNix	Portugal	0	Portugal	2	0	Egypt	1	2	2
Musicus	Spain	0	Spain	2	0	Egypt	1	2	2
Praeceptor	Spain	0	Spain	3	0	Egypt	1	2	2
Scriptor	Spain	0	Spain	2	0	Russia	0	0	0

Croatia 1(3):1(2) Denmark

Mathias Jorgensen 1' 0-1

Mario Mandzukic 4' 1-1

Simon Kjaer (pk) 0-1   

Andrej Kramaric (pk) 1-1

Michael Krohn-Dehli (pk) 1-2

Luka Modric (pk) 2-2

Ivan Rakitic (pk) 3-2

			Croatia		vs	Denmark
	Result	Points	D1	Score	Points	C2	Score	Points	Total
Artifex	Argentina	0	Argentina	2	0	Australia	1	2	2
Fortuitous	Iceland	0	Icleand	3	0	Peru	2	0	0
Historicus	France	0	Argentina	1	2	France	2	0	2
IoannesNix	Australia	0	Argentina	2	0	Australia	3	0	0
Musicus	Argentina	0	Argentina	2	0	Denmark	0	0	0
Praeceptor	Nigeria	0	Nigeria	3	0	Peru	2	0	0
Scriptor	Argentina	0	Argentina	2	0	Denmark	0	0	0

Denmark's loss on penalty kicks earns Scriptor 1 point as the match is considered a tie in the record books. They are, however, eliminated. As such, Scriptor is no longer paired with a team.

Here's how everyone is faring on Quarterfinal picks.

	Artifex	Fortuitous	Historicus	IoannesNix	Musicus	Praeceptor	Scriptor
	Russia	Saudi Arabia	Uruguay	Uruguay	Uruguay	Portugal	Uruguay
	France	Croatia	Peru	Nigeria	France	France	France
	Brazil	Costa Rica	Germany	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil
	Belgium	Panama	Belgium	England	Belgium	Belgium	Belgium
	Spain	Portugal	Spain	Portugal	Spain	Spain	Spain
	Argentina	Iceland	France	Australia	Argentina	Nigeria	Argentina
	Germany	Serbia	Brazil	Germany	Germany	Switzerland	Germany
	England	Poland	Colombia	Poland	England	England	Colombia
Total	10	5	10	5	10	5	10

Scriptor chose Spain to earn some extra points. Here's how they did for him.

Yellow Card	Pique	-1
Penalty Goal	Iniesta	3
Penalty Goal	Pique	1
Penalty Goal	Ramos	7
	Total	10

Praeceptor chose Croatia for her extra points.

Goal	Mandzukic	17
Penalty Goal	Kramaric	4
Penalty Goal	Modric	5
Penalty Goal	Rakitic	3
Saves	Subasic	3
	Total	32

And here are the standings after today's matches.

	Standings	Points	Oracle
1	Musicus	232	73
2	Praeceptor	213	58
3	Scriptor	199	57
4	Historicus	197	57
5	Artifex	182	49
6	IoannesNix	163	45
7	Fortuitous	89	25

Today's Disciplinary Official is Denmark's Kasper Schmeichel.

The Giant Yellow Card in Goal was superb on the day, saving a penalty in regulation and several in the penalty shootout. Unfortunately, he couldn't save the last one. The Danish banana even argued successfully to have the referee go to VAR, but he couldn't convince him not to award Croatia a penalty kick. As such, he can't  convince us either to award any cards. 

The Grand Salmon Alpaca