Excited and Nervous

    I'm so stoked that Spain was able to pull off the upset victory against France. We played such a great game that it looked as if no soccer team in the world could have beat us. But...then there's Argentina.

    Let me be perfectly honest, I'm a little bit surprised with how much trouble Argentina has had in the knockout rounds, almost falling to both Cape Verde and Egypt. But they're still Argentina, and they're still a great club. And they seem past those struggles.

    

    I think Spain is honestly the team best-equipped to tangle with Argentina's powerful offense. After all, we've only allowed one goal in the entire tournament. I've watched many impressive games where the defense and Unai Simon have been almost flawless. And they'll need to do it once again tomorrow afternoon (3:00 EDT) to pull out a victory.

    Sports Illustrated's opening odds were in favor of Spain, at -154 for the red and gold, and +134 for Argentina, a 60.3% implied probability of Spain pulling out on top. That's certainly nice, but I feel that it's closer to 50-50 in a true clash of the titans. Of course, Spain will have me rooting for them, and they haven't lost yet when I've rooted for them 🤣 Plus, I've got that Spain jersey I promised. 

    When we are officially the World Cup champs, I'd like to celebrate on the blog by posting the cards I recently got from a TCDB user. 

    Until then, thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend, and ¡vamos España!

¡Vamos España!

     I've been watching a lot more of 2026's World Cup than I ever thought I would. USA had a pretty good showing this time.

    Out of the four teams left in the tournament, I'm pulling very hard for Spain. I have some deep Spanish roots and have been rooting for them from the beginning alongside the US.

    Spain has had an incredible run, not allowing a goal until last week's game against Belgium. Their defense and goaltending have been phenomenal, and they have some pretty strong pieces on offense as well.

    Tomorrow at 3:00 EDT, Spain will go toe to toe with France in the semifinal matchup. Spain has the tools to pull off the victory, but I'm pretty confident FIFA wants a rematch between France and Argentina, so it's going to be tough. I'm expecting a lot of bad refereeing decisions against the Spanish squad. And sadly for me, the game will not be shown at my workplace...I'll be able to check my phone periodically, but that's about it.

    And since my fandom won't be present at the television, I'd like to ask all neutral soccer fans reading this post to root for Spain with me. When they win I'll be able to watch them in the final, which would be amazing! Not to mention I'll be able to wear my España jersey for that one LOL

    Until tomorrow's matchup, thank you for reading, have a great start to the week, and ¡Vamos España!