World Cup Watch: And in the End …

Sixty-two games down, and only two to go, but only one that anyone really cares about. The quarterfinals were marked by two big upsets: Croatia ousted Brazil in PKs, and Morocco shocked Portugal to become the first African semifinalist, and the undisputed fan favorite. But both got squashed in the semifinals, so on Sunday we'll see the final many expected all along.

Third Place (9am Sat.): I started off by saying no one cares about this game, but that's not really true this time out. I think the Croatian team wants this one very much, both for their overachieving nation and for longtime star Luka Modri, who'll be playing his last WC game. And everyone in the Arab world wants to see Morocco take one more European scalp. This one will be loud.

The Championship (9am Sun.): France vs. Argentina. Mbappé vs. Messi. Europe vs. South America. With the underdogs out of the way, we're down to the two best teams in the tournament (apologies to Brazil). And yet … France was actually outplayed by Morocco for most of the second half, with the midfield being largely overrun. Whereas Argentina, after an opening stumble against Saudi Arabia, has looked better each game and was barely troubled by a very good Croatia. Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup is a sight every soccer fan in the world would be happy to see.

The U.S. Wrap-Up: Everyone who wondered why we weren't seeing more of creative young midfielder Gio Reyna got their answer this week in a flurry of media reports about Reyna's lack of effort in practice and scrimmage after being informed by coach Gregg Berhalter that he wasn't going to start or have a big role in the first group game against Wales. It apparently got bad enough to require a formal apology to the team, though Berhalter passed it off to media as "a little tightness" until it got leaked when he told the story (without naming names) at a supposedly confidential Summit on Moral Leadership.

My take: Reyna had a bad case of being 20 years old in a ridiculously pressured situation, and he'll get over it. Given the soccer family relationships – Berhalter has known Gio since he was born, being a longtime U.S. men's national teammate with his dad Claudio Reyna, and also with Josh Wolff; those two are the brain trust at Austin FC, where Berhalter's son Sebastian and Wolff's son Owen were teammates – I expect they'll all get over it, and Gio will be better for it.